Shaden opened his eyes. He quickly pulled the blankets over himself to keep away the cold. The morning was freezing! He looked at the window of his room and saw layers of frost powdered onto the glass. Flakes of white were falling from the sky, gently piling up on his window. Judging by the bright sunlight that came through his window, the time was probably past eight in the morning.

He yawned and cast a warmth spell. The chill within the room was slowly replaced by a gentle, warm air. Shaden pushed aside his blankets and got up from his bed.

It was the day when the Snow Festival began!

He quickly got dressed in some warm clothes and opened the door of his room. The knob was placed lower than usual to help his short height reach it. His mother was already awake, preparing breakfast for the family.

“Good morning, Shaden~,” she said as she sliced some cheese.

Shaden sluggishly sat on the floor. The morning was beautiful. He really wanted to go outside and play in the snow. He would soon.

Shidey meowed as she came out of the corner and rubbed herself against Shaden. Shaden fluffed her fur and smoothed it out. Ah, this was peace.

Soon, his brother and father emerged from their rooms, looking tired as they yawned. Garthan helped Shaden onto his baby seat and the family sat around the table as they enjoyed their breakfast.

“So Mom,” said Rother as he swallowed a piece of bread, “I made some plans with friends today. The Academy is giving us a free day, so we want to go visit the city center. You know, because the Festival starts today? This will be the first actual celebration I’ll ever see!”

Melsei took a sip out of her and looked at Rother.

“You’re too young to travel alone,” she stated.

“But Mom! My friends are going. And we’re skilled enough to defend ourselves.”

Rother glanced at his father for support. Garthan was busily munching on some eggs, acting like he didn’t know what was happening.

“You’ve already seen festivals at Whitewater Village, haven’t you?”

“That’s different. They didn’t even have a tree there. I heard the city sets up a giant tree that’s taller than our house! Please Mom, can I go?”

Garthan cleared his throat.

“He’s big enough to stay safe, honey. He can manage himself.”

“Thanks, Dad!”

“I didn’t agree yet,” said Melsei.

Rother pouted his face and continued to chew in dissatisfaction. Shaden was just enjoying the glorious taste of otherworldly bread and cheese. They tasted wonderful.

Garthan leaned over to Melsei and whispered into her ear.

“I’ll watch over them if you’re worried. But I’ve seen him swing the sword. They could fend off a couple of robbers if they tried. They’re boys! They need something to use their energy on.”

Melsei glared at Garthan, who shrugged. She finally sighed. Maybe she was being too clingy.

“Rother.”

Rother looked up from his food grumpily. “Yes, Mom?”

“Be back before dinner.”

“Okay!” said Rother as his face instantly changed into smiles.

He quickly finished his breakfast and went back into his room, emerging shortly after in his school uniform and his wooden sword strapped on his side. He had a winter coat hanging on him to block off the cold.

“You’re going now?” asked Melsei.

“Yep! We of the Academy were taught to be diligent and quick to act! Dad, can I have some money for the Snow Festival?”

Garthan chuckled as he fetched a silver coin from his pocket. He tossed it at Rother who caught it with a skillful hand.

“Use it wisely,” he told Rother.

“Got it!” said Rother as he opened the door and ran downstairs. Shaden wanted to follow him into the snow very badly, but his parents would never allow it. He sighed internally. Why couldn’t he grow up faster?

Melsei opened the window facing the streets.

“Be back before dinner!” she shouted at Rother, who was currently dashing to the Academy where his friends had planned to meet. There was a faint ‘okay’ in the distance and Melsei closed the windows to keep the freezing air out.

Shaden patiently waited as his parents cleaned up the table.

“Honey, guess what?” Garthan said. Melsei turned around as she finished putting away the dishes.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Guess who got a holiday on his job today?”

Melsei’s face lit up in surprise, quickly changing to a big smile.

“Really?”

“Let’s go to the Snow Festival together. We can’t only let Rother have all the fun, can we?”

Melsei beamed as she ran to Garthan and leaped into his arms.

“You sneaky snowman!” she said while laughing.

Shaden had to watch his parents while goosebumps crawled all over his body. Oh gosh. He really wanted to grow up fast.

〄 〄 〄

“Hot drinks! We have all the drinks you need!”

“Come and buy our sweet snow rolls! At only 10 copper!”

“Souvenirs for sale! Animals, Monsters, Spirits, they’re all here!”

The city square was bustling with the shouts of merchants and the footsteps of all the bystanders. Though the snow was still falling, it could not prevent the Snow Festival from beginning. Delicious smells flooded through the crowds, along with singing and music in the distance. Everyone held on to their coats as they enjoyed the cold morning air.

Just like Rother had said, there was a giant tree in the distance, around 5 stories tall. Various lights hung on its green branches along with other decorations like dolls. The streetlamps and houses were decorated with winter plants and the colors of red, blue, white, and green. Shaden was surprised to find everything be so similar to Christmas in his old world. He half expected that it was Saiton the Sage who came up with the festival.

“Here Shaden, try some!”

Shaden thankfully accepted something like long bread with frosting on it. It looked like a thick, flat stick and was also hard to the touch. He bit into it.

Sweetness and crumbs filled his mouth. It was delicious. It tasted just like the frosted cookies back at home but with a distinct, special scent to it. It wasn’t gingerbread. It was milder. Like a mixture between mint and hazelnut. He quickly dusted his hands off after devouring it and looked forward to more.

