Waking up from another dream about my home, I roll over and try to fall back asleep, hoping to finish it. Unfortunately, the birds outside don't seem to share my sentiment as they won't. Stop. TWEETING.

"AHHHHH!!!!"

Yelling out in frustration, I reach around me for something to throw, finding... a fox. Right. Instead of committing a sin against the most adorable thing I've ever seen, reluctantly, very reluctantly, I push it off me. The small hope of returning to sleep vanished when I yelled, another dream unfinished.

Once I sit up and open my eyes halfway, my arms go above my head for the most important stretch of the day, the 'lift your arms over your head, yawn, and make weird noises as you let the air out' stretch. One more important and sacred than any other, yet it's interrupted by the sound of giggling.

Rubbing my eyes to get the gunk out, I look for the source of that laugh and follow the sound to the open window. Something flickers out of view before I can focus on it and as I wonder what it was, a dark silhouette in the corner of the room starts making its way toward me. Half-startled by the sound of footsteps, my brain finally catches up to the fact that there is an intruder in my room and my eyes shoot open the rest of the way, this time seriously considering throwing the fox.

It has nails, it's a delay tactic at least.

Only then do I remember my reality, and slump back down onto my back as the woman reaches into my cage to lift me up.

'Aren't you just adorable when you're waking?'

I tilt my head in confusion at her language and she squeals.

'If you were to do that around Vanessa I'm sure she'd try to steal you from me. Here, let me give you a kiss to start the day off right my little star.'

She's just babbling as per usual, probably fawning on how adorable I am. She leans down and casually places a kiss on my lips. Like a mother will do. To her-

"Oy."

I smack her cheek. I say smack, but it's more of a poke than anything, let's be real. It gets her attention though and that's what I wanted.

"No."

I point at her lips, then mine.

"No."

I do it again for good measure. She nods her head in understanding and I let out a breath of relief. Well, at least that stops that from happening ever aga-

I don't even have time to react as she moves with unprecedented speed to once again kiss me. On. The. Lips.

"AHHHHHRRRGHGHAAHAGHGHERRRR"

Letting out an inhuman howl, or more like a squeal of delight to her ears, a fight between her trying to kiss her son and me trying to bat her away begins. I don't know what she's doing, but the woman moves insanely quick. Every time I move to smack her head away, she weaves around me and does it again.

I'm not saying it's nasty or anything to kiss parents on the lips. Some families do it, and that's how they're raised, you know? But it's never been in my family and always has been looked at as... different. And she is pretty damn cute too so it's literally destroying my mind right now. Any other situation and I'd be ecstatic, but in this situation, I just want to scream.

She clearly doesn't understand my inner turmoil however and keeps doing her utmost to make me uncomfortable. Finally, after the fourth she gets in, I realize I can just cover my own mouth.

Surely she won't manhandle my hands away and kiss me again, that would be non-consensual. She wouldn't want to set a bad example... right? Plus, she's holding me, if she even tries to set me down or move me to one arm, I'll just start biting.

Luckily, it seems I am right as she pouts and gives me pleading eyes. Good thing too cause I was just about to give up and become a monster for the rest of my life. Being attracted to your... mother figure would be bad for any household.

As if to play a cruel joke though right at that moment the male demon walks in. They exchange some words and the woman gets an evil glint in her eye which is duplicated in his.

NO!

My mind is screaming as time seems to slow, the hairy man's hands aiming for mine and his face closing in fast. I instantly begin to struggle in the woman's grasp and right before his hands reach mine, I move mine out of the way and bite down as hard as I can on the man's outstretched hand. For a second the man looks shocked; only for a second though, as the look in his eyes and his wife's then change from a slight glint to a full-on challenge mode.

After that it becomes mayhem, me biting and scratching everything that comes near, them doing whatever they can to hold me down. Blood is all I see; yelling and snarling the only sounds I hear, as I rend through everything in my path to freedom and salvation.

'Victorious.'

