Although he was the son of Camille Campbell, a graduate of the Imperial Northern Art Academy renowned worldwide for her artistic performance and dedication to studies, and even more so of Ethan Caesar, a natural genius, Theo did not demonstrate his talent in the early years of his schooling.
He couldn't concentrate, learn, or show interest during kindergarten.
Due to a linguistic conflict, Theo developed a series of communication-related problems; from a speech delay—stammering only a few words, and sometimes forming nonsensical sentences—to difficulty in writing and mixing words from three languages.
This was because in Romerian, the empire where Theo was born, it is mandatory to learn two languages: Romerian and Latin (a language known to be universal; all residents of the Great World Alliance must speak this language).
However, some memories of Liam Mason reside in the Young Master's mind... Enough for his maturity to be precocious and for him to speak Egorian.
The conflict of these three languages made Theo unable to communicate, in addition to the difficulty in paying attention—as he was always immersed in the memories of a past life, even though he knew that Liam Mason was not him.
Fortunately for Theo, he studied at the public school in Loureto, being a student of the renowned teacher Beatrice, who, even though she was young, was already known in the region as one of the best mentors for children.
Still in the first week of classes, she noticed Theo's behavior before his neurological condition worsened.
"Young Master, are you okay?" said Beatrice, crouching beside Theo.
Raising his eyebrows as if about to respond, Theo stared at Beatrice, waiting for new words.
Looking at Theo's notebook, the teacher saw the child's difficulty in writing words in the native language. Instead, he wrote directly in Latin.
"No, Young Master. You have to copy exactly as it is above... Let's go... Alpha..."
Theo traced the alpha symbol in the notebook, but it came out imperfect.
Beatrice erased the graphite suddenly.
"Again... Alpha..." She waited for Theo to repeat.
"Al... pha," said Theo, separating the syllables.
"Beta..."
Instead of following the beta symbol, Theo wrote a casual "b," from the Latin-Roman alphabet instead of the Greek beta.
His teacher also erased it.
"Do it properly, so the Duchess doesn't make you erase it when you get home. Come on, you can do it..."
Without saying a single word, Theo continued trying to write, but confusing the alphabets.
"Hm... He won't even speak about his difficulties?"
"Glauben Sie, dass es so besser ist?" ((Do you think it's better this way?)) Theo asked, showing the letters in the notebook.
"What?" Beatrice was startled.
After a morbid silence, Theo decided to look at his mentor and understand why she had distanced herself.
Beatrice was stunned, staring fixedly at Theo, trying to process the words he had spoken and translating them into one of the five languages she was fluent in... But she didn't recognize it.
"What did you just say? Sorry..."
Theo raised his eyebrows.
"Ah..." Theo processed that he had spoken like Liam Mason. "Ma'am... Is it better this way?"
The Young Master smiled awkwardly as a drop of sweat ran down his forehead.
"Hm..." Beatrice pretended to ignore that language but decided to look at what he had written.
She was surprised.
"Is this serious? He didn't... Write anything correctly..."
Theo had written everything in the Latin-Roman alphabet.
Beatrice, however, was not disappointed with that situation. It was normal for the children in that class, except for the language Theo had spoken...
"This will end up in Sir Ethan's hands." Beatrice stood up and walked through the chairs until she reached the board. "All the students here have had some peculiarity... Deviants are really complicated, but this generation is surpassing the old one."
Scribbling some information on the board, Beatrice took a deep breath and reasoned.
"Of course, Beatrice. After all, everyone in this room, including you... Are superhumans."
**Midian Village, Loureto countryside**
To the north of Loureto lies the largest village in the duchy, responsible for providing some of Lawrence's largest sources of income: wheat, milk, and beef.
The village leader, Michel Hansen, yielded to Ethan after years and decided to become a supplier to the Duke himself. A partnership that benefited both: while Midian Village gradually grew from just a cluster of houses to a huge and one of the largest farms in the state, the Lawrence Duchy became one of the three richest houses in the Empire.
