«In this world, where anyone can sense aether, lineage plays no role in talent. Noble families must be actively recruiting for any talent to strengthen their family» Kael thought, trying to seriously analyze the situation.
But leaving that aside, even his own maids could be very talented aether users, which meant he also had to learn to sense, absorb, and manipulate aether.
The first step he had to take was to learn to sense aether. According to the book, he had to meditate, freeing his consciousness of almost all thoughts, focusing only on trying to sense the aether.
But there was a problem with all this: the maids watched him almost all day. The only times they left the baby alone were when they were making him puree, throwing away the baby's waste, when he was being rotated, or when they went out to prepare his bath.
Kael had to take advantage of the opportunity with the longest possible time.
He might as well meditate while a servant was watching him, but he didn't want to be labeled a genius or anything like that. Kael didn't want to draw attention to himself; he was going to go unnoticed; that was his plan.
«When I run my bath, it's by far the time-consuming occasion. I have hours to make the most of those minutes» Kael thought.
Waiting patiently for her to come out, while the baby glanced at a book or played with them, while they continued to be passed around. After a while, the maid finally came out. The precise moment she came out, Kael followed the instructions in the book.
He sat in a comfortable position, crossing his legs in the Indian style, closing his eyes, resting his wrists on his knees, with his hands open and palms facing up, ignoring any thoughts that might distract him.
Kael couldn't help but think about the image of a baby meditating; it seemed strange and somewhat comical. He quickly dispelled any thoughts, focusing only on feeling his body and seeking the ether.
He began to hear his heartbeat: BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His heartbeat took all his attention. After a few dozen minutes, he heard footsteps, getting closer and closer to his room. It was probably the maid coming to bathe him.
But it wasn't the maid who opened the door; it was Elara, his mother, wearing something resembling a black kimono, somewhat tight, highlighting her slender figure.
Elara entered, closing the door and approaching the crib where the baby was. She looked at him for a few seconds, her pupils and irises jet black. She lifted the baby with both hands and brought him to her breast, which she left open, signaling for the baby to drink.
Kael didn't hesitate for a second. He began to drink milk, clutching his mother's breast with both of his small hands. After a few minutes of this, his mother took him away from her breast, left the baby in his crib, and left, leaving the door closed.
Kael was no saint; even though he was over twenty years old, he had no morals.
«I'm no longer Victor. I'm now Kael, an innocent baby who knows nothing about life» Kael thought, somewhat amused by his own statement.
In any case, his mother hadn't come for the baby; she had only come to prevent the milk from accumulating in her breasts.
Six days passed like this. Kael was now on the seventh day, marking one week and two months since he came into this world.
*************
Every day, they used every minute their maids weren't looking after him to meditate and try to sense the ether.
Meditation had already become routine. On Earth, he didn't have that habit, considering it merely a superstition, a placebo effect, and perhaps it was just that, a placebo effect.
Although he tried to escape everything monotonous and routine, this time he did have a purpose in life.
Kael was quietly reading a book, waiting for his maid to leave so he could meditate again. About half an hour later, her maid finally got up from the chair and walked toward the door.
The moment she left, Kael found himself meditating again, listening to every beat of his heart, every breath, feeling every contraction and expansion of his lungs.
After a dozen minutes, he felt something else, something in the air, in the atmosphere, floating.
He opened his eyelids as slowly as he could, wanting to savor what he was about to see; he wasn't going to ruin the surprise by seeing everything at once. What he saw was what he expected, the ether, but he still couldn't help but be surprised and excited.
The ether was almost invisible, almost transparent, but it could still be seen. When he had his eyes closed, he felt an energy floating in the atmosphere, but now he saw it.
It was the same as when he died, it was the same energy, which led to a question.
«Is the ether actually many dead souls? Or, on the contrary, are the dead souls actually ether?» Kael thought, surprised, as ifan important truth would have been revealed to him.
«What doesn't make sense is that no one on Earth felt the ether. After all, there are many people who practice meditation» Kael thought, wondering what could have happened.
«Unless something is blocking our perception of the ether» Kael thought.
«There's no point in digging further. I don't plan on returning to Earth»Kael thought, feeling somewhat stressed at having to remember his life there.
On Earth, his family wasn't at all functional. His father was an alcoholic who beat his mother and blamed her for all his failures. His mother, perhaps in an attempt to escape the failure of her husband, went from man to man, almost never home. His father didn't take it out on Victor, but he didn't show him any affection either, just like his mother.
And now, ironically, he ended up in a family just as dysfunctional as the last one. «Humans are indeed evil» Kael thought, his tone cold and lacking any hint of emotion.
Kael wasn't looking for family affection; his previous life had already made him too detached; he didn't think it was possible for him to have a healthy relationship with anyone.
But putting his previous life aside, he now had something more important to do.