Garden Encounter

Rubellia quickly walked to the gates of the manor, where she worked with a tired four-year-old boy. He limply held on to her right hand with his left while wiping his eyes with his free hand.

The guards recognized the wife of one of their comrades and allowed them entry into the estate without issue. Normally, servant staff would reside in servant quarters; however, Wayne was a guard captain and had been rewarded for saving the lord's nephew in a bandit attack by being granted the home they now lived in.

As such, Rubellia was allowed to move out of the servant quarters to live with her husband.

"Miss Rubellia, Wayne is still sparring with one of the new recruits at the moment, if the young man would like to see his father in action?" one of the guards called out as the pair passed.

"Momma! I wanna watch Papa!"

Rubellia gave her son a gentle smile. "Of course, my love."

They quickly walked away from the gardens and to the training area next to the guards' barracks. It was just inside the gates along the massive fence that enclosed the enormous estate. The house itself occupied a massive portion of the fenced-in area, easily holding over a hundred different rooms.

The grounds around the manor included the front gardens, with a massive cobblestone pathway leading from the gates directly to the mansion's double doors. Behind were the rear gardens, where the estate held outdoor parties amongst well-manicured shrubs and fields of flowers.

As they approached the barracks, sounds of metal against metal and shouting filled the air. A once sleepy Lucius suddenly snapped to attention, miraculously gaining energy. He began to rush ahead to where his father was sparring.

Wayne was in the center of a large, square arena. Around him were four other men. All five of them were wearing light leather armor with metal studs and wielded wooden swords. The four men slowly moved in a large circular pattern around Wayne.

Wayne simply stood with his sword held downward in a relaxed position. By all counts, he was wide open, but his men knew better than to fall for such a trap…or so Wayne believed.

The youngest and smallest of the four lunged forward, swinging his sword in a downward arc. Another two of the four took the opportunity to attack as well, leaving only one to continue holding back.

Wayne easily parried the first soldier, then countered with a fist into his gut, quickly knocking the wind out of him. Wayne allowed him to collapse on the ground as he prepared to take the other two attacks.

Wayne raised his sword to block another overhead strike. The moment the attacker recoiled, he spun and kicked the other attacker in the gut. Both men took steps back, while Wayne returned to a relaxed state, and the fourth man stayed outside of striking range, simply observing.

The second and third attacker recovered. They stayed back and silently locked eyes with man number four. All three men then lunged forward, with man number four moving a few seconds faster.

With one target a few steps ahead, Wayne moved to meet man number four first. The moment Wayne made his move towards him, man number four changed pace and jumped backward, messing up Wayne's timing.

Wayne attempted to recover by moving to meet men two and three, but the moment he turned to face either of them, they also jumped back.

Taking advantage of his surprise, man number four shouted, "[Glacies: Ice Spear]!" a two-foot-long spear of ice shot out of the man's hand and sped right for Wayne's side. Wayne moved to dodge, but the other two also cast spells. "[Aqua: Water Ball]" and "[Terra: Stone Bullet]"

Three different magic spells surged towards Lucius' father. Not realizing that this was simply a sparring match or really understanding what sparring even meant, Lucius shouted out in fear. "Father! No!"

He did not know what was happening, but he felt like those spells were bad. Rubellia moved to comfort her son but noticed something strange. The pupils of his eyes turned from normal black circles to feline-like slits. His canines elongated, and the teeth before the top canines had fallen out and turned into a third set of canine teeth, though these new ones were now twice as long as normal

"Lucius! Lucius, my love, please calm down…Your father is okay." Rubellia snapped out of the sudden daze her son's appearance left her in. She knew that the boy had to be special in some way, but she did not expect him to be half-beastman.

Wayne heard his son's cries and shouted, "[Lux: Enhanced Leap]!" In an instant, he jumped twenty feet into the air, landing outside the ring and leaving a massive dust cloud in his wake. He ran quickly up to his family and checked on his son.