The haughty look on the child's face seemed to proclaim that for all to see. Not that it was a fair fight, once he'd broken out the tears the two adults immediately backed down. Realizing he couldn't have the dad thinking he hated him though, he'd pointed to his cheek, where the man placed a rough scritchy kiss.

'Beards.'

As he looked over his handy work Vistiel gave himself a mental pat on the back. The man had red bite marks all over both hands, was bleeding from at least 4 spots, and one of them was the last bite he got on the man's nose. They should have known better once he outsmarted them after the first bite, but they'd kept coming back. It had taken about 3 minutes, he was exhausted and no doubt bruised, but his lips were safe from the brute.

'Now just what the hell was that all about?? Why did he go nuts like that! He let you kiss him twice you said, then played a kissing game with you Em! He bit me. Bit me! Since when does he bite!??'

Throwing his arms up in the air, said brute posed what sounded like a question to his supposed wife, who looked only slightly guilty. After a few moments of silence passed, she responded and Vistiel watched on as the different language soap opera continued in front of him.

'I... I may have embellished a little. And now that I look back, I guess I remember him shaking his head after I kissed him and looking... upset? Come on Garrett he's a baby how was I supposed to know he didn't want it? He used to love my kisses!' the woman said back in a very defensive manner.

'You know that sounds bad, right?'

'Oh bite me.'

'So he learned it from you? Honestly, though, I have no idea. After everything that's happened the past two days... maybe something did change in his head? I'm not saying it was bad, but maybe he's a little different than we remember. At least he let me kiss his cheek...'

Using multiple hand motions and various different inflections, the man fought back.

'It's like watching Telemundo,' Vistiel thought.

The man looked sad and defeated. The woman just looked confused. Perhaps he'd gone overboard, but Vistiel wasn't going to admit that to anyone, ever. Though the mood was not looking to be recovering anytime soon.

Or at least it wouldn't have until his stomach growled. The woman quickly lifted him up in her arms and smiled at him. Thankfully after seeing his savage display, she brought him downstairs to get the mush he'd had yesterday rather than try anything that might lead to more biting.

The man sighed behind them and followed the two out of the room.

It had been six months since he'd been living in this world and Vistiel had spent them wisely.

The language turned out relatively simple to decipher as it was nearly identical to English in its structure. Whether it be his young brain absorbing it all that much quicker or the confusing memories of his two caregivers and a life he didn't live assimilating into his own, the foreign tongue became clearer and clearer by the day.

The written language was taking him a while longer but luckily his humans had realized he'd enjoyed when they read him stories. This ended with them reading to him often before bed and he'd make them and point out each word as they went along. Better yet, he'd recently learned the word for mana and he'd been giddy with anticipation ever since to use it.

He'd also learned that his mother figure, named Emily, was a Rogue, which explained how she'd gotten around so fast the few times he'd seen her use her abilities. She'd seemed to almost flicker out of existence only to reappear a few feet away in a completely different position.

The man, Garrett, seemed to be a mage that specialized in alteration. Alteration was similar to what enchanting was on Earth, but was also slightly different. What he took to be the word for enchanting here to mean was something referring to casting buffing magic on people only, whereas alteration apparently referred to items only. It made sense in a way since Garrett was changing the item at its base form and it was technically permanently different than when he'd received it, whereas enchanting only buffed someone momentarily.

The Demon lady with wings turned out not to be a Demon at all or an Angel for that matter. Her name was Vanessa and she was a Celestial. No relation to the Gods in this world, which were a thing. The Celestials were actually a mutation created by a sorcerer in the distant past. Using body modification magic and hundreds of years of study, he'd altered his genes in such a manner that he grew wings, increased his body's base strength, and increased its ability to manipulate mana. The man was a masochist as even the smallest body modification is supposed to cause insane amounts of pain, let alone growing wings and changing your body so much it warped your genes enough to change your offsprings race completely.

