*Crackle*
'So warm...it was so warm...' If this toddler could think, these would be the thoughts that would stream through his small head.
Warmth enveloped his infant-sized body, rendering the toddler in extreme comfort.
However, soon enough, harsh light hit his face, and the toddler instinctively opened and closed his heavy eyelids, keenly observing the difference between the two states.
Darkness and brightness flickered back-and-forth, effortlessly entertaining the mind of the toddler, causing him to let out a "heh..." with his undeveloped vocal cords.
However, the baby's little warm and curious paradise wouldn't last too long, as the warmth that made him feel so comfortable suddenly disappeared.
At the same time, he saw two huge masses moving, which intimidated the baby.
In reality, they were simply adult humans, but to the eyes of the infant, they were the most terrifying of titans, and the most unidentifiable, and thus, horrifying, of creatures.
The baby began crying as he felt both cold and terrified, but then...
A large object approached his face, causing him to spasm, but then...
The object, which was in actuality just a woman's hand, brought back the warmth he loved oh-so-much to his face, and the giant creature leaned down and pecked his face.
The baby's fear completely disappeared, and a large smile instead coated his face now as the naive infant now associated the 'giant' with warmth and love.
Then, he curiously observed as the woman's lips moved up-and-down, but obviously, the baby only heard blabber, and couldn't make sense out of language yet.
"Babyl, I fed Anku a few times during the night, so he should be full for a few hours, but I'll be at the mill if he needs anything."
The second giant, who was the baby's father, Babyl, approached the woman, and replied, "Thank you for your hard work, Siria, I'll keep an eye out on our light now."
The two then joined up their bodies in an affectionate hug.
Afterwards, Siria left the small hut, though the baby didn't understand how she left his vision, and now, as he looked at the other 'unknown giant', he spontaneously burst out into tears.
Not for long, though.
Just like earlier, this giant began caressing his cheek, and this time, the baby's tiny hands clung to the giant's hands in order to keep warm.
"You're sooo strong...aghhhh..." Babyl made exaggerated nasal sounds and snickered while playing with his child.
Anku did not understand his words, but they instinctively made him feel happy, and he gasped out in joy.
Then, Babyl parted from him, and moved towards another corner of the hut.
Anku didn't comprehend why the giant suddenly got smaller, but a more interesting sight captivated his short attention span now.
Next to Babyl's feet, a pit shone in a vivid orange light, and flames blazed aggressively, although to the toddler, the flickering flames captivated his small mind.
A rough, rusted hammer then appeared in his hands, and the man brought the hammer up in the air, and then...
*CLANK*
The sound of metal hitting metal resounded inside the insulated hut, and continued for some time.
Anku was completely enthralled by the rythmic sound, and as time progressed, glistening beads of sweat appeared on Babyl's face, which also confused the baby.
The world around him was so big, so unknown, and so new, and he was extremely curious towards everything.
Some time later, the light entering the hut decreased, and the light of the furnace was the only visible light source.
At this time, Siria also came back in, and the three all clumped together on the bed.
As warmth envelopped him once again, Anku easily retreated into sleep.
The next day, sunlight lit up their hut, and his mom left, while his dad worked near the furnace, repeating the cycle, but now, he knew more about his small world than yesterday.
A single leaf fell onto his small forehead, which he grasped with his little, delicate hands, and accidentally torn up.
Anku burst into tears, and Siria thought he was hungry, so she began breastfeeding him, instantly calming down his outburst of infantile emotion.
And thus, as the times got colder, and sometimes warmer, a large margin of time passed, unbeknownst to Anku, who was so engrossed in learning about his world that he never ever felt boredom.
________
Once, he was a miniscule toddler, but now, Anku had grown into an energetic child of a few years, who could move all by himself, but his curiosity never decreased, and instead, he now wanted to explore the world beyond his hut, which he never saw, but his parents always disappeared off to.
He was currently busy playing with the little wooden cubes and hexagons his mother had chiseled for him, arranging them and rearranging them in different ways to get different shapes.
Speaking of his mother, the door to the hut made a creaking sound, and Anku immediately ran towards the door, barging into Siria's upper thighs, which he barely reached.
She was taken aback by this 'attack', and the basket she was holding fell from her hand.
However, instead of being mad, she laughed lightly and bent down to pick up the fruit that had fallen on the cold ground.
Siria stood back up, and began rubbing her son's hair, making his head bob back-and-forth and leaving him with a funny, disorienting feeling.
"My light?" She looked down at him and called out.
"Yes, mom?"
"There are children outside that are about your age playing together, do you want to go play with them?"
At that instant, it was as if a light switch had been turned on in the boy's mind, though light switches did not exist in this world.
'The outside??????? I can see the outside????' Anku was so excited that he began shaking, and in a childish burst, he joyfully shouted, "YES-
A single leaf fell onto his small forehead, interrupting his speech, and as it itched his nose, he spontaneously-
*ATCHOO!*
Siria laughed at his clumsiness and the innocent spontaneity of her child, and brought him to her embrace.
Anku unexpectedly retreated from the embrace, and picked up the leaf that had fallen, feeling with his delicate fingers the texture of the rifts that went along the green leaf, the veins of the leaf, as he called them.
Then, he looked at the small hole in the roof, and an unfitting serious expression overtook his smile.
Anku was replicating the stern face of that strange man who came into their house once every year, though in a child's case, it only looked awkward and exaggerated.
In a similarly awkward and stern tone, he then claimed to his mother, "Mom, there's a hole in the roof, we need to fix it."
"We?" His mother picked up on his act, and burst out laughing.
Seeing his mother laugh, the child also felt an overwhelmingly simple sense of joy, and then, another voice called out to them in a faked melancholic manner, "I'm almost feeling left out!"
"DAD!" Anku jumped towards his father.
Now, his world was complete.