House

Time continued its progress, and Robert's new life remained a stagnant mess of boredom. He had gotten a room of his own, with its own sturdy crib and a wide range of plushies and toys to chose from. Just like the various other rooms in the house, Robert's room had the footprint of a small house, except for the blatant fact that it was built to rival a castle. Lined with marble walls coated in a light blue paint and a light brown carpet, his room completely dwarfed any place Robert had ever lived in, not even their combined price could probably compete with this single room.

'Fuck, these guys are loaded'

On this morning, around six months after his arrival in this world, Robert was taking his first steps to true freedom. He had even gone to sleep without practicing magic to ensure he had the strength to pull off this maneuver. Waking up before the usual time someone came to pick him up, he puts his plan into motion.

With a bit of help from air magic, he throws the thick blanket from the crib to the ground and slowly lifts himself over the rail. He lowers himself as slowly as possible and soon enough, he's crawling around the room on all fours.

'I'm the king baby!'

Though he had already learned how to crawl, this was the first time he had been left unsupervised. Robert's new found mobility opened up countless opportunities and he began to grow a bit restless. He wanted to see the rest of the enormous house and maybe find a magical phone of his own. His excitement is immediately crushed when his mother walks into the room not 30 seconds after he had started to explore.

"My, my. I would've never thought my little Joious would start causing trouble so early. I guess you turned out to be more like your brother than your father." she said referring to Tulion. Robert still had a bit of trouble with the language but understood her well enough to cringe at the comparison. Tulion was sweet, but a good reminder on why having kids could suck the soul out of you.

'Whatever. I wouldn't even be able to open the doors without magic anyways. Not like I care if they see me or not.' Robert huffed.

With a cute pout, he's carried off to have breakfast with the rest of the family. Having upgraded from just formula, his regular meals consisted of mushed foods with a smaller side of milk. He's always fed by his parents when they're present or by Phloria when ever she had the opportunity to sneak in a few extra spoonfuls. From Phloria's words, he was apparently "Too small" and "Very thin" so Robert was entitled to extra bites.

After the meal, both mother and father rise from their seats and make their way to the door after a change of clothes. Dressed in the usual casual clothes, the unusualness of both of them leaving the house at once warrants a dramatic speech.

"We'll come back as soon as we can, ok?" Jirni said, lookin towards her four children "Don't worry, in a little bit yo-"

"WOOOOHOOO! Where are the hell are my little ones!!!" the boisterous voice of a man sounded, sharply cutting Jirni off.

"Grandpa!" shouted Joious' siblings in a similar childish manner

"Little ones!!" shouted the newly introduced grandfather.

"We'll take our leave here" said Jirni, not giving any signs of her well deserved frustration.

Both parents gave their children kisses to the head before leaving the mansion. Robert was now left alone with his siblings and a new nameless face.

'Leave me on the ground. Leave me on the ground. Leave me on the ground please!'

He was in his late forties with eyes and hair colors that his father had shamelessly copied from. The man who was shouting in joy and fiercely hugging his grandchildren was almost an exact replica to his son, if you ignored the fact that he was nearly a foot shorter.

'No way. Is grandma the giant?'

"Come on little ones, let me introduce myself to the Tiny Miracle," the man said as he escaped the death huddle and handed Robert to a butler that darted his eyes to the side in practiced embarrassment. The butler rotated Robert to hold him in a manner as if he was displaying a grand trophy.

Bending the knee to the ground, with his right hand over the heart, the new addition speaks in a formal, endearing tone, erasing all traces of his previous actions.

"Tiny Lord Joious Ernas, I am very pleased to at last make your acquaintance. This one's name is Stalli Ernas, honored to bear the title of grandfather and protector. I have traveled to pay my respects and sincerely thank you for your continued life." Stalli took a pause from his kingly manners to raise his lowered head and stare into Robert's stunned eyes. "Only the god of gods would know how the Kingdom would have lived beyond the death of you and your mother."

Stalli stands up, giving a hearty laugh, saying, "Well, they're no gods on Mogar. The paths of fate are as reliable as a man with two arms. You can always shake one, but the other can always cross its fingers."

By the end of his questionable introduction, Stalli was parading Robert in his arms, tossing him high in the air only for him to retract his arms, leaving the ground as the only receiver.

'I might actually throw up for real if this guy keeps this up.' Robert thought

'Really hope Orion got his obsessive kissing disorder from his mother because I can only handle so many men kissing me for no reason!'

With a bit of magic to break Robert's fall, and a quick peck to his forehead, Stalli guides the children to the backyard garden.

