Free Web NovelChapter 15: First Words
On the night he turned three months old, Lukas lay in his crib, eyes open, watching the shadows dance across the wooden ceiling.
The moon, a moon different from Earth’s, larger and more silver, shone through the open window, bathing the room in cold blue light. Outside, crickets sang in a rhythm he still had not memorized.
’I can’t take this anymore.’
The thought came with force, a solid conviction that swept away any hesitation.
’I can’t keep acting like a helpless baby. I need to leave this room. I need to crawl freely, explore the house, see more animals, and learn the language properly.’
He already knew many words.
Listening to the family’s constant conversations, Aurora singing, Clavor giving orders, Asmon boasting, and Judite chattering, he had absorbed quite a bit of the local language.
Not enough to understand complex sentences or follow a fast conversation.
But enough for isolated words, common expressions, and the names of everyday objects.
’I’ll start talking. Not all at once, that would raise far too much suspicion. But isolated words. Names. Simple things.’
’Enough for them to realize that I’m... different. Intelligent. And maybe, because of that, they’ll start teaching me more actively.’
He turned his head to the side, looking at the empty pillow where Tilbo usually rested.
’What do you think, my friend?’
Silence.
Only the chirping of crickets.
’It’s time.’
Lukas closed his eyes.
The next morning, he would put his plan into action.
The sun had barely risen when Judite entered the room on tiptoe.
The girl had done this almost every day since Lukas had been born, waking up early, sneaking quietly out of her own bed, and slipping down the hallway to her brother’s room.
She loved being the first to see him.
She loved the moment their eyes met, and he, even without speaking, even without moving properly yet, seemed to recognize her.
"Good morning, Lukas," she whispered, standing on her tiptoes to peek over the edge of the crib.
The crib looked different now.
After the incident where Lukas had cracked the wood simply by gripping it, Clavor had reinforced the sides with strips of metal fastened by thick rivets.
It looked more like a cage than a crib, but Aurora insisted it was temporary, until they better understood their son’s strength.
’Father exaggerated a little,’ Judite thought, running her finger across the metal strips.
’Lukas isn’t going to break the crib again.’
Lukas was awake.
His violet eyes, so similar to his mother’s, were open and fixed on her, as though he had already been waiting for her.
His little body lay on its back, arms stretched beside him, legs slightly bent.
Judite smiled, reaching out to tickle his stomach, as she did every day.
That was the moment Lukas put his plan into action.
He sat upright.
The movement was quick and fluid, without the imbalance or hesitation Judite expected from a baby.
In less than a second, Lukas went from lying down to sitting up, his violet eyes fixed directly on his sister’s brown ones.
Judite froze.
Her outstretched hand stopped midway.
"J-Judite."
The word came out clearly.
It was not babbling.
It was not a random sound resembling a name.
It was a spoken word.
Perfectly articulated.
His voice was soft, still carrying the cute and high-pitched tone of a baby, but every syllable was exactly where it should be.
"Ju-di-te."
Judite’s eyes widened like plates.
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Her hand, still extended, began to tremble.
"Judite," Lukas repeated, as though he wanted to make sure she had heard correctly.
The corners of his lips curled into a small, satisfied smile.
The scream Judite let out echoed through the mansion’s corridors like the ringing of an alarm bell.
"AAAAAAH!"
She lost her balance, standing on tiptoe with her arm extended, any surprise would have been enough to knock her over, and she fell backward, landing on her backside on the wooden floor with a loud thud.
The impact was more comical than painful, but the screaming continued for several more seconds, echoing against the stone walls.
Clavor and Aurora woke instantly.
They were in the room next door, a luxury they had allowed themselves only after Lukas reached one month old and proved himself to be a healthy, strong baby who slept through the night.
Before that, Aurora had barely left her son’s room, sleeping in the rocking chair many nights in a row.
Judite’s scream ripped them from sleep like an electric shock.
Clavor was the first to rise.
Years of military training made his body move before his mind had even processed what was happening.
He leapt from bed, grabbed the sword he always kept beside his pillow, and ran into the hallway barefoot.
Aurora came right behind him, her nightgown billowing, white hair disheveled.
"Judite! What happened?!" Aurora hurriedly knelt beside her daughter on the floor, grabbing the girl’s hands and checking for injuries.
Her hands ran across Judite’s arms, her legs, and her head. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Did Lukas hurt you? Did he squeeze you? Hold you too hard?"
Judite shook her head frantically, still on the floor, eyes wide, pointing toward the crib with a trembling finger.
She looked shocked, not from pain, but from pure surprise.
"I’m okay, Mom!" she managed to say, her voice still high-pitched.
"But... but... Lukas! Lukas..."
"Lukas what?" Clavor asked, already approaching the crib with his sword still in hand out of pure instinct.
His expression was one of maximum alertness, as though he expected to find danger there, an invading beast, an intruder, anything that would justify his daughter’s scream.
He leaned over the crib and looked inside.
Lukas was sitting upright.
Calm.
Watching the scene with that serene expression Clavor was already beginning to recognize as characteristic of his youngest son, a calmness that did not belong to any three-month-old child.
"Lukas what?" Aurora insisted, still kneeling beside Judite.
Lukas looked at his sister sitting on the floor.
Looked at his alarmed parents. fгeewebnovёl.com
And decided it was time to repeat the performance.
"Judite," he said again.
The silence that followed was deafening.
