Although he was the son of Camille Campbell—a graduate of the Northern Imperial Academy of Arts, internationally recognized for her artistic performance and academic dedication—and, even more so, of Ethan Caesar, a genius by nature, Theo showed no sign of talent in the early years of his schooling.
He struggled to concentrate, to learn, and to show interest during kindergarten.
Due to a linguistic conflict, Theo developed a series of issues related to communication: delayed speech—babbling only a few words and sometimes forming nonsensical sentences—difficulty with writing, and the constant mixing of three different languages.
That was because in Romerian, the empire where Theo was born, learning two languages was mandatory: Romerian and Latin (a language considered universal; all citizens of the Great World Alliance must speak it).
However, fragments of Liam Mason's memories still resided within the Young Master's mind… just enough for his maturation to be premature, and for him to speak Egorian as well.
The clash between these three languages made Theo unable to communicate properly, compounded by his difficulty focusing—since he was always sinking into memories of a former life, even though he knew Liam Mason was not himself.
Fortunately for Theo, he attended the public school of Loureto, where he became a student of the renowned teacher Beatrice. Though young, she was already known throughout the region as one of the finest mentors for children.
Within the very first week of classes, she noticed Theo's behavior before his neurological state could worsen.
"Youthful Master, are you all right?" Beatrice asked, crouching beside Theo.
Raising his eyebrows as if about to answer, Theo stared at Beatrice, waiting for more words.
Looking down at Theo's notebook, the teacher noticed the child's difficulty in writing words in his native language. Instead, he was writing directly in Latin.
"No, Young Master. You need to copy it exactly as it is up here… Come on… Alpha…"
Theo traced the alpha symbol in his notebook, but it came out uneven.
Beatrice quickly erased the graphite.
"Again… Alpha…" She waited for Theo to repeat it.
"Al… pha," Theo said, separating the syllables.
"Beta…"
Instead of following the beta symbol, Theo wrote a casual b from the Latin-Romerian alphabet instead of the Greek beta.
His teacher erased it as well.
"Do it properly, so the Duchess won't make you erase it again when you get home. Come on, you can do it…"
Without saying a single word, Theo continued trying to write, but kept mixing up the alphabets.
'Hm… He's not even going to talk about his difficulties?'
"Glauben Sie, dass es so besser ist?" Theo asked, showing the letters in his notebook. ("Do you think this is better this way?")
"What?" Beatrice startled.
After a morbid silence, Theo looked up at his mentor, trying to understand why she had suddenly stepped back.
Beatrice was frozen, staring at Theo, trying to process the words he had spoken and translate them into one of the five languages she was fluent in… but none of them matched.
"What did you just say? I'm sorry…"
Theo raised his eyebrows.
"Ah…" Theo realized he had spoken like Liam Mason. "Miss… Is it better like this?"
The Young Master smiled awkwardly as a bead of sweat slid down his forehead.
"Hmm…" Beatrice pretended to ignore the unfamiliar language and instead focused on what he had written.
She was shocked.
'Is this serious? He didn't… write a single thing correctly…'
Theo had written everything using the Latin-Romerian alphabet.
Even so, Beatrice was not disappointed. That situation was normal among the children in that classroom—except for the language Theo had spoken…
'This is going to end up in Sir Ethan's hands.' Beatrice stood up and walked between the desks toward the board. 'All the students here have some peculiarity… Deviants really are complicated, but this generation is surpassing the previous one.'
Jotting down some information on the board, Beatrice took a deep breath and reasoned.
'Of course, Beatrice. After all, everyone in this classroom—including you… are super-humans.'
Midian Village, outskirts of Loureto
To the north of Loureto lay the largest village in the duchy, responsible for providing some of Lawrence's greatest sources of income: wheat, milk, and beef.
The village leader, Michel Hansen, had yielded to Ethan after years and decided to become a direct supplier to the Duke himself. It was a partnership that benefited both sides: while Midian Village gradually grew from a mere cluster of houses into one of the largest farms in the State, the Lawrence Duchy established itself as one of the three wealthiest houses in the Empire.
