Holiday.

Despite what the Alto had told everyone, I wasn't swept off to join magic classes on the spot. Lissa had only told Rath about my reading ability, and neither of them had told anyone else, I guess they instructed Myra to keep quiet about it as well. I'm not sure why, but perhaps they were worried I'd get even more attention.

In any case, I was free to learn more. As long as I was careful not to draw more notice to me, I should be left alone until I was four or five, which is when students were assigned classes.

With this in mind, my first spell was the most basic one I could find. A fire lighting spell. Yes, I imagine you would say that would create attention, setting things on fire, but we had an old fashioned fireplace in our living room, as well as the large metal oven in the kitchen, which burned charcoal or wood.

I waited until Rath was out teaching, and Lissa was busy doing something in another room, and tiptoed into the kitchen. The metal door to the oven was closed, and it took me a minute to find a cloth to shield my hand and open it. It was hot after all.

Inside, the fire was smouldering. Mother Lissa had used it earlier to bake some bread, which was wonderful to eat by the way, and since then it had just died down.

Wasting no time, I took a deep breath and visualised drawing in mana. I didn't really need to do this for this spell, but I wanted to practice the art. At first I thought nothing was happening, but then I detected a kind of breeze against my skin. Altering my vision, I could see mana drifting towards me from a plant on the table. Very good.

Confident that was working, I held my hand out, pointed inside the oven and visualised with all my might the spark I wanted.

There was a roar, and a blast of heat, and I threw myself backwards as a giant flame erupted from the oven, singeing my hair. 

"Oops," I said. I may have overdone it a little.

Luckily the gout of flame quickly died down, it had only supposed to be a tiny spark after all, so nothing was set ablaze. I had a few singed hairs on my head, but it wasn't really noticeable, although the burning smell was a problem. Scuttling over to the small window the kitchen had, I climbed onto a cupboard and managed to open it, to let some air in, then went back to the oven to check it was okay.

The charcoal was burning again, but other than that, it seemed all was good.

"Phew," I said to myself. I carefully closed the oven door and scuttled back to my room.

Once I was sitting on my bed, I analysed what had happened. 

It was simply, I decided, a case of too much power. I needed to learn control. But this was going to be the hard part. At my age I wasn't allowed out without an escort, and even if I was allowed further afield, where would be suitable?

There was no obvious solution, so I was stuck with theory for now. 

I carried on going to the library, at first with either one of my mothers or Myra, but when I turned three, they let me go alone. The staff there, amused and bemused as they first had been, soon seemed to get used to me wandering up alone and borrowing books of magic. As I always took them back to our apartment to read, I suspect they thought I was getting them for someone else.

Suited me.

And so, for the next year, I absorbed everything I could about magic. Mostly it was just spells, the theory of casting and incantations. I managed a few, very small, castings, but because of my limited freedom, there was no way I could try out everything I wanted, and the suspense nearly killed me.

That being said, all this gave me more time to think about how the magic here really worked. 

Basically, using spells in this world was about channelling, and then shaping, mana, that was the first thing I had learned. However, to shape a spell you had to, mainly, visualise what you wanted. For simple things, that was all it took, such as with my spark spell, but if you wanted more, you had to add certain information into the casting.

For example, if you wished to cast a fireball, you had to put in which direction you wanted it to go, how fast, how big and how hot it should be. These you could fairly easily visualise for a small fireball, but for more powerful ones, you needed to be more specific, or you could lose control, and it would go astray, I assumed because there was more mana involved. Until I could test these more powerful spells, I just had to guess.

Now, before I became a demon hunter in my last life, I was an IT manager, but when I was younger, I was a programmer. And this spell casting, to my mind, seemed to be like writing a simple bit of code. Fireball_size=x and so on. 

As a result, I created any number of spells in a kind of coding manner in my head, with all the parameters already filled in, so all I had to do to cast the spell was mentally 'run' the spell incantation program, and it should activate. This was still all theory of course, as anything with this level of casting was something that a wizard would usually have to speak an incantation for, and, hence was an intermediate spell at least, none of which I dared cast in my 'imprisoned' state.

Aside from this frustration, my life was pleasant. I guess a baby doesn't really think about how comfortable and easy they have it, but from my unique perspective, I was able to appreciate being fed, and loved, by my mothers.

