Chapter 1 - [System Initialized]
Summer, 617 CA
I slowly opened my eyes.
The light was bright, and it took my eyes several seconds to adjust.
My body felt good, all things considered. I didn't feel any fatigue or lingering injury, but I couldn't seem to move my neck. My fingers and toes moved freely, but they only responded after a significant delay.
Someone shouted excitedly in a language I didn't understand. The language sounded to me like it was from continental Europe, but I knew enough German and French to know that it wasn't one of those two. Had I woken up in a Dutch hospital? I turned my eyes toward the source of the sound and saw a man in his thirties dressed in a strange outfit. The man's clothes were antiquated. It was as if they were from the Victorian era. The man in anachronistic clothing reached toward me, and I suddenly felt myself lifted into the air. What? He lifted me into the air like I weighed nothing at all.
My eyes turned toward the force that had lifted me up into the air, and I saw that the man was holding me up in his massive hands. I saw my own body; it was small, naked, and pudgy.
Ah.
I didn't survive the accident. The infantile body that I presently inhabited served as proof of that. I had been reborn as an infant, though I had retained my memories.
I surveyed the scene. The man holding me up must have been my father. He had jet black hair, unnatural red eyes, and striking good looks. Hopefully, I would be able to inherit some of his good qualities.
To the other side of my small body was my mother. Sweat had beaded on her face, and bags had formed under her eyes, but she smiled weakly when I looked at her. She had reddish-brown hair and skin that was a shade tanner than my father's.
The man passed me over to the woman who cradled me in her arms. It wasn't an altogether unpleasant experience, all things considered. The woman spoke to me in that foreign language. Every word she said was completely lost on me. I heard the two words "Thale Feldrast" used together in conjunction a few times, and I figured that must have some meaning.
A few hours later, I sat in my crib and thought about my situation. They had placed a diaper and onesie upon my small, vulnerable body. I was clothed, which was somewhat of an improvement. I turned my eyes toward the edge of the crib, and there I saw a small girl staring at me.
Curious red irises watched me over the lip of my crib. The little girl had brownish-red hair and bright red eyes. Her hair was the same color as that of the woman who had held me in her arms so recently. Considering that she had the features of my mother and father, I assumed that she was my sister. The girl had long hair that stopped at her neck. Instead of growing downward, her hair grew outward, giving her a kind of "mop top" hairstyle. It was a particularly distinct look; her hair reminded me of a memory from long ago.
The girl smiled at me. Her smile radiated trust and purity, and it made me want to forget about all about the suffering in the world. As I looked at the young girl, a memory flashed through my mind. It was a memory of this same girl, but she was twenty years older and bleeding to death on the ground.
With a quivering hand and eyes filled with dawning realization, she reached up toward a man with glowing red eyes and black hair. The man's expression did not flicker as his sister's eyes closed for the final time.
The girl from my memory was named Bernadetta Feldrast, and she was an NPC from an MMO that I had played in high school called [Ferrum Online]. The memory faded from my mind, and the little smiling girl remained. The resemblance between the two was uncanny. It was very easy for me to imagine this little girl growing up into the woman from the memory. In reality, that was impossible. Bernadetta Feldrast was a video game character. She was a level 50 Priestess who was killed by her brother after being injured by the player's party. What was the name of her brother? It was tough for me to remember. Oh, that's right. It was Count Thale Feldrast, a level 70 Archmage.
I was struck by a wave of realization. My mother and father kept saying "Thale Feldrast." In [Ferrum Online], Thale had piercing red eyes and jet-black hair like my father. I raised my hands until I could see them without moving my head. The small pale orbs in front of my eyes were the hands of Thale Feldrast.
I thought of how Bernadetta's story went. Unlike Solana, the younger sister never turned against Thale. Bernadetta remained completely loyal until the moment Thale slit her throat.
I had been reborn into a video game.
