As soon as his injuries got better and the soreness left his body, Isaiah wiggled around in his mother's arms, trying to get her to put him on the ground. She looked confused for a bit and Cecile was the first to react, "Madam Freya, it appears that the young master wants to show you something", she said with a sparse smile, 'That's right! I want to walk! I know that I can do it!', Freya looked up at this, she felt a little better knowing that her son wanted to show her something after falling like that, probably...
She heeded Cecile's suggestions and put Isaiah on the floor. 'Alright, no need to act like its natural, one bit at a time', from his seated position on the floor, Isaiah bent forward and used his hands to push himself up into a standing position, he was still a little wobbly but he stood nonetheless, just this earned surprised looks from Freya and Cecile, "My son is going to be a prodigy!", exclaimed Freya, 'So happy now? Wait till you see my next trick mama!' He put his right foot in front and then his left foot so that he half-stumbled towards the bed, taking a full step, before losing balance again. "He can walk too?? It's a miracle!", this time Cecile spoke, Freya looked as if she was shocked into silence but the widest smile appeared on her face as he looked up at her, leaning against the bed to support himself. She picked him into her arms, and hugged him all the while praising him. Cecile made her way out bowing, "This servant nearly forgot her place and got excited at the young master's achievement, humble apologies to the lady of the House of Bleak"
As soon as Cecile closed the door behind her, Isaiah had a mischievous thought, 'I think that I should say my first word too', his mother was just about feed him when he interrupted her, "Ma... ma.. Mama!", he managed to say, "Say that again! say that again! Your mama is so proud of you! You spoke your first word!", her expression failed to express the amount of happiness she felt. Upon hearing the sudden commotion, Cecile rushed back in to find Freya smiling broadly while tearing up, holding her son in a warm embrace, "What might be the issue my lady?", she asked courteously, "My baby boy just said his first word!", replied Freya, "Say that again baby! Say 'mama'", and of course he obliged, "Mama!", he giggled giddily as he saw the happiness on Freya's face.
"Ahh, my son has a very bright future indeed! I'm such a fortunate mother!", as she brought Isaiah near to her breast to feed, 'I'm the fortunate one, hehehe, piss off conscience! I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts' and so he fed, and the day passed into night as his mother spoke about her adventures once more, this time, she never mentioned the person named Graham, but this didn't bother Isaiah, he was just as happy to see that her radiant smile didn't falter.
With the exception of bathing, Freya never left the room, spending all her time with her son, reveling in all the wonderful things that her son could be capable of in the future.
Two months later...
"Isaiah! Get down from the roof please!", Freya pleaded as he mischievously smiled at the gathering of people below him, "But mama, I flew for the the first time! I want to fly around a little bit more!"
In the past month, Isaiah started speaking fluently, and also started picking up bits and pieces of magic spells and incantations from the servants around the house as he roamed the mansion during the day. It could be said that he discovered a flight spell completely by mistake, and his mother didn't know whether to scold him or be proud of his daily mischief. "Isaiah, this is the last time I'm going to call you down nicely, you don't want mama coming up there now do you?", Freya playfully threatened him, hoping that he'd listen. 'From your reaction, I think that flying spells are not so simple, to think I discovered this by mistake! How fortunate!', he thought, but he also didn't like to cause his mother any nuisance for long, he repeated the incantations that he found for flight and floated down like a leaf in a calm breeze, landing gracefully and running over to hug Freya.
"No amount of buttering is going to help you this time you naughty boy! You're going to be locked in your room for a week! Do you know how worried I was?", she scolded him, she had hired multiple tutors for her talented son, but he managed to talk three of them out of their wits, his curiosity about magic was immense and he soaked up any knowledge they threw at him. By now, he could also fluently speak in Dwarven, since the nearest country was the Kingdom of Mithril, which houses the best dwarven blacksmiths in the whole world...
Naturally, the townspeople that live down the hill upon which the mansion was, also knew of their prodigal Young Lord and often visited the mansion grounds to find him playing his usual mischiefs, and they would praise their future at this sight. However this would not last, for in the wake of night, a malicious shadow had begun making its way towards the township from deep in the Farwood Forest, a shadow so pitch black, as if even light feared it, and avoided coming in direct contact with it.
