Chapter 4

“Valerie!” One of the girls screamed out in terror. So they knew my mom.

“Anne, hurry and get the first aid kit. She is bleeding and she is bleeding very badly.” A red-headed girl said panicky, but tried to stay calm. The girl who just screamed nodded and went towards the front of the carriage and started searching.

The man got inside the carriage and gently put mom down on the floor.

“What happened to her? Where the hell is Jake?”

“Jeremy, calm down. When I got there, it was only Valerie and this kid.” He said, pointing at me.

“Aston, is this their youngest child they had been writing in their letter about?” Now I finally know his name.

“Yeah.”

“I’m surprised that he is not crying by the way you are carrying him.” The way he was holding was uncomfortable. He had been picking me up by the diapers, even Arthur was better than him.

Aston looked at me. 

“He is kind of weird. He hasn’t been crying the whole time, even when I found him. He was just silent.”

They all looked at me, examining me.

“Probably he is just so shocked that he can’t cry.”

I wonder if I looked shocked right now for them to say that. I know that babies always cry but I sometimes forget to just cry and that seems to worry a lot of people. The girl, Anne, who had been searching for the first aid kit, finally found it. I only noticed when she said ‘I got it’ loudly. My eyes followed her as she walked towards mom with the kit.

“I’m gonna start walking the horses, so we could get to Jake’s house earlier.”

Aha, they were dad’s friends that were supposed to come here tomorrow, then why are they early. Aston handed me to the red-headed woman. She gave me a smile and cooed at me before making me sit on her lap. Anne was busy putting on bandages on mom’s wounds. The black-haired guy that I do not know the name of just sat there on the corner and stared out of the window. The red-hair woman and Jeremy were trying to keep company by trying to make me laugh. I had to pretend, so they would be satisfied with themselves.

It took around half an hour to finally get home. We did have some encounters, so it did take longer to get here. By then, all of mom’s wounds had been tended to perfectly. She wasn’t even bleeding through her bandages.

The red-headed woman carried me on her hips as she got down the carriage. Jeremy was holding mom in his arms. Once everyone in the group gathered, we went to the door. It was Aston who knocked on the door. Not even a second past, the door opened to see dad’s concerned face that quickly went into terror as he saw mom and me.

Dad quickly scanned me. He looked relieved when he scanned my body to see just scratches. Dad then hurried over to mom. 

“What happened to her?”

“They were attacked by a Level E mana beast, but we managed to kill it before it did anything. She is fine. Anna did a good job patching her up.”

“Mom.” It was Arthur. He must have just woken up. His hair was all over the place and he was rubbing his eyes. When he got a better look at her, he started to panic. “Moooom!”

Mom let out a small groan and slowly opened her eyes. I guess it took her a moment or two to figure out what was happening. When Jeremy saw mom starting to squirm out of his arms, he slowly let her down and gave her support since she was having trouble standing. With her other hand, she held her forehead as if she was having a headache.

“Alex.” At first her voice lacked strength and was so low and fragile, but her voice started to rise. “Where? Where is Alex?” Her voice broke when she said ‘Alex’.

“If you are talking about the baby, Diana has him.”

Her eyes started to search everywhere, then it landed on me. I left out a little giggle, showing her I’m okay. Her expression softened as I giggled.

“Honey, you need rest.” Dad gently took her by the other arm and took her inside. Diana, the woman who was carrying me stopped in the living room, so I couldn’t see further what happened. At most, he was taking her to bed.

Diana sat down and put me on her lap. I was no fan of sitting on a lady’s lap but I had no other choice. I tried to struggle out of her lap, but she just held me down. Anna came up to us and knelt down, so that me and her could make eye contact.

Anna pointed her index finger and began poking my stomach, sort of hard. What was she doing in the first place?

After a few pokes, she started to coo at me and left.

I thought back to what had happened back at the woods. I wasn’t strong at all. I couldn’t do anything, except for that one time. I needed to start training so that I could get strong enough to protect my family and loved ones.

Dad came back. He didn’t say anything. He grabbed Arthur’s arm and picked me up. Even though Arthur started a tantrum saying he wanted to stay, he was dragged back towards our bedroom. Dad tucked Arthur in, even if he was being stubborn. Before I was put inside my crib, Arthur fell fast asleep. Dad quickly left, probably impatient to talk to them about what had happened. 

He didn’t even check if I was even asleep. I stared up at the ceiling, thinking about how I can get stronger. I then remembered about Arthur and dad's little train session about gathering mana. I might as well try it. I sat up, trying to remember what dad said to Arthur.

Mana is all around us, so what we have to do is pull it towards us and make it our own.

I thought about what he said. Dad made it sound like he was pulling the mana from the environment and bringing it to him. I had trained my ki by meditating. Maybe I could try the same method and hope it turns out to be mana. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in and let it out in short outbursts. I imagined mana from trees, animals, fields, humans, and all other living things coming to me in thousands of shattered light.

I tried to bring the reachable lights with my mind and brought it to the centerpoint of my body. Something was happening, which meant I was succeeding in gaining something. It was a very slow process and my mind was having trouble since I still had the body of a little kid.