vols fell into a routine. he would wake up, go to the library with his mother, study language books in the professor's office, go back home and try to find a way to awaken his magical powers until he would pass out from exhaustion.
and now, a year had passed since william foster died and vols blamore was born.
vols woke up extra early this day, he crawled out of his mother's embrace and walked towards the bathroom
he already learned how to walk, his mother was extra happy seeing him walk around the house that she'd stare at him for hours sometimes.
'if this is how she acts when i learned how to walk i wanna see her reaction when she hears me talking' vols shivered in dread
he learned that kids in this world would start talking at 1 year and a half, but he decided that today he'll say his first word.
he was debating if it should be 'mama' or 'mommy'.
also, he finally learned how to read. it only took him 5 months which was impressive in of itself, vols always prided himself for his good memory since back during his first life
the whole family woke up and ate breakfast, as usual both yuna and vols went to the library.
they walked in and vols read the signs that indicated which aisle corresponded to which genre of books.
he was bored of the language books and wanted to start reading about the history of this kingdom since all he knew was ts name; the kingdom of togaria.
he let go of his mother's arm and walked towards the history aisle. he could only reach the second row but it was okay because he already knew which book he wanted.
he grabbed it and waved it around like a child would do. he couldn't rouse suspension, he thought that professor zorax was already unto him but luckily the professor only cared about his research and didn't meddle in people's business
yuna caught up to him and shook her head
" now why would you pick that one out of all the books in here? it doesn't even have pictures in it" she said
vlos just smiled and laughed 'adorably' hoping she'd let him take it
'it's my birthday after all woman, c'mon cut me some slack i'm dying of boredom here'
she sighed and nodded
"fine, you can take it but don't ruin it! that one is more expensive than the others"
vlos laughed more loudly now and ran towards yuna. he hugged her leg and she picked him up kissing him all over the face
" you're cunning, but you're adorable" she smiled and walked him up the stairs
..
in the meantime,
" how many times do i have to tell you i'm not coming back!" zorax yelled into his amulet
" professor zorax, we have upgraded the alchemy laboratory with all the new high end machines and the kingdom imcreased our budget so we were able to get more precious ingredients. furthermore, the headmaster has hired a genius magic engineer named-"
" i don't care! all you want is to have access to my research, i know you greedy bastards. Nelos wants to get a higher position and after the war the army has been very desperate. do you think i'll let that crazy king weaponize-"
"ZORAX, do not speak ill of our king!"
zorax snorted " i've been evaluated as clinically insane, i can blame it on that" he waved his arm nonchalantly
"now stop calling me or i'll destroy the amulet with it the only way of communication with me" zorax ended the call
zorax scratched his small subtle.
'damn you Nelos, why won't you leave me in peace. this kingdom is going down the gutter and you're only hurrying the process'
' i hate politics, i don't understand it and i hate what i can't understand DAMMIT' he ruffled his hair in exasperation.
the door opened and vols came in, zorax glared at the kid
'why the fuck does he keep coming here, ughh'
vols walked up to the chair and sat silently. he pretended to observe the book cover but actually was processing what he heard
his mother left him near the stairs and he walked here on his own, he heard yelling and was surprised this office wasn't soundproof.
' with how paranoid this crazy old fart is, i had assumed he'd put on extra protection' was what vols thought
so vols eavesdropped on the conversation and was shocked.
apparently this professor is more well known than he originally thought, not only that but he's got some crazy weapon that the army wants. being his personal research, they couldn't get their hands on it unless he was associated with an organization or an academy. vols didn't know who Nelos is though.
'maybe the headmaster of this so called academy..?'
vlos shook his head and opened the book, he smiled imwardly as he read the big title
'history of togaria'
'pretty straight forward'
he scrolled through the pages without missing a word. it was fascinating to say the least
after reading almost half the book, he processed the new information
' so this kingdom is 500 years old. before that, dragons and humans co existed. apparently dragons had a superiority complex and didn't like that the humans were expanding their territories at the expense of their forrests. also, the latter started to bond with the magical beasts which increased their physical bodies exponentially and deepened their affinity with magic making their potential skyrocket.
the dragons were not pleased at all that the humans and their descendants, the magical beasts, were cooperating but couldn't do anything since they were the ones that abandoned the magical beasts.'
vols kept turning the pages engrossed with each sentence
'and one accident had, alas, made the dragons snap. one of the dragons was killed by a group of human mercenaries who were trying to get their hands on its scale to sell them for a high price. the dragons, unlike humans, were a close knitted race. they cared deeply about each one of them whether they were a newborn or an elder that lived for a 1000 years. and even though there were different races to the dragons they all were very proud of their scales and talons.
so when seeing the corpse of the dragon with half of its scales pealed off they were enraged and waged war against the humans having enough of their arrogance.
the dragons' numbers were but one tenth of the humans' but they still were winning overwhelmingly until Leonard Vesta, who is now known as the first king, participated in the army with 4 of his comrades.
these five were the apostles of the five natural gods. with them, humans were able to push the dragons back after the latter's numbers halfed. finally, humans won but they couldn't rejoice because more than half of them perished and the ones who survived lost their homes. Leonard stepped up and led the reconstruction of the human society with the help of the other apostles. decades later, he was named the first king and the other four each formed their own noble family ruling over a certain land and that's how the kingdom of togaria came to be'
vols was really confused, he had many questions but the book didn't give anymore details on the matter
' how could 5 people change the tides of a whole war? and what are apostles? they don't mention anything about these apostles either other than the war.. who were they before and why haven't they participated in the war from the beginning?..'