Due to the partnership, the wheat fields in Midian became something beyond the horizons...
Almost endless fields, boasting the perfect color of wheat when touched by the sunlight.
To Theo's eyes, it looked like a field of flames... He got lost in admiration for that natural beauty.
Walking hand in hand with Duke Ethan along a road between the plantation and the woods, Theo marveled at the wheat fields.
On the right side of the road were the wheat fields, while the workers of Midian walked along the dirt roads.
As for the left side, it was one of the most dangerous places in the world: the beginning of the Nymph Forest.
A natural territory, capable of covering most of the continent with its forests and hostile climate, is the pure and fierce combination of numerous biomes ruled, primarily, by the creations of the mythological Ruler of the Seas.
Creatures of mythical origins dominate the entire expanse; whether in swamps, dark forests, groves, caves...
Magical and intelligent beings, spiritual, brutal, and who do not follow human ethics. Ruled by fairies, dark elves, druids, and mostly, nymphs.
Although 60% of the Nymph Forest's territory is dominated by the death zone, where a wave of morbid fog hides the true dangers of the magical world, another 30% is part of the habitable zone, where humans can still coexist with the creatures.
Lastly, there is a place so unreachable for humans that it seems like a myth: the heart of the forest. It is speculated that the heart of the forest dominates 10% of the set of biomes, but it is pure speculation.
No one has walked more than a kilometer into the death fog to know what the "heart of the forest" really is.
And those who walked beyond that limit were forgotten by history.
Theo used to dream of that fog; wanting to see it, but it was impossible.
Therefore, he lived only in the habitable zone, where human life is still allowed by the great empires.
Theo admired the grove to the left but soon returned to looking at the field.
"Hello!" shouted Ethan to a group of farmers coming out of the plantation.
"Greetings, Lord Ethan!"
Picking Theo up in his arms, they walked toward the villagers.
"Where is Mr. Michel?" the Duke inquired of the farmers.
"He went into the woods with Iert and Jliner, to fetch a good amount of firewood."
"Is there a shortage again?"
"No. Michel wanted to get reserves for his house."
"Ah, I see..." Ethan sighed. "Edward! Stay with Theo."
Edward, who was on the previous road, paid attention to his brother.
Taking Theo's hand, Edward walked beside Ethan and stood at the entrance to the forest, at the foot of a tree, while the Duke walked inside.
Sitting down with a stick found on the ground, Theo scratched the sand to pass the time.
Walking alone along a trail in the woods, Ethan began to reflect on some advice given by Beatrice half an hour earlier.
When he left the office to pick Theo up from school, Beatrice asked the Duke for a word and explained the Young Master Lawrence's behavior in the first weeks of class.
Unfortunately for Ethan, his son was not much different from his entire lineage...
All of the Duke's brothers had the same behavior; a reserved personality for the first ten years of life. Something he truly feared. Because, after growing up, Ethan realized that communication was the true essence of humanity.
Ethan knew he had to race against time to prevent his son from growing up like his brothers.
Although Theo was only two years and six months old, for deviants, superhumans with accelerated cognitive development, the behavior was not appropriate.
Ethan put his hands on his head and sighed deeply, relaxing his shoulders while remaining attentive to the forest's atmosphere.
It was autumn in Romerian. The trees were yellowed and dominated by warm tones, the leaves were scattered along the trail as Ethan walked.
A humid wind shook the leaves along the way; these winds were common in Romerian. But the autumn weather brought a unique aspect to the environment.
"Amiah... How did you break me? How did you take me from the world of ice to the heat that I am?"
Ethan scratched the back of his neck.
"Being a father to a girl was so much easier..."
Thays did not demonstrate behavior similar to her younger brother when she was the same age as Theo.
"Comparing my own children seems unfair..." He reflected. "Maybe I should get some shame and take care of this."
Walking a few more meters, Ethan stopped in front of a stream, which flowed east, and decided to sit on some rocks on the bed and look to the other side.
