A spark of golden light grew brighter and brighter within Mirio's chest. It pulsed with violent intensity until it burst forth, flooding into his body from head to toe. He jolted awake. If it wasn't for the warmth that radiated from the gentle thrum of his mother's heartbeat he might have been flung into a panic. He hung in place, suspended by an unknown jel. It globbed near his mouth and eyes, unsure of its danger, he kept both tightly shut.

“Mirio” a distant voice called out to him from somewhere in the shadows.

Mirio wiped the globs from his eyes, only to have them quickly covered once more.

“My eyes hurt. I can’t open them. What do I do?”

“The time will come…” a deep and powerful being urged him to be patient

“I can’t remember anything. Who am I? Where is this? What is happening?”

Darkness wrapped around him like a cloak as the voice disappeared.

Mirio knew very little about the world he had been thrust into. All he knew was that there was a border between himself and everything else. His nature while substantive was fragile, and thusly danger loomed all around him. Every misunderstood thing filtering into his senses had to be treated with caution and investigated tentatively.

“I am so weak. I can’t even open my eyes. But somehow I can sense what is going on…"

Mirio stretched his awareness out beyond his own body and could feel the hurried vibrations coming from the surface water of a fountain not far from him. While he did not understand the concept of a mother he understood enough that the thrum of the heartbeat all around him was his kin. Her heart strained, awash with sadness and self pity. A man stood before her, his sharp motions, and emphasis in each action struck at her like daggers. Little jolts of pain interupting each beat of her heart.

Mirio pushed back against the dissonant whispers that flowed into her being. He drew all the strength he had back into his spine and sharpened what would have been his gaze if his eyes were open.

All of his mother's thoughts and feelings coallesced into one coherent thought. “I am so pathetic, I despise him, but I have nowhere else to go”

As Mirio stretched his senses further outward he could make out the man's toothy smile. It cut through the darkness like a twisted crescent moon, confident in its cruelty.

“Sami, you know what I want”

Mirio stirred uncomfortably in the shadows, his heart rate increased, and he twisted in an attempt to get away from the being. Yet, no matter what he did, there was no escape, and with that realisation the spirit that had filled his body left him. His consciousness faded back into the darkness to wait for a better time to begin its journey.

…

“Ahhhh!”

Mirio tried to cry out but it was in vain. An immense pressure pushed in on him from all sides. There was nothing he could do as his face and skull were deformed under the crushing weight. He tried to pull up one of his arms, but it was pinned firmly to his side. A sickening instinct that whispered of life and death shot into his bloodstream, shouting at him to become still, to relax his arms, and to wait out the discomfort.

Becoming as floppy as a wet noodle, Mirio struggled to keep calm as pressure smacked at him from all sides. He knew somehow that while he didn't need to breathe just yet, the source of his supply would soon be cut off. Amidst his struggle he tried to prepare himself, attempting to lift his chest.

“Ahh, what is this” he called out.

The deep voice that had called to him when he had first come alive spoke again, “Remember…”

"Remember what?" Mirio replied as he struggled.

The silhouette of a man stood before him. This man was not in the room with him like his mother and the physician gripping his fingers around his head. This man was bold and stared back at him with a resolve that cut through all of Mirio's fears.

Something about this figure was familiar, but Mirio couldn't quite put together what it was.

Had he lived before? Or was this his future self traveling to the past to greet his passage into the world? Or was it something else entirely? He had no reference experience to guide him, all he knew was that it spoke to him as though it knew him as deeply as one might know themselves through a lifetime.

“Yaaaah!” Mirio felt his body twist as the physician's grip finally found purchase around his head neck and shoulders.

The darkness rushed past him in a blur and was replaced by the searing pain of bright light against his eyelids.

He lifted his chest and drew in his first breath as he was hoisted into the middle of the room. He muttered and gargled, but did not cry.

*Ah, I can breathe, I did it... Phew...*

*Should I try to open my eyes?*

*On second thought, I think I will wait for the light to die down*

His mother looked at him with tears in her eyes, as the Cleric handed him to her.

"Hey there little Mirio"

Mirio kicked his hands and arms, unsure of what else to do.

The cleric turned to her. "I am sorry, but your treatment cannot wait. You must leave him with your husband"

Sami's eyes welled with further tears as she handed him to his father. The cleric nodded to his aids and they hoisted Sami off on a stretcher to a treatment center further into the temple.

As Sami’s presence faded away it was replaced by a creepy smile that hovered over him. The man fiddled with an object for a moment before voicing his thoughts out loud. “Now how does this work?”