vols was frustratingly flipping through the pages looking for answers but the book had none. he closed it and heaved a sigh
' let's say it all makes sense, why would that god that contacted me want to kill the other five-'
vols jolted up from his seat.
the professor didn't pay him any attention as vols walked out of the office.
he walked down the stairs and hid behind one of the bookshelves, he looked around for yuna and found her organizing some books on the other end of the room. he ran as fast as he can with his tiny legs until he arrived at the history aisle.
he put the book he was holding on the floor and searched for another.
vols skimmed through a lot of other history records but they all told the same story
'they keep saying 5 gods and 5 apostles, one was the first king and the others were his comrades. their last names were respectively troglav, ushas, caddel and stallard'
'the mysterious presence back at the warehouse told me he was a god too but in all these books there were no mention of a sixth god or a sixth apostle.. was he lying? or is this kingdom hiding important information from the public?..'
'i don't think the second option is far fetched. humans are despicable' he sneered ' but at the same time i trust them as much as i trust this mysetious god'
vols put back all the books back in their respective places. he picked his last one and went back upstairs
' tomorrow i'll pick up a geography book, i need to find out if there are other human settlements outside of togaria'
'i wish this god would contact me again dammit. i have so many questions..'
..
vols felt dejected as they got back from the library. he was walked to the couch in the living room and layed down
he closed his eyes to sleep but huge arms grabbed him, waking him up, by the waist and pulled him up
vols was extremely grumpy today and couldn't bother to deal wirh anyone.
he glared at zephyr who only smiled back
" baby bro i got you a present!" his eyes sparked
vols didn't care about his birthday nor did he care about the gift so he just cried loudly
zephyr frowned and put him back on the couch
"mama! vols is crying, what should i do??"
zephyr patted his brother's head in concern
'first you wake me up then you pet my head like i'm your dog?!'
vols slapped zephyr's hand away and cried even loudly. yuna came in with an apron around her waist and picked up vols
" zephyr did you wake him up??" yuna grumbled
zephyr nodded ashamed
she tisked and held vols in her arms, she put her lips next to his ears and sang to him softly.
vols smiled unconsciously and stopped yelling, he loved her voice so much, she was truly a gifted singer. the melody entered his ear and calmed his temper
'is she a siren?'
vols' eyes fluttered and he fell asleep
..
vols woke up at night, he looked around and didn't see anyone, he sighed in relief and thought back to the history book and his conversation with the god
zephyr entered the room with his arms behind his back. yuna came out of the kitchen holding a cake and they both started singing a togarian version of the happy birthday song
vols looked at his new family with a weird expression
'when was the last time someone sang me a happy birthday song?'
the song ended and yuna put the cake down on the small table. she picked up vold and twirled around holding him up
" happy birthday little one! i hope the gods will bless your next year" she kissed him and put him back on the couch
vols felt dizzy but didn't complain, he smiled at his mother and made happy baby noises
zephyr then picked him up with one arm and pulled a small wooden sword from behind his back
"this is yours baby bro! i got it with my own money just for your birthday'' he smiled broadly
vols was surprised by the gift and extremely pleased too
zephyr saw his brother looking at the sword with greedy eyes and was satisfied, he didn't know what type of weapon vols would like but it seemed that he chose right
zeohyr then handed the sword to vola who was still staring at it happily
vols' arms ached at the weighed but didn't care. he knew he was too small and young to learn how to weild a sword but he loved the gift nonetheless
vols felt zephyr tap on his shoulder and he looked at him for the first time
zephyr was pointing at his cheek smuggly.
vols glared at him but gave him a peck on the cheek nonetheless.
'he deserved it today, with this sword i can start doing something, i need to train my body first. maybe i'll wait until i become 2..' vols cried inwardly but still stealed his resolve
' i don't know why the public books were hiding a lot of information, but i know that it can't be anything good. i need to collect knowledge as much as i can in the next year until i grow big enough to start my physical training'
he snapped out of his trance when he heard the sound of sobbing
he looked at his mother's teary eyes, she grabbed both the boys and embraced them tightly
'' my two beautiful boys, i wish your father was here to see you. he'd be so proud" she sniffed and blowed her noise on zephyr's shirt
vols was disgusted and breathless... quite literally
his mother's hug was shocking him, he tried to wriggle around but his brother's arms were holding him tightly
'dammit you big oaf! how strong are you anyway?!' but vols' attempt at freedom were met only by the sounds of cries of both his family members
vols' face turned red then blue and he started feeling dizzy
'fuck! i won't die like this! i'd rather die again at the hands of the dumb wannabe gangsters than in this embarrassing way'
"mama!" vols yelled
yuna let go immediately and looked at her yougest son in marvel
" you said your first word!"
vols wheezed out a breath
' jesus, this woman is fucking nuts. she almost killed me but only cares about my first word'
she grabbed him from zephyr who had a runny nose and asked him to say 'mama' again so he did.
And that's how they spent the next hour..
by the end of the night vols was exhausted but a warm feeling in his heart kept him awake
' i need to grow up fast and strong so i can protect them from whatever's happening in this world'
was the last thought he had before passing out
..