Lucius was now four years old. Time had passed with a strange fluidity in this new life. If he had first been a mere spectator of this world, he was now a young, attentive actor. He understood perfectly the language spoken around him — fluid, melodic, very different from Japanese, yet he had picked it up with ease. One of the benefits, he thought, of having an adult's mind in a child's body.
He had absorbed every conversation between his parents, every story they told without imagining a child so young could understand. But Lucius always listened. Always.
— "You know, Élise, magic's been growing more unstable lately. Even the capital's guild admits it," said Léonard one day, setting a pot down near the fire.
— "You think it's because of the magical activity in the elven woods?" she replied, rubbing a red apple against her skirt before taking a bite.
Lucius, sitting in a corner of the room, pretended to play with a piece of wood. But his ears were wide open.
That's how he had learned so much. The world was vast, filled with humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and rarer races still. He had also come to understand that magic was no simple talent: it relied on natural affinities, sometimes hereditary, sometimes awakened through study and training.
Both his parents appeared to have magical potential. Léonard wielded elemental wind magic, which complemented his skill with a sword. A former city militia instructor, he had left the capital for a quieter life.
— "I've never regretted it," he had told Lucius one evening, handing him a mug of milk. "The capital's a nest of vipers. Here, it's calm. I can raise you properly."
Élise, on the other hand, had no magical gift. A commoner born on the cobbled streets of the capital, she had met Léonard by chance, and her eyes had never left his since.
— "You were so clumsy that day," she often recalled with a laugh. "You dumped your sack of apples all over me. I almost strangled you!"
Lucius would often smile at that story. He loved them deeply — their sincerity, their simplicity.
But one question still nagged at him.
— "Father, why do we live so far from the capital? Right next to an elven village?"
Léonard shrugged.
— "Because elves know how to respect the forest," he replied. "And because the people here don't ask useless questions."
Lucius nodded, thoughtful.
**
By the age of four, he had learned to read. He had insisted with such determination that even Élise finally gave in and taught him the basics. Once he could make out the letters, he hadn't stopped since.
One day, he stumbled upon an old, dusty grimoire, tucked between forgotten books in Léonard's library. The leather cover was worn, but the golden letters on it still gleamed: "Foundations of Basic Elemental Magic."
He waited until his parents were busy, then sat near the fireplace and carefully opened the book.
— "Basic Elemental Manipulation: Water," he whispered as he read.
He studied the diagram: an outstretched hand, energy flowing toward the palm. He tried to mimic it.
— Visualize water. Its fluidity. Its coolness. Summon it not from the outside — but from within.
Lucius closed his eyes. Breathed deeply. Imagined water, the feeling of a stream slipping between his fingers.
A tingling sensation rose up his arm. A strange vibration.
Then… a tiny drop of water formed in the center of his palm.
— "… It worked!" he breathed, eyes wide in amazement.
— "What are you doing, Lucius?" Léonard asked, entering the room with a log in hand.
Lucius jumped, trying to hide the grimoire behind him.
— "I… I was just reading."
— "That grimoire?"
He crouched down to Lucius's height, his expression serious.
— "That's not a storybook, you know. Those are real techniques."
Lucius lowered his eyes.
— "I want to learn. Not to play. I want to become strong."
A silence. Léonard stared at him for a long moment, then placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.
— "Then remember this: magic listens to your heart. If your mind wavers, it'll turn against you."
Lucius nodded. He knew. That was precisely why he didn't want to toy with magic — but understand it, master it.
**
In the days that followed, he also studied the fundamentals of the other elements: fire, earth, wind. Wind, however, was the one he felt most attuned to. Perhaps it was his natural element.
The grimoire explained how each element had its own personality:
Water was calm but relentless,
Fire, unstable yet powerful,
Earth, solid but slow,
Wind, swift but hard to control.
Lucius trained in secret, hidden from his parents' eyes. He didn't want to worry them. But deep down, he knew he was laying the first stones of a long path.
A path where, this time, he would be neither a spectator…
…nor a victim.