Back to Vanessa, it was obvious to him that she was suspicious of him. She'd always be studying him when she thought he wasn't looking. She watched him move around with interest and was far too focused whenever he'd made noises.

It had relaxed as of late, but every so often he would do something that brought that curiosity back in her eyes and he'd have to scold himself. The latest was when she'd caught him reading a book alone. It wasn't that she'd seen him open and pretend to be looking at the pictures, it was that when he'd glanced up she'd been staring directly into his eyes while he was concentrating on studying the words of the book. From the ground. Three feet away. How the hell she'd snuck there without him noticing was beyond him but it probably was due to how engrossed in the book he was.

Vistiel had known he was caught, unfortunately, but still tried to play it off by smiling and reaching for her while giggling. They'd always loved it when he laughed like a fool. He reached for her and she'd let him draw her to his side of the book where he'd pointed and moved his fingers across the book like Emily did, while showing her to follow with her eyes.

He hoped it had worked, as it seemed to make her smile and nod at him, but he'd been only as convinced as she was. He'd had been so concentrated and definitely wasn't following along with his finger.

In any case, the woman seemed to fawn over him almost more than his parents so he didn't mind it too much. If she knew he was smarter than he let on good for her.

He also didn't mind if Vanessa showed him affection by kissing him anywhere. She was beautiful, she had huge white wings, and she had such a serious business-like expression on all the time that it was almost a reward whenever he saw her face light up with a warm smile. His caretakers seemed to hate that he let her kiss him though but that was just their own unfortunate luck. It was weird with them but not exactly unwelcome with her, as much of a grey area as it may be on his moral compass.

As far as Gods were concerned he'd sorta known already that they existed but was still surprised to have it confirmed. There were various different Gods or higher life forms, all ruling over their separate magic. The Gods weren't called any name or referred to in any specific manner, though. The one lording over death would be called Death and the one ruling over fire would be called Fire. This was because that's what they were. He wasn't the God of fire, he was fire. Not the God of air, he was air. It's what they were on a base level. Whenever they manifested on the mortal plane, it was said to be a natural disaster. Cities would be encased in ice in but a moment, entire valleys flooded to the brim with water without so much as a warning. It was also rumored that when you manipulated an element you manipulated part of that God's self and when they manifested, those who tried to manipulate the beings specific element were powerless to.

Why this information was in children's books, he had no idea.

Opening his eyes, the man-child surveyed the room for his caretakers. Not seeing them present he decided to get his routine in before they came back. Pushing Jasper, the fox, off his chest, he stood up in the bed from his nap, beginning his morning ritual of sit-ups, push-ups, lunges, and stretches as the fox followed along like it was a game.

Ideally, he'd like to get some running in as well but he didn't see that being unnoticeable.

'Unless I did it in a game of chase...' he thought, mind trailing off to how he could fool them into thinking he was just running around and playing.

With that, a rare smile paraded across his face. His body had finally gotten strong enough to move around without falling all over the place largely because of this routine, and he was looking forward to seeing if he could run. The previous owner had avoided body strengthening like the plague and it vexed Vistiel to no end. What kind of man lets himself go like that?

That being said, he wasn't taking it too far. Stunting his natural growth for early muscles was not at all part of his plan for this new body.

He'd never let his caretakers catch him in his exercises and he had yet to speak to them. He didn't want them to get upset when they saw him doing his training and he knew it would be bad to suddenly become fluent in the language within half a year. They knew he could walk though, as he made sure to practice in front of them or around them when he did.

Which was basically all the time. They'd rarely left him alone for longer than an hour at a time maybe once or twice a day depending on errands and... stamina. They started doing this the last time(and first time) he'd made a huge fuss when they tried to have... 'alone time' while he was still in the crib.

Hopping off the bed, he listened for any sound of them. They'd finally taken down the walls on his crib/bed recently so he could come and go as he pleased.

With no sound present, he got to the real reason he'd gotten up and been stealthy about it. Garrett's office.

