Chapter seven
The sound of feet pattering against the ground had filled the once peaceful and orderly sanctuary. Those feet were from me, and I was BORED. It has been a year since I've arrived in this place and I can speak the language of the fairies fluently.
Didn't really matter too much since the only thing I could do was READ. To be clear, I love reading, but when it's all you can do it gets old. My body is holding my back! My legs and arms are stubby and I'm like two feet tall! I saw myself in this super cool mirror from another dimension so that's how I know.
I also got a name! Grandpa Oberon and Grandma Tryamon sat me down and explained to me the region and culture from the place that they thought I could be related to. They wanted me to choose a name for myself. Honestly, it didn't make much sense to ask a then one and some unknown months old child to name themselves, but they did it anyway. The two of them were crazy like that. If I didn't have a fountain of wealth and memories from who knows where then I would have been screwed!
After a little bit of thinking, I decided to go with Suzuka Tennyo. Suzuka because of the legend of Suzuka Gozen from my memories and Tennyo from this scripture that those two showed me. It was of a giant horned woman descending from the heavens. I loved the mental image so I settled with that!
Big sis Isaea also takes care of me as well. She knits simple clothing for me to wear around. She is honestly way better at it than big brother Poppy. Must be because she understands best how to make cute clothes for girls and loves to dress me up like a little Dollie. I don't mind since the outfits she makes are super cute. I like to think that it's because of the outfits that people stare at me when we leave the tower even though it's my appearance.
Everyone looks at me with fear in their eyes, like I'm some sort of monster that needs to vanish. I wondered why for so long and so I asked grandma Tryamon. She said that it was because a people with horns just like mine had done terrible things to the Fairy folk, and since the fairy folk do not die of old age, they still remember that pain. She also told me that the reason that happened was because of a blunder that the Fairy folk had chosen to forget and to not worry too much about their stares.
I listened and nodded. Again, I don't really think that it'd be a great idea to tell a two-year-old something like this since they wouldn't understand, but whatever.
I'm getting tired of running now though. I made my last lap around the study and climbed up the stairs over to where Grandma Tryamon was. I stood at the side of her desk and attempted to peek over.
These stupid small legs..!
Tryamon took notice of my horns as they peaked up into her view. She then rolled her chair over to the side and reached her hand out, patting my head lightly.
"Hello there, are you done playing for now?" She asked with a small smile on her face.
I nodded and jumped up to sit on her lap. She accommodated me and picked me up halfway, setting me down on the front of the seat. We rolled back to the center of the desk where her work was sprawled about.
She hummed to herself as she took her papers in hand and folded them together, placing them all in one neat stack on the left-hand side of the desk. She lowered her hands down and took mine in them.
"What would the little genius like to learn today?" She asked, gently rubbing my palms.
We did this every day. After I exhausted myself from playing in the study I'd come up here and learn something new!
"I wanna… Learn about Magic!"
Tryamon chuckled behind me and wiggled my arms about. I was getting a bit annoyed by it so I started to shake around and pull away.
"Of course dear. Let's start with the basics ^^ " She released my hands and set hers palm up on the table.
"There are two types of 'Magic' dear. The first type is nature energy. As its name indicated, it is something that is found naturally in the earth and is what keeps the world together. Fairies are crystallizations of this energy-given form and thought. The second type is Mana. Mana is an external force that came from space eons ago and has since interwoven itself in the planet. Try looking at my palms with your eyes Su."
I blinked and rubbed my eyes and looked at her left palm. I opened my eyes wider as I saw a small tornado of purple energy dancing in her hand.
"I see it." I said
I don't know why, but I knew as soon as I saw it that it was her nature energy. For some reason, I could remember places where this existed, as well as places where it did not. I tried not to think about why as I wanted to avoid getting a migraine.
"Hah. I've grown to expect such feats from you. Most young adults would have a difficult time perceiving the energy, let alone to see it as clearly as you can."
Tryamon brought her other hand up to my face and covered my right eye.
"It's because you've been gifted with extraordinary eyes that you're able to see the nature of the energy in my left hand."
I simply nodded.
"Extraordinary?"
Tryamon raised her right hand up and patted me once again.
"Very much so Su. Your eyes are a gift from a god who bestowed it upon you. They are precious beyond comparison."
I brought my hands up and held her hand there. I knew that my eyes were special since in my memories I had seen people being worshipped because they had eyes like these more than a few times when I slept.
"Now look at my other hand. What do you see?" She said as she rested her right-hand palm up. I looked over at her other hand and nearly spit up my lunch after seeing what was there.
"It looks like… a ball of blue bubbling sludge."
"This is Mana."
The ball suddenly imploded on itself and turned into a thousand sparkling particles.
"In its base form, mana is repugnant sludge that is dangerous to interact with for those with decaying bodies. In its purified state though, it can be used as the basis for magics of the mind as you can see."
I wonder how exactly it works?
"Could I use mana and natural energy like you?"
Tryamon looked to the side and thought for a moment.
