Five days had passed since the disaster that occurred in the city of Cautares.

  The material damage had been… minimal.

  Incredibly, the most affected of all had been House Sungley.

  Cautares was a border city, hardened by years of constant conflict with one of the greatest threats on the continent: the Indomitable Forest.

  For its soldiers, a pack of cave wolves was nothing more than routine training, compared to the permanent military level the city maintained.

  The true victims of that attack were not the walls or the streets.

  They were the families.

  The families of the fallen servants and soldiers.

  All of them were compensated for life with what would have been the full salary of the deceased, along with an extra payment for their commitment.

  They had not only given their lives… they had fought until the very end to protect the young heir.

  Among the survivors, only two names remained.

  Redda, who had lost an arm.

  And Kael.

  The latter had not woken up yet.

  On the very day of the catastrophe, without hesitation and with a firmness that defied her own physical condition, Redda delivered her full report before the lord of the house.

  She explained every one of her decisions and the reasons behind her actions, hiding absolutely nothing.

  The cards were on the table.

  She knew her lords were shaken.

  She knew that reporting the situation involved a huge risk, but not doing so would have endangered the life of the young master.

  That decision allowed her to spy, gather information, and confirm which noble house had been responsible for orchestrating the attack.

  That information was vital.

  Even so, Redda remained firm until the end.

  She declared without hesitation that she was willing to accept any punishment, even death, if that was her lords’ decision.

  The lord did not hesitate.

  Calm was the first thing that had to be preserved in a desperate situation.

  He deeply thanked her for keeping a cool head, for protecting the heir, and above all, for bringing him back alive.

  Without wasting time.

  Without resting.

  The great lord departed together with a detachment of his best soldiers toward the capital, Taratios.

  He did not travel only as a noble exposing a crime… but as the head of a family that had been attacked in a cruel and deliberate manner.

  Kael was the second great victim of that attack.

  The excessive use of magic forced his body to fall into a kind of deep trance, from which he had not yet awakened.

  The servants cared for him day and night without leaving his side, feeding him by force and watching every one of his movements, no matter how small.

  Several healers came to examine him, but none of them were able to find the root of the problem.

  Unfortunately, Galen was not in the country… he had been forced to travel to the Sacred Empire.

  The atmosphere in the personal chambers of the lords was heavy, sad, and suffocating.

  Caria and Laret watched their son with a mix of pain and desperation.

  They could do nothing.

  Only watch… and wait.

  “My lady,” Tana said cautiously, “what happened is a sign. I know it sounds strange, but the fact that the young master was able to use magic at that age says a lot about his potential. I feel that he is only sleeping to recover from the enormous stress he endured.”

  “I can hardly believe it myself,” Enta added. “Even in that state, and in such a desperate situation… he managed to act as if he fully understood the danger. That shows how capable and exceptional he is.”

  Despite listening to them, Caria and Laret could not stop feeling pain and helplessness.

  “I don’t care if he is stronger than the demon king himself,” Caria said, her voice breaking. “I don’t want my child to have to carry, at this age, the problems that our family has dragged along for years…”

  “That our son has to pay for events that happened so long ago…” Laret added, clenching his fists, “fills me with pain and rage. I swear I will multiply the security of this house as much as necessary. This will not happen again. And now… every house involved in this will be reduced to ashes.”

  While the servants tried to encourage them and find some solution, small luminous fragments began to appear in the air.

  At first, they were barely noticeable.

  Two… three… nothing that drew attention.

  But soon they became dozens.

  None of those present could ignore them when those particles of magic began to move slowly, floating in silence, all heading toward Kael’s body.

  “What is happening?” Tana exclaimed. “Why is the magic gathering like that and traveling toward the young master’s body?”

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  The parents fixed their gaze on their son, their hearts in their throats, waiting for any sign.

  After a few minutes… the baby’s body moved.

  A slight gesture.

  Almost imperceptible.

  Noticing that small movement, the silence in the room became absolute.

  The baby began to stir more clearly. His fingers closed and opened clumsily, his chest rose and fell with irregular breaths, and a faint whimper escaped his throat.

  Then he cried.

  A weak cry at first, filled with desperation and confusion.

  Caria reacted immediately. Her body tensed and she took a step forward, ready to throw herself over her son without thinking, but Tana was faster and stopped her firmly.

  “MY LADY!” she exclaimed, holding her back. “I UNDERSTAND YOUR CONCERN, BUT DO NOT TAKE HIM YET! LET HIM RECOVER CONSCIOUSNESS CALMLY!”

  Laret and Enta watched the scene in silence, their hearts tight and their eyes fixed on the small body that was slowly beginning to react.

  Kael opened his eyes.

  His gaze was unfocused, clouded by exhaustion and the residue of magic still flowing through his body. Even so, he was able to perceive the atmosphere, the emotions, the tension that filled the room.

  He did not understand everything… but he knew exactly what he had to do.

  There were only a few words he could pronounce. And they were the ones needed to close that conflict, to ease the pain surrounding everyone.

  “Brrrrrrrr… pfff… ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… drrrrrrrr…” Kael babbled. :D!!!!!!