The man lifted Mirio's head in his cradled arm and pushed the bottle's nib into to Mirio’s lips.

The dry texture, and noxious smell, caused Mirio to jerk and throw his head to the side.

“Pwah!” Mirio immediately sensed danger and reacted as best he could by pushing out his arms and legs.

He was hungry, confused, and afraid. And the deep voice that had spoke to him earlier was now nowhere to be seen. The man quickly swaddled him tightly in cloth so he could not move and continued to shove the bottle in his face. Mirio could sense the man's temper rising with each failed attempt but Mirio refused to give in.

“Grrr! If you won’t drink! I’ll drown you, you little bastard!”

Mirio could do little as the milk was forced into his mouth, he couldn’t breathe. His only way forward was to drink the liquid. After a few big gulps, he gasped for air.

*This guy is an asshole*

…

Gentle moonlight flickered in through the windowsill next to his crib. Soft ribbons of air wafted in from outside carrying the scent of magic upon it. The call of nature, of creatures, of mosses, of forests beyond the village outskirts. As the moonlight danced upon his eyelid’s Mirio for the first time opened his eyes. The shadows all around him began to warp and shape into blurry forms. The long stalks of wood making his crib, the shadows cutting against the walls opposite the window, the contours of the windowsill itself, and the curves of the curtains as they billowed in the gentle night breeze. His eyes opened further once he saw a twinkle of light within the sky above. His jaw slowly opened wide.

“Wow… It’s magical”

Miro looked down towards his hand and then lifted it into view. His muscles barely responded to his call, but if he focused hard enough they moved. His little balled fist raised up above him before falling back down at his side. He then turned his head towards the window and gently closed his eyes again as the soft wind soothed him back into slumber.

…

Mirio’s world was growing. He was slowly becoming aware of everything that existed beyond himself. Yet within his heart he felt something was deeply wrong, like there was something he was forgetting, or something that had now drifted out of reach for him to ever recall. The panic drove him to focus on his surroundings, his actions, and towards a feeling of mystery he could perceive all around him. A mystery that seemed to exist between the cracks in the real and the unknown part of what he could see and feel around himself.

His mind was turning from a simple clay, into something with shape, something with the ability to focus, and to hear the crisp calls of the wild beyond the village walls. He questioned in his own way the purpose of his being, the purpose of having come into life in this way, and that if others who lived saw things as he did… Or was he… Strange somehow… Connected to something bizarre and beyond anyone’s control.

…

“Brother!” a small girl sat down in front of him. She was five years old, when he was but barely a month old. He sat proudly, now confident in his ability to contract the muscles of his arms and to pinch his fingers together at will. Everything anyone said to him sounded like a garbled mess of emotions and chopped up bits of meaning.

“Dawink Dis” the girl said as handing him a little square box with the sound of liquid inside. Mirio looked at it puzzled and moved it around in his hands observing it from different angles. He found a little tube on the side. He grasped at the little tube on the side with his fingers, and tried to stab the tube into the box, but the box and the tube deflected.

PWOMP

The little girl looked at him angrily “Can’t you do anything white!”, she huffed and sighed and then grabbed the tube and box from him and viciously stabbed the cube. Mirio’s eyes widened in shock at the aggression and then sudden calmness, and swell of pride of the girl.

“Here”

Mirio grabbed the box and the tube and looked at the little girl sucking on her box and he did the same. A sweet but slightly sour taste came from the box as he pinched his cheeks together. His eyes lit up.

It’s delicious!

It’s much better than being drowned by the man with the crooked smile!

His moment of bliss did not last for long however, as the man with the crooked smile slammed open the door to the house, “oh ho ho ho… The little bastard can use a straw, clever little shit”

He loomed over little Mirio, then suddenly picked him up and plopped him on the table. He eye’d him up “hrmm…”, he then slid over a cup of milk and placed a straw in it “go on, are you going to drink it!”.

While Mirio could only hear garbled words, he could understand the context well enough, the man expected him to repeat what he had learned. He grasped the straw and leant over towards the cup and drank a few quick sips and then sat back.

“Ooh, you really are a clever one. Hrmm… You also never cry like the other kids. You are almost like a little old man in there aren’t you” he brought his finger to Mirio’s head and tapped it with a PLOMP of his stubby fingertip.

Mirio squeezed the focus of his eyes and tried to make out the words coming from the strange man his mother had despised. He had not seen her in a long time.

