[Back to the present]
After Teacher Fabian had finished his sermon, making sure to include the stories related to how what separates sentient beings from beasts is the ability to control their thoughts and emotions, the story time for children had started.
It was a time where children that were too young for mandatory education, but too old to remain home, were told stories by the Teacher's of the Church of Humanity.
The adults that had no children or whose children had already started their mandatory education have left by now, including Sofia and her family. She was fuming and muttering something under her breath as she left but only a single person from the Smith family was paying attention to her.
Stephen made a small gulping noise and looked at Neiro, with The Anomaly staring unblinkingly at the Sofia as she left the church, berating her husband over not defending her when she was insulted while Thomas was simply nodding and thinking about what he should take with him to eat in the forest.
-"Um, sir? I do not want to doubt your abilities but I don't think killing Sofia would be a wise decision. Her disappearance could lead to-"
-'Who said that I will kill her? I am not that heartless.'
-"O-of course sir! I never doubted your character, I simply thought that-"
-'I will simply show her what her place in the world is. She will learn that no matter what she does, no matter how hard she strives to better herself, she will always be inferior to my mother. She will live her life knowing that she could never be a good mother to her child or a good wife to her husband. She will grow old and alone in a family that doesn't love her, in a village that doesn't acknowledge her efforts and then die in an unmarked grave. Her final thoughts would be of how she is less than nothing, a failure and will then beg my mother for forgiveness, only to receive nothing.
So no, I won't kill her.'
-"....Your story time is starting sir."
-'Oh thank you Stephen, it seems that I was a bit distracted.'
Neiro then started walking besides his siblings towards the altar alongside his parents and the other children while Teacher Fabian received story books from one of the priestesses.
Stephen continued floating and looking at the closed church doors, silently praying for Sofia and then quickly went to where Neiro was sitting.
The Anomaly's parents were sitting behind their children besides the other parents, making a bit of small talk while Teacher Fabian started telling famous children's stories.
Lana wasn't paying attention to the stories unless they were about animals while Vamas was particularly interested in the stories of the warrior priests, paladins and saints of the Church of Humanity.
Neiro started making shadow figures using the light coming from the windows, making various animal faces and shapes while Lana smiled and laughed at them, sometimes requesting other animals and other times making fun of the shadow figures that looked nothing like the animals they were supposed to represent.
Vamas glanced at them as well and let out a small smile but still paid attention to the stories, wanting to act like a cool and mature older brother to Lana and a studious younger brother to Neiro.
Fabian noticed the Smith Triplets and how they were acting and let himself smile a bit while he continued telling the stories. They were much more mature than the other children but still childish.
-'It's nice to see siblings being so friendly with each other. Neiro seems to be the eldest, Lana the youngest and Vamas is the middle child.'
He wasn't mad that they weren't paying attention to all of the stories, they were children after all, if anything when they heard a story that they were interested in, they were the most attentive out of all the other children.
'Vamas seems to really like stories related to fighting and the church while Lana prefers stories that have animal protagonists and moral lessons. Neiro doesn't seem to interested but he appeared to be very interested when I was telling my sermons.'
Of course, Fabian wasn't paying attention to only the Smith children, he was also trying to see what stories the other children liked most and made mental notes in order to better teach them in the future and what possible jobs they will have in the future.
'Vamas will be probably interested in joining the church as a warrior priest while Lana will be interested in something related to taking care of animals. Neiro will probably become a caretaker or Teacher. Ah, I'm getting carried away, it is their choice, not mine.'
Fabian mentally scolded himself and then finished telling the rest of the stories, and judging by the faces of the adults, they already knew what came next.
The Head Priest chuckled a bit as he remembered how these same adults were standing in front of him, listening to the same stories only to end up embarrassing themselves later.
Teacher Fabian closed the storybook in his hands purposefully loud, making some of the adults flinch, and then let himself smile widely.
-"Alright children, now that story time is over, it is time for a small test. I will be asking questions and if you think you know the answer, simply raise your hand and then answer once I say your name."
Neiro stopped making shadow puppets, making Lana sulk for a bit before her eldest brother told her what Teacher Fabian said, afterwards she straightened her back like Vamas and prepared herself. She wanted to show how she smart she is to her parents and older brother's.
Vamas was thinking similarly to Lana and glanced back at his parents which gave him a nod and a wave while smiling gently, making him even more excited to show off his smartness.
Meanwhile Stephen and Neiro were discussing very important matters.
-"Sir I am not budging on this, a wyvern, while dragon-like, is not a dragon."