He'd been caught in there once or twice and the man was always reprimanding when he saw him with his few books or notes, likely worried the young child would ruin them. How else was he supposed to learn about mana? Or body strengthening techniques? Or Magic at all for that matter, though?

Cautiously, he moved over to the table and grabbed the one chair in the room to push it underneath the door while Jasper attempted to help by biting a leg and pulling on it. This part was always a gamble when he tried to escape because if they walked in on him doing it the chair was as good as gone.

Gently as to not make a sound, he slid the chair underneath the door until it was right under the knob. With a hop, he was able to get his arms on the chair seat and he hauled himself up. Slowly, he rotated the knob, gently pulled the door outward, hopped off his chair, pushed it back, and slunk out the room. Closing the door would have Garrett or Emily up the stairs in moments, having heard the sound. Emily especially had superhuman hearing he'd noticed.

He moved down the hallway while doing his best to avoid the creaky spots he'd already gotten caught because of, Jasper hot on his heels looking like he was also trying not to make a sound. Once at the office door he pulled out a string and screw. He tossed the screw up and over the long handle on this door and grabbed it once it fell back down. He tugged downward and prayed Garrett had left it unlocked today. He'd only been in the room a handful of times since he'd learned enough words to actually read, but he'd not found any important books yet. All had been on Alteration, none on mana.

'Lucky!!'

Very cautiously, Vistiel pushed open the door and stepped into the room. He tip-toed over to the corner with the stepladder then tip-toed while pushing it toward the bookshelf. It wasn't full by any means, but of the five books Garrett did have it would seem the lowest three were on Alteration. A pity he couldn't read that before, but he'd just learned the word for it and mana last week so what was he to do.

He pushed the ladder under the book that said mana, a rather small book in comparison to the others, then climbed up and placed his small hands on the binding, rough under his touch.

Very carefully, he pulled back while doing his best not to overbalance himself. Once it was fully in his grasp he began the arduous climb down and sat with his back to Garrett's desk, blowing on the dusty book as he'd seen in so many movies. When that hardly worked, he wiped the dust off on his clothes instead with a shrug. He resigned himself to getting caught and began to rifle through the book with high expectations.

What he found left him slightly agitated.

'A picture book?!'

The images mocked him as he flipped through the pages, cover to cover with pictures and diagrams; not a single word. They showed people moving through different motions that reminded him of Tai Chi or some other form of martial art.

Vistiel pinched the bridge of his nose and restrained himself from venting his frustration on his surroundings. He'd lost plenty of time he could have spent figuring out what these motions meant learning to read words, thinking it would be necessary for this part. It wasn't a total loss, but it was still frustrating. He needed to learn to read eventually but... well, magic came first in his mind.

He continued to flip through the pages of the book and examined the forms. The first half of the book showcased folks pushing, pulling, and molding an external force he assumed was mana while the second half showed a man meditating while he drew in that external force and dispersed it throughout his body.

The second half took up much more of the book he'd noticed and seemed to be more complicated. If Vistiel were to guess which would be easier, it would definitely be the forms as the meditation pose seemed to need meticulous detail. He'd need to mold a ball of the mana and make sure it was stable enough not to explode outward or leak slowly. Afterward, he'd need to pour it slowly in through the top of his head and disperse it evenly throughout his limbs and musculature. If it wasn't even... well, the picture of the man writhing on the ground with half of his body thicker than the other spoke more than words could.

A picture is worth a thousand words after all.

After placing it evenly throughout his body, he'd need to begin to infuse it in every single portion of it. Bones, muscles, blood, brain, skin... the diagrams showing the necessary parts were endless.

The forms seemed much more straightforward in comparison, that was for sure. He didn't know what connection they had to mana, but he would definitely work these motions into his morning routine. He'd already long ago come to the conclusion that he would become a Mage, who wouldn't in his situation? It was the dream. It was romance. Magic.

Despite his dedication to trying in any way he could, Vistiel hadn't been able to sense mana yet. Countless moments of concentration on a balanced coin and attempted Kamehameha's... not a single thing had been gained from all his effort except weird looks and questions about whether their son was constipated. Perhaps these diagrams would change that.

