My head turns left, then right. It’s a quiet early morning; the coast is clear, and HUP! My body shoots from prone to standing in my crib. Whole-body glow treatments are no joke; I’m like a roided-up baby.
I’m in dire need of weights and an internet connection, but I make do.
Squats! One, two, three...
High-knees, sit-ups, push-ups, and stretches. My progress at three months old is astounding, but I have to keep it hidden from the giants. I felt like enough of a freak in my last life being hooked up to IV bags all the time. Avoiding a repeat is top priority.
“Alfreddd!”
Oho, Shayna is coming for me. My name is a bit old-timey, but it could be worse. It’s about time she delivers me to Mother, and I could use the nutrition after working up a sweat.
I release my tense muscles, and FLOP, I’m lying down. I can really feel the magical glow running through me, and I can’t wait to use it all. Hopefully Mother has a job to go back to once I’m on solid foods, though; from the lack of electricity in this house, I don’t have high hopes.
***
It’s around my first birthday, and we have guests. Shayna allows a small group into the estate, including a man, woman, and three children. Father pulls me by the wrist to give our greetings, and I mimic the bows I’ve seen given throughout the estate.
Father smiles between our little family and this one. “Little brother, your family is beautiful. I hope your travels were easy.”
I’m getting a handle on the language, but my confidence level that they’re brothers isn’t actually that high. The man has a receding hairline, so that part fits. And the woman... is staring at me with a pale face.
She nearly ignores the polite greetings and places a hand under each of my armpits to lift me. “You’re so fluid… and that bow was perfect.”
Her hands are warm, and color flows back into her face as she holds me close. The children with them are two boys and a girl. I’d guess the boys are between eight and ten, while the girl is six or seven.
Mother’s familiar hands take me from the woman and place me on the ground next to them. She crouches down. “You can go play with the boys.”
Freedom! My suspected cousins take off toward the yard behind the estate, and I follow at a slower speed. They run around like bandits, and my eyes narrow. I want to pick them up and try running with them over my shoulders.
But the fuckers are old enough to tell people about it. Sigh, I’ll settle on testing my speed.
I lower my head and press my palms into the grass, then take off. My legs push me along like pistons, and I’m light enough to really pick up speed. I’m a step behind the boys instantly, but I’ve made a mistake.
THUD
I face-plant due to terrible balance. I roll onto my back and crack my neck. Nothing hurts too bad, but my pride as the world’s strongest baby is wounded.
“Alfred!”
“Alfred!”
“MASTER ALFRED!”
I push up onto my elbows as the boys and another of my family’s attendants run over. I smile and wave at the boys, clearing their concern, but Celia isn’t so easily swayed. I don’t see her much, but I love her silver-blue hair and similarly colored eyes.
“Are you alright?” she asks while patting me down, then she grabs one of my legs and grimaces.
I guess my right knee hit the ground first, and paid for it by losing all its skin. Celia doesn’t glow as brightly as Mother or Father, but her magic starts to move. It pushes out around her extended hand and… wait. It’s mixing with the fog?
It seems to combine and take on a green hue, then move into the wound. Skin regrows in seconds, then Celia wipes away the remaining blood on my leg. Celia smiles at me, but there’s a touch of sweat coming from her forehead.
“All better,” she says, but her warmth isn’t hiding her discomfort.
I return to running around with the boys while thinking about Celia’s magic. More specifically, that it did something with the fog. I’d love to wield healing magic, and maybe that energy all around us is the key.
“Boysss!”
The wardens are back. We return to the back of the estate, where my aunt and other little cousin are.
The little girl seems happy as she walks up to me, then gives me a warm hug. “Al-l-l… Alfred!”
Fuck me, she can’t talk yet?
My aunt is beaming at the familial love, but I can’t hide my grimace.
I’ll have to play mute far longer than expected.
***
It’s my second birthday, and it’s a fantastic day.
Mother leads me to a room on the third floor of the estate, then swings the door open. “This is your room now, sweetie.”
There’s a tall mirror, a nice bed, and ample windows for natural light. She plops me on the bed, then sits with me.
“You can still sleep with us anytime,” Mother says softly, then wraps her arms around me. “You’re getting so big… it makes me sad.”
I lean into the hug. She’s caring, albeit unneeded considering I’m in my thirties. We sit like this for a while before she leaves, and my grin grows from ear to ear. I stole a little knife from the kitchen earlier, and it’s time to use it.