Thanks to that partnership, the wheat fields of Midian stretched far beyond the horizon…
Nearly endless fields, boasting the perfect golden hue of wheat when touched by sunlight.
To Theo's eyes, it looked like a field of flames… He lost himself, enchanted by that natural beauty.
Walking hand in hand with Duke Ethan along a road between the plantations and the forest, Theo practically worshiped the wheat fields.
On the right side of the road lay the plantations, while Midian's workers walked along the dirt paths.
On the left side, however, was one of the most dangerous places in the world: the edge of the Forest of Nymphs.
A natural territory capable of covering most of the continent with its woods and hostile climate, it was a fierce and primal combination of countless biomes, governed primarily by the creations of the mythical Ruler of the Seas.
Creatures of mythical origin dominated its entire expanse—swamps, dark forests, groves, caves…
Magical and intelligent beings, spiritual, brutal, and bound by no human ethics. Ruled by fairies, dark elves, druids, and, predominantly, nymphs.
Although sixty percent of the Forest of Nymphs' territory was dominated by the Zone of Death—where a morbid mist concealed the true dangers of the magical world—another thirty percent belonged to the habitable zone, where humans could still coexist with such creatures.
Lastly, there existed a place so unreachable to humans that it seemed like myth: the Heart of the Forest. It was speculated that the Heart accounted for ten percent of all biomes, but that was nothing more than conjecture.
No one had ever walked more than a kilometer into the Death Mist to discover what the "Heart of the Forest" truly was.
And those who went beyond that limit were erased from history.
Theo often dreamed of that mist; he wanted to see it, but it was impossible.
So he lived only within the habitable zone, where human life was still permitted by the great empires.
Theo admired the forest to the left, but soon turned his gaze back to the fields.
"Hello!" Ethan called out to a group of farmers leaving the plantation.
"Greetings, Lord Ethan!"
Scooping Theo into his arms, Ethan walked toward the villagers.
"Where is Michel?" the Duke asked.
"He went into the forest with Iert and Jliner. They went to fetch a good amount of firewood."
"Short on supplies again?"
"No. Michel just wanted to stock up for his own house."
"Ah, I see…" Ethan sighed. "Edward! Stay with Theo."
Edward, who had been walking farther back along the road, turned his attention to his brother.
Taking Theo by the hand, Edward walked alongside Ethan until they reached the forest's edge, where he stayed beneath a tree while the Duke went inside.
Sitting down with a stick he had found on the ground, Theo began drawing lines in the dirt to stave off boredom.
Walking alone along a forest trail, Ethan reflected on the advice Beatrice had given him half an hour earlier.
When he had left his office to take Theo from school, Beatrice had asked to speak with him and explained the Young Master's behavior during his first weeks of class.
Unfortunately for Ethan, his son was not much different from the rest of his bloodline…
All of the Duke's siblings had shown the same behavior—a reserved personality during their first ten years of life. It was something Ethan truly feared, because after growing up, he had realized that communication was the very essence of humanity.
Ethan knew he had to race against time to prevent his son from growing up the same way his brothers had.
Although Theo was only two years and six months old, among deviants—super-humans with accelerated cognitive development—such behavior was not appropriate.
Ethan ran his hands over his head and let out a deep sigh, relaxing his shoulders while remaining alert to the forest's atmosphere.
It was autumn in Romerian. The trees had turned yellow, bathed in warm tones, and leaves scattered across the trail as Ethan walked.
A humid wind rustled the leaves along the path; such winds were common in Romerian, but autumn gave the environment a unique character.
'Amiah… how did you break me like this? How did you pull me from a world of ice into the heat that I am?'
Ethan scratched the back of his neck.
'Being a father to a daughter was so much easier…'
Thays had not shown the same behavior as her younger brother when she was Theo's age.
'Comparing my own children seems unfair…' he reflected. 'Maybe I should man up and deal with this properly.'