“Your mother is still sick, but the Clerics say she will get home soon... “ the man twisted his head and spun his arm over his shoulder to stretch out a kink in his neck, “tsk, tsk, I really wished you would have learned to drink from a straw earlier, it would have made it easier you know”

The strange man smiled, but this time it was not so creepy but was with a touch of warmth.

“Ay, ay, time for bed little guy”

Mirio tried to concentrate and to understand what was going on, but the pain of focusing was too much. When his back was laid against his crib, he drifted out of consciousness and feel asleep. However, this time he had resolved that when he awoke he would figure out what was being said around him all this time.

…

“Sami, take it slow yeah”

Mirio stirred from within the crib and rubbed his eyes.

“Hi there little Mirio” Sami let out with a spark of joy in her voice “I’m back, sorry I was gone for a while”

Mirio looked at her blankly for a while, but then smiled. He really had to learn what they were saying.

Sami looked back up towards the man with the crooked smile “Barny, I still don’t feel well, I’m going to go lie down”. She looked back at Mirio for a moment with a gaunt and fatigued face, and then left the room.

A little boy entered the room and stood next to his crib with a cold almost lifeless stare, “why did she come speak to you”. He puffed up his cheeks, and raised an eyebrow in annoyance.

His eyes were like two little black marbles, like that of a raven. They were intense and penetrating, devoid of empathy or concern.

Mirio “eh?! Who is this guy? And why is he so dramatic?”

“You are two years younger than me, know your place Mirio”

Mirio “I-I have a bad feeling about this…”

He turned his face away from the little boy and closed his eyes as if to fast forward time until the next time he would remember being awake.

“Yeah, you look away, you faker. Don’t think I don’t know you are just pretending to sleep”

Mirio “Eh?! He’s still there!”

…

The clip clop of hooves and the grinding of wagon wheels pulled past outside. The calls of eager merchants echoed through the village and made their way to Mirio’s crib as they desperately praised their merchandise to the crowd moving through the market square. The bubbling and warping noises of the crowd echoed in through the window sill as everything seemed livelier than normal. Mirio wiped clear his eyes, and propped himself up, and pulled against the crib bars as he pushed with his legs to stand up tall to see what was happening outside. He squinted his eyes and focused as hard as he could. He could see a blurry mass of people walking by and a large creature pulling a wagon.

Two people stood about twenty yards from the window having a conversation. Mirio attempted to focus in on the words to make out what they were saying. And as if like magic their mouths seemed to grow larger and come into view almost as if zoomed up close. He could make out the flicks of their tongues, and the pops of their lips, and the yawning sounds from their throats, and how it all came together in a wild clash to form words. The smacking of the words together seemed to always come with an implied meaning or a singular point, but as he tried to focus on what those points were his head began to hurt, and buzz, and sharp stinging pains shot into his skull.

“Ahh, too much, too much” he rubbed his forehead and sat back down, “gosh why is it so hard to learn what they are saying, there is this fuzzy blocking pain in the way… I wonder if that ever goes away… Hrmm, but I did understand something, they seemed alarmed by something on their travels”

“Ahh, my head really hurts… I’m going to go to sleep and try again later”

The two men continued their conversation as Mirio closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

“I’ve had to hire extra bodyguards from the adventuring guild whenever I travel, I hear Mad Axe and his band are robbing every wagon they can passing through the region”

“Ever since the king died and his son took the throne it has been chaos out there”

“I hope it is just a brief moment during the transition, and that he ends up pulling his weight, otherwise I don’t know what I will do”

“Me either, business is hard enough without bandit attacks and monsters on the roads, he’d better get his act together fast or towns like this will just get cut off”

“Hrmm, true, I have been considering taking the western routes instead through the midlands, the king of Darlan might be stiff with his taxes but at least he clears the roads”

…

“Okay, now just one step after another… Put my other foot forward” Mirio scrunched up his brow while concentrating on each step.

“He’s doing it, he’s walking!” Sami cried out

Barny “Well I’ll be, the lil son of a bitch learns quick doesn’t he”

Mirio looked towards Barny and concentrated on his mouth and made out his meaning. While his mind was straining to hold onto the meaning he understood his surprise and the idea that he had done something sooner than Barny had expected.

Mirio “I think I’m getting a hold of the language now… But I can’t speak it yet… I guess I will try”

Mirio “Da da”

Sami “He just said Dad, did you hear it?”

Barny “Yeah I heard it, hardly impressive though, not different than mumbling really”

Sami “Hey Tad, did you hear that, your brother just spoke his first word!”

Tad’s little black raven eyes stared at Mirio with disdain “Die”

Mirio “huh!?”