The game was called [Ferrum Online], and it was one of the only video games I had ever played to completion. I had beaten the game in its original build, but I had never played the follow-up expansions. I was in medical school when the last expansion came out, and I couldn't dedicate any time to it. There was one thing I knew about the expansions, however. Five years after the beginning of the game, an entity known as Lothar the Judge would appear from space and attempt to end the world. On some servers, he was successful, and those servers were deleted. Lothar would appear in the year 640 CA. Thale Feldrast was born in 617 CA, so I knew that I had 23 years until Lothar's appearance. Would that be long enough? I couldn't be sure.
I briefly considered what tools were available to me. Thale Feldrast was the son of Armond Feldrast, the Count of Northwind. Due to the nature of inheritance laws in the Northern Realms, that made me the heir apparent to the Realm of Northwind.
In terms of drawbacks, I remembered that Thale Feldrast suffered from a weakened constitution and a frail body. He had to walk with a cane, and his desire to fix his ailing body drew him to dark magic. By the time the players fought Count Thale Feldrast in [Ferrum Online], he had committed unspeakable acts and transformed himself into a monster that could only survive by consuming the souls of the innocent.
I did not know the name of Thale's mother. Both of Thale's parents were dead by the time the game had begun, and I only knew Armond Feldrast's name because he was listed as the previous holder of Thale's title. I knew much more about Thale's two elder sisters, however. Solana was a powerful pyromancer who could be convinced to turn against Thale, and Bernadetta was a Priestess who would always assist Thale in the final fight.
When I shook myself out of my reverie of deep thought, I realized that I had been staring directly at Bernadetta for thirty seconds. Bernadetta started to say something. Whatever language she was speaking, it definitely wasn't English. Common? I think that was the language they spoke in this part of Ferrum. The girl kept speaking, and her words became more fearful with each word. She took a few steps back, and I had to strain my eyes to track her. As I followed her eyes with my own, I saw that she was crying. With tears in her eyes, she fled from the room.
Armond Feldrast came into the room a few minutes later. He had a smile on his face, and Bernadetta was hiding behind his leg. As he approached, the man spoke soothingly to Bernadetta, and she responded in a timid voice. I thought of how trusting she was, and how betrayed she looked when Thale killed her. Many things in [Ferrum Online] were preventable, Bernadetta's death wasn't one of them. My father scooped me up in his arms and sat down on a nearby chair. I found myself at about head-height with Bernadetta who regarded me with fearful eyes. My father said something in that same soothing voice.
I figured I should do something to calm her. With one pudgy hand, I reached out toward her. Bernadetta reached forward as if to shake my hand, and I grabbed one of her large fingers with my hand. She smiled happily, her red eyes beaming.
"Hello," I tried to say in English. The sound came out as a baby's meaningless babble.
Bernadetta giggled, and my father let out a hearty laugh. Less than a minute later, I had been returned to my crib.
My father said some words as he grabbed Bernadetta by the shoulder and led her away from my crib. Armond Feldrast was smiling, and Bernadetta's eyes were locked on mine. She waved a timid hand at me, and I raised my hand back in an approximation of a wave.
Without warning, white text appeared in the center of my vision. The text was generated from left to right as if it was being typed out on a computer.
System Initialized
Chapter 2 - [Observe]
System Initialized
The white text hung ominously in the air for a few seconds before it faded away. Then, in the same manner as the initial text had been created, four more lines of text appeared, completely blocking my vision.
Talent Acquired: [Observe]
Talent Acquired: [Hellfire]
Trait Acquired: [Intelligent]
Trait Acquired: [Sickly]
Talents? Traits? Those were the names used by the game to describe unique attributes that certain characters were born with. It was impossible to learn a Natural Skill. You were either born with a certain Talent or Trait, or you weren't.
Seeing the lines of text in my vision jogged my memory of Thale's Natural Skills. I had read his wiki page, and I knew what all of the information in front of me meant.
Before I could start thinking about the meaning behind the lines of text that had just disappeared from my vision, something else caught my attention.
