Second year
Elijah was once again in his room focusing on his toys. At least, that's what it looked like to other people. He did not know if people could sense his movement of mana, but he assumed they could not considering no one caught him or talked to him about it yet.
He was deliberately trying to circulate his mana while moving around, contrary to what meditation normally is. He always found it annoying when he read that people had to sit down, be still, or be comfortable to "cultivate."
Elijah didn't think of what he was doing as cultivating exactly, it was more like he was carving a pathway for the mana inside his body while also juggling his toys. Yeah, it was way harder and he failed a lot, but he definitely didn't want to have to be still to progress.
For the past few weeks, he had been hearing whispers surrounding him. The maids, Butlers, gardeners, and even his own family gave him weird looks. He initially thought they had found him being able to use mana but he ruled that out soon enough. He feels like they would have said something to him if that was the case.
Today was his second birthday and they were holding a grand party. The second birthday signifies the child's entry into the world. The second birthday is finally able to learn about the world around them.
At four children get their introductory course in mana, but before that, they learn what they want on their own. Since mana was flowing throughout the world, it catapulted the growth of humans. They were stronger, smarter, and all around better. This included their younger years, hence why learning was so early for the kids.
Elijah was soon taken from his building blocks and put into nice clothes. It wasn't anything fancy since he was still young. It consisted of a black long-sleeve dress shirt, a purple vest and jacket paired with black pants. He had gold cuff links and lining throughout the suit.
He just let his body be moved around like a rag doll and accepted his fate. He never liked birthday parties and he didn't plan on having a lot of them.
More importantly than his birthday, today was the day that he finished his mana pathway! He was so excited that he made a rectangle house instead of a square house today. A whole year of constant effort had paid off today. He thought that he would finally be able to relax and enjoy his blocks, but he forgot that today was going to be a party.
Maybe it was because he wasn't so focused on his mana now, but he could finally make out what the people around him were saying. He could always understand them, but they all just faded into the background when he was focused.
The only times he even semi-paid attention was when his brother and mother gave him sweets. Nothing is more important than desert, which was a hill that Elijah was willing to die on.
Elijah was shocked by what he heard. The maids had finished dressing him and gave him to the Attendant to take to the party. Along the way, he heard the whispers of random people who worked at the mansion.
"Today is the young prince's second birthday."
"I heard that the fourth princess will be born soon.
"Do you think it's going to go well?"
"Is that a joke? Stop playing around."
"What do you mean?"
"The second birthday is more than just a party. It's when the child introduces himself to society. How's he supposed to do that when he can't even talk!?"
"What? He can't talk? But he's two years old?"
"Yep. The third prince hasn't said a word since he was born. Some people even think he may be a little slow in the brain."
"Dam, good thing he's only the third prince."
"You can say that again."
Elijah's face went completely blank when he heard all of this. He didn't even know how he heard them from that far away. They were a good 50 feet, and whispering to each other as well. 'I'll just blame it on the mana' he thought.
'More importantly, how dumb can I be!' "Fuck!" Elijah yelled out of nowhere. The attendant leading him, the maids that were still waiting at his room door, the two gardeners whispering to each other by the tree, and even the birds sitting in said tree went silent and looked at the third prince.
The attendant was the first to be able to regain his bearing. That being said, it still took the man a good ten seconds or so to come over his shock. He had no idea why the third prince cursed out of nowhere, or why he talked all of a sudden.
Since he was the third prince's attendant, he was with him all the time. When he was with his mother and brother, and was even there when the third prince was just playing around. He had never once heard the third prince talk in all this time.
He quickly came to a decision. "I something wrong, Third Prince," he decided to ignore the fact that he was the one to hear Elijah's first words.
"Yes, Keep going," Elijah responded. The attendant was questioning if he should ask what was wrong but decided against it. He continued to lead the way into the room and announced the entrance of the third prince.
"Now entering, Elijah Freeman, Third prince of the Eternal Empire.!" Everyone turned to the entrance to watch as the little boy walked into the room.
'Wow' was the only thought going through his head. In front of him was a huge ballroom with golden pillars surrounding the whole thing. There was even a place sitting higher than the rest with three thrones. One had the Emperor sitting in it, his father. The other had the queen sitting in it, his mother. And lastly, the third throne was about half the size but still way too big for him to fit.
Nonetheless, that was his place to sit for the night. He knew that the only reasonable person that seat could belong to was himself. So he walked around the ball floor, around the pillars, and took a side route to get to his seat. He didn't want to get in anyone's way.
Everyone gave him puzzled and weird looks when he did this. Even the queen broke and looked a little confused as to why walk around when he could walk straight through.
She doesn't remember ever teaching him to be humble.
When Elijah finally made it and sat down in his seat, he slumped into it with no posture. His back was basically on the seat with only his head leaned against the backrest. His feet were dangling off and he was swinging them.
After that, he just sat there swinging his legs. The only thing on his mind currently is how to fix the fact that he hasn't talked and he's a whole two years old. Kids on Earth were able to speak at one and this worlds base intelligence is way more advanced. While thinking about this someone came up to stand beside the throne.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen," he spoke loud enough for his voice to echo in the ballroom. "Tonight, we welcome the third prince into the world and celebrate his glorious third birthday! As always, everyone should have fun during the ball and use this evening to meet and talk to the third prince, Elijah."
He looked back at Elijah, the queen, and the emperor. It didn't look like they had anything to add so he started to walk down and go to a side table. Everyone went back to doing their own thing and talking to others at the ball. The person who spoke soon took the hand of a little girl and brought her back up to meet the prince.
He first gave a bow to the emperor and queen before talking to Elijah. "Good evening Prince, I am Raleigh, the second duke of the empire. It is my honor to be able to see you today. This is Tiana, my daughter," he finished with a bow.
The girl following him also bowed to him. "Good evening prince," she said with her head bowed down.
They both looked at the prince as he was sitting up and looking at them. His mother quickly tried to take over. "Good evening Duke, Elijah actually isn't" She didn't get to finish her sentence.
Elijah spoke once he sat up and felt he had semi-passable posture. "Nice to meet you, Ms. Tiana. Likewise, it is my honor to meet someone responsible for the greatness of our empire, Mr. Duke."
The duke smiled at that and the girl finally raised her head since she was greeted back. While they continue their conversation, the queen and emperor were absolutely shocked that Elijah replies. When the two people walked away the queen was quick to question him.
"Eli, you can talk?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be able to?" He said. Obviously, since he was two he should be able to talk.
"Since when," the emperor quickly interjected.
"I don't really know, I sorta just learned it" Elijah replied.
They were both confused by his statement. They didn't fully believe that he just learned it, especially since he never practiced, or at least they didn't see him practice. "Why haven't you talked before? And all those times I was trying to get you to speak, why didn't you say anything?"
Elijah took a breath and decided to speak the complete and honest truth. "I forgot about speaking, since I didn't need to. Plus, when you were making all those weird noises and saying, 'Mommy, mommy' in a baby voice, I thought you were just a weirdo and proclaiming that you are my mother. Which obviously you should be proud of, I am me after all."