"You should be able to use mana freely, but it may be impossible for you to use natural energy as you are something of an anomaly."
I leaned down and turned my head around to look at Grandma Tryamon. Rarely did she ever say something was impossible. She looked down at me with a cheeky smile as she secretly brought her hands down and tickle attacked me. I laughed uncontrollably as she continued the assault.
"YOU are a little too young to be worrying about that yet! Grow up a bit first and then I can assess you to see if you're capable of utilizing such things."
Unable to fend off the ticklization, I decided to pack my curiosity down for now.
"Okay okay! I'll grow up quickly so I can learn all the things!" I said through my laughter
Grandma Tryamon lightened up and gently bent my pointy ears down.
"I know that you'll be a little mischievous thing if I don't give you something to occupy yourself with though, so go downstairs and have Cain teach you how to sense these two things inside your own body."
"Okay! I'll head down right now!"
Tryamon smiled and set me down on the ground. I hugged her arm and ran around the desk and down the stairs to go meet Cain as she had said.
Cain was a massive Fairy with big bushy eyebrows and a shining bald head. He had been assigned as my supervisor when Grandma Trya and Oberon were too busy to teach me stuff. Lately, we've been looking over the alphabet, but since it was super easy I had instead begun to play pranks on the staff inside the study.
Nothing mean or anything, just scaring them and moving things and… Well, I guess that is a little mean, but I promise It's not like that. I was just bored! Anyways-
"Hold it there, you horned freak."
It hasn't even been more than a minute since I left the study and there are already some Fairy kids looking for trouble? What the heck is wrong with everyone?
I haven't even done anything and they're not old enough to remember the horned people Grandma told me about.
I looked over my shoulder and saw three freshly created brats. The leader was a tall kid with spiky red hair and eyes while the two behind him were like little fodder characters. Unimpressed, I dismissively responded to them
"Isn't this kinda unfair? I'm only two years old, you know."
I said as I upturned my right hand. They usually harassed me whenever I left the study, but they are never just ready like this.
"So what? You're a monster so it's not like that matters!" He said as he walked up to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. His hand turned a crystalline green as he dug his fingers into my shoulder, bruising it.
While it did hurt, I didn't want him to know that. I swatted his arm away and held my shoulder. Even though I was only two years old, I had enormous strength, likely due to my species. The leading boy tripped on his ankle and fell on his face from my swat.
"Just leave me alone! I haven't even done anything to you!" I yelled. My shoulder was really starting to hurt. I wish I was older so Cain could teach me how to reinforce my body with energy like how big brother did when we first met.
"You think you're untouchable because of the Arch magus... " He said as he looked up with real anger in his eyes.
That was unsettling. I looked away and began to walk down the spiraling stairwell down to where Cain was in the training room. He'd be able to nurse my shoulder back and would also deal with them after I told him about this.
That was a mistake.
The sound of something metal being swung fast entered my ears. I looked back and saw the older boy with a face full of fury, gripping an Iron rod. My eyes went small. He had a weapon and wanted to use it on me. Real and true anger of my own welled somewhere in the base of my spine and ran all the way up into my eyes. I immediately turned and ran down the stairs. I had no illusions that I would be able to beat three young Fairies by myself at two years old and ran away as fast as my tiny legs could manage.
"Get back here you runt!" The older one screamed out as he rushed down the stairwell after me. I could only hear his footsteps so I figured that the other two had not followed. Maybe they saw how crazy their 'leader' was and decided to leave. Still, anxiety grew in my heart as I heard his steps getting closer and closer. It sounded like he was only two meters behind me, but I was nearing the exit of the stairwell.
Seconds later I burst out of the stairwell and into the training room. Hundreds of Fairy students were practicing martial arts on the floor below in groups while The overseer Cain attentively watched their movements from his elevated position on the second floor. Cain was a massive man standing at nearly eight feet tall. Currently, he had a white tank top on and trousers with nothing on his feet. He was standing still with his arms folded as he turned and saw me burst in. I saw him for a second, heard a sound like thunder rip by me, and fell down, covering my ears.
My little legs were on fire and my face was ridden with tears that I didn't remember crying. All I could think about was how I hated being in a body this small. I looked over my shoulder behind me and saw the boy. He had come in only a second before me, but he was now trembling. The imposing figure that was Cain towered over him.
I couldn't see his face, but I imagined it was not pleasant given how the boy was quaking before him.
"What do you think you are doing here, boy." Cain's voice drowned out all the noise of the training area, causing a complete stop. The boy himself physically cracked from the boom Cain's voice had created, leaving him looking disheveled with fractures all over his frame.
I couldn't hear what the boy had said, but he scrambled up and pointed at me. As soon as he did, Cain backhanded the boy so hard that half of his face shattered, making small chunks of green crystal fly across the floor. The boy scrambled to pick up the pieces of him that fell.
Cain then turned around and bent down, putting his hands underneath my arms and picking me up. I hugged him and let myself pass out.