"Ok little ones! Today we'll play Valeron's Dance! Any questions!" Stalli yelled into the empty garden, bushes and trees trimmed to resemble animals that would have never lived outside of myths back on Earth.

"Who's gonna be king this time?" Tulion asked followed by a curious expression from the others, including Joious.

"Well of course it's going to be Tiny here, who else? And because its his first time I'll even personally carry him around," he said as he placed the average sized 6 month old around his shoulders.

Robert tugs at his hair with all his might, getting only a chuckle out of his new steed. He then proceeds to take various weapons out of thin air, letting them crash to the ground with loud clangs and whistles. The metal, weighty sounding weapons range from spears, to rapiers, to curvy scimitars and not-so-short short swords. Some had glowing colored crystals along the hilts while others were as plain as watered spaghetti.

"Wow! Can we really use these Granpa? Like for reals?" Phloria questioned even though she was already diving into the sea of metal.

"But of course! It's my only worth nowadays." Stalli joked, before he said the rest in a quiet, cautious tone, "Just promise me that if anything happens, you'll tell your father instead of your mother. Deal?"

"Deal!" They all said.

'DEAL!' Robert thought, agreeing to the future games in exchange for a chance to steal the metal rimmed purple crystal bracelet around Stalli's wrist. Luxuriously engraved body of a winged creature who held the crystal in its maw, he had seen the faint light from the bracelet while the weapons were appearing.

Robert was handed a meter long rapier that he held by the cross guard instead of by the thicker handle. Phloria held a sturdy looking estoc, the blade longer than the height of her body, yet she swung the weapon with ease. Tulion picked up a pair of blue and red short swords and Robert definitely saw the tip of the sword effortlessly slice a blade of grass as it was picked up.

Gunyin swiped the air with a spear tipped with a light green blade. He wielded the white handle with practiced, fluid movements yet his thrusts were fierce and aggressive.

"Come at me little ones!" Stalli shouted as he picked up a dull, golden colored shield lacking in any decorations or inscriptions.

As the fastest and most eager, Tulion dashes forward and hammers down both swords onto Stalli's shield. With a surprising amount of speed, the shield and sword meet producing a single spark followed by a clanging noise that resounded throughout the entire garden.

Robert could feel Stalli's knees slightly dropping under the attack and couldn't even process things when a flash of light passes, followed by a resounding thud. Stalli pushed Tulion off the shield to block the new attack.

With the shield Robert's steed was holding caved in, a green blade once again came piercing towards the shield, scraping its metal and bending its structure. Gunyin was frantically swiping his spear, his feet criss crossing each other but never loosing balance.

The opponent's attacks were swift and often times only inches away from reaching actual skin. Stalli instead firmly kept his place, dodging and blocking whenever necessary.

"You've improved tremendously, but you'll never recapture the South with these sloppy movements!" Stalli shouted in a playful but harsh tone, in no way trying to actually demean his grandson.

"Phloria!" in response Gunyin summons his best player onto the field.

The little sister runs in with her estoc held over her head with both arms, rushing in behind Stalli for an overhead swing. Her childish physique could somehow hold the weapon but had very poor balance.

"So you've summoned your prized Mage Knight, eh? It seems that today will be the day your resistance shall fall!" The grandfather mused with a tone that said he was enjoying this a little too much.

With a swift side step, Stalli moves away from an oncoming spear thrust, its trajectory now heading straight towards Phloria's head.

'Fuck me sideways!' Joious mentally screamed.

"WAAAAA!!" shouting for the first time in his new life, Joious summons ever ounce of strength to lift the feather light rapier, throwing it to hopefully move the spear off course. He uses air magic to throw the rapier, even giving it a slight spin, only to watch the rapier miss its target and forcefully imbed itself a few inches into the ground.

The spear moves unimpeded, only to jerk off of Gunyin's hands after a metallic clash. Phloria, seemingly unaware of what just happened, follows Stalli's new path, landing a good hit on his back.

"It feels as if your great-grandmother was scolding me again" he whimpered while rubbing his butt, even though he was hit square on the back.

"I win!" the little girl shouts in victory.

"Indeed you have. Let's go have some snacks, this old man's starving." the middle age man said, already entering the door.

"But we just started!" Gunyin yelled with an annoyed expression

"Yeah, I haven't even hit you once yet. And we ate already!" Tulion stated.

"Maybe so, but your little brother looks hungry and a tired, we'll come back out after I put him to sleep." The grandpa just ignored the children's rambling, the little sister not even caring, content with her win.

'God dammit! So were they made of plastic or not!? Fuck, I might actually cry this time.'