Clear blue skies, a field of grass, and a light breeze that makes you doze off at any given moment.
(Ahhh, the world's a beautiful place.)
For a baby, my actions might come off as unnatural and weird, but my aunt's and uncle's came off weirder than anything I do or will ever do, I think.
(Please stop; just stop.)
I face palmed myself with the chubby baby hands I currently have, Greeny, and from what I remember, the whimpering orange's name is Theseria?
The other three strangers, or whoever they are, placed me on a pedestal as each and every single one of them took turns making me laugh, impressions, clown faces, and all.
For a normal baby, their actions would probably work, but for someone like me? Who was already an adult in a newborn's body? Something like this became awkwardly disappointing.
But, at the very least, now I know that my baby's existence is adorned by many.
(It seems like they liked me more than I thought.)
It has been half an hour already since they started this sort of ploy, half an hour since I've been separated from Eve.
Although their acting looked like it was forced upon them, some were natural, while the rest had these forced smiles on their faces; one of them is Theseria right over the far right, struggling to keep up.
I felt my baby tummy rumbling, my eyes darted towards my belly, and it seems like they did too.
Greeny sighed. "Let's give up; it's not working." He then wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Of course it won't; have you ever looked at your face, do you even know what a mirror is? It's hideous after all," Theseria replied with a confident smirk. "I'm sure if I were the one in front, then I could probably make him laugh, even a bit."
"What did you say?!"
(Hoo, are they fighting?)
Greeny started pulling the sleeves off his shoulder as he slowly walks toward Theseria.
"You wanna go, skinny Thes?"
"Heh! You know I don't back down from a fight; you better prepare yourself, Atlas."
(What is it with these people's names?! Each one is fancy as hell! Theseria? Atlas? Damn, what cool-ass names!)
Well, at least now I know these two important individuals, and I have this faint feeling that I'll probably be seeing them more in this life.
Face-to-face, Atlas and Theseria stared off each other.
Glaring without a single moment to blink, and for a faint moment, I think I saw sparks flying between them.
I thought I was imagining it, but there were actual sparks!
My eyes sparkled, with a small tinge of hope that they'd cast some magic when they began.
As I unconsciously tap the table, interrupting their fight in the process.
They glanced back in my direction with shock on their faces, but then immediately smiled after a few moments, as if both Theseria and Atlas had suddenly gotten an idea just now.
(WHAT!? NO. SHOW ME SOME MAGIC!!!)
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Theseria?" Atlas started rubbing his chin, and considering he had no beard at all even at his age, it was more disappointing than I thought.
"It seems like someone's interested in...magic."
My eyes widen. "Ges!" I tried to shout yes, but once again, my vocabulary as a baby is still lacking.
Theseria rushed towards my side with one of her eyebrows raised, her face filled with clear confusion, she raised her staff in the air, and I couldn't help but clap.
"Magic?"
I clapped again, making her smile to the point where it could reach her ears.
"HAHA! Is that what you want, my little nephew?" She threw the staff in the air, floated a few moments, and spun a couple of times before falling in the palms of her hands. "Then I shall give it to you!"
Pointing the staff in the open air, towards west, which is the direction to my right, probably?
The wind started to blow, gathering, as if the staff were absorbing something in the air and compressing it at the very top of the staff.
(Do it! Do it!)
My arms start moving in a cheering motion, like a cheerleader giving his support to the player in front of his eyes.
"Gresyo, aclara, ventus!" Theseria chanted, and with a swoosh of her staff, the grasslands were instantly surrounded by these orbs of glowing lights.
I was expecting something more bizarre, something breathtaking, but, as I thought, we can only have what we can get.
I felt a sigh leave me; my arms dropped to my sides while my enthusiasm instantly left my body, and for a moment, I think I saw Theseria's eyes twitch.
"Creek!" She called, "can you dim the lights? It's ruining my show, you know?"
(Dim the lights? Can someone just dim the sun? Is that possible?)
It was.
A hooded man in the far left, which was Creek, of course, snaps his fingers, and after a second, the whole place turns dark.
My eyes fidget at the immediate change, covering my vision with my arm as the orbs of light instantly brightened a thousand more times.
A faint hum emitted in the air; the orbs vibrated, then stopped.
Theseria pulled me into her arms, and my eyes opened to the wondrous world of magic.
(Wow...)
There were no words to describe the sight that Theseria created.
Each orb of light sparkled, like a star had descended from the sky and hovered on the ground; it didn't strain my eyes, and not single moment did it feel bright.
Each made a pattern: a large castle, floating islands, ships flying in the sky, faces of several people, some familiar, while the rest consisted of strangers distinct faces, volcanoes, and several other things that took my breath away.
At some point, one of the orbs slowly hovered close to our direction, circling both Theseria and I for a couple of turns until it stopped in front of my face.
I glance upward at her face, waiting for approval. "Touch it. Don't be shy now."
I felt my whole face smiling; my arms reached, and my finger tips slowly touched the orb of light on my face.
(Warm. It's warm.)
With just a short contact, my body felt this overwhelming flow of warm sensation, traveling from my hand towards my shoulder, then to my chest.
My body shakes for a short moment, like one of those times when I felt inspiration entering me. that kind of feeling.
"Someday..." Theseria began to speak. "Someday you will be able to do something like this, IF...you grow up like your Aunty Theseria here." She blinked one of her eyes, acting cute.
Atlas, who caught sound of her very words, rushes to our side. "OYY! What do you mean if he grows up like you? He's a boy, a boy, i tell you!" He poked in the air towards my face as he stated. "It's clear that he'll grows up like me, isn't that right, Baby Bane..."
"No, he'll be like me in the future. I just know it."
"No! He'll be like me."
As their argument went back and forth in a continuous whirlpool, I turned to face the orbs in the air, touching each and every single one that came near, the warm feeling repeating with each contact.
(Hoo, I might get addicted to this.)
My brain trembles each time, ecstatic.
What is this feeling? Is this the very energy called mana? Or is it something entirely different? I hope there's some kind of book or piece of paper that contains every single answer to my questions.
Returning to the argument, it seems like they're already done bickering with themselves. I turned back to their direction, and for some reason, a clear sign of distress showed across their faces. Surprised and shocked.
I blinked my eyes, gesturing, 'What made them look at me like that?'
In the first few minutes, I thought they were returning to their earlier act of making me laugh, but it seems like their expressions were genuine.
Theseria suddenly raised me high, checking my face for something unknown to me.
"Hey, Atlas, this is..."
Atlas placed a hand on her shoulder before she could finish her sentence.
"I know. I know, Thes. We'll keep this to ourselves for now."
(Hey, what is it? Is there something wrong with my face?)
My baby hands lightly touched my cheeks, checking for any damage, dirt, or anything that could answer my question.
(HOY! ANSWER ME! WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY FACE?!)
The surrounding area suddenly lit up, and Theseria's orbs of light vanished in an instant.
As she carried me in silence, we slowly walked towards the exit, and not a single one of them uttered a word.
Their faces tense ups.
I felt my eyebrows furrow as we returned to the party room.
("...should I be worried?)