Several days went by, and while Marduk's birthday was nearing, his mind was elsewhere. His apprenticeship under Dorran was going well; he started to craft his own first blade, and after a number of attempts he finally forged it. And the refinement of the mana's patterns was going magnificently, he could now maintain one enchantment active for a little more than an hour. He was usually focused on his research between smithing and fusion magic, trying new temperatures for the forge or thinking about new sets for his own magic. Meanwhile his martial arts reached a bottleneck which he still couldn't overcome, so he had time to spare on other things as he waited for his body to develop.
Although Marduk was caught up in his own research, he noticed the absence of some of the residents of the village. Among them were his master Kayden and the best hunter of Mint, Elder Braum, a short haired blonde man in his late thirties, master of the bow in the initial stage of the high rank. They were gone for a week and the child started worrying, even if it didn't show on his face.
"So are you saying that Master Kayden and uncle Braum are absent and that they departed a week ago?" Telia had a thing for teasing her emotionless friend, so a grin started to deform her beautiful face.
"Oh, What do I see? Is that a worried Marduk?!"
"It's nothing like that!" The monotone voice of Marduk echoed in the empty training room.
"It's only that I asked my grandfather something, and I wanted to know when I will be able to use that …uhm… something." The usually pale face of Marduk was now of a much warmer light pink.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever, I don't know where they are or what they are doing but I know they are ok since they are both really strong."
Marduk wasn't sure why, but the conviction in Telia's voice reassured him of the well being of his grandfather.
He returned to the forge and started trying several new ideas.
Without even noticing it, Marduk worked in the smithy until dawn, when suddenly the door banged and a furious girl barged in. Even with Telia's sudden entrance, Marduk's focus remained unmoved on his hammer and the blade he was hitting with it like some crazy man.
"MARDUK!!!! Are you even there?!" Telia shouted while pinching Marduk's ear. That made Marduk snap out of his trance.
"Telia? What are you doing in the smithy this late at night?" Marduk flinched at the sight of the furious girl.
"Late at night?! It's already morning, you moron!"
"Oh, you are right. Well, what are you doing in the smithy this early in the morning?" Telia's face became even redder as her rage was fed by the boy's taunting manner.
"You do know what day it is, don't you Marduk?" In response to this inquiry Marduk inclined his head as if he was looking at a crazy man rumbling.
"It's the second day of the month of the sun!" At this statement Marduk felt like he had to react in some peculiar way, but he couldn't feel anything more than confusion.
"Happy second day of the month of the sun? I guess?" The confused one now was Telia.
"You don't know what day of the year it is? What did your parents teach you?" Telia's rage towards Marduk faded as concern kicked in.
"Well, neither of them had a real relationship with me, so they taught me nothing, all that I know comes from my own hard work." Marduk said, as he stroked his nose, with a hint of pride.
"So you really don't know! What a couple of bastards your parents are!" Telia's rage was now upon Axel and Selina.
"Today is your birthday, Marduk!" Telia said while hugging Marduk.
"Ah, yeah of course I know. Who do you think I am? And so what?" Marduk's confusion grew more the longer the discussion lasted.
"So what?! We need to celebrate and give thanks to the Gods for your birth!" Now something clicked in Marduk's head.
'Why should I thank the Gods for something like that… mmmh something is not right' Marduk thought while Telia was pulling him away by his arms.
Reaching the house, they found the elders, Kayden, Dorran and Telia's family waiting for the two children.
When Marduk opened the door, Telia's 2years old sister, Lalia, jumped in his arms.
"Happy bwirday Mardu!!!" Marduk in response picked her up over his head and started spinning.
"Thank you, cutie!" Marduk said striking one of his best false-smiles, he used them when he needed to show his emotions even if he didn't really feel them.
Then they approached the table where everyone was seated.
"I am deeply sorry for being late, I wasn't aware of this tradition." Marduk said, bowing his head.
"You mean that idiot of a son never celebrated your birthday with you?!" Kayden said red from rage.
"No, we never spent much time together. "
"That idiot!!!" Kayden said while grabbing his hair.
"Then let's celebrate six times more! Come sit with us, darling" Angela, Telia's mother, said in a soothing voice.
Marduk did as instructed and sat next to Telia and Lalia.
That day they ate and celebrated until late, then they started bringing out wrapped gifts.
The first was Dorran who passed Marduk a sachet.
"What's this? What should I do with it?" As Marduk pronounced those words the table in reinforced wood trembled, the cause of the trembling was Kayden who broke the edge of it with his bare hands.
"That piece of…" Kayden was interrupted by Angela, "Now now, you should open it, it's a present."
"A present? Like a prize? For what?" This time it was Angela who was trembling in rage.
"No, it's a present to congratulate you for your birthday and to show you our affection." Telia explained.
"Ah, ok then I will open it. Thank you Master Dorran." Dorran nodded while his face reddened a little.
Opening the sachet, Marduk pulled out the content, noticing that it was an amount of different colored stones.
"Mana crystals! There are even two purple ones!" Marduk's genuine surprise and happiness affected the mood, and now everyone was eager to hand in their gifts.
Marduk received from Angela several potions and bottles of medicine, from Telia a pendant with a blue shell, several books from the elders on various topics, then Kayden's moment came.
"I originally thought of giving you a weapon, but then I thought now that he is Dorran's successor he will craft his own, so here it is." Kayden handed over a large egg.
"A pet's egg?!" Marduk shouted in amazement, afterall it was an egg which was given as a prize to dungeon conquerors when completing dangerous high level dungeons. It was a magical object Marduk had put his eyes on since he knew of its existence.
"Yes, it is a pet's egg. Try to imprint it." Marduk without a second thought sliced his finger, deep enough to start bleeding a little. As the first drop of blood touched the egg, a mana pattern appeared on it in rainbow colours. And the egg shell started to crumble, until in a few seconds it dissolved in the air, leaving out a blue creature as big as Marduk's head.
It had the body of a lion with the head of a snake with two little golden horns, and the hind legs of an eagle.
"What's that?!" Everyone shouted, except Marduk. Indeed he had already used the Deity's eyes on it, using the light released by the egg as it opened as a cover.
"It's a Mushussu! One of the ancestor of the dragons."