Ren woke up the next morning with more energy. He didn't even know if he was going to be able to sleep, which he needed to do during the day if he was going to grow into a healthy kid.
Today, he was cleaned, showered, and then changed by his caretaker, Granny Martha, who always had him sitting at the dining table no later than nine in the morning.
This was not always the case, though. At times, Ren could decide to sleep in more, but he had recently decided to start waking at this hour to build a good habit.
As a baby, he couldn't do much, but he did, however, learn that his dad had a way of staying somewhat awake when producing things from dreams. Logan wanted to understand how his father did so and how to improve his own power.
He believed that creating an avatar within his dream was the right step, likely one of the steps his father had taken as well. Ren could bet his life on it.
The other thing he wanted to do was improve what he could produce. He didn't want to just create candy and small things—he wanted complex items. In the future, he wanted video games, television, he wanted technology. Just staring at baby toys and pretending to have fun with them, even if something instinctual in him was attracted to them, was ultimately not the best way to spend time.
Ren sighed as he stopped thinking about what he had to do and what needed to be experimented on in the future. He was placed at the table in a chair meant for him, and beside him, his mom—who had been waiting for her firstborn to be brought—began to cuddle and hug him.
He enjoyed the attention. What else could he do when someone showed affection in such a way? He had decided to leave pride and all that emotional crap behind him as a baby. He was forced to, in order to keep living as he had done for the past few months.
After the cuddle session was over, he was given a spoon and a bowl of soup. While at first, he had to pretend he couldn't eat by himself, these past few days he beginning to act as if he could actually do it.
This useless trick earned him praises from his dad, who thought he was a genius for being able to do such trivial tasks at such an age. After his mother showered him with attention, it would be his father's turn—but in a more cheek-pinching sort of way.
Ren could only find ways to survive without biting his father's hands or exposing that he could do more than just baby talk during such moments. He had even been close to giving away his real intelligence at times, crying usually worked to solve anything though.
Thankfully, after eating, his parents would leave him with his caretaker. She was the one responsible for him most of the day. He was glad to have someone like Martha, but at times, he just wished it was someone younger and more beautiful. Then again, it would just lead to nothing, so he went with the flow.
Martha would read for him—something he had practically forced her into.
He needed something other than childish games, so he had to pretend to cry and cry one day. This led to the caretaker looking for a way to shut him up. That was when she picked up a fairy tale book for kids and began reading to him.
At first, it was boring—even a way for him to fall asleep—but then it became interesting.
He learned many things this way.
He learned that his ability was somewhat special, but not the only one in this world. There were the four great elemental magics: Flamecrafting, Stonebinding, Waterbending, and Songcrafters who used wind and words as a base for their magic.
Then there were the higher forms of magic: Echografting, Soulforging, Voidcalling, and Feybinding.
These were dangerous, as they had to do with affecting lives, and were at times outlawed or banned in certain countries—especially Soulforging and Feybinding, which dealt with the undead and spiritual essence.
There were others that were not written or defined due to their nearly mythical powers. This included Dreamweaving, Chrono Tempering, Truthseeking, and finally, the one Ren had to be wary of—Illusory Artistry.
Although he could not learn much from children's books, there were many tales about the Twelve Great Magic Arts that had shaped this world.
Great wars and kingdoms that had changed the way humanity lived here, and the many great archmages that had shaped a part of history.
"And so Prince Gilgrim of the kingdom of Verya betrayed and killed our dear Princess Ceris, leading to the Battle of Narthdem—the first of many, and the beginning of the rift between two great allies…"
Although tired of reading such a long and tedious book, Martha—who was seated with the baby over one of her legs—watched as the young baby boy in front of her looked at the page contents with deep concentration.
Young master Auren was quiet most of the time. He would, of course, cry and make a fuss when there was nothing to do, and so Martha did everything she could during those times to quiet him down. That was when she discovered that reading to the baby was the best way to keep him quiet—something she wanted to do at all costs.
Having the baby cry would ruin the Duke's mood, and that was what she feared the most. So she was glad that just straining her voice for a couple of hours was enough to keep the baby quiet.
It was strange, but effective, so she did it—even if at times she fell asleep doing so.
Ren looked back and saw that Martha had taken a nap after reading for so long. It was something she would do, leaving him with time to look at each page of the book. He slowly flipped through the pages and began taking mental notes. He wanted to become better, and soon—so that when he was able to walk and pick books up by himself, he wouldn't have to rely on others as he was doing now.
It was hard to learn by just looking at letters of some unfamiliar language, but Ren was set on doing so. He had already roughly figured out the alphabet of this particular language. All he had to do now was learn how to create and interpret words, and listening to Martha read was the best way of doing this.
He stopped after an hour of attempting to learn the language, and then let out a cry to indicate it was time to put him to sleep. He had enough of reading and wanted to try his hand at dreamweaving again.