He spent the next half hour practicing his form and remembering the steps, pouring over them again and again until he was sure he had them stored correctly in his mind and then he did it again.

As he is finished his third rotation through the movements Vistiel heard the sound of someone coming up the steps. No louder than a soft patter of socks on wood, he knew he'd only heard her because he'd been listening for this exact sound. The soft footfalls stopped in front of the bedroom door, then immediately made a b-line for the office. She knew where he went when he broke out by now, so it was no surprise to either of them when Emily walked through the slightly open door.

Looking down at her son sitting partially on her husband's book with his legs splayed out to the sides, Emily suppressed a laugh.

"And what do you think you are doing in here Mr. Damien?"

The boy giggled at her weird facial expression and tone, then pointed to the book and rolled forward in a summersault. Clapping and feigning an impressed look, she couldn't help but indulge in his shenanigans. Her little boy was just... adorable! If she didn't know any better she'd say he was trying to be!

"Your father would be upset if he saw you sitting on another one of his books, but I guess today we will make a special exception since you are being such a good boy and haven't broken anything." Glancing around the room to make sure he actually hadn't broken anything, she walked over to her boy and sat him on her lap with the book he'd had.

"This right here is the universal practice form. It is how everyone learns to sense and manipulate mana. Your father and I both learned to do what we can because of these forms." She said as she pointed to the forms her Damien had been staring at.

Damien clapped his hand on the book over the picture her finger was pointing at and looked up at her with big eyes telling her to praise him.

Giggling again, she patted him on the head and pinched one of his cheeks. These were her favorite moments of the day, catching the child on his little 'excursions'. She'd long known how he escaped, it was ridiculously obvious, but her heart couldn't let her spoil his fun and her time with him once she'd 'found' him. Her husband might not like it, but she didn't care. He just didn't have to know about it. It was practically the only time Damien was sitting still long enough for her to cuddle him and feel important.

Emily had a hunch he could understand her. He paid attention far too long for a child of his age for him not to; she'd asked around. Children were supposed to roam, not watch with rapt attention as she showered him with lo- *cough* read books to him.

He also seemed to be getting more comfortable with her around again. At first, it seemed he was reluctant to let himself sit near her after the incident, now he seemed to just accept her as a chair and rest against her arms while she held the boy. It melted her heart to see his expression as he read, full of wonder. Still, she'd have to do something about the step ladder. It was unsafe to let him climb it.

Perhaps she'd just move the books to the lowest shelf. Garrett would have to accept it.

"These over here," she said while pointing at the meditation pages, "is called Rumina. It's the difference between Mages and the combat classes though. A Mage will continue his manipulation of the Elements and will never touch on it. A Warrior, or Rogue in my case, will use this once we've learned to manipulate mana carefully enough. We build it up into a ball see? Then we sqeeeeeeeeeezzz," she hugged her son and tickled his sides, eliciting a giggle from him, "the ball down into our bodies and let it flow into every part of us."

Damien looked up at her, then back down at the book... then back up at her. It was like he had a question but didn't want to ask it.

A glint in her eye, Emily realized this was her chance to get closer to her son, to get him to trust her.

Looking down, she leaned into his ear and whispered, "Don't worry, I won't tell your dad you can understand us yet my star. Ask your question."

Giving him a reassuring peck on the cheek, she waited to see what would come of it.

Slowly, trepidatiously, her son met her eyes, then looked back down as if guilty of some crime. She did her best to still the fluttering of her heart and waited with bated breath, hoping against all odds he'd do something intelligent.

He then flipped the pages back to the forms while keeping his right hand in the book where the meditation images were. Then, he reached up and grabbed her left hand with his left hand, guiding it to hold the pages in between upright. He then pointed at both the forms and the meditation then motioned towards himself while looking up at the smile spreading across Emily's face, flinching a bit as she laughed out loud at the revelation.

