Once they got home, Johannes vividly recalled how much his parents worried about him. He understood based on their faces that his life would be a little difficult thanks to the prank Exposition Bro played on him. He knew that his parents would do their best to protect him, making him curse Exposition Bro in his mind.
"F*cking Terminus. Now my parents will be troubled," was all Johannes could think while being cuddled by his parents.
Johannes did think of the troubles that could potentially come, but he didn't understand the gravity of such troubles. The people who hate his parents are not few. Some hate them for their righteous actions that caused the former's downfall due to their immorality; some hate them because their ideals don't match; while others hate them just because they're jealous of what the couple has- a good life, vast lands, fame, influence, and great powers. They seemed invincible. But now, they had one weakness- their child. They believed that by being able to get this child, they would be able to strike a blow against this blessed couple. They would do their best to harm the Escrimas, no matter what.
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It had been a few months since the baptism. Even though Johannes knew that the people around him were trying to live normally, he knew that everything had changed. He noticed that a lot of shadows scurried around the house; he also noticed the volume of knights marching in and out of the estate. Now that he was almost 2 years old, Johannes could walk around the house, and even talk. He thought that at this age, he could start reading. The people around him didn't say much, but Johannes knew that he overdid it.
"I want to talk now." Johannes said in his mindscape a few days after the baptism. He had been talking to himself for a whole year. He felt like he was really going to go crazy if he kept talking to himself. All he said was Ma-Ma, Da-Da, or gugu gaga, and little words here and there. He tried to follow the developmental cycle of a child so he wouldn't have his parents worry anymore- he thought that if he talked as early as 6 months old, they'd think he was a monster.
However, he started wanting to talk when he felt the aforementioned changes in the house- the knights going in and out, and the magic presence of shadows he could not see but could feel going in and out of his room. He could feel a magnitude of magical presence inside the mansion that did not exist before. He realized that his parents probably asked people to come to their place to protect him. He felt warmth inside him and knew that he had to do something. He wanted to learn magic faster so he could protect himself as well. However, at this moment, the only magic he knew was the magic in the history of the past heroes and great sorcerers that his parents read to him at night. He didn't know the basics of using magic so he couldn't do anything but think.
One night, his father told him a story of a spirit tamer which gave him an idea on how to use magic. This was the only story where his father detailed how the man rose up to prominence. He thinks this is so because the man existed a hundred years ago, and kept a diary which his family published in its entirety for some reason.
"He didn't understand how to control the 4 elements. When he tried to summon fire, he could feel warmth on his hand but not even an ember was summoned. When he tried to control water, not even the water in a glass would submit to him. He couldn't even control the wind, so how would he able to comprehend earth?" His father read to him.
"He wanted to use magic, but it was as if magic itself did not want to be used by him."
"Please continue, stop with the unnecessary details. Come on, tell me what he did to use magic!" Johannes thought; the words only materializing with a gugu-gaga to avoid suspicion.
"Ah, my heart aches as if my lover left me. Oh how woeful it is to be shunned by the elements. If only I could talk to them, if only i could reach them, if only I could reason with them, so they can understand." His father kept reading like an actor in a play.
"What the f'*ck. This spirit tamer is really getting on my nerves. Is this really his life? Did he really write like that? Don't tell me he romanticized his own story. Is my father the one adding these cheesy lines? Is this how it works here in this world? Please don't tell me it works like this." Johannes thought to himself as he stared at Michael, convincing the excited father that his son was amazed by how well he recited the book of the heroic spirit tamer. This made Michael continue reading the story in a dramatic way. Johannes, however, just kept looking and smiling at his father. He knew his father thought he liked the way he was talking because his father would never think he, a literal baby, could understand what he was saying.
After several lines of "mulling the reality of life and how important relationships are", the story finally came back to the spirit tamer's journey. What Johannes was waiting for finally came.
"Like a flash of lightning, the idea occurred to me. I should not subdue the elements nor make it obey me. I should not think of it as lifeless, but something that has a soul. The elements are spirits, and spirits are like animals that one must tame. I should not make it understand me, it is I who should understand it. To use magic, I must tame the spirits, that are the elements. I shall not be a magician, but a spirit tamer. The end." His father finished reading the story of the spirit tamer.
Johaness was gobsmacked, he was annoyed that after all that story about who he was and what he did, he put the part where he learned magic in the last part. Is he an idiot? In reality, however, he pretended to be asleep in his father's arms. In his mind, he was ranting like a madman.
"That piece of crap of an author. What the hell. I was expecting some sort of adventure and even an idea on how to use magic- all I got was a guy ranting about how difficult his life is. It was almost as bad as Fifty Shades of Grey in my past life!" Johannes said in his mindscape.
"Oh my god I wasted my time. Why did it become some sort of a classic. Does this world not have literature oh my god." He kept saying. However, he realized something.
"If there was no truth to the story of the spirit tamer, there's no way it would have survived a hundred years. It wouldn't even be printed, and would not arrive in a Noble's Library, specifically, the Escrima-Buenafort librarary. There must be something about that story that is true that I don't understand yet." Johannes said to himself.
"Since the spirit tamer was one of the greatest heroes of old, then whatever he wrote might hide a clue on how to become a magician."
Since he was able to arrive at this conclusion, his talent started giving him insights on what he sought. One word came to mind, "Understanding".
