'Seriously! Can't they keep it down?!'
Anthony was woken from his nap by rhythmic creaking sounds.
'I get indulging your desires. But in my room?!'
Anthony knew what Thomas and Vira were up to. Since they were humans, barely better than base animals, and deeply in love, he couldn't really blame them. It would be like blaming a tree for absorbing the sun's light. It was nature.
But what he couldn't understand was why they were doing it in the nursery. They had been afraid of disturbing his naps to the point where they hardly looked at him when he slept. Of course, when Anthony didn't sleep, they had no problem lifting and swinging him around like a doll.
Anthony's blood pressure rose as he was about to stand up and interrupt them when he himself was interrupted by a deafening drumbeat that filled his entire hearing. The thump had him reeling with its volume, and he tumbled back down on the mattress while reaching for his ears.
'Who dares?!'
Anthony was enraged. He didn't know what was going on. He spread his soul sense as far as it could go, which was just past the wooden frame of his crib. But he didn't find anything that could be the source of the booming sound that felt like it had come from inside his ears.
He was about to stand up and look around when another boom crashed into his skull again. Blocking his ears with his hands hadn't helped in the slightest, so Anthony stopped and used them to hold onto the crib.
Something was happening. Anthony didn't know what. But he knew that it wasn't because of Thomas and Vira. They weren't the type to torment their child. And they were still going at it, which meant they hadn't heard what Anthony had heard.
Anthony did his best to endure the next boom and stood up while holding the crib. The rhythmic drumbeats were overwhelming, but they alone weren't enough to take down Anthony as long as he was ready for them.
What was causing the sounds, however, was a different matter.
Since Thomas and Vira weren't hearing them or reacting to anything happening, it could only be because of magic.
Anthony's first thought was that the robed mage or one of his associates had come to torment him or finish the job. In that case, he wouldn't be able to put up much resistance. He had failed to do anything against the robed mage the first time. And while it was because of his own arrogance that let the robed mage finish casting, in his current state, Anthony would die if a pigeon crashed into him. Even if he wasn't arrogant or overconfident, he was still powerless.
However, he couldn't see anything after standing up and looking around. The room, the crib, the dresser in one corner, the pile of toys in another, and the closed door were the same as before, and there was nothing or no one else in the room.
Anthony's head swiveled around the room as he looked for clues to his suffering while enduring the drumbeats pounding against his skull. Since his soul sense was still unfathomably weak, he couldn't use it to pry for the minute details, such as changes in temperature, air currents, or stirred-up dust. But his eyes, while far inferior to his dragon eyes, were keen enough to make out the details down to the individual leaves on the trees in the painting next to the door.
Yet, he still couldn't find the source of the booming sounds echoing inside his skull.
Since his eyes didn't find anything, Anthony closed them and focused on his hearing. The sounds were almost deafening, and focusing on them only made them worse. But it was his only remaining option to finding out the cause.
He couldn't pinpoint a location since it sounded like the sounds came from within him. Anthony furrowed his brow even deeper. He couldn't sense any traces of magic. But then again, his soul sense was currently extremely weakened, so it wasn't impossible for a skilled mage to evade his detection.
Anthony wanted to question why anyone would go and create a spell that made the target hear loud booms while there were so many other creative ways to torment someone. But then again, the robed mage hadn't seemed very sane since he said he attacked Anastrus to live.
Anthony continued sensing to see if he could pick up anything other than the booms. Maybe he could hear the one responsible talk or mutter to themselves. Maybe he could hear footsteps.
But his ears didn't listen to him. It was nothing like when he was a dragon and could freely decide whether he wanted to hear the grass grow or live in a world of silence so he could sleep in peace. However, his ears, as a human baby, were as obedient as a drop of water.
They did what they wanted, and it was infuriating. Anthony once again felt frustrated at being trapped in such a useless body.
But his frustration quickly faded as confusion replaced it.
As his ears' target changed slightly and he could hear things a little clearer, he managed to pinpoint the source of the booms and identify another sound that always followed and preceded the booms.
Anthony didn't know why, but for some reason, he was hearing his heartbeat and his blood rushing through his veins at a volume loud enough to make him think someone was dropping bombs outside the house.
Anthony tilted his head as he tried to understand why.
Making him hear things was one thing. But magnifying the volume of his heartbeat seemed completely pointless. So, Anthony guessed that he wasn't the target of any malicious magic.
He used his soul sense to investigate his body. After confirming that his heart and circulatory system weren't experiencing any abnormalities and that he was just hearing them louder than usual, Anthony focused on his ears.
'Hmm.'