A man's voice rang out in my head. It spoke in the same vaguely European language that Armond and Bernadetta used. The voice did not sound malicious. It sounded desperate.
ᚬᚭᛢᚯᛛᚧᚯ ᚣᛔ
As the voice spoke, several inscrutable runic symbols appeared at the top of my vision. Unsure of what to do, I tried to send a message back. I formed a sentence in my mind, and I willed it to be sent to the other entity inhabiting this infant's brain.
I don't know what you're saying. Do you speak English?
The voice came again. This time, it was quieter.
ᚬᚩᛩᚸ
Who are you?
There was no response. I mentally called out a few more times to no avail.
I tried to shake my head to clear it, but my infant neck muscles would not move. Instead of lingering on the voice, I decided to consider the lines of text that had just appeared in front of me.
Just like the original Thale Feldrast, I had the Talents known as [Observe] and [Hellfire]. Talents were distinct from Traits in that Talents were explicitly supernatural abilities that people were born with.
[Observe] allows the user to gain information from any creature. This Talent can be used at different levels. When utilized at level 1, this Talent allows the user to learn the target's name. At higher levels, this Talent can be used to gain additional information about the target. The user must have direct line of sight to the target in order to use [Observe]. Any person with magic or combat experience will be able to detect when this Talent has been used on them, what level it was used at, and who used it on them. Certain simple wards and magic items can be used to prevent the use of this Talent.
That's the description of the Talent that I had read when I played [Ferrum Online]. As far as Talents went, [Observe] was not that impressive. About one percent of all people could use it, and the culture of Ferrum had adapted to this fact. In the original game, anybody with levels in a Class knew when they were targeted by [Observe]. The original Count Thale Feldrast, like most nobles, wore a magic ring that prevented him from being targeted by [Observe].
My mother entered the room while I was thinking about the words that had appeared in my vision. She walked into the room with weak steps, supported by a teenage girl wearing a maid's uniform. The girl couldn't have been more than thirteen.
I focused my gaze on my mother and willed [Observe] to activate. Immediately, new text appeared at the top of my vision.
[Observe, Lvl. 1]
Name: Tabitha Sellack Feldrast
My mother's name was Tabitha Feldrast. Considering that I was completely dependent upon her for survival, confirming her identity was probably a good idea. I turned my eyes toward the maid and activated my Talent.
[Observe, Lvl. 1]
Name: Melissa Thorn
I had definitely never seen this girl when playing [Ferrum Online]. Though, she would be thirty-one by the time the game was set to start. Either way, "Melissa Thorn" was a very common name in the Northern Realms. "Melissa" was a very common name for women, and "Thorn" was essentially a placeholder name in this part of the world. "Thorn" was most commonly used when parentage was uncertain.
Tabitha Feldrast sat down on a chair near my crib. She reached into my crib and grabbed my entire hand in her fist. Her complexion was just starting to regain a little color, and she smiled brightly at me.
Winter, 618 CA
Six months passed without incident. They must have been the most boring months of my two lives. The only activities I had the capacity to engage in were nursing, sleeping, defecating, learning Common using the words said by people near me, and using [Observe] on people.
[Observe]: Lvl. 1 → Lvl. 5
By the time my body had developed enough to crawl, I had learned enough Common to follow most conversations and increased [Observe] to level 5, though I was careful to only use my Talent on children and other people who I was sure didn't have Class levels. I would prefer that my identity not be revealed until I was strong enough to survive an assault by someone who believed I was a demon possessing an infant's body.
A fireplace glowed comfortably in front of me, and I sat upright atop a comfortable woolen rug. To my right sat Solana and Armond. They were both staring intently at the fire in the center of the fireplace. Several lit braziers lined the walls of the room, giving the room ample light. As I watched my father and sister, I turned a small brass cup over in my hands. Mother and the maids thought that it was my favorite toy, but I just played with it in order to increase my manual dexterity. It wasn't working too well so far.
"You can do it, Solana," Count Armond Feldrast said in a reassuring voice as my seven-year-old sister squinted at the fire.
Solana had undergone the Ceremony of Observation a few months before my birth. It was tradition throughout most of the world to have a mage with the [Observe] Talent check a children's Talents on their seventh birthday.
My eldest sister had inherited our father's black hair, and our mother's green eyes. Her hair was tied back in a short ponytail, and she was wearing a casual blouse and riding skirt. In the Northern Realms, it would be seen as scandalous for the daughter of a Count to dress so casually. Solana never acted like a "proper" noblewoman in [Ferrum Online], so I didn't think she would care much about such a scandal.
Seeing Solana with her hand outstretched to a burning fire caused a new memory to flash before my eyes. A woman in a long scarlet dress slowly turning in the center of a frantically twirling ring of fire. Four powerful adventurers armed with swords, bows, and magic tried their hardest to wound her, but the inferno burnt the arrows, fizzled the spells, and drove the melee fighters back. When one of the adventurers attempted to circle around behind her, she effortlessly altered her attack and forced him back. It was one of the hardest fights in the early game.
I turned my red eyes toward Solana and activated my Talent.
[Observe, Lvl. 5]
Name: Solana Feldrast
Class: None
HP: 4
MP: 5
Fortitude: 5
Strength: 4
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 6
Willpower: 5
Charisma: 6
Talent: [Hellfire]
Solana was trying to utilize her Talent, and she had been trying for more than a year. Considering her stats, I knew what her proble was. Her Intelligence score was simply too low. She didn't have the presence of mind or strength of will to activate [Hellfire]. It was understandable, though. You needed eight Intelligence to cast any spell, and most people didn't reach that level until their teenage years. A lot of people never reached eight Intelligence, in fact.
"Ugh! ᚤᛟᚧ! I can't do it!" Solana shouted in annoyance. I had not previously heard the second word she said.
"Language!" Armond chided his daughter. "But…" he sighed and put a hand on Solana's shoulder. "You'll get there eventually. I'm sorry; I'm asking for too much. And... uh... just between you and me," the Count leaned in to whisper conspiratorially to Solana, "I couldn't use [Hellfire] until I was thirteen years old."
As my father spoke, I started to frantically crawl away. It sounded like their conversation was coming to a close, and I didn't want Armond to carry me back to my crib just yet.
"Really?" Solana giggled.
"Yes, your grandfather thought I was faking," Armond laughed at his own joke. "Even if you never learn how to use your [Hellfire], know that I'll always be proud of you, okay?"
"Yes, Dad," Solana said with a smile. I heard the sound of rustling fabric as Solana hugged Armond.
The two of them stood up from their seats by the fire as I crawled under a dresser in the hallway.
"Now, where did Thale go?" Count Armond Feldrast asked as he stepped out into the hallway.
"Melissa might have come and got him," Solana suggested.
After a long period of silence, Armond said, "You're probably right. Come on, let's get some ᚧᛕᚠᛞᚩ from the kitchen."
Chapter 3 - [Hellfire]
When I finally heard the footsteps of Armond and Solana Feldrast disappear at the end of the hallway, I squeezed myself out from under the large dresser.
The hallway was a large structure made of stone, and long ornate rugs adorned its center. I crawled onto one of these rugs and sat there with my arms crossed, deep in thought. That was the first time in my new life that I had ever been allowed such freedom, and I knew that I had to make use of this opportunity.
Burning brass braziers were built into the wall at five-meter increments. The flames that burned at the center of these braziers had not lessened at all since the moment I had arrived in Ferrum six months ago, so I had a guess as to how the braziers worked.
With my mind's eye, I reached out to grab the flame burning at the center of that brazier. The flame promptly became several times brighter as the spark of Hellfire within reacted to my Talent.
[Hellfire] allows the user to summon forth an ever-burning flame. At a range of up to 3 meters, the user can create small portals to the Elemental Plane of Fire. At a range of up to 30 meters, the user can move the portal, alter its size, or erase it entirely. Any alteration of the portal other than translocation will require the user to expend mana. [Hellfire] also grants the user significant fire resistance.
