'So, if you break my rules...'

After officially meeting the patriarchs and matriarchs of my families for the first time, i decided to just come out with the question i was sure everybody had an answer to. "How different... am I?"

I tried to seem hesitant and fearful, hoping they would think my EQ if not my IQ was still low. I was smart but vulnerable, they needed to give me accurate but assuring answers.

"You're actually kind of small," Grandpa Falkryn from the hill people replied, laughing lightly at his own joke in an attempt to alleviate the sudden tension in our atmosphere.

Bringing a fist to his mouth and clearing his throat awkwardly when everybody, myself included, just stares at him, he goes on to say, "What i mean is... how you're different is different for different people?" Everybody just looked at him with glassy, lifeless eyes as if his words had made them into dead fish.

I, however, was intrigued. Albeit his wordplay needed some work, I was sure he had a point somewhere. "For me," i say to take the attention off of him, "I am different in two ways. I am both big and I am... sentient. How big of a difference are these things?"

From the way he had flustered himself, i felt relatively safe in that his or the hill people's possible suspicions about me were nothing as bad as i feared. I was hoping to see if i could gauge or pressure any more insights out of him, but his wife quickly came to his rescue.

"There are people with animal parts, gills and no feet, and even people without actual bodies," she informs me with a smirk, obviously not one to take shit from anybody. "You should be grateful you at least look human, with this in mind the only real difference is... just that. MIND.

"Never in all my years have i heard of a child being born... sentient, and our pure-bloods give birth to babies as big as you," she reaffirms, bringing to everybody's- mostly her husband's- attention my intelligence once again while pointing out that the hill people get even worse than me.

Never in all her life. She looked fairly old and was in a position of some power, so her information reach would be nothing to laugh at. This told me that, at the very least, nobody knew what it was that made me intelligent.

This was something that i could work with, i hoped.

Of course, with good information came the not so good.

Grandpa Roth, Grandma Elaine's husband, finally took part in this aspect of the conversation with, "Lad, if we're being honest, your Affinity is also a bit out of place. Rare is it that people can use both fire and water elements, or light and dark, healing and necromancy. You, though... you're Affinity clearly states 'ALL'."

"That is a bit strange," my mother agrees. "It's not impossible for people to use opposing forces, but one would usually be weaker and never as far as i know of has it been multiple opposing forces. When i was at the Academy learning the advanced magics, there were only a few people with more than one set of opposite magics and ONLY one who had the all-affinity. She's our current empress."

Well, that was some sensational foreshadowing, mom! Once word about me actually gets out, my Affinity alone would be enough to attract attention from the highest offices.

"However," Grandma Elaine cuts in quickly, talking with her eyes more to the other adults than to me. "None of these are bad things. Quite clearly, you existence is blessed by the gods simply for the fact of your communication ability. In fact, it would not be outrageous to say you're this way intentionally and for important reasons."

"Which is why you got some pretty crazy gifts for your first birthday," my father, of all people, says with a quick glare cast about the gathered adults. He apparently did not approve of my weapons and training gifts. At least the magic book was just a book. But, not only do i have an actual knife and sword but i also had wooden versions and then some.

"Aren't you always asking me about when you can start teaching him how to kill things?" My mother quips quickly, having been proud of the flashy knife her parents gave me.

"That's me teaching my son how to protect himself and others, as well as beside the point," her argues defensively. "I wanted to give him all of his first weapons and gear, but now all of you beat me to it on his very first birthday!"

"You can get me archery equipment," i offer to end the sudden argument. "Since i have magic, it would be just as good for me to learn how to fight from a distance without it the same as up close- and i can still learn both with magic."

Seeming to broach a sensitive topic of their own, my father nods his acceptance of my compromise before asking, "Do you think that you need to learn all these different methods of fighting?"

Because of what my grandparents had said about the gods and the story of the oracle about my birth, i knew that this question was about much more than just my personal interests. Father has always been saying things about 'omniscient', which is being all-knowing. He is probably worried about something in my future that does not even exist.

Carefully choosing my next words, taking some comfort in the fact my origins had no precedents here, i say, "I want to learn everything i can about the world around me. Can i learn about the entire world from a single place? I do not think so. However, because of the job even you maintain and the powers i may have, i know this world is a dangerous place.

"If i want to learn about the world i will one day have to travel the world, and to ensure my own safety i will need to be able to protect myself in more ways than one," I answer at length, hoping my explanation would lay to rest the fears my father obviously held for potential futures.

Even though i said that while looking into my father's eyes, in my mind i could see a pair of shattered glass rainbow eyes. For a brief moment, his words about my life having entertained him played through my mind and a chill crept down my spine. Was this life really just more entertainment?

The conversation just started circling for a while as the adults avoided asking me direct questions. My father's topic had touched onto their own fears and they were worried about what should or should not be said. I just did my best to smile and nod along.

