The man and woman turned around with widened pupils. Elly, the blonde haired woman from before, rushed inside alongside another, more elderly woman. They almost looked identical, safe for Elly having a paler skin and the elderly woman’s face being covered with wrinkles. “Elly, you’re finally here! Look, he.. he’s awake!”

  “He’s awake?!” She exclaimed and rushed over to see him. The elderly woman following her did the same, and another set of footsteps slowly rang out. “Mom, look! He… how?”

  “If I may,” A husky, masculine voice echoed in their ears, and all the people in the room, including the baby, turned to look at him.

  He looked at the parents, whose worried expressions lingered with confusion as much as they did joy. “My name is Arthur, the Dual Class Mage.” The man introduced himself, taking off a comically large wizard hat, revealing long locks of gray, disheveled hair. “Pleasure to meet you.”

  A thick, smoky beard hid his dried lips. He wore a large midnight black robe decorated with golden stars, and supported himself on a large staff-like cane. It was made of wood, and its thick end was decorated half a dozen crystals of red and blue. They were as large as plums, and just as round.

  The floor creaked under his footsteps as he walked next to the couple, Elly and her mother making space for him. He approached the baby, who looked at him with a blank expression, and tapped his head softly with a finger. “I say, he looks quite healthy to me.”

  However as he said that, his large staff glowed with a faint light that enveloped the baby. The old man’s expression changed briefly, and his green eyes shone with a curious gleam. The corner of his lips curled into a smile, and he winked at the boy, then got up with a chuckle. “He’s as healthy as he can get, and will continue to be in the future.”

  Arthur patted some dust off his robe and fixed some minor creases, then turned to the parents. “Elena,” he said softly “Ray. It’s an honor to meet you. I know of all you’ve done thus far, Aina couldn’t shut up about what good people you were.” He looked at Elly’s mother with the corner of his eye, smiling. “It’s a big reason as to why I’ve agreed to come here.”

  The two looked at each other with an awkward smile, but couldn’t bring themselves to say anything. Arthur chuckled and turned toward the boy, who lay in Elena’s lap. The man’s expression gleamed with interest. “What will you name him?”

  Elena smiled and looked at her baby boy. A few silver strands fell on his delicate face. She tucked them away, revealing a pair of trembling crimson pupils. Pursing into a smile, her lips parted as she said in a gentle tone. “His name will be… Kai.”

  …

  Fifteenth Day of Lunarion, Year 10,010 A.K.

  Six months have passed since then, and Kai grew at astonishing speeds. The color of his hair began resembling that of his mother’s, with short strands of faded silver. However he had his father’s sharp eyes and eyebrows, a fact Ray was much too proud of.

  “Come on Kai, you can do it!” He called out to him from a few dozen centimeters away, beckoning Kai to come toward him. The reincarnated boy rolled his eyes internally, but couldn’t deny that he felt a degree of excitement as well.

  Standing up from his crawling position, Kai did his best to walk forward, his body wobbling from side to side as he balanced his weight on his noodle-like legs.

  One… Two… He counted his steps carefuy, moving his fat arms around to balance himself.

  “Honey! Come on, hurry!” Ray yelled at the top of his lungs. “Kai is walking, he’s walking!!!!”

  A hurried set of footsteps soon joined Kai’s, as the door to the room they were in slammed open. A sweaty Elena that smelled of freshly made soups and food stormed through the door. Her crimson eyes shone as she looked at her son, a large smile decorating her plump lips. Oh, we have an audicence. Kai quipped to himsef as he took the third and fourth step. So close! He looked straight ahead and giggle upon seeing his father’s dumb smile.

  However…

  Thud

  His fifth step failed as he lost both focus and balance, though Ray managed to catch him just in time. I can’t believe I failed… Kai’s face reddened in shame at having failed such an easy task. His parents, on the other hand, had other oppinions.

  “Honey did you see that?! He took so many steps, and he’s not even a year old yet!”

  “I saw! Our Kai is so smart!” Elena rushed over and planted a kiss on Kai’s forehead, then another on her husband’s lips. “Come on now, dinner is ready.”

  Ray rushed to the kitchen as gently as he could upon hearing that. Kai had a weird sense of vertigo, but he could bear it. A reassuring smell entered his nostrils as they passed the door, one that felt like home.

  While he didn’t remember his days as a baby from back on earth, Kai was sure that they weren’t as happy and comforting as they were now.

  The kitchen looked normal, though it didn’t have the modern lighting and appleiances he was used to, it was still fairly packed. Its walls were made out of a yellow-ish stone supported by thick wooden pillars. A soft, warm light lit up the room, its source being countless glowing rocks etched into wooden shafts. They resembled torches, but without the fire.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  In the midde sat a round table with two bowl of scalding hot soup accompanied by a bread cut in two. There was also some sort of meat with what Kai could only assume to be mashed potatoes. He salivated upon seeing such delicacies, but cursed his baby self for not even having the teeth, control or digestive capabilities to indulge in the food.

  He was ashamed to admit that for the past six months, and most likely for the foreseeable future, his breakfast, lunch, and dinner was his mother’s breast milk.

  Kai found himself on a tall wooden chair. A baby seat crudely made by either his father or someone whose wood working skills still needed work. At least that was his unproffesional oppinion.