'He understands me!!! And only I know! I'll get ahead of that woman in his eyes soon it's only a matter of time now!'

Looking up at Emily, I flinch at her laugh. It sounds evil, but I doubt it was meant like that towards me...? Still, the drool coming out of her mouth slightly is... unnerving to say the least.

How did she know? How did she find out? Was I too obvious?

The thoughts swirling around my head have no answers so I push them away for now. First of all, she hadn't even answered my question, she was in her own world!

Poking her arm that wraps around me in a tight but... not that uncomfortable way, I gain her attention again. She breaks out of her delusions and looks down at me. I once again point at the two pages, then motion towards myself.

Can I do both? Can. I. Do. Both?

Even with my mental willing, it takes several times and a couple of answers to the wrong questions, but finally she realizes what I am asking and shakes her head.

"No my little wonder muffin-,"

Oy, your nicknames are getting worse, lady.

"-you can't have both forms. Whereas a Combatant must learn both initially, your body gets worse and worse at manipulating mana further from your body when you use meditation to refine your body and conversely, gets worse at manipulating mana inside your body to refine as you practice the forms and external magic. That's not to say you can't manipulate your body with mana, just that you can't strengthen your bones, your muscles, and your blood with it. A strong Mage can cast a spell to empower his body, but the spell will wear off, and the agility or strength you'll get from an external magic force manipulating your body is so much less effective than an internal magical force that you never see close combat Mages. Well, not anymore. The Elements that excelled at close quarters combat have pretty much gone extinct. No one wants to let themselves get struck by lightning after all and no one wants to jump off a cliff to commune with air either. Does that all make sense?"

She finishes her lecture then looks down at me questioningly. I look up to her with a confused expression, several questions about what she said circulating through my mind but I figure I'll start with the one I'm most curious about.

I look up and tilt my head to the side in a questioning glance, which causes her to squeeze me tighter but I pretend not to notice, then walk an imaginary man off a cliff with my right hand. I look up at her again hoping she understands and thankfully she does.

"It's how you specialize in a magic my little won*smack*" a hard smack from my hand and a glare stop that nickname from becoming a repeat offender as she continues, "*cough* my little star. *smack* That's your nickname and you'll love it or I'm calling you whatever I want."

She ignores my second smack and shoots me that ultimatum.

So much for the all-powerful smack.

I sigh.

"Anyway, continuing, any mage can learn the basics of the Elements by learning these forms. It's how you start out and figure out what you want to do. Building off the basics gets more and more difficult as you progress down them which forces most people to commune with the elemental god to learn to master it. To learn to understand it at a greater level."

She pauses and glances down at me to make sure I'm listening.

"For fire, most mages set themselves completely ablaze with healing mages standing by. With water, many drown themselves or swim for days on end. Air is the most dangerous of them all as it requires you to leap from a cliff. There is no other way to feel the wind whip past you as fast as you need it to and as unstrained as you need it to. A Celestials wings do not beat fast enough and the wind does not blow hard enough in even the most strong of wind tunnels."

Taking a moment to let me process what she's said, she runs her hands through my brown hair and then picks up where she left off.

"No one else can interfere with your challenge to speak with the God. If you have a healer on standby whilst you set yourself aflame and he interferes before you've succeeded, you will get nowhere. Having someone there to melt you out of a block of ice is fine, but like Fire, if they interfere in any way before you finish, you will never get a second chance. There is a higher success rate in those who bring no one with them to commune as well. 'Impress the Gods of the Elements your resolve and they will grant you the knowledge you seek', or so it's said. Though there is a higher death rate with those that attempt without a safety blanket too but that's really not that important," she says, sliding that dangerous piece of information in like it isn't a major factor.

