The church room that was once so quiet now erupted with screams and wails. One of elation, and the other of terror.
"HAHAHA
"I knew it, I'm magical, take that little man, you're not messing with a soon to be magical baby any more. No sirree, now you're dealing with the real deal, with a mouth of time eating steel."
After seeing the boy's hand be reduced to that of an old man, even more ungainly than that of Fionnlagh's, Finnian came to the logical conclusion that his ability somehow involved time manipulation.
But this was not the case.
What Finnian had removed from the boy was not time, but Ruhk.
"Calm down Kerian, your hand should turn back to normal in a few seconds"
The young boy lashed his aged hand, knocking a plant pot off the table beside him.
"Stay calm! How can I stay calm? My hands look almost as bad as yours. Your demon baby made my hand look like it... I don't know, like it looks like yours."
"All out of puns now are we."
"Oh shush old timer. How can you act so calm, my hand is..."
Kerian glanced back at his hand. What once was the gnarled hands of an old man, once again reverted to that of a young boy, supple and pure, leading the young boy to take a sigh of relief.
"Man... If I was stuck like that I don't know what I'd do."
"Also how did your demon do that?"
"He is not a demon, like I said previously he is divine... and I don't know how he did it."
"You don't know? What do you mean you don't know? Weren't you the one talking about how he's all amazing and divine, Isn't there something about this in the ancient scriptures or something? Not to mention you said I'd be fine, how the hell did you know I'd be fine if you didn't know what was going on."
"..."
"Well, there's no point dwelling on the past now, is there? Let's see if we can find anything about that power anywhere."
"Ok. I've been ignored. Nice."
The two of them left the room in a hurry, leaving Finnian alone in his cot.
However, unbeknownst to them, the baby was about to regain his freedom.
"Ah haha, The magical baby is emancipated. If time cannot even bind me, you believe that these meagre fabrics will, ahahaha!!"
The force of the child's earlier kick had led to the cloth that was surrounding him unravelling, allowing him freedom from his swaddle. Now with his arms free the young boy had many things that he had to investigate.
"Ok, so I have some form of magic. It could be related to time but also it could be related to life force or something along those lines..."
A wide Cheshire grin seemed to absorb the entirety of the small boy's devious face.
He had a plan, a plan that might not just emancipate him from his cot prison, but also his body prison.
"If biting that kid made his arm old, I wonder if I can do the same for myself?
"All I'd have to do is bite myself, with less force than I bit that kid, and, assuming bite force correlates to the ageing process, I should be able to turn myself into a middle-aged man again... hopefully a less fat and short one than before.
"However, I should think more about this before I do it."
The child sat up, back against the solid bedframe of the cot and began to ponder.
His thoughts mainly revolved around three core ideas. The first, and likely most important, was about how exactly the powers worked. For example, if he bit himself, could he also make himself younger, along with making himself older? If that were the case, he might just bite himself out of existence or bite himself into a pile of dust.
The second thing was considering the time limit. If he was able to turn himself into an adult, just how long would he be an adult for? Would it only be a few seconds, a few hours, a few days? He could work with any of these situations; however, what was imperative was knowing what situation he was actually in.
The final of these core thoughts was his resource. Assuming that he would be able to change his age at will with no cost would be naïve. All things have a cost, whether it is something more mundane like energy or fuel, or something more interesting like mana or magic reserves.
With all of these concerns floating around in the young boy's head, he came to the only logical conclusion that he could arrive at: he was going to have to test out his powers before he used them on himself.
And to test out these powers, all he had to do was do what toddlers do best, second only to crying.
Teething.
"Just know that this is nothing personal, cot." The baby thought to himself before bringing his mouth close to the wooden beams of the cot.
The baby then began relentlessly gnawing on the bars on the cot like a rabid guinea pig desperately in search of freedom.
The wooden structure creaked and croaked but it did not give way to the manifold bites of the baby.
"Huh, nothing yet, I guess it did take some time with the kid, so I should just wait and see if anything happens here..."
The child sat there staring intently at the bars for a total of five minutes, however there was nothing.
"Hmm, I expected this might be how it goes, looks like one of two things just happened, either I can't use my powers on non-living things, or I'm all outta juice.
"Only one way to find out which one it is.
"I gotta bite something alive.
"I could go for Fionnlagh again... Then again didn't I bite him before? when I tried to make my escape... No, now that I think about it I just bit his clothes, not his actual skin, so that must be another rule."
The boy, shifting his body and looking at all of his surroundings, tried to see if there was anything living to feast on.
But there was nothing.
Or at least that was how it seemed.
As the baby glared down at the floor, he saw just what he needed. Covered by a mount of soil and broken ceramic shards, there sat a dejected-looking succulent, ripe for the taking.