After walking a few more meters, Ethan stopped before a stream flowing eastward. He sat down on some rocks in the riverbed and stared across to the other side.
Sitting there and breathing deeply, the Duke looked toward the Forest of Nymphs—the boundary of the habitable zone, where it transitioned into the Zone of Death. A mist began right where the trees met the stream, growing denser in the distance.
'How far can I go? What is the limit of humanity's greatest monster, within that place?'
Closing his eyes, intrusive thoughts of actually entering the Zone of Death filled his mind—until he was interrupted.
"Duke Ethan?" Michel called from afar, carrying a load of firewood on his shoulders.
Turning his head, Ethan's eyes met Michel's brown ones. A straw hat covered the man's short red hair, and a beard of the same color extended past his chin.
"Michel…"
"What are you doing here alone?"
"I came looking for you. Some villagers said you were around here."
"What happened?" Michel furrowed his brow.
"Nothing serious, relax," Ethan said, standing up from the rocks. "It's harvest season, so…"
"Yeah, yeah. Time to supply again…"
"Yeah…" Ethan sighed, uneasy.
It was not a typical attitude for the Duke—someone usually confident, head held high. That unease set off alarms in the leader of Midian Village.
"Iert, Jliner, go on ahead…"
The other two villagers carried the firewood down the trail, heading back toward the plantation.
Before Ethan could leave, Michel dumped the entire bundle of firewood into the Duke's arms.
"What?"
"Lady Camille comes to my house, delivering books to my daughter and granddaughter, trying to teach children how to read… And sometimes she talks about how childish adults can be."
As he picked up the firewood that had fallen to the ground, Michel continued.
"I know when a man is troubled… and you're the only real man I know for miles. What's going on?"
Crouching down to gather the scattered wood, Ethan replied casually.
"My youngest son, Theo, has been showing behavior I find troubling."
"Too restless?"
"No. Quite the opposite… A few days ago, he awakened an energy core, and I fear it might be affecting his mind."
Michel jolted in surprise.
"The Young Master awakened as a deviant?"
Ethan sighed in confirmation.
"The core can sometimes create illusions, you know? Especially in our minds… Depending on how much energy a deviant has, no matter their age or whether they understand what power truly means, our minds can be flooded with arrogant, ignorant thoughts…"
"You…" Michel burst out laughing. "You think the Young Master, at two years old, is going to think like that? Is he some god, born all-knowing?"
"Well… Deviants are considered demi-gods, aren't they?"
"Not to me," Michel shot back. "To me, you're just idiots who learned how to use bodily energy to cast spells and do impressive things. You're not gods, heroes, or 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 man. The strongest my peasant eyes have ever seen… But you're the man who puts money in my pocket. You're not a hero to me, get it?"
"Even if… I saved your life?"
"I'd be grateful, but nothing more than that."
Hoisting the firewood onto his shoulder, Ethan smiled faintly.
"But… as for the Young Master… you're worrying too much over a simple solution."
Ethan paid close attention to Michel's words.
"You're what—twenty-seven? You're busy running this duchy while raising your family. You live five kilometers from the capital, far from any other village or interaction the Young Master could have. He's got one sister, one uncle, his parents, and a bunch of servants."
Michel slapped Ethan's shoulder, making him stumble.
"How's he supposed to smile when he's stuck between a house and a school? Let the kid loose in Midian. Run around, break an arm, scrape a knee, get dirty, learn to swear, learn about life… Come on, take me to him. I'll teach him how to be a person."
Shifting the firewood onto his right shoulder, Ethan shoved it back into Michel's chest and said,
"I don't know about that… I'll come along."
Michel tossed the firewood back at Ethan and complained,
"Hey, hey! I'm a seventy-year-old man! You really going to treat me like that?!"
"You said it yourself. I put money in your pocket. You work, not me!"
"Lazy boss…" Michel grumbled, turning away.
"What was that?!"
"Ah, blah, blah, blah. Come on, get moving!"
Walking over the fallen autumn leaves, Ethan and Michel left the Death Mist farther and farther behind.