The crisp, clean smell of pine needles and medicinal herbs hit Vivian immediately. The Healer’s Hut was larger than his home, built almost like two huts connected by a covered porch. Inside, the walls were lined with shelves holding jars of dried petals, bundled roots, and smooth, labeled stones.

  Nora gently placed Vivian in a wooden cradle nestled near a window, safely out of the main working area.

  "Stay here, my little man," she murmured. "Mama has to work now."

  Vivian watched Nora join Alicia at a large central table. Alicia, the healer, didn't waste a moment, immediately setting Nora to work. Alicia would occasionally glance over at the crib, and her lips would twitch with that look of silent amusement. 'She knows I'm not a normal baby,' Vivian thought, frustrated. 'She's watching me.'

  Around mid-morning, the sound of high-pitched squealing announced the arrival of... children? 'What are they doing here?'

  Four of them, all around five or six, tumbled into the hut, clearly dropped off by parents heading to work.

  A gap-toothed boy, radiating pure mischief, was the first to spot him. "Look! A baby! Can we play with him?"

  He and his twin sister, who had the same gap-toothed grin and chaotic energy, rushed the cradle.

  "I found a shiny rock!" the girl said, holding it up. "Let's give it to the baby!"

  "No, let's see if he can eat this!" the boy countered, grabbing a handful of dried grass fibers from the floor.

  Vivian’s mind went into immediate, desperate alarm. 'No, no, no! Get away from me, you tiny, unhygienic menaces!'

  Before they could get any closer, a third child, a girl with a loud voice and a scolding expression, stomped her foot. "Leave him alone, you two! You'll make him cry, and then Miss Lily will be angry! You know we're not supposed to touch the baby!"

  The twins, looking silly and unbothered, just stuck their tongues out at her.

  Vivian noticed a fourth child, a quiet boy who looked a bit older than the rest. He hadn't joined the swarm. He was already sitting in a corner, watching the scene with an unnerving, calm intelligence before turning his attention to a small wooden slate. 'That one's... a bit cold,' Vivian thought, slightly unsettled by the boy's gaze.

  "Alright, that's enough! All of you, to your slates! Now!"

  A young woman, who looked to be about fifteen, entered the room. This must be the Lily they'd mentioned. She had a kind, freckled face, but her voice held a strict, no-nonsense tone that the children actually (mostly) obeyed. The twins grumbled, but they waddled off to their seats.

  Lily sighed, then turned to the cradle, her expression softening instantly. "Oh, you poor little thing. They're a handful, aren't they?" She gently checked him for any "gifts" the twins might have left.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Just then, Alicia called out from the back room. "Lily! Since you seem to be the only one they listen to, you're on baby duty. Keep him safe while Nora and I are busy."

  "Yes, Mistress Alicia!" Lily beamed, happy for the responsibility.

  A tall young man, maybe sixteen, entered with a load of firewood. He saw Lily cooing at the baby, and a small, calm smile touched his lips. He didn't say a word, just nodded to her and went about his work, radiating an aura of quiet comfort. 'Okay,' Vivian noted, 'that one seems... safe.'

  For the rest of the day, Vivian was stuck near the front of the hut while Lily tried to keep the children occupied. It was, as he'd feared, pre-kindergarten.

  "This is the sound 'Ah,'" Lily said, drawing on a smooth, dark wooden slate. "And this is the number 'three.'"

  The twins were already trying to draw a horned rabbit. The noisy girl was seemingly ignoring the lesson, humming to herself, but Vivian noticed her fingers tracing the "Ah" symbol on her own leg. The quiet boy had already finished writing the first three letters and was now studying the script on a nearby potion jar.

  Vivian watched the slate. 'Stick-cross equals 'Ah.' Three horizontal lines equals 'three.''

  Then, the moment of clarity hit him. His mind wasn't learning; it was reading. Gabriel's gift was real. He could read the slate, the numbers, and the complicated, beautiful script on Alicia's jars.

  'He did it! He actually did it!' A wave of pure excitement and gratitude washed over him. 'I can read! I can learn!'

  Then, the wave crashed.

  He looked at the slate, then at the squirming, illiterate five-year-olds. 'I already know everything on that slate... and there's nothing else to read here. I'm just... bored.'

  As the afternoon wore on, the children were finally dismissed. The hut was quiet. Nora and Alicia were reviewing charts, and Oliver had just arrived, his face breaking into a warm smile when he saw Vivian.

  Suddenly, the door burst open. Oliver caught the man—a hunter—just as he collapsed. The man, Thomas, was soaked in blood.

  "Orcs!" the man gasped, clutching his side. "East side of the ridge! Nora, Oliver, I came straight here! Tell the hunters!"

  Vivian's blood ran cold. 'Orcs?'

  Oliver’s massive form tensed instantly. He laid Thomas gently on the floor. "Nora, get the hunters, quickly! Tell them to meet me at the East Gate!"

  "Oliver, no, wait!" Nora cried.

  But Oliver was already gone, his axe in his hand as he sprinted from the hut.

  Vivian's mind was reeling. 'He's gone? Just like that? He's going to fight orcs? He's my... he's my father. He can't just...' A cold, terrifying dread seized him, far worse than any frustration he'd felt so far.

  "He's fading, Mistress!" Nora's voice was panicked, pulling Vivian from his fear. Thomas was bleeding out.

  Alicia was pure, cold calm. She knelt beside Thomas, her face a mask of concentration. She placed one hand on the man's side.

  She said a single, strange, vibrating word.

  Suddenly, a gentle, warm, emerald light erupted from Alicia's hand, flowing directly into Thomas's wound.

  Vivian stared, his terror momentarily forgotten, replaced by pure awe. 'Magic,' his mind whispered. 'It's real. It's really, really real.'

  He watched, breathless, as the mangled flesh visibly knitted together where the light touched it. The gushing blood slowed, then stopped.

  He looked around. Alicia was calmly wiping her hand. Nora was breathing a sigh of relief, her eyes on Thomas's face, not on the light.

  'They're... they're not reacting,' Vivian realized. 'They're used to it. The light... it's just a normal part of this world.'

  The awe was immediately mixed with a new, fierce determination. Magic was real. And the monsters were real. And Oliver was out there, right now, fighting them.

  'I have to learn that,' he thought, his small baby hands clenching into fists. 'I don't care what it takes. I have to learn how to do that.'