At the dinner table, Isaiah suddenly felt a sense of coming danger, but he also knew that the Farwood Forest held many fearsome Magical Beasts, and therefore there was a nightly patrol after dinner hours, making sure that no Beasts were close enough to elicit a confrontation. Yet he knew in his gut that something felt different about today, he rushed over to tell his mother soon after dinner, "Mama! I have a bad feeling about the Night Knight Patrol today...", he informed her, "It's okay darling, those men and women are trained to handle the situation well, it will be fine", she reassured him, yet she herself had felt that threatening tremor in her consciousness, 'Don't coddle me mother, I can tell that you felt the same thing too', they both realized that they had spoken too soon when they looked out a window over the town to find large towers of smoke rising up from the outer streets of the town.
A frenzy of knocks on the door revealed one of the Night Knights trembling in fear, blood soaked his armor that was now but a scant mess of shattered steel. Long, claw-like tears ran across his limbs and his right arm hung limply by his side, gushing blood onto the doorstep as he shouted, "A Greater Phantom has attacked the town! We could not handle it when we came across it and discover that it was heading here!", Freya heard the words 'Greater Phantom' and immediately took Isaiah to a new room in the house that he'd never seen before, it was probably the cellar, he thought, "Baby, I want you to stay here, I know that it's dark but you have to promise me that you will stay put here", Freya instructed, Isaiah had never heard of the Beast called Phantom, let alone a Greater Phantom, in his head, his mother was probably being too protective, even he had learnt to put a few magic chants together for simple spells. However, she had left him there in a hurry, not allowing him to voice his curiosity as she went to prepare herself for battle.
"Hey little ant", came a deep voice from inside his head, which Isaiah recognizes as the entity he met when he had died and been reborn, the monster in the void... "What do you want from me? My mother has never been this afraid about a Beast attack in town before, I have no time to listen to you talk down to me", he replied, "Oh? You have an attitude do you? Well, it seems that my brother intends to snatch you away", the voice chuckled, even though Isaiah had the mature mind of Shi Zhang, he felt that icy cold tendril run down his back several times as the entity shrouded in the darkness, appeared to have approached him, "I-I d-don't know who or what y-you are but don't come closer! I know enough magic to d-defend m-myself!", he said, "Defend youself against the Great Demon Lord of Pride? Really? I may be just a shadow in you mind, but I do have all of my strength... I could squash you to pulp from the inside out just if I feel like it", the voice was extremely close to Isaiah now, and cold beads of sweat started pouring out across every pore on his body.
Such immense malice, this was the only time since his birth that this voice had spoken to Isaiah, "Listen... ant, my brother has merely sent his shadow, yet that will be enough to wipe out pretty much everyone in this town except for maybe, your mother", Isaiah understood the situation, "So a Phantom is the shadow of a powerful demon? I knew my senses were right, I hope my mother comes back soon to get me out of this place!", he said, perfectly playing innocent, "Pah! Coming back to take you? I can assure you she will only be able to delay the danger temporarily", upon which an earthshaking impact hit the walls of the mansion, "Ah, he has arrived, carve the next few minutes into your mind insect", the voice retreated in the depths of the void once more, 'No no no no no, I should've realized my mother's death flag! No no no no!! I can't let this happen! What sort of fairness is this?? It's only been four months of my life!!', Isaiah started knocking on the door frantically but his tiny hands couldn't ruse a sound from the heavy wood that was loud enough, rather, it was like no one was left to hear him...
A crashing sound, followed by a thud, landed just on the other side of the door, Isaiah instinctively drew away from it, stumbling and falling onto his bottom, it hurt but he expended every bit of his mental strength to stop himself from crying... being a baby is a huge disadvantage in this situation...
"No! You will not even see the face of my son!", Isaiah heard his mother's voice, "We won't let you past!", Cecile was also there, it seemed that a handful of guards including his mother and Cecile had managed to survive and were in the midst of trying to chase the Phantom away, but they were failing... "Brother Pride... you know why I'm here..." another voice spoke directly to the entity in Isaiah's mind, Pride simply retorted, "So you plan to steal my toy from me? Think again Greed... I have long since shown you all that I'm not one to be trifled with...", Pride replied, Greed merely chuckled, whereby a scream pierced the silence that had suddenly fallen on the other side of the door. Blood trickles into the room from below the door and Isaiah's eyes widen, 'Please don't let it be my mother, please, not her... please, please, please!'