-'Just because a wyvern's front limbs are also its wings, it doesn't disqualify them from being dragon. There are dragons that do not have wings or even legs, but just because wyverns have their wings as their arms instead of on their back, that doesn't make them dragons? That's just ridiculous.'
-"Wyverns are domesticated dragons sir! It is like calling a Canus a Letos!"
(Canus' are the dogs of Midor, they have small horns on their heads and are typically used in hunting, but some are also used as pets, though when they are pups they tend to both chew on the furniture and grind their horns against the walls of houses.)
Neiro let out a sigh and then lightly shook his head while waiting for Fabian to start the 'test'.
-'I suppose we can agree to disagree on this one.'
Stephen let out a small chuckle and then also waited alongside Neiro.
-'It is nice to see more of his childish side. I sometimes forget that even though he is...something, he is still 3 years old.'
Teacher Fabian lightly clapped his hands, bringing attention to himself as he started the task.
-"Alright, let's start off with something simple. What were the names of the main characters of 'The lonely elf and the talkative dwarf'? It was the third story told today so I hope you paid attention."
Fabian wasn't going to start asking children that weren't even 5 years old to read passages from the books or ask them math problems, he instead decided to start small, with things related to attention and short-term memory.
Neiro knew the answer to this question, The elf in the story is supposed to be the first elf, Midoro, while the dwarf was the first dwarf, Tecton. The story is supposed to show how the founders of two of the four empires met and their relationship.
Midoro, being the first among the elves, did not yet know that the average lifespan of Elves is 1000 years and so he became friends with many of the sentient beings, but once they started to die of old age, he started to become lonely once again.
And so he asked his sole dwarf friend, and because the average lifespan of dwarves is around 250 years, he was still alive, but still incredibly old.
Tecton was very talkative, unlike the other,more solitary dwarves, and so his only friend was Midoro. But as he aged, he slowly started talking less and less, worrying Midoro.
They talked and Midoro told Tecton that he was scared to make any more friends with other species, not wanting to see so many of his friends die of old age while he remained young.
Tecton listened to his friend's worries and felt that his own death was near, but he decided to endure until he listened to all that Midoro had to say, and once he was done, Tecton told his friend this:
-"I once had a Canus when I was still young and spry. I called him Melas because he was born with purple fur. I talked with him, played with him and started to see him as family. Years passed and I saw him grow from a small puppy to a large, lovable mound of fluff."
Tecton let out a sad sigh and then looked Midoro in the eyes. Seeing his friend cry made him endure even more, not letting Death take him while he could still talk.
"He slowly grew old Midoro, much like how I am old now. He could no longer run as much as he used to, his teeth were not as strong and he was sleeping more and more. When he died I cried until I passed out. I buried him near our favorite meeting tree and for many years, I was too scared to have another Canus, not wanting to feel such sadness ever again."
Tecton then let out a loud laugh which slowly turned into a coughing fit, making his Canus, Cain, go up to him and press his snout against his master's hand. Tecton started petting his pet gently and slowly.
"But I also stopped feeling the warmth of companionship. I befriended you and many other people, but it was not the same. I then met Cain one day in the forest. He was injured and I was scared to treat him, to care for him.
I was a stubborn old fool to scared to take care of an injured Canus simply because I was too scared to get hurt once again. Like a child too scared to enjoy the warmth of a bonfire because it got burned before."
Tecton inhaled deeply and then held Midoro's hand tightly.
"Love is like fire Midoro. It can burn you, it can warm you up and it can also bring you light in the darkness of night. But once it is gone, you are cold. Don't be scared to light another fire just because you miss the warmth of the previous one Midoro."
Tecton's grip on Midoro's hand started to loosen and the young elf started to tear up once again.
"Please do me a favor and take care of Cain for me, will you? He is still a pup and I don't want him to wait for me by himself to come back once I'm in the ground."
-"O-of course my friend. I will make sure to take good care of him."
-"Thank...you."
And that is how Tecton died. Besides his family.
While Stephen and Neiro were reminiscing on the contents of the story, one of the children managed to answer the question correctly, with Vamas and Lana pouting as they didn't manage to remember the names in time.
Stephen looked at Neiro and then thought to himself.
-'I wonder which one I am to Neiro. Am I Tecton, Midoro or Cain?'
[A few questions later]
-"Alright children, time for the last question. Who among you can tell me what was the moral of 'The giving Vamas'?"
Throughout the 'test', Neiro answered some easy question, but for the more difficult ones he decided to tell his siblings the answers, whispering in their ears the correct answer and then watching as they quickly raised their little hands up to answer.