"Haha, score!
"I almost thought I was gonna have to eat rats or something, thank god for succulents."
Finnian was some distance above the ground. A fall from that height likely wouldn't injure him, but even if it did, it was a risk that he was willing to take.
Repeating the similar action, the child once again gnawed against the wooden bars of the cot, determination now building inside of him. The taste of the wood barely even entered the young boy's mind, he was too distracted by the object of his journey.
"Succulent, you will soon be mine."
With a grunt, he gripped one of the bars in his gums, tugging hard. And as he began to tug he heard the plank creak and crack. The sound telling him that the bar was close to giving way.
"You should feel honoured plank, you're going to see my second special move for the second time in one day, you are a lucky board."
The young boy pulled back his leg, just as he did before, and kicked the bar with all the strength he could muster.
The wood splintered with a loud crack, sending a jolt through his leg. Pain shot up to his knee, but he pushed through it, determined to escape.
However, the thought of all that pain faded away in an instant as the bar finally gave way, snapping free.
Finnian let out a triumphant squeal, the sound echoing in the quiet room.
"Haha, that was easier than I thought, maybe I have super strength as well as time manipulation, who knows, I am a magic baby after all."
Ignoring the ache in his leg, he grabbed his blanket and threw it onto the floor, a makeshift landing pad for his descent.
With the blanket in place, Finnian climbed onto the edge of the cot. He glanced down at the floor, feeling the anticipation building.
looking down at the blanket beneath him he steadied himself and leapt, arms outstretched, landing on the soft fabric.
It was a success.
The blanket shielded him from any harm the fall could have inflicted. Though the plan was simple, the fact that a six-month-old conceived it made it nothing short of genius.
He quickly righted himself and began to move toward the succulent, his goal finally within reach.
However, there were obstacles in his path.
The remnants of the ceramic pot lay scattered across the floor, shards glinting dangerously in the light.
"I'm sure getting a cut won't do too much to me, but most of those shards are covered in dirt, and something tells me that I'm in an era before antibiotics.
"Best to avoid the debris...
"Wait,
"What am I talking about? I'm a real life magical baby, haha a mere infection cannot fell me."
With renewed vigour the baby continued to crawl across the floor to the Succulent, avoiding the shards as much as he could, his actions betraying his own bravado.
As the child intricately weaved in-between the shards, he began to take better stock of his surroundings, in particular the door that was now wide open.
Through that door, the first thing visible was a narrow stone corridor that extended in a straight line, the walls were made of thick, rough-hewn blocks of old stone. The corridor was lit only by far spaced lanterns, casting their light against the well worn stone stabs that worked for flooring.
To most, the sight would seem ominous; to a child, maybe even terrifying. Was this the reason that no children could be seen? All staying in their rooms because of a fear of the eerie corridor? Whatever the reason might be, it was not at all one of Finnian's concerns.
With a single glance at the corridor, a singular emotion began to echo deeply in the soul of the once-bound infant. An emotion that he was now growing accustomed to.
"Freedom!"
Redirecting himself as fast as his infantile legs and hands could manage he aimed straight for the door, moving... well slowly, but somewhat faster than before, he was almost there, he was almost out, almost, almost.
Then, suddenly it dawned on him.
"What am I doing?
"Have I forgotten my dream so quickly?
"If I am going to adventure and search for the most perfect thighs in the world, then I must become someone worthy of their perfection! And to do that, before I go, I first must train, I must become what the thighs want me to be, what they need me to be.
"I cannot implore these... these... sly tricks to achieve my goal.
"I must be a strong and honest connoisseur!"
The child hung his head in shame, lamenting and regretting the thoughts that recently resounded in his mind. The young boy, in truth, was not looking for freedom, as most might understand it. Rather, he was going to use his new childlike form to get closer to some thighs. Feigning innocence as a helpless, lost child, his plan was to be taken in by one of the female church workers and consoled, nestling himself between their thighs as they offered comfort.
A truly despicable scheme.
The repentant child, his mind refocused on his primary goal, moved back and resumed his march toward the plant, reaching it shortly after.
The succulent lay on the floor, its plump, fleshy leaves glowing a deep green. Each leaf shimmered delicately in the light, as though a thin layer of dew had been applied to it. Perfectly symmetrical, the plant's rosette shape stood out against the uneven floor beneath it.
This exquisite specimen almost seemed to radiate life, the very life that Finnian sought to take away.
"Now, before I train, first I must test!"
As the baby gummed one of the succulent's leaves, the smooth surface offered no resistance, remaining intact beneath the gentle pressure of his gums. The leaf was cool to the touch, and a subtle freshness filled his mouth without breaking the skin, releasing just a hint of moisture that tantalized his senses.
And then, in that very moment, the leaf began to transform.