  Ray sat next to him, eagerly waiting for his wife to finish setting up the table. Kai couldn’t help but look at the kitchen, as he had nothing better to do, and made some observations of his own. It looks like that’s a stove, though it’s not obvious. The weird rocks provide the heat for cooking and mother seems to control them in one way or another. He thought, looking at a glorified stone top. His eyes then shifted toward another ‘appliance’, a cheap fridge imitation that served the same purpose – keeping food fresh.

  Then there were the non fire powered torches, and Kai coud only come to a simple concusion. These are magic stones… they replaced electricity with magic?! He admitted that it was ingenious, after all, why complicate your life when magic is a convenient replacement? However that conclusion only brought more questions to his mind, such as how did their medieval house have such technology. How did such things even come to exist in such a time period.

  Although he only had his house to use as reference, so he couldn’t be sure of the overall sitatuon. However, remembering the rest of the house and considering everything, a thought that excited him more than anything came to him. We must be rich!

  He obeserved as much of the house as he could, given that his crawling capabilities weren’t that good and his parents worried that he would get hurt. He knew that it was made out of the same yellow-ish stone as the kitchen walls. They were also suppored by thick beams of a dark colored wood, and a window was present in every room. Though he wasn’t quite sure about how those worked.

  Kai also noticed that despite the apparent lack of insulation, the house wasn’t too warm nor too cold, which made him curious about what sort of magic was at play.

  As for the rest of the house, it was pretty big. They had a ground floor with the kitchen, bathroom, living room and a a backdoor to a large garden. The first floor also had a bathroom and the bedrooms. The presence of so many plumbing-related rooms made Kai wonder how that worked in this world.

  Aside from those obvious rooms, there was one room that the young boy was extremely curious about – One that his parents never opened but that stood mere meters away from him. He needed to see what was inside, but that was impossible for his current self.

  After he finished his inspection, Kai turned toward the table and watched his parents savor the food laid out before him. Watching them felt more like torture than anything, and he greedily eyed the mashed potatoes and meat. Drool fell down his cheeks, but he knew that reaching the food with his short arms would be impossible.

  “Honhey, shis iss delishous!” Ray complimented his wife’s cooking as he stuffed his face. The expression decorating his face tod Kai more than enough, his father clearly enjoyed his mother’s cooking.

  He stared at the two with envy, his crimson pupils trembling with hunger. And, athough he knew he shoudn’t, nor couldn’t, he subconciousy reached for the closest food next to him – a piece of meat.

  Elena reacted fast and pulled the plate away from his reach, even though he couldn’t realy grab it, and berated him. “You’re too young to eat, wait a little bit more.” Her soft voice brought a wave of disappointement to Kai, who thought he could at least get a small taste of the delicacy.

  “Why not?” Ray said, swallowing. “He should be able to eat some of the mashed potates.”

  Kai’s face beamed and he unconciously moved his arms in excitement. Ray’s statament made Elena raise an eyebrow, but she didn’t immediately shut down the idea. “Are you sure?”

  Ray nodded and picked up a small spoonful of mashed potatoes, blowing on them to cool them down. He then made a couple of weird sounds as he moved it around and closer toward Kai’s mouth. “Here comes the carriage, come on Kai, open up.”

  Kai died a little inside as soon as those words cursed his ears, feeling the secondhand embarssaement. Who came up with this, what are there no dragons in this world? Why carriage?!

  However he couldn’t care less, and he opened wide, eager to try solid foor for the first time in months. His pupils widened as a tear fell down his cheek, his taste buds exploding with joy. Despite being only a plain boiled potato, why does this taste so good? It feels so soft but it’s not sticking to the top of my mouth and at the same time it makes me want to eat more, it doesn’t even seem to be seasoned but yet! It's so! Good!

  A series of images flashed in his mind. Memories of the few sweet moments he had when he had the chance to taste home cooked food. However the plain-boiled potatoes with no seasoning his aunt made him tasted bitter. In contrast, the same food in the hands of his mother tasted heavenly.

  Elena’s lips pursed into a joyful smie upon seeing the contentess on Kai’s face. She walked over to wipe some of the droo and mashed potatoes that made their way onto his face, and asked her husband. “How did you know he could eat?”

  Ray hesitated for a second and his vision unfocused briefly. “I took care of the other children when their parents were at war, I learned pretty quick.” He said with a melancholic expression.

  Elena’s face darkened, but didn’t remain like so for too long, and she said in a voice barey above a whisper. “You’re amazing.”

  Splat

  A sudden sound broke the awkward atmosphere between then, and Elena’s eyes widenened upon seeing Kai’s face buried into the bow of hot mashed potatoes. “Oh sweet Lumiera!” She exclaimed, pulling him out of it and wiping the food off. “How did you even do that?”

  God damn it… Kai thought, enduring the hot temperature of the potatoes burning his skin. I knew my legs were too weak for that.

  “That’s a bit much, even for him.” His father quipped, though the joking tone quickly faded upon noticing the burns covering their baby’s skin. “Oh shi-“

  “Ray!”

  “Sorry.” He apologised awkawrdly and helped Elena wipe off the remaining mashed potatoes.

  She then placed her hand over his face, and a mutitde of green partices appeared before Kai’s eyes with moments. “Heal.” His mother ordered, and the light intensified into an enchanting light that covered his faces With widened eyes and a surprised expression, he felt the burn marks wash away like dirt in the shower, but there was only a single thought running through his mind at that moment.

  It's beautiful…