The light in the room changed like someone had flipped a switch. Morning, probably? When you're stuck in baby mode, time becomes a mystery. You can only tell what time it is by whether mom is warm and sleepy or awake and bustling around, and by the voices that drift through the thick doors like whispers through a wall.
But today felt different. Like the air itself was holding its breath.
Ares lay in his fancy crib, eyes barely open, trying not to blink too much from the golden sunrise sneaking through the fancy curtains. Beatrix was still sleeping, her blonde hair spread across the pillow like spilled honey.
'Alright, brain, let's think. This is the Eisenklinge family. That means mana is real. And I felt it yesterday, that weird humming in my chest like a second heartbeat trying to sync up with the first one.'
He took a deep breath through his tiny nose.
Nothing.
Tried again.
Still nothing.
'Come on, don't be like one of those stories where the mana only works when you're about to die. That's just lazy writing.'
Instead, he thought back to all those sleepless nights in the hospital, reading page after page of Chronicles of an Empire until his eyes burned.
'Mana is supposed to be everywhere. But it's not like a brass band—it's more like background music. You have to really listen to hear it.'
So he stopped trying so hard.
He just... let go.
And boom, there it was.
A gentle swirl behind his ribs. A little flutter under his skin. Not hot, not cold, just this weird pressure. Like someone had started filling him up with invisible water, one drop at a time.
His breath hitched like he'd just discovered buried treasure.
'Holy cow. That's it. That's actually it.'
'I'm sensing real, honest-to-goodness mana.'
---
The door creaked open like it was trying to be sneaky.
Junia walked in with her arms full of clean linens and a cloth slung over her shoulder like a dish towel. She stopped when she saw his eyes were open, but what really made her freeze was something else.
The air in the room felt... thicker. Heavier.
It was subtle, like the difference between regular water and water with just a pinch of salt. But a servant who'd grown up in the Eisenklinge house knew the difference between a normal baby room and one where magic was stirring.
"Young master Ares..." she whispered, sounding like she was talking to herself. "You've already got your father's presence about you."
She set her linens down carefully next to his crib and leaned over to look at him.
Ares blinked up at her with his big baby eyes.
Junia smiled, but it was the kind of smile you wear when you're not sure if you should be happy or worried. She brushed her fingers through his soft hair, but something flickered across her face. Not fear exactly, more like she'd just seen something that didn't quite make sense.
'She noticed. I didn't do anything flashy or dramatic, but she still felt something change in the room.'
'Mana detection. My first tiny splash in the magical pond.'
He tried not to look too pleased with himself. It just came out as a baby hiccup and a squeaky little sound that probably seemed normal to everyone else.
---
That night, after Beatrix gave him a goodnight kiss and the room settled into quiet darkness, Ares stared at the ceiling with eyes wide as dinner plates.
'Okay, let's make a plan. Step one: I can sense mana now. Check.'
'Step two: Figure out what kind of element I'm good at.'
'In the book, they took kids to special shrines to awaken their elements. But maybe I can start figuring things out before I even get there.'
'I'll watch everyone, Junia, Beatrix, the guards. Everyone probably gives off different mana waves. I just need to learn how to feel for them.'
'The original story is already rolling along like a train on tracks. And I'm the passenger who wasn't supposed to be on board.'
'But I'm here now. And I'm not just going to ride along quietly. I'm going to grab the wheel and see what happens when someone who knows how the story ends gets to mess with the beginning.'