"Some elements are much more dangerous than others, though. Air for example. The God representing Air has never allowed someone with a safety net to commune. Lightning is dangerous simply because there is no safety net for it. Only a madman would willingly get struck by a bolt of lightning. Darkness lets no one live who fails his test. A body from a failed commune with him has never been recovered in the history of Eleria and thus no one knows what the test is. Ultimately, this is why there are more Combatant classes in this world than True Mages. Your father is a True Mage, but he communed with the God of Alteration, so many wouldn't call him as such. That God is the kindest of them all as all he requires is for you to alter multiple different sets of armor or swords in a unique and interesting way and you get a pass."

Looking up at her, she shrugs as I consider all she has said. People literally kill themselves in this world for a chance at power. I suppose I can understand it in a world where strength is law, but it's still scary.

"Are you interested in the forms? I'm not saying you have to learn magic, many people make their living doing other things as well but if yo-"

With a quick jump upward with excitement I double over in pain at the iron chin I slam into. Moaning, I crumple back down into her lap as she laughs and pats me with a look of absolute joy on her face.

"Excited, are we?"

I point at the forms and nod my head slowly. She giggles then lifts me and herself from the floor and sets us apart from one another.

We start with our legs spread apart at shoulder width and our hands on our waist, palm up and open, elbows back. From there we take a step forward with our non-dominant foot and slowly extend our arms from the side out in front of us. As our step lands, we fall into a lunge, knee not touching the ground with our head bowed forward. Once my arms are fully extended out, parallel from each other, I shift my hands into an eagle claw and rotate my non-dominant hand up and in and my dominant hand down and in. From there, I lock the mana in the air with my claws and push back up with my leg as I pull it with me over my head. Rotating on my right heel since I am right handed I pirouette slowly 180 degrees, sliding my left leg out towards my left side and over into position to lunge again as my body slowly shifts to accommodate the change. Once my leg is in position, I continue to drag the mana overhead, left arm leading. Before beginning the second lunge, I pull the mana down over the top of my head to my chest, arms still standing one on top of the other. After that, the lunge begins and finally I push the mana out and away from myself.

At least, that's what I'm supposed to do. I was hoping that the only thing I'd been missing was the forms and that I'd be able to feel the mana in the air once I began these movements but the reality was much crueler. I hadn't felt any different than as if I were dancing around in my old world.

"That is the first movement. It really is simple but a tight form is extremely important in this. If you don't keep your core tight and your body taught or you even slightly lose concentration, the exercise is moot and you must start again. Meditation to clear your mind before you begin is important to succeed, but I mainly just wanted to show you the form. Now watch as I do it and see if you can spot the difference."

Stepping back and settling in to watch my new master, I see her begin in the same stance we did when she showed me. When she starts moving, my mouth falls slightly open. It's like watching flowing water transverse through a mountain, each movement rounded off and flowing slowly but surely into the next, without rush. When she grasps the air, I gasp as I see the air literally seem to split apart, like a glass mirror shattering what you thought was another room. She pulls the blue air along with her as she shifts her stance, then pushes it away from her as she ends the motion. Continuing from there, she begins to set into the other steps of the form we hadn't done, never letting go of the mana while manipulating it in every direction around her body slowly and meticulously until she settles into a horse stance and sends the mana up and away from her directly overhead. The second she lets go of it it seems to begin to dissipate until it hits the ceiling and disperses in all directions.

With a sheen of sweat on her brow from the one motion, Emily turns toward me and gives me an expression as if to say, 'how cool is your mom hmm??'

I can't stop my hands as they clap together and my eyes are surely as wide open in admiration as they feel. That was the most impressive thing I've ever seen. It might sound like I have a low bar for being impressed, but when you watch someone literally break the air in front of you it puts things into perspective. Suddenly, that cat meme you saw yesterday isn't the most important thing in the world.

A huge grin stretches across her entire being as she hops towards me and picks me up, kissing me on the nose, "You are literally the most adorable thing in the world my star. It's been years since I've done that full rotation, I'd forgotten how hard it was."