Sitting and breathing deeply, the Duke looked at the Nymph Forest. The limit of the habitable zone; the transition to the death zone. A fog literally began where the trees touched the stream bed, becoming denser in the distance.
"How far can I go? What is the limit of humanity's greatest monster within this place?"
Closing his eyes and having intrusive thoughts about actually entering the death zone, Ethan was interrupted.
"Duke Ethan?" Michel called from afar, carrying a load of firewood on his shoulders.
Turning his face, Ethan's eyes met Michel's brown eyes; a straw hat covered his short red hair, while a beard of the same tone extended beyond his chin.
"Michel..."
"What are you doing here, alone?"
"I came here to look for you. Some villagers said you were around here."
"What happened?" Michel furrowed his eyebrows.
"Nothing serious, relax," Ethan stood up from the rocks. "It's harvest season, so..."
"Yes, yes. It's time to supply..."
"Yeah," Ethan sighed suspiciously.
It was not a native attitude of the Duke, someone who used to be confident and head held high. That triggered an alarm in the leader of Midian Village.
"Iert, Jliner, go ahead..."
The other two villagers carried the firewood along the trail, walking back to the plantation.
Before Ethan could leave, Michel threw all the firewood he had gathered into the Duke's arms.
"What?"
"Lady Camille lives in my house, delivering books to my daughter and granddaughter, trying to teach children to read... And sometimes mentioned how childish adults can be."
While picking up the firewood that had fallen to the ground, Michel continued.
"I see when a man has problems... And you are the only real man I know for miles. What's going on?"
Crouching and picking up the wasted firewood, Ethan responded in a casual tone:
"My youngest son, Theo, is having behavior that's unpleasant to me."
"Is he too agitated?"
"No. He's the opposite of that... A few days ago, he awakened an energy core, and I fear it's affecting his mind."
Michel jerked his shoulders back.
"The Young Master awakened as a deviant?"
Ethan sighed as a form of confirmation.
"The core sometimes creates illusions, you know? Especially in our heads... Depending on how much energy a deviant has, no matter how old they are, whether they understand or not what power means, our minds are flooded with arrogant and ignorant thoughts..."
"You..." Michel laughed. "You think the Young Master, at two years old, will think like that? Is he a god to be born knowing, by any chance?"
"Well... Deviants are considered demigods, aren't they?"
"Not to me..." Michel retorted. "To me, you're just idiots who learned how to use body energy to perform spells and grand things. But you're not gods, heroes, saviors... I don't believe in any of those false messengers of peace."
"So, I'm a nobody to you?"
"No... You're a very strong guy. The strongest my peasant eyes have ever seen... But, you're the guy who puts money in my pocket. You're not a hero to me, understand?"
"Even if... I save your life?"
"I'll be grateful, but nothing beyond that."
Putting the firewood on his shoulder, Ethan smiled sideways.
"But... As for the Young Master... You're worrying too much about a simple solution."
Ethan paid attention to Michel's words.
"You're only what? Twenty-seven years old? You're too busy leading this duchy while taking care of your family. You live five kilometers outside the capital, far from any other village or interaction the Young Master might have; having only a sister, an uncle, parents, and a bunch of employees."
Michel slapped Ethan's shoulder and made him lose his balance.
"How is he going to smile, being stuck in a house and school? Let the boy loose in Midian. Run, break an arm, tear a knee, get dirty, learn to swear, learn about life... Come on, take me to him. I'll teach him to be a person."
Grabbing the firewood on his right shoulder, Ethan threw it at Michel's chest and said:
"I don't know... I'll accompany you."
Michel then threw the firewood back at Ethan and complained:
"Hey, hey! I'm an old man of seventy years, are you really going to treat me like this?!"
"You said it yourself. I'm putting money in your pocket. It's for you to work, not me!"
"Lazy boss..." Michel grumbled, turning his face.
"What?!"
"Ah, blah, blah, blah. Let's go, move it!"
Strolling through the fallen autumn leaves, Ethan and Michel left the death fog further and further behind.