  The animosity, excitement, and happiness typical of an innocent baby burst out without filters. With that clumsy and chaotic laugh, Kael managed to convey to his family members that everything that had happened had not been in vain.

  Seeing him, Tana released the air she had been holding.

  “Well, my lady…” she said with a trembling voice. “You may let it out now…”

  “Buaaaaaaaa! My child!” Caria cried. “My small and beautiful child!”

  Tears began to flow without control. Sobs, laughter, and broken breaths mixed together as she desperately hugged her son’s small body, covering him with kisses and caresses, with no intention of ever letting him go.

  After a great battle.

  After five days of torturous waiting.

  There was only a mother left, completely broken, clinging to her living child.

  Laret joined the embrace without saying a single word. He wrapped both of them in his arms, covering them with all the love and strength he possessed, as if his mere presence could protect them from the entire world.

  Tana watched the scene with a tight chest, unable to move.

  “Easy, Tana,” Enta said quietly. “When all of this calms down… it will be your turn to kiss and squeeze those cheeks.”

  Hearing that, Tana could not hold it in any longer. All the accumulated pressure, all the contained pain, was released at once. She broke down in tears, leaning against Enta’s chest, letting every emotion she had kept repressed during those endless days spill out.

  The joy slowly began to make its way through the devastated House Sungley.

  The worst concern had passed.

  That night, Caria, Laret, and all the inhabitants of the house managed to sleep deeply, knowing that their young lord was awake… and cheerful.

  Kael, for his part, began to fall asleep once again.

  Kael thought: damn it… I should have stayed asleep… I ended up covered in tears, drool, kisses, and snot… I did not expect to have slept for so long, but the nap was pretty good…

  // -- you slept for five days, the whole place was a complete mess… at least now we know that, in case of another catastrophe, you will be the priority… -- //

  Kael thought: that does not make me happy… innocent people died to save me… Redda was willing to die for me…

  // -- and what? are you going to cry? I could even make fun of you… stop victimizing yourself and fix this problem… -- //

  Kael thought: sure, very easy for you to say… you only talk… tell me how I fix it…

  // -- by strengthening yourself, becoming strong enough, what else? Obtain the magic and the strength needed so that even the very goddess of this world would not have enough hands to stop you… -- //

  Kael sighed inside his own mental space, still exhausted, but with his mind working at full speed.

  “And do you think I made any progress in these months?” he asked with doubt, almost expecting the answer to contradict him.

  // -- listen carefully… in this world it is totally and absolutely impossible for a baby to handle magic. Even the prodigies who reached legendary levels only began to feel magic between four and six years old, and that is why at seven they must take the elemental test. Literally, children discover their magic when they already know what their affinity is.

  You can already use neutral magic while being only a few months old. And what happened with that improvised attack you carried out is proof of your enormous power… -- //

  “That improvised attack?” Kael repeated, incredulous.

  // -- that is right… let us see how to explain it so that you understand. Imagine that you are a very old computer, from the year 1995, with an Intel Pentium processor at 75 MHz and a limited 16 megabytes of RAM, running a Windows 95 operating system with one of the hardest games to this day… Minesweeper. -- //

  Kael tried to process the mental image, mixing memories from his past life with the absurd comparison.

  “Alright… and what do I do with that old computer?”

  // -- well, that computer, with those characteristics, now represents your baby body… and your soul, or your true essence, is equivalent to a latest-generation graphics card, extremely powerful.

  Or, if you prefer a different comparison, imagine a small and simple vehicle to which you install an engine designed for a heavy truck.

  Your body could not withstand such a large amount of concentrated magic. The same thing happens in the examples I gave you: base structures that, when receiving an excessive load of energy or power, simply cannot handle it… -- //

  Kael remained silent for a few seconds.

  “Are you saying that I have a disproportionate power for this body?”

  // -- exactly. Now you understood the idea.

  Your soul possesses enormous power… but your body is still immature. As you grow, you will have to strengthen it if you want it to be able to withstand your true potential… -- //

  Kael clenched his fists, even inside his own mind. The images of the attack, the screams, the blood, and the fallen bodies were still present.

  “Do not worry about that… consider it done,” he said firmly. “I will not let something like this happen again.

  Even though I still have not fully recovered from what it means to see someone die… if, to save the people who are here, and who gave their lives for me, I have to do it… I will be capable of anything…”

  And so, Kael fell asleep once again.

  Five days had passed since his body had fallen into that deep coma, but this time the sleep was different. It was not empty, nor imposed by absolute exhaustion. This time, he slept with conviction.

  With determination.

  It was no longer just the fatigue of an infant body incapable of enduring such an amount of magic. It was the weight of reality, of the lives lost, of the sacrifices others had made for him.

  It would not happen again.

  He would not allow innocent people to die again because of him.

  He would not allow Redda, nor anyone else, to have to offer their life to protect him.

  As his breathing stabilized and his small chest rose and fell calmly, House Sungley remained in a silence different from the previous days.

  It was not fear.

  It was not anguish.

  It was a truce.

  That night, Caria, Laret, and all the inhabitants of the house were able to rest for the first time since the tragedy. The pain was still present, the scars would not disappear… but their young lord was alive.

  And determined.

  The disaster of Cautares would not be forgotten.

  The consequences were already in motion.