I stop clapping and try to get down from her overly affectionate arms, eager to try again. She laughs and settles into a stance next to me, watching as I begin the form. When I try to go to the second stage she stops me and explains, "Don't be too eager. Until you can manipulate the mana in the air around you with the first form, you will get no benefits from doing the others. Those forms are there to increase your longevity and control of the mana, if you cannot manipulate any at the start it will do you no good."

Nodding slightly, I restart the first form, getting smacks from a meterstick she pulled out of nowhere each time I make an error. One thwack here, one there as my elbow leaves its place or my foot doesn't land in the right spot. I want to complain about the stinging but she seems to be enjoying herself so much and it honestly does help to know where I'm out of line...

We are both so deep in concentration, we don't notice Garrett and Vanessa enter the room with lunch until we hear a board creek and spin around.

"He's ONE. You're- He's- THE FORMS?" He stammers out, causing my mo- Emily and I to flinch.

Well, so much for not letting them know I'm competent. All right. I can salvage this. What do I do. What do one-year-olds do. Cry? That usually works...

My body decides for me and I turn and bolt behind the desk with more agility than a child my age should have as my young mind fails to come up with a reasonable response quick enough.

Whelp, guess that answers the running question. Being this young is playing games with my mind; I panic quicker, I get emotional easier... it's weird.

I round the corner and dive under where the chair pushes into, slamming my head into the underside of the desk in the process with a loud bang.

YOU IDIOT! What was that?! Was that you trying to be stealthy? One. Year. Old. One-year-olds don't sprint like that! Way to just give it awa- oh shit ok ok calm down.

Needless to say, panic had set in and went into overdrive when Vanessa's head pokes under the desk.

"You think I didn't know, little one?"

With a grin, she extends her soft hand toward me and beckons me forward. When I don't immediately take it, her face turns to one of annoyance.

"Oh please, like being intelligent beyond your years is a crime. Why you're wary of us I've not the slightest clue. Your father is the only one who didn't notice it seems."

"Oh I'm the strange one here?"

"...so I'd hardly see a need to treat me any different."

Calming my breathing, I take a moment to think. If she's telling the truth, and I don't see any reason she'd lie, she might be right.

Fighting back the urge to run for it and all the anxiety-driven thoughts in my brain of them biding their time to experiment on me and kill me, I choose to trust the people that have been keeping me alive for the past few months. Hesitantly I reach out and touch her hand and the world flies by my face as she rips me out from under the desk. Right before I scream I'm pushed against something so soft and warm it puts down blankets to shame. My mind immediately goes blank.

Comfy.

So soft. Best feeling ever. Once I realize she probably isn't going to kill me, I rest my head on God's gift to mankind and open my eyes, only to see feathers. How considerate, it's like a fortress in here. A soft, amazing fortress.

"Well, are you going to give me my son back?"

My Emily sounds muffled and mad from outside.

"Mmmm, nope. I'm his Guide after all. I'm asserting my authority to keep him for at least an hour."

"You have a minute," I hear Emily say.

Her tone is extremely frosty. She is upset. This won't do. Vanessa is protecting me from Garrett, not that I really need to be protected in the first place... young mind once again making me afraid when logically I shouldn't be.

I poke at the feathers and look up at the Ice Queen's face, who looks down at me quizzically. I point to her feathers and make a shooing gesture. She smirks at me and moves one wing over to the side, giving me a clear view of Garrett and Emily. I point at Emily, then at Vanessa, then make a hugging motion onto Vanessa's arm. If there's anything I've learned since I came here, it's that intelligent beyond my years or not these three adults here all have a fatal weakness. My adorable factor, and oh do I use it often.

Pleading eyes and the hugging motion are all it takes to break Emily's fabricated anger. Within a second she's rushing into Vanessa's feather fort with me while giggling and hugging the Celestial as well. Looking up at the Queen of the Fort, I make the door shutting motion and this gets a laugh out of her. Turning quickly, I catch Garrett's gaze and give the confused man a thumbs up as the fort's door closes around his wife, me, and the fox who'd jumped into my arms at the last moment.