It’s impossible to explain near-death experiences with stubby little baby arms. I tried every trick in the book. My hands flew through the air and dirt cascaded across the room. I even lifted my head. My parents took one look at my amazing effort and then decided I was asking for more dirt.

Great. What am I going to do with this?

My blanket was more dirt than cloth. I lay there on my dirt bed, exhausted, and thought about what happened. The pain was real. I’ve never experienced something like it. A seething, insidious thing that snaked inside my body. Now I knew what it felt like to be out of mana. Like something was missing, damaged.

Then there was the Mark of the Crijik. I had a mana pool, and probably even stats, like in a video game. I just didn’t know how to see them. The Mark increased my maximum mana. That sounded really important. I thought over the message I’d seen and the golden light that had erased the pain.

It wasn’t worth it.

The physical pain had disappeared, but my memory of it hadn’t. Forget being a baby, even in my previous world I’d never gotten hurt that badly. It was like fire ants had stung me underneath my skin. I looked down and saw that my fingers were rubbing my wrists gently. The thought of the pain made them react automatically.

I shot another puff of dirt into the air. This was the same number of shots I had taken before, but this time I didn’t run out of mana. I didn’t even get a warning.

Earth Creation: Level 1. Experience 2.3%

Mark of the Crijik: Level 1: Experience 1%

This was going to take a while; the Mark was leveling passively but a lot slower than earth creation. Then again, I had all the time in the world. The benefits of being a baby. I laid my hands down and melted into the dirt bed. I was asleep before I could shoot out another pile of dirt.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself face to face with a giant bronze creature in the sky.

“Wha-” I shot dirt at it immediately.

The creature recoiled with a hiss, and laughter filled the air. I paused. There was another one of the creatures at my side. Its skin billowed black, and an emotionless silver face stared at me. Then I realized that it wasn’t a monster, it was a person in black robes. They were wearing a silver mask.

Are we being robbed?

I hope they don’t take my blanket. Or my dirt.

I looked towards the corner of the room and saw the puffer rustling its feathers. It hadn’t even tried to warn me. The jerk. It could get stolen for all I cared.

Then my dad walked into the room and saw the man in the bronze mask struggling. When the man took his mask off, locks of golden hair cascaded down towards the ground. His eyes were red, and the dirt had surrounded them so that he looked like a raccoon.

“I told you not to stand so close to the baby, Marv.” My father shook his head.

“I thought babies loved masks.” The man, Marv, wiped his eyes. “Why isn’t this stuff coming off?”

“Clowns. You’re thinking of clowns.” The still-masked figure commented from the side.

“Lucky for us Marv is both.” My father said dryly.

This was a new side to him. Normally my father would be overprotective and bragging about his drawing abilities. I hadn’t seen him make jokes like this before. I took another look at the man with golden hair. He was laughing alongside the other guys, and he didn’t seem angry at me. A pang of regret and guilt wiggled inside me. I’d jumped the gun.

Then again, you can’t wake a baby like that and expect to get away without a spray.

The man in the silver mask pulled up to me and hesitantly patted my head.

“He’s intelligent.” I stared into the three eyes of his mask. It was a strange design, but I could see he only had two eyes underneath it. “He calmed down after assessing we’re not a threat.”

“It’s the laughter.” My dad beamed at the compliment. “We always make sure to laugh around him.”

Oh gosh. My dad was like one of those insufferable moms from my previous world. The ones that always take credit for their child’s accomplishments. I’ll let you have this one old man. Next time you get near me without company I’m going to shoot dust on your clothes.

I stared up at the two strangers. I hadn’t met anyone else in this world since the first night. It was hard to gauge their appearances underneath their robes. They didn’t look sickly, or malnourished. In fact, Marv’s hair smelled like it had been doused in perfume. That was a good sign. I didn’t want to live in a terrible world that didn’t even have adult baths.

My father wiped a hand over his brow. “So, what’s your assessment? Is he magician material?”

My head perked up. I liked the sound of that. I saw the two people in a new light, their robes looked pretty fancy, just like magicians from a fairy tale.

It was Marv that responded. “We won’t be able to find that out for a while.” He saw my father’s expression and raised his hands consolingly. “Magic doesn’t grow on trees. It grows in the body. If we were to measure the mana of a baby that is a few months old, we might not be able to sense anything even if he was talented. You wouldn’t want us to declare him manaless because we rushed the test.”

My father deflated. “You can’t see his status window?” He could see the answer in their expressions. “Okay, how long does it take for mana to build up in the body?”