[Hellfire] was an incredibly powerful Talent that could only be used by a select few noble families in the Northern Realms. In [Ferrum Online], the vast majority of NPCs with [Hellfire] relied entirely on their Talent, much to their detriment. The original Thale Feldrast had become exceptionally dangerous because he had expanded his magical capabilities beyond the mere usage of his Talent.
Focusing on the flame that burned in the center of the brass brazier, I attempted to move it. For the first two attempts, the flame would not move. On the third attempt, I stuck my tongue out the side of my mouth in concentration and strongly visualized the flame moving upward. The Hellfire spark heeded my command on the third attempt, and an unnatural orb of roiling fire lifted up above the brazier as if it was supported by an invisible string. I moved the Hellfire spark toward myself until it floated less than a meter away from my outstretched hand. I could feel a pleasant heat radiating off it.
As expected, I had minimal issue utilizing my [Hellfire] Talent. Any person with the intelligence of an average adult could utilize their Talent without difficulty, and [Hellfire] was no exception.
After a moment's consideration, I thought of [Hellfire]'s secondary ability: fire resistance. In the game, the nobles of the Northern Realms who attacked with Hellfire would never hurt themselves with their own flame.
With a small, clumsy hand, I pulled my cuff back to my elbow. It was hard with my significantly lowered agility, but I was able to pull it back after a few seconds of fumbling. Though I had gained some level of mobility, I was still an infant. The cuff receded back, revealing the vulnerable pale arm underneath.
I crawled forward and carefully stuck my hand into the flame. Even as my fingertips were engulfed in the flames, I barely felt any discomfort. My entire hand had disappeared into the fire before the feeling had gone from soothing to mildly uncomfortable. I quickly retracted my hand from the fire. It was slightly discolored as if I had dunked it in a tub of hot water, and there was no sign of damage.
The fire that emanated off of a Hellfire spark was just normal fire. It was the core of the Hellfire spark that was actually dangerous to me. If I were to accidentally touch the core, the portal to another plane of existence, I would burn myself. I mentally reached out and imagined the flame becoming smaller, and the flame followed my command.
I willed the flame to become smaller to the point where it would disappear completely, yet the flame remained. It was only with a concerted exertion of will that I was able to snuff the flame out completely. Once the Hellfire spark was gone, I felt mentally drained as if I had just completed a three-hour Calculus test.
Next, I had intended to create a Hellfire spark of my own, but I thought that another mental hit like the one I had just taken could knock me out completely. Instead of continuing my experimentation with [Hellfire], I decided to start exploring the Feldrast family house.
Chapter 4 - [House Feldrast]
After a dozen meters, the hallway terminated into a large entrance foyer. The room must have been more than ten meters high and twenty meters across. Everything in the room was adorned with some scarlet decoration. Red tapestries hung from the walls, red carpets lined the floors, and red drapes hung from the windows. At the back of the room just above the stairs and across from the main entrance hung a large, unfurled banner of a yellow salamander on a scarlet background: the symbol of House Feldrast.
The last time I had seen that symbol, it was flapping in the wind above a small army of mind-slaves and rotting zombies. The original Thale Feldrast had experimented extensively with dark magic by the time the game had started, and this fact was apparent in his military force. He had flayed the minds of his soldiers until all that remained were husks which felt nothing but blind loyalty and murderous rage. When those mindless soldiers were inevitably killed, Thale would reanimate their destroyed bodies into zombies that were incapable of even those two emotions.
I found the original Thale's methods distasteful. While there was nothing necessarily wrong with Necromancy, his usage of it was dangerous. I would know, my main account in [Ferrum Online] had been a necromancer. A powerful mage could control about a dozen undead at once. If the mage were to summon too many undead, however, they would be able to break out of their mental shackles. The undead would revert to their natural state and start attacking everything near them. Necromancy was the magical equivalent of an oil spill. If you didn't clean it up, it would destroy everything for miles.
