Chapter 2 - Plea

"Please, protect her."

Before he could open his eyes, he heard that voice. He blinked several times when he finally woke up. He had dreamt that he had been in a dark place for a long while, and when he heard that voice. As if things were weird enough, he didn't recognize the ceiling above him.

"Zaos…" A gentle female voice came from his right side.

When Zaos turned to the side, he saw a frail-looking woman looking at him with a tired smile on her face. Although she seemed pretty frail, she was huge. Something very odd was going… Zaos didn't recognize that woman. He didn't even recognize his own name. However, after a while, he began to understand what had happened. That black-haired and green-eyed woman was his mother, and apparently, he had just been born.

"Something is off here…" Zaos thought while he also noticed something out of place on the corner of his vision.

Health: 02/02

Mana: 02/02

Stamina: 02/02

Strength: 01

Magic: 01

Endurance: 01

Resistance: 01

Focus: 01

Zaos felt that he should have recognized those weird bars in the corner of his vision, but he couldn't quite recall what that meant. However, he could tell that a newborn child wasn't supposed to be that self-aware of his surroundings for some odd reason. Some things he couldn't explain, but while other things felt strangely unnatural… and then there was that voice as well.

Zaos thought about asking his mother if kids were supposed to feel that weird when they were born. Still, then he recalled that kids were supposed to do anything aside from sleeping, eating, and crying. At least until they grow up to a certain point.

"Why do I know this? It is not like I have seen many kids growing up… did I?"

The more Zaos thought about the situation, the more he became confused. Maybe it was thanks to that or due to something else, but he began to feel strangely sleepy. While he tried to fight that since he was in a strange place, in the end, he easily lost that fight.

It didn't take long after falling asleep that he noticed that something was really weird with him. Zaos began to dream about a weird place, a place that was totally different from his new home. His mother wasn't there, and in the dream, the place he lived was completely covered in fog and darkness. Despite all that, the place felt strangely familiar. Some rectangular object where he used to sleep, another object where he used to sit, a weird box that he used to stare at for several hours… it was a lonely and creepy place, but it felt strangely familiar.

Suddenly, the fog and the darkness began to dissipate in that place, as if he was going to see something important about himself. However, the dream world began to fall apart as quickly as it had appeared inside his head…

When Zaos opened his eyes again, he felt strangely refreshed. The dream had been as vivid as the voice he heard previously, but that was only making him feel more confused.

"Maybe I should stop thinking about this…" Zaos thought. "Anyway, you sure like to sleep, huh. Mother?"

Zaos wasn't feeling that tired anymore, so he was pretty sure he slept for quite a while. Despite that, his mother was sleeping soundly. It looked like she was frailer than Zaos had imagined. While she was incredibly pretty and young, he assumed her health was on the bad side. Hopefully, that would be just a temporary thing due to a complicated birth. Still, then again, Zaos wasn't sure if he actually knew anything or if he were just assuming things for some reason.

With his tiny hands, Zaos tried to check the body temperature of his mother. Fortunately, she was warm, so she was just exhausted and not actually sick, but thanks to that, his mother woke up and then looked at her absent-mindedly for quite a while. Then, as if something had clicked inside her head, she began to smile from ear to ear.

"… Zaos," the woman said.

Zaos's mother said something, but he didn't understand a single word aside from his name. Despite that, he didn't feel strange. Maybe that was natural, or perhaps it was due to the fact that his mother kissed his cheek and then hugged him and her warmth made him feel strangely safe.

While his mother seemed a bit strange from his perspective, Zaos assumed that she was a good person. It would be weird if he thought otherwise. Regardless, in that new and strange place, he concluded that she was there to help him. He tried to say something, but only weird words came out of his mouth.

"I guess this is something natural… if I can't understand her yet, then I probably shouldn't be able to talk as well," Zaos thought.

Zaos began to look around that room, and he noticed that it was a pretty fancy place. The walls and the ceiling were made of some sturdy but visually pretty material, but the place itself was a bit darker than it should be. Zaos looked at the entrance of the place. They saw a single candle illuminating the entrance and another on the left side of the bed. Zaos felt weird while looking at those… they felt… old, from his perspective.

Zaos suddenly stopped since he felt a stare coming from his mother. Fortunately, she didn't look as if she was bothered by Zaos behavior and curiosity. Just like before, she had a big smile on her face. As if she had received the greatest present in the world.

Suddenly, the room's door was opened, and a pair of weird women appeared wearing clothes that apparently belonged to servants. That was weird, but the weirdest thing was yet to show up… a man wearing a full plate silver armor suddenly entered the room. He was huge, and he looked intimidated as hell. Zaos couldn't help but frown since he couldn't see the need for a huge man like that to enter a room where there was only a single woman who just gave birth and a newborn child. Although the man was also carrying a sword and a shield on his back, he felt strangely familiar.