Rath, had she been anyone else, would have both terrified me and turned me on. She was fit as fuck, and often wore garments that would have been right at home in many manga ecchi comics. She didn't have an ounce of fat on her, and her muscles were iron, I swear. And yet, whenever she picked me up, holding me against the only soft part of her, which is to say her enormous bosom, she was gentle and kind. It was a bit of an oxymoron. It was wonderful though, being in her arms.

But as much as I grew to love Rath, I was totally smitten by Lissa. She was kind, thoughtful, clever and talented. I don't think I had ever met anyone like her, in my past life or my current one. 

It seemed there was nothing she couldn't do, from cooking, taking care of me and the household, through to channelling magic from the Blessed Mother. Surely, she was the most loving person ever. 

In my first life I hadn't had it so good. My father left us when I was very young, and my mother then worked herself to the bone to try and make enough to support us. I realised, later in life – too late – that she really must have loved me too, but when I was young, I just felt resentment that she was never there for me, or, when she was home, she just flaked out in bed. 

One of my, many, regrets, is that I didn't ever get to thank her for bringing me up alone like that. She died when I was nine, and still too immature to appreciate her. Even when I was a demon hunter, after my own family was butchered, I visited her grave each year, mostly out of guilt.

So I revelled in the second chance I had been given.

Shortly after my fourth birthday, I woke up and found my parents packing things into wooden crates.

"What's happening?" I asked, not really awake. My young body still needed plenty of sleep.

"We're going home for the holidays," Lissa said, a big smile on her face.

"But we are home," I responded.

Lissa laughed, a wonderful sound. "No, this is our work place. Usually we have a long break once a year, but your mother and I, for work and other reasons, didn't take our break last year. The years before that we decided you were too young to travel. That means though, this time, we've been given nearly a year off, which is wonderful."

"Where do we live then?" I asked, rubbing my eyes, and still trying to take in this sudden move, and what impact it would have on my learning.

Lissa stopped packing and bent down to hold both my arms. "It's a small farm in El. You're going to have great fun there. There's plenty of room outside, fields, trees to climb, everything a little boy loves."

I loved to read and study magic, but this sounded nice even so. I smiled anyway, because my mother seemed so happy.

After a quick hug, Lissa stood up again. Humming, she made me some breakfast, just a bowl of porridge and a glass of milk today, and then carried on packing as I spooned it into my mouth, watching as things were tucked away into travel chests. This was a bit of a blow. I would be cut off from my books. Then the thought occurred to me that if we were going somewhere with lots of outdoor space, there may be room for me to practice my magic at last! 

Cheered by that thought, I munched on my breakfast more happily, and then helped do some packing, although I think I got in the way more than anything. Still, my mothers appreciated the effort, and I managed to sneak a few books into the trunks when they weren't looking.

The move happened faster than I thought. One day we were packing things up, and the next morning, somehow, I found myself being led outside into the courtyard, to a fair sized wagon, old American-west style, hitched to two large, black, oxen. 

"They're not as fast as horses, but they are stronger, and have more stamina, Rath informed me, when I toddled over to look at the giant beasts. One of them looked down at me, possibly considering how I tasted. I took a step backwards, and Rath laughed. 

"Don't worry little one, they only eat plants. Still, you should not get too close, these are tame, but if they get irritated, they can be dangerous. I don't want you getting stamped on, or gored."

I nodded. The horns on the heads looked sharp and business-like. 

I was then taken to the rear of the wagon, and lifted up by Rath. Lissa, already inside, helped me climb in.

I found the interior to be fairly full, but arranged in such a way that it was quite comfortable. The crates with our belongings had been stacked up and laid out so they became furniture. Blankets were laid over some to make a bed, whilst others served as seats and a table. It really was quite cosy. 

"How long will we be travelling?" I asked, as I explored.

"It's going to be a good week on the road, depending upon conditions," Lissa replied. Then she squatted down in front of me and held both my hands. "Listen, this is important. We're going to be travelling through some possibly dangerous country. There is a chance of bandits, or even monsters, so you are not to wander off on your own, do you understand?"

"I promise mother," I said. 

"Good boy." She patted me on the head, and then handed me a book. "Here, you can read this as we go. I found it in one of the boxes. Must have fallen in, yes?"

From the way she looked at me, I knew she knew that wasn't the case, but I just nodded, and widened my eyes. Lissa laughed, rustled my hair, and went to the front of the wagon. Sometimes being a cute little boy has its advantages!