No tool was necessarily evil, but Thale used his tools in an evil way. I promised myself that on my mission to defeat Lothar and save the world, I would not utilize those methods as long as they weren't absolutely necessary.
I crawled to the other side of the foyer. It was much too early for me to be using the stairs, so I used the pathway that ran just beneath the banner of House Feldrast. As I crawled, I spotted a man dressed in gambeson armor and wielding a sword sitting on a chair near the main entrance. I did not know the man's name, but the crest of House Feldrast was printed on the tabard he wore over his gambeson.
Looking beyond the guard for a moment, I saw a thick blanket of snow. This was common in the Northern Realms. A permanent layer of snow coated the ground for most of winter in this part of the world. Life in the Northern Realms was tough. The harvest season was short, powerful monsters roamed the deep forests between the cities, and outlanders from the Barren Wastes frequently attacked. It was only the abundance of Hellfire that allowed the people of the Northern Realms to reliably survive the winter.
Luckily for me, the guard was too busy staring at the front door to notice me. I snuck past the entrance foyer into a hallway opposite the one I had just entered. Just as I entered the hallway, I heard footsteps approaching from its far end. I frantically backtracked and squeezed myself under a small display cabinet that had been pushed against the wall next to the family banner.
"Thale! Thale! Where are you!?" Melissa shouted as she ran down the hallway and exited into the main foyer. I saw as the hem of her skirt and white slippers passed by my hiding spot.
Melissa saw the guard and shouted down to him. "Sir Walter! Have you seen Thale!?"
"No, I have not," the guard said gruffly. "Is he missing?"
"Yes," Melissa said. "He was with the Count, and now no one can find him!"
"I will begin looking immediately," Sir Walter said sternly. A moment later, I heard the harsh sound of steel boots against wood as he ran off.
Oh, calm down. I had just escaped adult supervision a few minutes before. It wasn't like I could open the doors to the outside or reach the knives on the upper shelves.
"I hope he's okay," Melissa said to herself once Walter had left. A moment later, she ran toward the hallway that I had come from.
I felt a bit bad about the worry I was causing. All things considered, though, I figured that there were extenuating circumstances that made my escape more understandable. I had just been subjected to six months of grueling boredom, and this was my first opportunity to actually get a grasp on my situation. Plus, this would be a good learning experience for everyone. The maids and my parents would learn that I wasn't necessarily in danger just because I had disappeared.
I squeezed my small body out from under the display case. It was lucky for me that the furniture in the hallways and foyer had legs rather than flat bottoms. There was just enough space under the display case for me to fit underneath. I crawled down the hallway and entered the first door I saw. There was a door about twenty meters down the hallway and to the left that was ajar. I suspected that Melissa had left it open when she was searching for me.
The heavy door opened once I leaned my whole weight upon it. Inside was a library that was almost the size of the foyer. Several long mahogany bookshelves stretched from one side of the room to the other. Each bookshelf contained four individual shelves, and the shelves were absolutely stuffed with books. There must have been hundreds of books in that room. The ancient tomes beckoned me, each a treasure trove of priceless information.
A shabby work desk and chair had been placed in the corner of the library. From the ground, I could see a slip of parchment hanging over the edge. Writing material! I crawled over to the furniture and grabbed the table by the leg. Even with my abysmal strength, I could still manage to move the table slightly. I shook the table as vigorously as I could, and the equipment atop it slid off.
I reached for the objects that had fallen off of the top of the table. In my small hands, I victoriously held a slip of parchment and a fountain pen.
Chapter 5 - [A Stark Realization]
With tools in hand, I thought about what I was going to do next. I had one slip of paper, so there was a limit to what I could write down. In my heart of hearts, I wanted to just start writing English words on the page until both sides were completely filled, but that would be a mistake. To begin with, I didn't know when I would get another chance to write down my thoughts, and it would probably freak my parents out if their baby started writing notes in a language that no one on the planet spoke.