He didn't know the answers to all of the questions, to some of them Lana knew the answers while to others, Vamas knew. He felt the same things that his parents were currently feeling.
-'I cannot wait to see Melissa do the same when she goes to Aurora Academy. When she goes on field trips I will meet with her in secret and listen to her boast about acing all of her tests and about how many friends she managed to get.'
For this questions, Neiro decided to whisper the answer to Vamas since Lana already had her own answer, and once both of them raised their hands up at the same time, Teacher Fabian decided to hear both of their answers.
Lana went first and after her Vamas said his answer.
-"It is abowt being nwice to your fwends and giving them gifts becawse you cware about them!"(It is about being nice to your friends and giving them gifts because you care about them)
-"No, it is abowt not sacwificwing your wellbweing just to pwease your fweinds."(No, it is about not sacrificing your well-being just to please your friends)
Vamas had a hard time pronouncing some of the words that Neiro used but Fabian and some of the other adults could still understand what he said.
Fabian smiled gently at both of them and then told them that both of their answers are correct. Of course that wasn't the truth but due to the circumstances he decided to do it anyway.
Once the test was over all of the children that managed to answer some questions correctly went to boast to their parents while the ones that answered incorrectly or didn't answer at all were consoled or scolded quietly by their parents.
As the Smith family was about to leave, deciding to talk about the triplet's performance at home, Fabian looked at Neiro and smiled.
-'While it wasn't fair of me to let him tell his siblings the answers, I think it is fine. Neiro is such a kind child, letting his siblings use his answers instead of answering the difficult questions himself.'
The Head Priest nodded to himself, deciding to make a mental note for the future and then went to do his duties.
Meanwhile, as Neiro was walking home, he decided to see his and his sibling's status windows now that they were three years old.
The Status Window, eager to please, showed them all while Stephen muttered under his breath:
-'Blind brown noser.'
[Lana Smith Status Window]
Name:Lana Smith
Species:Basic Midorian Human
Existence Rank:Abysmal Basic Basic Midorian Human
Stats:
STR(Stronger than an infant, still weak):0.3
AGI(Has a lower reaction speed than an adult):0.6
DEX(More flexible than her two elder brother's):0.6
END(Still goes to sleep early and needs lots of food as a growing child.):0.5
THG(Still fragile.):0.6
PER(Has slightly better eyesight than most):1.4
WIS(Starting to get smarter!):0.6
CHR(Cutest little sister in the village):50
INT(Still learning new things):0.4
LCK(Average luck):1
Mana Capacity(Girl power!): 70/70(Full)
Trait(s):
-Medium Level Nature Spirit Affinity( She is seen as a friend by the nature spirits and other creatures attuned to nature.)
Skill(s):
Active:
-
Passive:
-Animal Language Knowledge(Beginner):She can understand a bit of what animals are saying.
-Plant Language Knowledge(Beginner):She can understand a bit of what plants are saying.
-Fungi Language Knowledge(Beginner):She can understand a bit of what fungi are saying.
Title(s):
-Little Sister of The Anomaly(Given by Existence)
[End Status Window]
[Vamas Smith Status Window]
Name:Vamas Smith
Species:Basic Midorian Human
Existence Rank:Abysmal Basic Basic Midorian Human
Stats:
STR(Stronger than an infant, still weak):0.4
AGI(Has a lower reaction speed than an adult):0.8
DEX(Less flexible than his little sister):0.5
END(Years of competitive rattle smashing has improved his stamina):0.7
THG(Barely cried when he scraped his knee):0.9
PER(Can see better than his little sister):1.6
WIS(Had to be given answers more times than his sister):0.4
CHR(Cutest little brother in the village):50
INT(Is interested in learning more about Paladins):0.6
LCK(Average luck):1
Mana Capacity(Still growing): 50/50(Full)
Trait(s):
-
Skill(s):
-Active:
-Passive:
Title(s):
-Little brother of The Anomaly(Given by Existence)
[End Status Window]
[Status Window]
Name:Neiro Minara Smith
Species:Human
Existence Rank:Guess
Stats:
STR(Average):0.3
AGI(Average):1
DEX(Average):0.5
END(Average):0.5
THG(Average):0.5
PER(Average):1
WIS(Average):0.5
CHR(Cute):10
INT(Average):0.5
LCK(Average):1
Mana Capacity(Average): 50/50(Full)
Trait(s):
Skill(s):
Title(s):
-The Anomaly(Given by:Existence)
-Youngest Parent(Given by:Stephen System)
-Papa(Given by:Melissa)
[End Status Window]