I drop a dark blanket on the floor and lie on it, then pull my shirt off. With the knife in my right hand, I slash across my chest.
SLICE
COCK! Fucking fuck!
I got the nip… and the nip is sensitive. Blood rolls down to the dark blanket, and I tilt my head down at the wound. It’s incredibly shallow, only breaking the skin, despite the force I put behind the blade.
I poke around the wound and pull back on the skin to try and open it further, but the muscles beneath are unscathed. Maybe my glow infusions do more than add strength? Extra durability would kick ass considering how frail my last body was.
But I’m bleeding a lot. I mix my magic into the energy in the air the way I’ve practiced at night. It turns green, then I push it toward the cut and imagine the skin regrowing. Within seconds, the only evidence of my injury is the blood that leaked out.
I lay back in my own pool of blood and hold a hand out in front of my face. I wonder if I could regrow the whole thing? Maybe a finger to start, but I’ll need a better knife with my magic hardening.
Oh! But what if the glow does even more than I think? If I focus more of it in my eyes and ears, will they work better? My memory feels crisp since being reborn too; it could be an effect of the glow.
There’s a lot I want to ask Mother and Father about, but if my little cousin was any evidence, I’ll get funny looks if I start already. Whatever, I’ve got a room, and I can do a lot with it.
***
“Alfred, where are you, son?” Father's voice calls through the hall beyond my room.
I guess training is done for now.
“In my room, Father,” I reply, and he enters.
“There you are; let’s go, son, your Mother wants to show us how nicely her flower garden has turned out,” Father says before taking my hand and leading me from my room.
Shortly after turning three, I couldn’t take it anymore and started speaking, first in little pieces, then in sentences. Half a year later - and they’ve already gotten me a tutor.
The glow, as I’ve always thought of it, is magic, some kind of energy humans make in their bodies that can produce world-altering things. Nothing shocking there, but it doesn’t seem that anyone else can see it as clearly as I can.
And no one sees the layer of fog around us. Supposedly, my parents have a lot of magic. What’s more interesting is that Celia’s healing magic is quite rare. People seem to think that healing magic is a gift from god since no one who uses it can really teach anyone else how to use it. I guess not being able to see the fog around us is a pretty significant handicap.
Father leads me through an outer door and into the estate's garden. Mother is crouched and inspecting a row of flowers.
“Sweetie, what do you think of the garden?”
“Incredible, Mother, you’ve got a green thumb!” I answer.
Mother looks down at her hands and frowns.
“Oh, is there something on my thumb?”
Idioms don’t translate well. Once a week, I say something like that, and my parents look at me like a dog looks at a high-pitched noise. Whatever, I’m three; they can deal with some language oddities. My Mother’s garden is quite impressive. It spans the entire front of my family’s estate, though I’m not sure how much work she puts in personally.
It turns out my Father is a count and the domain lord of this area; if anime didn’t lie to me in my last life, that’s a mid-ranking noble? While I don’t have to worry about my basic needs and wants being met, it presents a large problem: if my parents don’t get back to fucking, I’m going to be in charge of all this someday.
I’d rather die again. I’m full of magic, the air is full of something magic-like, and I just got a tutor to broaden my horizons. I need to think of something, some way to get them to spend some more time together alone…
***
My tutor comes for a few hours a day, Monday-Thursday, then spends most of Friday with me reviewing everything we’ve gone over during the week. For a pre-electricity world, I’m surprised the tutor my parents found has such a good teaching routine.
Her name is Mia, and I think she’s in her late thirties. Her bottom half is thicker than Mother’s or our maids, but her other features remind me of Mother. Dark hair, symmetrical facial features, and glossy lips.
We're seated in a small study near my bedroom, and my scheme is about to start.
“Hey Mia, you said my Father gave you an allowance to buy whatever books I may need?”
Mia pulls her head from the page we’re on to answer. “Yes, Master Alfred, your Father is a generous man and is devoted to helping in your studies.”
“That’s nice of Father, but can you take me book shopping sometime? Maybe this Friday, since we’d spend the whole day together anyway…”
Mia’s expression turns serious, but not angry. “I can ask Count Pruss for his permission, but it will be up to him, not me.”
“That’s fine, thanks, Mia.”
Score, step one of getting a baby brother to foist all familial responsibilities onto is a go. Mia is pretty receptive. I suppose she’s paid well, but if I don’t see progress in a couple of months, I might just ask her how I can get my parents to make me more siblings.