Autumn, Chrónia 565
In the shade, under a tree, Nathos sat with his back leaned against the trunk. He was staring up at the waving leaves, trying to see the sunlight break through. He smiled and lowered his head. The tree under which he sat stood on top of a hill close to the farm of his parents. On one side of the tree he could see the farm and all its land and on the other side, he could see a far outstretching forest.
As he looked over the forest he spotted a deer grazing at the bottom of the hill. Nathos quickly picked up his sketchbook and took one last look at the deer, he knew the deer would be gone soon so he made his look a long one.
Afterward, he immediately began sketching. He had never needed to look twice, something that his parents found difficult to fathom. Everything he saw, read or heard would be in his head forever. He could remember just about anything, he just had to have to will for it. Just now, he had read a book about astronomy and every constellation was now in his head. He was planning to go stargazing this night and he just couldn't handle not being able to know what constellation something was, so he had read about it. Last, summer he had turned thirteen and his mother had given him loads of books, saying it was time to use that brain of his. It had been the best day of his life.
Nathos was so concentrated on his drawing, that he hadn't heard his mother approaching. She bent over and looked over his shoulder at the drawing. She smiled and stood up straight, she knew he must have spotted a deer. In the house, they had countless amount of drawings, just of glimpses that her son had gotten off of animals, creatures of even oddities.
She almost didn't want to ruin his concentration, almost. She ruffled his hair and in shock, he looked up, "Mother!" He yelled, he recovered quickly and added, "Look, I saw a deer again!" He shoved the drawing in her face and she couldn't help but smile.
"It's beautiful, son, where did you spot it?" She crouched down next to him and followed his finger.
"I saw her right there," Nathos beamed, "she was so close." He was so excited that Thyia couldn't help but be excited as well. "And I only needed to take one long look!"
Thyia couldn't help shake her head, she embraced her son and said, "Your memory is truly a gift from the gods."
There it was again. Hearing that Nathos frowned. He knew they were just sayings, but to him, it felt very odd. Like what they were saying was true. He knew he wasn't a normal child, that he was sure of, but he was sure that he was just blessed with an amazing memory and a strong body.
He shrugged it off and responded, "I love you, Mother." Nathos hugged his mother back.
"Love you too, Nathos." She planted a quick kiss on top of his head and stood up. She put up her stern face and stated, "Didn't you forget something though?"
Nathos frowned, but after a few heartbeats, his eyes widened. He groaned and stood up quickly. He had promised to help his father repair the fence at noon. He walked from under the tree and looked at the sun, and immediately cursed. It had just been noon already.
"Thank you, Mother, see you later!" He shouted as gave her a quick hug and sped home carrying his drawing stuff.
"You forgot your book!" Thyia yelled after him as she picked up the book about astronomy.
Nathos didn't stop, but instead said, "Can you take it back? I already finished it."
Thyia shook her head, of course, he had already finished it. She had given it to him this morning. Her son could not have been any stranger.
Nathos ran down the hill but didn't sprint as fast as he could. He was able to run extremely fast and when he once showed his parents, they had sternly told him to never try to run that fast again. They considered it dangerous and although Nathos fully understood their warnings he couldn't withstand it. He had always loved to run as fast as he could. When he was younger he had even tried to keep up with the animals in the forest. He didn't have any friends, as he had never seen anybody else except for his family so he considered the inhabitants of the forest as his friends.
He looked over his shoulder and watched for his mother, she was almost out of sight and as soon as she was he went into a full sprint. The wind blew through his hair and he felt free.
As fast as he could he raced through the forest. Nathos let out a laugh but had to compose himself again as he reached the clearing around the farm. He straightened his clothes and let himself catch his breath.
After some time he stepped into the clearing and went to search for his father. Not long after he spotted his father and jogged towards him with an excited glimmer on his face, "Father!" He shouted loudly.
His father, Crethos, looked up with a frowning face. "You are late, Nathos."
"I know, I know," Nathos replied as he looked at the ground with a blush on his face. "But look at this!" He added excitedly. He showed his father his drawing and told him what had happened. A proud look appeared on Crethos' face. He ruffled Nathos' hair and responded, "You are getting better and better every day, what did we feed you to get this brilliant." Crethos laughed out loud. "I mean, you clearly didn't inherit my intelligence."