His father was carrying him on his right arm. His left arm was occupied with Melsei clinging on to it. They went around the stalls, occasionally buying a sweet for Shaden to eat. Later on, Melsei sipped on a brown, steamy drink with something white and fluffy floating on it.

No way, Shaden thought. Hot chocolate?

He wasn’t close enough to smell it. Oh well. There was no way it could be, right?

“Dear, isn’t that Rother?”

Melsei tugged on Garthan’s arm as she pointed west beyond the crowd. Shaden squinted his eyes to see if what his mother was saying was right.

She was right. On the side of the plaza, Rother was having a snowball fight with some other students who were in the same attire as him. They flung their balls at speeds impossible for nine-year-olds, dodging others or blocking with their swords. It looked more like training than playing around. Shaden watched with an open mouth after seeing Rother dodge a snowball aimed at his face then slice two others in a consecutive motion.

“See? They’re having a great time,” said Garthan. “Let’s go somewhere else. We might disturb them.”

“But honey! That looks dangerous!” cried Melsei.

Garthan had to practically drag Melsei away from the site to prevent her from barging into the game. She worried too much for her own sake.

Eventually, they walked to the base of the tree that was set up. There were even more stands set up in the vicinity; something like a large stage for a concert was also set up. Shaden patted his father’s short beard and pointed towards the stage.

“Dad. What?”

“That, Shaden, is where the musicians come and perform. Or sometimes, the Adventurer’s Guild displays their biggest game for the winter. There are monsters that only come out during this time of the month, you see.”

“Ahhh!” said Shaden. He hated baby talking, but his parents seemed to buy it.

Shaden had never seen a live monster before. Well, there was Shidey and the weird birds that flew around everywhere, but he really wanted to see a big, scary, man-eating beast. Something like a dire wolf or orc.

He had seen other sentient races besides humans though. A book he had read stated that there were three categories of sentient beings. Pure, Humanoid, and Theroid (Bestial).

To be classified as sentient beings, a race had to have three characteristics: the ability to learn and utilize knowledge, the ability to communicate with other races, and the ability to overcome their instincts.

For example, goblins were not considered sentient because while some of them could use magic, they could not communicate with other races nor could they overcome their instincts to kill, steal, and rape.

The more a race resembled a human, the more intelligent they were. Therefore, Theroid races like lizardmen were almost always lagging behind the Pure and Humanoid races.

Humanoid races looked like humans, except that they had other parts that were not exactly ‘human’. The beastmen were included along with hybrids (Pure-Humanoid/Pure-Theroid mix). The horned races also fit into this category.

The Pure races were the humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, and the like. While each differed from the other slightly, they were all free from monster-features.

However, there were exceptions to the three sentient categories. In a world with mana, any living being could undergo a transformation if they absorbed enough mana particles. This was how animals (monsters) with increased intelligence and strength were born. Over hundreds and thousands of years, creatures adapted to the mana around them to become increasingly dangerous. The only drawback from this was that sentient races could not evolve. While they could learn to harness the mana much better than beasts, they could not evolve like monsters. Scholars determined it was because their intelligence prevented the mana from taking over their minds.

And if a certain monster absorbed an immeasurable amount of mana…they could become sentient. Though not included in the three categories, they existed. Ancient Dragon races and legendary beasts, folktale monsters that could be called minor gods.

But since their nature stemmed from that of a monster, they were too dangerous to be meddled with.

Shaden really wanted to see one of them. The city was just too safe.

The family ate a simple dinner at a restaurant. The hot potatoes with butter and cheese suited magnificently with the cold weather. The building even had a warming system for its customers, providing a pleasant shelter from the cold.

Shaden was extremely surprised when he heard a piano playing at the back. Though the tune was very different from what he was used to, it definitely sounded and looked like a piano. He nudged at his parents and pointed at the piano.

“Oh, that? That, Shaden, is a piano!”

Why the heck was there a piano in this world?

Shaden wanted to ask more. He wished there was a library in the city, which there probably was. But he was two years old. So many things were limited to him.

They returned to the house after walking around the snow-filled streets for a while. Garthan helped Melsei clean the house with a wet cloth, and Shaden watched his parents work while he played with Shidey on the living room couch.

〄 〄 〄

During the nights, Shaden would improve his magic, learning one incantation at a time and memorizing its properties. They were all basic spells, but it helped him understand the magic of the world better.

For example, he learned that incantations could be changed. Instead of saying “Shine through the dark – Illuminate,” Shaden could say, “Light up – Illuminate.” It proved that longer spells could be shortened if one understood the laws behind it well enough. For Shaden, who had the backing of knowledge from an advanced world, it was easy to understand physics and chemistry.

However, for the people of Exarria, scientific knowledge was limited. Therefore, shortening the chant was much more common than chantless spells.

This was all he could do. His body grew slowly but surely as he aged day by day. This was how Shaden spent the winter of year 323/324 and the nights of his October break.

〄 〄 〄

Demund ran through the lonely night of October. Scary decorations were all over the neighborhood, but they didn’t faze him. All he could think of was how quiet the night was.

Enariss had gone on a trip with her father. Riley and Rhyne were also on trips in other regions of the world. They had uploaded pictures of themselves with elephants, ancient buildings, ruins, monuments—and Demund was spending his time reading and running. That combined with the blandness of his dream world, Demund felt very bored.

Once again, he had no friends he could hang out with. It was just like summer break. He passed Enariss’s house, dark and lifeless with its residents absent.

Gosh, it was boring. He wondered what Jothan was doing.

Was he having fun?