“Five years.” Silver mask responded. “If he has the talent of an average magician, that is the amount of time it takes for his mana pool to increase to measurable levels. Of course, this can be augmented by external factors. Talent, magical regents, and training could all speed up this time frame.”

My dad’s shoulders hunched. I knew he didn’t have the money to afford any of those things. I’d been paying attention, and he hadn’t made those pictures of fireballs because he was proud of his drawings. It was because he couldn’t afford any of his own.

“This is when a stone-cold bastard would leave.” Marv stayed perfectly still. “We can’t offer him official training, and definitely not an official affiliation with Zodiac. But there are always ways around the rules. I can come and pick you guys up and show him around the buildings. I’m only a bronze mask, but if he sticks with me then he’ll at least see magic in action. He might even be able to see enough to form the foundations of new magic skills.”

My father took a step forward.

“You would do that for us?” I could see tears forming at the edge of his eyes.

“Don’t sweat the details. You’re a friend. I still remember the sticky situations you’ve gotten us out of.” Marv looked at me and put a finger to his lips.

Don’t worry Marv, the secret is safe with me. Unless I need to blackmail you.

“Not to mention introducing you to your wife.” My dad regained his composure.

“Let’s not talk about the bad things.” Marv smiled.

“I’m curious.” The man in the silver mask looked at me. “Did either of you hear him speak when he shot dirt into Marv’s eyes?”

We all looked at him. I searched through my memories but couldn’t answer his question. It had all happened so suddenly. I hadn’t even had time to think. The other two were having the same problem.

Silver mask didn’t seem to consider it a problem. Instead, he swiped dirt out of my cot and examined it curiously. I wondered what he saw inside. This was a magician, but he didn’t have glowing magic symbols around him, and he wasn’t whispering strange rituals. He looked like an ordinary man with a silver mask and robes.

Okay, that wasn’t very ordinary.

“Has he been named yet?” The man tucked the dirt inside his robe.

My dad hesitated. “We follow the old customs. We'll let him select his own name. Unattached to our own.”

“You gave yourself the name Teral.” Marv pointed out.

“And I’ve never regretted it.” My father shot back.

Marv smiled and I realized he was trying to get my dad back into his comfort zone. I wouldn’t mind learning magic from this guy. I wondered what kind of magician he was. What kind of magic he could use. I didn’t know what Zodiac was, but judging from the conversation it seemed like a company. These people were probably from the magic section, and I had no idea what my dad did.

“We will give you time to think about it. Zodiac is always looking for new talent, and if we can nurture it from the beginning then that’s even better.” The silver masked man made to leave.

I raised my hands towards my dad. There was nothing to think about. These people could teach me magic, nobody else I knew could do that. I could see my dad thought the same way. He opened the door to let the men through, receiving a gentle pat and thumbs up from Marv. The magician had put his bronze mask back on.

My dad was the last one out of the room. He gave me a gentle squeeze on the belly and a smile blossomed on his face. I watched him leave the room with a calm expression, but the moment he was out of sight I threw my hands into the air and shot out dirt in celebration. The puffer gave me the stink eye as he was hit, but I didn’t care.

I was going to learn magic.

Hell yeah.

I couldn’t rest until I’d heard the guests leaving. Thoughts of seeing the outside world kept me wide awake. I tussled and turned, dirt flying everywhere. I went over the conversation in my mind and tried to glean as many details as I could. What the silver masked man had said about mana pools resonated with me. He said that they grew in the body, with time.

The Mark of Crijik had increased mine recently. I’d felt the mana entering my body.

What did it mean?

I’m not the kind of person that brags, but surely if I have an adult mind then I could try and be better than an average magician. I just needed to work out how to increase my mana pool. I didn’t want to go through the pain of running out of mana again. It was too much for me.

I’m sure there’s another way to do things. The visitors had answered a question I’d had since unlocking earth creation. It is possible to learn new skills. My parents still seem to place importance on the skill I picked first. Maybe it was special, or maybe it was because I would have time to level it up. If skills were hard to get and took years of training then that means the foundational skill you gained as a baby would be of incredible importance.

Footsteps echoed towards my room. I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. The door opened and I recognized the clopping of my father’s boots. I couldn’t see him, but his steps sounded happy. They had a spring to them.

“Hey there champ.” He whispered to me, low enough that he wouldn’t wake me up if I was sleeping. “I hope you sleep well. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

“You’re going to see real magic.”