Despite being given the book, I didn't settle down to read it. Instead, I scurried up to the front, to peer round Lissa. She was talking to Rath, who was standing by the oxen. I had been in the courtyard quite a few times now, but only a couple of times into the town, and never further, so I was eager to see something of the wider world.

"Shall we then?" asked Lissa, both to Rath and myself.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands like the four year old I currently was.

Laughing, Lissa flicked on the reins, and our two bovine beasts, grunting, started moving slowly forward. Rath walked alongside.

We headed towards the main entrance, which was a defensive position, and hence consisted of a large set of gates, a portcullis, a tunnel, compete with murder holes above I noticed, where boiling oil could be poured onto any intruders, then another gate, another portcullis and a drawbridge over the moat. 

The guards saluted at both of my mothers as we went by. They nodded in return.

And then we were out! The road, paved with white stone, initially weaved down towards the small town that spread over the side of the hill the academy was perched on. Shops and houses lined the sides of the road, whilst a variety of people wandered here and there. The occasional merchant or warrior on horseback made their way amongst them. My head swivelled this way and that, taking everything in. 

Most of the people here, I had noticed before, were slightly dark skinned with black hair, similar to southern European countries back on earth. Made sense, this area was hot and sunny year round. 

The shops lining the road had awnings out, sheltering the goods beneath, which seemed to mostly be food. Melons, oranges, some apples, many fruit I couldn't identify were on display, and I reflected that it was a little strange that, here in this world on the other side of the multiverse, they had some of the same foods as my old one. Then again, the people, or the humans at least, were also the same. Was there some link between our worlds? The elves and demi-humans here were similar to the stories back from my first life too. 

As I mulled this over, I realised the heat was beating down, and sat back a little, into the shade. 

"Why is it hotter out here?" I asked Lissa.

"The academy has a magical shield over it," she replied, without taking her eyes off the crowded road. "I'm surprised you didn't notice it."

"I've never looked up I guess."

"Because your nose is always in a book, you should be more aware of your surroundings."

"Valid point mother," I replied.

She looked at me then, with a bemused grin, an expression I had become used to by now. It generally happened when I said something that no three year old ever would, which was all the time really, despite me trying to act more my body's age. People would often make a remark then.

This time she just leaned over and kissed my head, which genuinely made me smile.

We made our way slowly through the town, and into an area which was mostly suburban, insomuch as the surrounding buildings were obviously residential dwellings, a mass of sandy coloured structures, built on top of each other in a rather haphazard way. They reminded me a little of the Favela's in Brazil, although with more flowers and less gunfire.

We carried on, and arrived at the main gate of the fairly heavily fortified wall that surrounded the town. I had learned by now that we were quite close to the area called the Badlands, in which human and allied troops would often skirmish with forces from the north, an area they called the Demon lands. Bearing in mind my ultimate mission, I had resolved to do a lot more research into that part of the world.

In any case, that was for the future. Right now we stopped at the gate, where Rath chatted for a minute or so with some of the guards there. It seemed she was well known with the soldiers, although as a Weapon Master, perhaps that wasn't surprising. 

Eventually we were waved through. I was slightly surprised to see the guards bow to Lissa as we went by, but was distracted from asking about that by the landscape beyond the wall.

The land stretched out as far as the eye could see. Lush green grass, interspersed with fields of crops gently waving in the wind. Here and there a windmill could be seen, sails slowly moving in the low breeze. A few figures worked the land, doing what I don't know, whilst the road ahead meandered into the distance, now made of grey stone. I could only see one or people using it.

"So Theo," Rath asked, as she jumped nimbly up onto the wagon, to sit next to me, so I was now comfortably wedged between both my mothers. "What do you think?"

"It's beautiful," I said, and I meant it. Perhaps it was because I'd spent the last three years mostly inside, or the last twenty or more years before that, in my old world, in the seedier parts of many cities, but the panorama ahead looked something like heaven must be, if such a place existed.

Rath ruffled my hair. "Wait until we get home, it's even nicer. You'll enjoy the farm, I'm sure."

I just nodded. Maybe I would at that.

As wonderful as the scenery was, it soon became slightly monotonous. I started to droop too. Being this young was annoying. My body still needed regular naps, and so Rath took me back into the rear of the wagon, and had me lay down in an area lined with comfortable blankets. She threw a thin sheet over me, it was still hot, and in minutes I was fast asleep.