After thinking about it for a minute, I grasped the fountain pen in my fist and brought it down toward the paper. With broad, clumsy strokes, I wrote two lines at the top of the paper.
ᚬᚭᛢᚯᛛᚧᚯ ᚣᛔ
ᚬᚩᛩᚸ
If my memory was to be believed, these were the runes that had appeared in my vision when the unknown voice had spoken to me on that first day. I still had no idea what it meant. By that point, I had picked up enough Common that I would probably understand what the voice had said if I were to hear it again. Unfortunately, I could not remember the words at all. I had always been much better at remembering things I had seen than things I had heard. If I didn't write down someone's name immediately after hearing it, I would completely forget it. [Observe] was a real blessing for me, then. Once I had gleaned someone's name with [Observe], I wouldn't forget it easily.
Leaning back to really appreciate my work, I saw that the vast majority of the slip of parchment was still empty. It would have been a waste to leave it there, I thought. I tapped the pen to my head as I considered what else I should write. An idea came to me, and I started scribbling once more.
Once I was done, the structural formula for amoxicillin had been scrawled across the rest of the page. It had a complicated structure, so there was no space left on the slip of paper by the time I had finished scribbling. Amoxicillin was an antibiotic within the penicillin family. It was used to fight infections, and I had prescribed amoxicillin a thousand times throughout my career.
Penicillin had revolutionized medicine on Earth when it was invented in 1928. If I could figure out how to synthesize it in Ferrum, it would do the same here.
The benefit of transcribing amoxicillin in this form was that, to the average Ferrum denizen who knew nothing of organic chemistry, the structural formula looked like a child's random scribbling.
Realizing that there was still a back to the slip of parchment, I flipped it over. I figured that I should write another structural formula. It was possible that I could forget these formulae in the coming years, so it would be good to write them down when my memories of Earth were still fresh.
My hand started scribbling before I fully realized what I was writing. When my hand stopped moving, I looked down and realized what I had drawn. Upon the paper, I had drawn the structural formula for sarin gas.
A stark realization washed over me as I looked down at the structural formula. For all of the sins committed and damage done by the original Thale Feldrast, I was capable of much worse. I thought of the dozens of deadly poisons and chemical weapons that laid in wait within the darkest corners of my mind. Poisons that could kill without leaving a trace, drugs that could transform the most devout monk into a slavish addict with one hit, and chemical weapons that could kill thousands of men within minutes all existed within my mind. The worst part of it all was that, if my knowledge of Transmutation Magic was accurate, I was pretty sure I could synthesize all of this.
Blinking the images of potential futures away, I refocused my young eyes on the slip of parchment in front of me. The structural compound for sarin was offensively simple, so there was plenty of space left on the paper for me to draw another compound.
I held my pen back, however. The reality of the terrible tools I could create with a few chemicals and a few magic words had put me in a contemplative mood. I placed the cap back on the fountain pen and hoisted my infant body into a seated position.
Two lines of text and two hexagonal drawings had been written upon the parchment. I crossed my arms in front of me, closed my eyes, and wondered how my parents would react if I were to show them this piece of paper. By showing this, I would be skirting the line between precocious genius and demon-possessed baby in their minds.
The lines of text were explainable as mimicry. My caretakers would assume that I had seen the words and written them down without knowing what they meant. Actually, that was exactly what I had done. This course of action would also be the quickest way for me to learn what those words actually meant. An adult would surely read the text out loud if they saw it.
Developmentally speaking, however, children don't really start doodling until they're a year old. I would be about six months early. To a developmental specialist, this behavior would be strange to say the least.
With those thoughts in mind, I decided to hide the parchment for the time being. I would just have to come back and decipher the words on the page once I had learned the alphabet.
I carefully slid the piece of paper behind the cover of the most boring-looking book I could find on the bottom shelf. Once I had finally managed to return the book to its shelf, I sat back and stared at the capped pen I held in my hand. I had a new favorite toy.