When the big reveal about me was finally over, everybody went back inside and I soon found myself alone in my room. I was expected to go to sleep, but after the conversation we all had just had there was still quite a bit on my mind. Such as why i was here in this world.

Searching for a distraction, i decided it was finally time to once again get to work. Except, this time, I was going to have to do more than just work on physical development. I needed to develop my reflexes and coordination and the best way to do that was by instilling in my body muscle memories.

Bringing to mind all of my memories of watching my father going through drills out in the yard, i set to work on mimicking his motions and gestures. To start with i focused on his footwork because, whether with empty or filled hands, his footwork almost always remained the same.

Only for certain strikes and techniques did he variate from his circling and shuffling steps.

For the sake of remaining silent more than my own physical abilities, i had to move slowly and carefully. Pushing lightly forward like a fencer ready to make a thrust became exaggerated and tiresome. Side- and circle-stepping all around the bed that replaced my crib in similar fashion, likewise, wore one the muscles of my legs.

After a couple of hours, i was tired and sweaty just from stretching awkwardly about my room in every direction. However, if i could get away with moving at normal speeds, i felt like i could almost perfectly replicate my father's movement techniques.

I had been watching him do them for the better part of a year, being unable to practice them right now would embarrass my father. In fact, it would probably mean that I was a talentless hack if i could not learn footwork.

More exhausted now than i had ever been before, i retrieve my beginner's magic book from my desk with the other gift books and climb in bed. I had but one window off to the side and high up on the wall and no other source of light in the room, so i could not actually read. However, i could skim through the pages looking for anything of interest for tomorrow.

The book had a table of contents that was all written in a large, bold font of a foreign alphabet, but as long as i could actually see the words it seemed like they would 'translate'.

As it turned out, this book was more of an introduction to the different types of magic something that teaches actual magic. Of course, each section had a corresponding spell or ritual of the most basic forms to practice with. However, when it came to reading these sections, i simply could not see well enough to translate.

After only twenty or so minutes of skimming the book, i soon ended up asleep with it on my chest. It felt like as soon as my eyes closed i was being gently awoken by my mother. Our guests were leaving and i was expected to be there to see them off.

I smiled and waved, doing the bare minimal to wish the family farewell, and once the door was shut i returned promptly to my room. As much as i wanted to sleep, i could not let myself. I was rested and there was light, this meant that i could get back to practicing my footwork and finally do some reading.

However, my family seemed to have other plans of having breakfast in the yard. Breakfast was leftovers from the day before that had not been sent with our guests, which was good for me. Since they were leftovers and we were alone, i no longer needed to hold myself back.

Even though i brought my magic book with me, my parents refused to let me read it until after we were done eating. After that, my father tried to distract me from magic with talk about explaining his martial skills and techniques.

Between martial arts and magic, i was way more excited to learn some magic. especially after having spent hours last night working on his movement techniques for the first time.

Of course i was smart enough to keep that to myself and asked my father specifically about his unarmed skills. Even though i had wooden weapons to practice with, there simply was not enough time in a day to start learning weapons yet. Still, he seemed overjoyed by the fact that i was willing to learn from him.

As expected, the first thing my father started with was the foundation of his skills. Footwork. From watching him practice I already knew most of the implementation of his movements, but this was still a good chance to learn how i should move my body.

When my father finished his demonstrations, i was suddenly glad that i had practiced the footwork on my own the night before. He was so excited about my future training that he wanted to start now by having me show him whatever footwork i had learned.

Happily, I obliged and displayed what little skill i had by repeating the motions i had practiced at normal speeds.

There was obviously a number of issues with my stances and shifting, mostly about keeping my knees bent and how to move from or while partially crouched. However, everything else was as good as it could be considering. Just rookie stuff so far.

Even though my Endurance stat had proven to allow for more than an hour of effort, i decided to claim exhaustion after only an hour of practicing. However, my martial education did not simply end there. My father kept me in the yard for another couple of hours until it was nearly noon, sharing with me the experiences he had of when he first started training.

Finally, though, his stories came to an end and i was left to digest the wisdom he had tried to impart. Much of it seemed useless to me, but that was only for now because i was only working on one part of a much grander whole. Eventually i would come to experience and understand much of what he told me.

But more importantly than anything else, i could finally get to work on learning some magic. After, of course, my mother had her say. And she had quit a bit to say about things.

While she had no qualms with my learning these things because of my physiological differences from other people my age she did, however, have some very serious expectations for me.

First of all, if my training should ever cause me any undo pains like joint or tendon strains i was to immediately inform her for treatment and inspection. If i should ever attempt to actually practice using magic, i must do so under her supervision and hers alone. My father simply would not do in these regards.

After a long list of the do's and don't's of my training, she finally ended with a heartfelt message of love.

"I know you probably think that Im being strict for no reason," she explains to my bewildered face after laying down the law. "But, please believe that it's because i love you. So, if you break any of my rules, not only will you have to wait until you're older to start again but I'm going to break you to show you the injuries I was trying to help you avoid."

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