He, too, saw his son's eyes and teeth. However, he was not surprised. Up until now, Lucius had been a normal boy, but if he truly were just that, then his cousin would not have brought him to them.

Wayne quickly removed his gloves and patted his son gently on the head to calm him. His men rushed up to make sure everything was fine. One of the four in the ring, man number four himself, to be exact, looked at the boy with disdain.

"Sir, I knew you were unlucky enough to find a Marked One, but to think you were so unfortunate for it to be a half-blood…hwuuugh!"

Just as the man finished his sentence, he found a massive fist meeting his face. Wayne spun around and struck the guard so fast that no one was able to see what happened until it was over. Man number four's feet lifted off the ground, and he flew back about five feet before landing on his back with a solid thud.

"Any other comments? No? Good. Ten laps around the perimeter. Wake the idiot and have him do twenty."

Lucius sobbed and hugged his father's leg, glad that he was okay. Now that he was calm, his canines shrank in size, but his pupils were stuck in the same feline slits. He also now had six canine teeth; four on top and two on bottom.

Rubellia checked her son from top to bottom to make sure everything else was fine with him. Thankfully nothing else was the matter.

"Are you going to be okay with him continuing to stay with you today? He might receive more comments than we originally expected…" Wayne asked his wife carefully.

"Yes, I'm tending to the rear gardens all day, and his Lordship is out of the manor today at the capital. It will be fine."

Wayne nodded slowly, patted his son on the head, kissed both his family goodbye, and went home. He was clearly exhausted after working all night, so he did not complain when he was told he would not have to care for Lucius in the meantime.

Lucius and Rubellia left the area quickly and headed to the back gardens, where Lucius was met with the most beautiful sight he had ever witnessed.

The rear garden was filled with gorgeous flowers he had never seen before, and in colors, he could never have dreamed of. There were so many different shades of blue and purple than he ever thought could exist…and yet, here they were.

"Wow! Momma! It's so pretty! Can I play!"

"Of course, but stay within my eyesight and do not pick any of the flowers," Rubellia warned. Lucius nodded and smiled widely at his mother before scampering off to play among the flowers.

After several hours he began to grow tired of the flowers and found himself looking at the fun shapes of the hedges. Some were cut to look like people, others like animals, and still others like the monsters his parents told him to avoid.

Many of them resided in forests and magical places called 'dungeons', but sometimes they would venture near towns. However, Lucius is not scared of these monsters because he knows his father will protect him.

While looking among the bushes, Lucius found a small gazebo hidden among the taller shrubs. Sitting inside the building was a young girl, maybe a little older than Lucius. She had deep, crimson hair and wore a long, beautiful dress. With her stood two maids wearing uniforms similar to his mother's.

They refilled the girl's cup with some sort of drink and served her small, fluffy-looking food on a tiny plate. Lucius did not know what it was, but it looked very tasty and made his mouth water.

A few moments later, the girl looked over and locked eyes with the boy. Her eyes shot wide, and she began to open her mouth. Lucius was terrified she was going to yell at him for staring at the food, so before she could say anything, he quickly ran back to his mother.

"Momma! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Rubellia stopped her pruning and turned to her son. "What's the matter? What happened?"

"I found this weird building, and in it was a girl, and she had red hair, and she looked at me, and I think I made her mad, but I ran away before she could say anything…" Lucius rambled.

Rubellia pulled her son in for a hug. "Don't worry, you are not in trouble. You are allowed to be here, so do not fret. However, make me a promise."

"Yes, momma?"

"Anyone you see here with red hair. Do not speak to them. They are the masters of this house, and while they let me bring you here, they do not want you to interact with them. Am I clear?"

"Why, momma?"

"Just do as I say and promise, or I will never bring you again."

Lucius nodded quickly. He definitely wanted to come back. So far he had seen two scary things, but they were something different than the inside of his home. He felt like these were valuable experiences, even if they were not the most fun.

Lucius resolved to listen to his mother. He also thought back to his father's fight. 'Papa is so cool,' he thought, 'I want him to teach me to do that.'