"I have to understand the elements. Understand; since magic is like matter in this world, there must be something to it. Ah, what if, using magic depends on my understanding of the magic im doing. Let's say I want to use fire, I just have to understand what fire is, same with the other elements."
At this moment, tons of information about magic streamed into his mind. He understood what he needed to understand- he wanted to understand magic, then he understood it. Since the core of magic is being able to understand whatever he wanted to do, then that means his gift was kinda OP. In the end, he realized that understanding the properties of the element, or the magic that he will cast is only half of it, with insight, he understood that in order to fully manifest the magic, he has to imagine vividly what will the form of the magic be. The perfection of the form will depend on how vast a person's talent is. Since he summoned 12 magic circles, he will be able to fully utilize both the understanding of the magic and the imagined form to cast high tier magic.
"Ah, finally, I feel like I will be able to cast magic now!" said the 1 year old in his mind. That's what he thought happened, at least. He didn't really say it to himself- he said it out loud.
"Johannes, what did you just say?" He heard his father's voice beside him.
His mind was overloading, he didn't know what to say. Since he was engrossed in trying to understand what magic was, he didn't realize he had talked in the real world.
He didn't know what to do so he just kept staring at his father. He knew there was no way out of this. There were shadows outside the room, and he knew that the shadows suddenly moved around the house; one particular shadow moved to the library where his mother is. His mother, meanwhile, did her best to look up cases where a child had been able to summon 12 magic circles. She was the type of person who wouldn't stop searching for answers until she found what she was looking for. That explained why Michael did the story reading at night.
"Madam, the Young Master- he talked!"
"Johannes has been talking for quite some time now. There's no need to report that to me." Elizabeth answered uncaringly. She was too busy researching for her son's sake. There was no point in disturbing her for something like this.
"But madam, he made a whole sentence without even stuttering. It was as if he had already known how to talk since long ago."
With this, Elizabeth stopped reading. She was still annoyed at the shadow, but she let it slide as she, in the first place, was the one who ordered the shadows to report to her any unusual thing that happened to her beloved child. However, she also knew that the shadows were either well-experienced magicians, assassins, or warriors- they were not simple knights.
"What did he say then?" Elizabeth asked while trying to start reading a new book.
"The Young Master said, in a full sentence, 'I can finally cast magic now!'" The shadow said in a very concerned manner.
"Eh?" After hearing this, Elizabeth was confused. She didn't know if kids usually did this. She had always researched magic- even now, she was still researching and studying magic that might help her son.
"Damn it! I should've tried to learn more about children." Elizabeth said in a disappointed manner. She was disappointed since she didn't know what to do, or if whatever Johannes said or did was normal.
"Call the head maid, she's a grandmother now right? Please ask her to go to Johanne's room and meet me there." Elizabeth said. She then cast a teleportation spell that transported to Johannes' room.
It had only been a few seconds, but now both parents were asking him if he really did say something. He knew that he couldn't hide it anymore, but still, he didn't want them to worry, or worse, make them think him a monster.
However, there was no escape now. So he only did one thing, the only thing he could do now- act cute.
Johannes, bowed his head, then suddenly lifted it up, looking at his parents with his cute blue puppy eyes, pouting lips, his hands clasped together. This look was enough to make his parents' heart jump and feel like melting.
Then he used his ultimate move- his eyes starting to water, and his lips starting to curve down. He started sobbing a little bit, still looking at his parents' eyes. Those blue eyes, looking at them directly with tears rushing down, made them feel bad about themselves.
"D-d-did Johannes d-do s-something b-bad" Johannes said while stuttering. He let tears rush down his eyes and started sobbing uncontrollably, sobbing as if he was trying to stop himself from crying. This sight broke his parents' heart. Like a charm, this act worked on them. Michael tried to grab Johannes and hug him but his wife was faster. Elizabeth grabbed Johannes and hugged him tight.
"My son, oh my son. I'm sorry. Mother is just proud of you." Elizabeth comforted the crying Johannes in her arms.
"Did father make you sad? I will not let father make you sad ajujuju." Elizabeth kept pampering Johannes until she felt that her son had fallen asleep.
"I hoped it worked." Johannes said in his mind. He slept and hoped that his parents bought his act.
However, his parents then argued outside his room.
"Why did you make my son cry!" Elizabeth said angrily.
"I didn't intend to do it. Please don't shout, Johannes will wake up." Michael tried to calm Elizabeth but it didn't seem to work.
"Head maid, please explain to my good husband whether or not what happened was normal and if his reaction to my son's development was justified," Elizabeth said to the head maid who was already a grandmother; the referee for this fight.
"Madam, Master, both of your reactions are justified." The head maid said while trying to calm both Michael and Elizabeth down. "Sometimes, there are kids who develop fast. Young Master is one case, but he's surely not the only one. Let's just all support the young master's development and not act rashly okay?"
The head maid wisely gave her advise to the parents who were both worried and proud of their child. She also knew that a child suddenly speaking eloquently was quite weird, but not worth worrying about.
"More than anything else, what the Young Master needs now is both your support and guidance. We servants of the Escrima House will support you. No matter what," The Head Maid then opened the door to Johannes's room to appease his parents. However, everyone was shocked when the Head Maid opened the door. Even the shadows lurking outside the room appeared, as if their spell had been broken.
The room where the Young Master slept was filled with Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind Sprites, surrounding Johannes as if they were awaiting his orders.