Nathos rolled with his eyes, "Father, you are many things but you are indeed not a genius." He tried to keep in his laughter as tears of joy appeared in his eyes when he saw his father's face change. His father had a heart made of gold, but he wasn't the smartest. His mother, on the other hand, was, his intelligence must have come from her.
"You brat!" Crethos grabbed his son and began to wrestle with while tickling him.
"No, father!" Nathos said while crying of laughter. "Stop, please, I'm sorry."
A few moments Crethos stood up and hoisted his son up with him, "Now, put your things away and come back immediately. No distractions, we have a lot of work to do and you were already too late."
Nathos nodded obediently, "I'm sorry, father, I'll be right back." With that, Nathos turned around and sprinted to the farm.
When he got there he went straight through his room and put his drawing materials under the bed. His room was in the back of the house and closest to the garden, which was his mother's heaven on earth. Every spare heartbeat was spent there, caring for the flowers and trees. It was supposed to be the only condition she had when moving here with his father. She had to have a garden.
Nathos shook his head, scattering his wandering thoughts. He stood up and nailed the drawing to the wooden wall. He looked around and smiled, tons of drawings hung on the wall. Next to his bed and a closet containing books and clothes there wasn't much space left on the walls. He had hung them on chronological order and he could really see the progress. His newer drawings looked more alive, more detailed and he knew that he had spent less and less time looking at the scenes before drawing them.
After admiring his drawings he was satisfied and turned around. He quickly decided to get an apple from the kitchen and walked over. As he entered the kitchen he noticed the hearth burning, which was quite odd as there was no kettle above the fire. As he got closer he soon noticed a small statue standing above the hearth. Next to it were two fresh maple leaves and he immediately noticed the ceremony as once for Plemnak, the god of truth and prophecies.
*Why did my parents pray to the god Plemnak for answers?* Nathos thought *was something bothering them? Did his parents not know the answer to something?*
Nathos kept thinking but he could not come up with an answer, there were no mysteries in his parents' lives and they were open books.
He looked down at his hands, was it because of him? Nathos knew he was different, he was smarter, faster, stronger than normal people, at least that is what his family had told him, but his parents should know everything about it. They knew. So, why did they need answers?
Nathos frowned but let it be for the moment, he had to go help his father. He had plenty of time to think about it tonight. He quickly picked up an apple, took a bite and ran outside, leaving his confused thoughts behind.
-Ω-
"Father?" Nathos asked as he held up the wooden plank for his father, who took it over and put it in place.
Absently his father responded, "Hm?" He looked around with a frown, "Have you seen my hammer, son?"
Without looking Nathos picked up the hammer and gave it to him, his thoughts were still clouded. He was still thinking about the events of today, his memory getting better, his skill set growing and his body getting stronger. That his parents were praying to Plemnak still confused him, but he was afraid to ask. He didn't want to burden his parents with his doubts. The only one he could talk to about this was his grandfather, he had always told his grandfather everything. Every secret he had, his grandfather knew. Now, he questioned who he really was and it kept lingering in his mind, he had to discuss it with someone.
"When is grandfather Alpheous visiting again?"
For a heartbeat, Crethos was taken aback, but he quickly recovered, "I think he won't visit anytime soon, winter is coming, son. His old bones will probably refuse to go out during the cold."
"Hm." Nathos nodded. Discussing his doubts with his grandfather was out of the question for now. He wouldn't see him for half a year.
"How so?" His father asked after having nailed the new wooden plank in place. "Can you give me a new one?"
Nathos picked up a new plank and passed it to his father while getting the plank he came up with a reasonable answer. Although he had hoped to talk about his heritage with his grandfather, it would take too long for them to see each other.
Nathos shook his head, "I wanted to ask him something about a book I read." It was quite a vague answer, but he knew his father wouldn't mind. He never asked for details, as of how he himself said, he wouldn't understand anyway.
"Alright, can you put some nails through it?" Crethos said as he held the plank up for Nathos to nail upon the fence pole. "You will have to wait for that, son, the priestess in Nerph said that it was going to a very nasty winter."
Nathos frowned and as he picked up the hammer, he thought about what he was going to do, but he couldn't get his mind straight. He would have to wait for tonight.