Chapter 2

"Huh!?" Leo was very confused.

One moment he was lying in the middle of the road dying and the next in the arms of, apparently his mother?

"He's so cute! Look at him so curious already." a small girl commented.

The girl that spoke up is who I would later learn is my older sister.

"Where am I? What happened when I was on the road? Who are these people?" thoughts raced around Leo's head.

"Shush. Leave the room I need to feed him." Leo's mother said.

"Please, can you at least let me hold him?" the little girl pleaded.

"Not now Clara, can't you see you're making Leo anxious." Leo's mother replied.

Leo, still confused by the situation, tried moving his body again but to no avail. He was too tired by everything happening around him but then his eyes widened into saucers. The woman holding him was taking off her shirt.

"Wait a minute if I'm a baby then…" the thought crossed his mind "NOOOOOO!"

….

Leo was laying in a crib, his arms flailing in the air. It was one of the limited forms of passing time he had. It has been four days since he became a baby and he learned a few things. One, this is not a dream. Two, he had an older sister named Clara that was six years old, his father worked at a garrison and his mother's name was Maria. Three, being a baby sucked. All he could do was eat, sleep, and the one that hurt his dignity the most, use a diaper.

"My life is over." a silent tear trickled down Leo's face, his pleas unheard.

"Aww what's wrong?" his sister Clara walked over to the crib.

She gazed down on her brother who was crying silently. Clara and his mother were usually the only ones around, his father apparently was always on duty until the end of the day when he was sleeping. Leo stared at his sister's face, still sniffling a bit. Although he was a baby his face said "You wouldn't understand my pain" which his sister did not pick up on.

"You want upsies?" his sister questioned.

"I want nothing of the sort! I just wanna know what's going on around here." Leo thought silently. He then swatted his sister arms and wailed when she tried grabbing him

"Clara, I hope you're not trying to carry your brother!" Maria's voice could be heard around the corner and her body could be seen entering the doorway to his room. "I think he is just hungry. Come here Leo baby. UUUU you're so cute!"

Leo's mother picked him up and hugged him tightly while fawning over him. Both his mother and his sister were trying to snuggle his cute face.

"No mother I'm not hungry just dead inside." Leo stared at the ceiling. He just wanted to grow up already.

…

Another six months passed. Leo couldn't learn much about the world around him as he was still confined to his home. He did learn that it was very cold where they live, so that was probably why they didn't go out much. His father always brought food home after he went to sleep and he saw some of the bags in the corner, they didn't have to worry about food. Being a baby is surprisingly tiresome.

Leo repeated the same schedule everyday for those six months. He realised that exercise would be good for him so he could start moving again so he always grabbed the wooden toys in his crib and used them as if they were weights. He also shifted his legs in the air as if he was cycling, but he could only keep that up for a few seconds. Apart from eating, snuggling, and changing his diaper nothing notable really happened so he was extremely bored.

This day was very different however. Leo woke up normally and started his daily exercises.

"Hmmm, if I keep this up for two months I may be able to finally walk." he thought to himself.

Despite being a baby he was abnormally strong but Leo brushed it off as a result of his exercises, as no baby is conscious enough to purposely exercise except him. He was doing what he was doing normally when his mother entered his room.

"Hello baby!" his mother grinned. "Someone special is in town today would you like to come outside with Clara and me?"

Obviously a baby couldn't answer no so Leo was picked up and finally got his first look outside of the house. What greeted his eyes was something a city performer like him would probably never see in his entire life. A cold, brisk wind hit his face and sent shivers down his spine even though he was wearing multiple layers. Their house was situated on top of an elevated plain and was covered in snow. It looked much different on the inside than the outside. Crisp, dark brown almost black logs, made up the walls and smoke could be seen coming out of a cobbled chimney. There were no windows, only a door.

Beyond their house, similar homes could be seen throughout the area. Around them(the houses) were evergreen like trees as far as the eye could see but they were extremely tall. It was if the village created a hole in the forest and replaced them with houses.

When Leo was looking around a crowd started forming around a man in a black coat with red and golden lines running through the seams. His hat was very unique, almost like a sailor hat but the top was shaped like a star. He had black hair and slender fingers. A small green tear made of makeup could be seen under one of his eyes.

The man was speaking in an enthusiastic voice. He was waving his hands almost in a hypnotic way. A glowing green spark could be seen in one hand and a red flame in the other. Leo was mesmerized by the performance. The mysterious man clasped his hands together and a large flame shot up between his fingers, the flames licking the faces of the spectators closest to him but they seemed unaffected.

Each spectator was mesmerized as he did more tricks. A purple crystal shot into the air and shattered flinging what looked to be candies everywhere. The children rushed to pick as many pieces as possible once they realised it was sweets, even the adult's eyes were sparkling.

Leo was amazed he never saw tricks like that in his old world.

"What was that?" he thought before he heard one person answer his question.

"Wow a Fool Mage all the way out here?" the spectator whispered to the person next to him.

Thankfully Leo was close enough to hear the answer.

"What's a Fool Mage, and how did he do that." Leo wracked his little brain over the spectacle.

The man took a bow before swiping the cape of his cloak around him. As he did this a white glitter like explosion blinded the audience's eyes for a split second and by the time they opened them again the man vanished.

"Wow, I wanna do that!" one kid commented, his red nose dripping a bit.

"Idiot you have to have a large mana pool like me!" an obnoxious sounding kid responded by holding his hand up.

The kid closed his eyes and seemed to struggle before a small droplet of water formed in his hand.

"WOW! So cool Hans." one girl commented covering her red face.

Leo just stared wide eyed and went over what he just heard the kids say.

"MANA?!" he screamed internally

Despite being constantly busy Leo still found time to play video games. He liked games like Lizard Quest and Legend of Belda so he naturally knew what mana meant.

"So does that mean this world has REAL magic?" he thought

He tried looking over in that Han's kid direction but before he could get another glimpse his mother started walking back to the direction of their house.

"Whoo! It's chilly out. Cmon Clara let's head back inside." His mother said

"Noooo, mother I must get answers!" He tried arguing by squirming.

But despite his struggle his mother just assumed he was hungry.

"Don't worry little Leo, you'll get your favorite milk soon." his mother smiled

Leo could only let his soul die once more as another chance to learn more about his situation slipped away.

…

It was dead night and Leo was lying in his crib. Despite being so late he still couldn't sleep. He was thinking about the events that happened today. He traced back to the mysterious man's every action and every wave of his hand. Back in Leo's original world the most magic he could do was slight of hand tricks and others which required long preparation and were based on illusions.

Everytime he thought back on the green sparks and red flames, determination rose inside him. He wanted people to look at him the way they looked in awe of that man. The thoughts kept spinning in his head. He thought really hard to the purple crystal that shot up in the air and how the crystal rain brought wonder to the audience. That's what Leo wants to evoke.

Leo was deep in thought when he felt a soft heat above his chest. He slowly opened his weary eyes and saw a small, almost unnoticeable crystal hovering there. Leo was alarmed.

"Huh? HUH?!"