Chapter 5: 7 year old Tobias.
Early in the morning.
In a forest, three figures could be seen walking deep into the woods. One was a middle-age man, wearing a white A-shirt and black trousers, and the other two were children
As they got deeper into the woods, the forest canopy became denser, there was a frosty chill in the air. A sweet, surrendering scent of moist morning dew cascades all around the sublime forest.
The two children's opened their mouths in amazement, stars shone in their eyes, and their hearts began to pound in excitement as they wanted to explore more about this forest.
Through the gap of the canopies, a single beam of light shines through to illuminate the faces of the two children's
"William! LOOK...the sun is blessing us," the child with dishevelled black hair and dark blue eyes cheered as he closed his eyes and basked in the sunlight. He is 122 cm tall and dressed in a black T-shirt and dark green pants.
"I CAN FEEL IT, TOBI!," the boy named William shouted in joy, closing his eyes. He wide opened his both arms as if he were welcoming the sunlight, which they referred to as a blessing.
William, like his mother, has red hair and fair skin, black eyes, and a height reaching 121cm, barely 1cm shorter than Tobias.
And the middle age man standing there is Drake, it's been 7 years since he has been living in Sosshi village, watching Tobias grow. The first few months were tedious, but as time passed, he grew accustomed to this way of life. Tobias also helps him kill a lot of time.
Drake became fond of him for his innocent smile, the mischievous liesTobias used to make when he was caught doing anything wrong, and the way he would act cute to gain more favour. They are some beautiful memories they made over the course of 7 years.
Even after 7 years, Drake still looks the same as he did 7 years ago, the only thing that change, is his personality became softened with the passage of time.
Now he truly wants to cherish his time with Tobias, and it goes the same for the other two, Sid and Blaze.
"That's enough for today! it's time to go back," Drake suggested, as he walked towards them, creating a sound of shattered glass as the mix of cool autumn leaves that lay scattered on the forest floor is being crushed.
"NO WE WON'T!, Uncle promised us to explore more about this scared forest," William argued. He looked back and winked at Tobias. The latter also nodded in understanding as his facial expression changed to the one of sadness, and his eyes became watery as if tears would flow out at any moment.
"Uncle Drake, are you going to break your promise? you are so bad!" Tobias fretted, and rubbed his watery eyes, sniffling loudly. He is acting so good that William opened his mouth in astonishment.
*Grab...
A shadow was cast on their heads before it was replaced by Drake's hands.
"Haaa?, I don't remember promising that?" Drake growled in their ears, gasping their heads, and pulled them into mid-air.
"Oouch-ow- it hurts, UNCLE!," Willaim and Tobias groaned in unison trying their best to escape from the claws of their scary uncle.
"This is your's punishment, now stay like this, till we reach the village," Drake stated, and walked towards the direction of the village. He had been here many times and knew the way very well.
In the Sosshi village.
At Drake and his friend's house, Blaze is in the kitchen making breakfast for all of them while Sid has just awoken from his sleep and is on his way to brush his teeth.
Sid looked at the mirror hanging in the bathroom as it reflected his image.
'Damn it! I am getting older faster than they are!' Sid exclaimed, noticing creases around his eyes and some of his hair became white. He groaned, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop himself from growing old but then he sighed in realisation as growing old is the beauty of human life, it's a universal rule.
"Hmmm~hmm~hmmmm," Blaze finished making breakfast as he was humming a song while waiting for Drake and Tobias. He shifted his gaze around the room, eventually settling on a painting hanging on the wall, which had been made by an artist of this village.
He stroked it because it reminded him of the past, of meeting Tobias at the seashore. At first, they wanted to leave the baby at church for a few reasons, one of which was that, they are bandits and living with bandits would put the kid into a danger zone.
But later it all changed as Sid suggested babysitting the infant, Blaze was startled at how stupid the suggestion was, especially coming from the mouth of someone who always touched grass, he wanted to reject it but got stopped by Drake as the latter showed interest in Sid's suggestion.
Blaze tried to argue, but little did he know, that Sid and Drake would team up to silence him. Thus the decision was made.
Honestly, for the first few months, their bonds with Tobias were frail. They were bound by a responsibility to protect him rather than a desire to protect the people they cared about.
But as time passed, their thoughts changed, their opinions change, and finally they changed. Tobias had a huge influence on them.
"We have returned!" Blaze heard a loud voice, snapping him out of his reverie.
'They returned rather quickly,' Blaze was startled as he had expected them to arrive in 20 minutes, removing his plans from the painting, he headed towards the door.
*klick...
The door opened, and Tobias rushed in, Blaze thought Tobias missed him so much that he was in a hurry to hug him. Blaze's heart melted like butter as he kneeled with his arms wide open.
Tobias smiles, running towards him, but just as he gets too close, he changes his way to the bathroom and says, "Later, Uncle Blaze, muahahaha."
"This kid!" Blaze shrugged and stood up with a smile on his face.
And with that, four of them sat on chairs, facing the table as dishes were placed on it.
"Uncle Sid, can you tell me more about those Monster, that vanished 7 years ago?" Tobias asked, his eyes twinkling like a star, eager to know the answer, he was like a lovely puppy waiting for its master to pat him.
Sid was instantly mesmerised by Tobias's look as the latter couldn't help but sighed before responding, "I had already told you everything, we knew, Tobi, and there wasn't any attack in the past 7 years, so there is nothing much to it."
"Will they appear again?," Tobias wondered stuffing the fresh veggies in his mouth.
"Who knows!" Sid shrugged, 7 years had passed and fear of those monsters was almost gone, and not just them but all the commoners cheered with glee. Thee king even claimed that they annihilated all the strange magical beasts which were later referred to as monster to better distinguish them.
In their eyes, the king's statements were a farce, they didn't trust him because they were well aware of fucked up a noble could be.
"If they attack again, can we defeat them?" Tobias questioned, his voice carrying a bit of worry in it.
"Do not worry, that's why we three are here," Blaze
answered as he place his hand on Tobias' head and patted him.
"I knew it, my 3 uncles are the strongest in this village," Tobias cheered as he raised his fist in the air with a grin on his face.
Thus the wonderful breakfast came to an end.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone