He thrust his hand forward, in the dead of dawn, body of a child, using the most austere look he could muster up. Unleas.h.i.+ng his potential in his uniform of battle, teddy bear pajamas, Rayford Ketch was attempting to use a spell.

"HAA!"

He failed.

Clenching his backside, fixing his little brother's position, screaming with vigor, and epic stances... none of it was allowing him to cast a spell. Through this, Rayford had inferred that the body he was now inhabiting, hasn't hit the age of 12.

Rayford, was not in the same body as yesterday. He died, and proceeded to wake up in the body of a handsome young man, whose name is still yet to be discovered.

Rayford had gained information about his current situation through books, the previous inhabitor of the body he took over had quite the collection.

"Ay yai yai," Rayford exclaimed, before speaking his concerns within a breath, "these clothes must be the reason I cannot unleash my full power... I need to find this kid's closet!"

Upon voicing his complaint, Rayford hears a knock, location? This room's door.

This is the first of many obstacles Rayford believes he will face— meeting the people the last owner of this body lived with.

"Honey... dinner is ready, are you awake?" said a feminine voice, sounding quite worried.

Does the previous owner of this body wake up before the other residents normally? It's fine I'll just wing it...

"I'm awake... I was just a bit busy." responded Rayford.

"Okay honey, come down for breakfast." sounding audibly relieved, the feminine voice made her way back to her original spot.

Rayford had a few questions about this encounter... is "Honey" this body's name? Did I already do something wrong? That voice sounded worried before. However, Rayford was merely worried about one very specific scenario:

"D-did she hear me trying to cast a spell?!"

Rayford wasn't one to get embarra.s.sed... but that would be really bad. That could have been his mother! Rayford couldn't imagine what it'd have been like, to make a bad impression on his family... the very first day.

Steeling himself, Rayford opened the door leading to new beginnings.

What greeted him... was a set of stairs. These stairs had millions of different symbolic meanings to Rayford, but one stood out. These stairs... are leading him a place most similar to h.e.l.l.

"Landon! Come back over here! Use your wind magic to dry these dishes!" a feminine voice screamed, intimidating enough to make Rayford kowtow at any moment.

"D-Dear... I'll run out of mana if you make me use magic again this morning..." responded a very timid, yet manly voice.

Rayford understood, under the might of that intimidating women, anyone would act like that man is, no... they would definitely cower in fear, shake in there boots, or run for their life... I know I would.

This man— he must be extremely powerful.

After taking a deep breath, Rayford makes his way down the stairs. On the way down, he takes note of some pictures attached to the stair walls.

One of the pictures depicted a young, vibrant woman with black hair and sky blue eyes. Her very smile seemed to light up the hall he walked down... there was also a man in the picture, who seemed to be the polar opposite of the woman. He donned the muscle of a gladiator, chestnut colored hair, and emerald green eyes... one of which had been scarred, seemingly by a blade of some sort.

In the middle of these two people, was a young boy, with a sharp nose, symmetrical features, deadly black hair, and green eyes. A very, very handsome young boy. One could say, this young boy was Rayford! Well, sort of.

After gathering the little information he could through the pictures that lined the hallway of the stairs, Rayford pushed himself forward.

Having arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Rayford was greeted with the sight of a humble house, with wooden-planked floors, marble decor, a woman... chasing a man with a spatula on hand... very humble.

"Um... good morning..." Rayford said, hoping to garner some sort of reaction.

Immediately, as if summoned, the woman stopped chasing the man and looked towards Rayford with very caring eyes.

'Ah... must be a family member of some sort.' Rayford thought.

"Well good morning, honey! Me and your father were just having a little talk about ch.o.r.es, and why you should contribute to the house!" replied the woman, in a very calm manner.

'So... this is my mother, and that is my father...?' thought Rayford, taking quick note of the fact.

"Y-yes, Mother." Rayford said.

As if responding to his way of addressing his mom, both the burly man and the beautiful lady went wide eyed. Almost simultaneously, they asked the following:

"Mother?"

This reaction worried Rayford— was this woman not his mother? Did he make some sort of mistake?

"You're not angry anymore, Rayford?" said the man a.s.sumed to be Rayford's father.

'He called me Rayford? Is my name the same...? I thought it was Honey..." thought Rayford.

"It's been three years since you called me your parent... Oh I am so happy! That's it, tonight we feast!" Rayford's mother exclaimed.

Rayford, however, was confused by his new mother's quick change of att.i.tude.

'Is this entire family bipolar...?'

"Ah! What would you like for breakfast, Ray?" his Mother questioned.

She was ecstatic, her son, Rayford Ketch, had called her mother for the first time in three years. She tried not to let it influence her actions too much, but... isn't such a thing impossible for a parent?

"Eggs. Toast. Milk." Rayford responded.

During this time, Rayford's father was sneaking away from the claws of his wife, and soon was nowhere to be seen. Rayford, noticed this, but as a man he felt it would be a stain on his pride if he called his new father out on it.

"I thought you didn't like milk? Well that's fine. How do you want your eggs?" she asked.

She was too happy to notice anything off about her son, ecstatic really.

"Scrambled, I dislike any others because they are either too wet or too dry." said Rayford.

At this point, he has already adjusted to his new life, and is slowly reverting back to his old self:

Arrogant, selfish, shameless, and strong-willed.

Rayford thought that staying fl.u.s.tered and confused would only slow him down on the long run, efficiency was the most important thing to him in his current situation.

"Alright! Amaryllis Ketch is gonna show you her gourmet skills!"

'So her name is Amaryllis Ketch... I knew a girl back on Earth named Amaryllis, called her Amy. I'll go ahead and remember my new mother the same way.' Rayford thought, dedicating his mother's name to memory.

"Also, Landon dear, if you miss out on breakfast you won't get lunch either!" Amy said, very domineeringly.

Almost as suddenly as Amy can switch her tone, the man apparently named Landon made his entrance, breathing heavily, panicking.

"I'm here!" said Landon.

The man named Landon seemed to be the very same man Rayford had dubbed as his father.

Landon was both scared to miss both breakfast and lunch, his wife truly knew how to scare him...

Rayford, was simply confused.

'How did he hear mom...? How did he get here so quickly, teleportation...? Some sort of magic I a.s.sume...' Rayford thought.

"Alright Ray, let's set up the table for mom!" Landon said, similarly quick to change tone.

"Fine."

'These people need to decide on a nickname, Ray or Honey? Which one is it? Why do they even call me Honey?!'

...

Half an hour later, Rayford and his new family were eating at the dining room table.

Both of Rayford's parents were quite confused, Rayford's way of eating suddenly seemed elegant; like a school chancellor, otherwise known as a n.o.ble back on Earth. Rayford noticed their confusion, but thought it would be suspicious to act on it, and thus carried on with his meal.

During this meal, Rayford had been gaining quite a bit of information, as subtly as possible.

"Mother, how much longer until I turn 12? I want to use magic..." Rayford asked.

"Oh honey... you need to be patient, there are still 3 more strata until your age will become 12." Amy responded, almost uninterested.

Rayford was quite curious about these strata , but decided to get that bit of information later.

"Dear, you should understand how much he wants magic, being a magus is super cool!" said Landon.

As if to show how cool a magus was, Amaryllis activated a wind magic spell to knock Landon's chair over.

"Now, Landon, we mustn't forget to teach our child patience. I do understand his want for magic, but there are still 3 more strata until then!" said Amy, concisely.

Rayford was astounded, how can someone be so nonchalant after tripping someone?! Also, was that wind magic?

"Yes mother, I'll remain patient, but I do want to study magic during this time... I want to be ahead of my peers in magic studies at the very least." Rayford said.

"Of course"— Landon said, righting himself in his chair —"knowledge is power within the world of the Magus."

"Speaking of studies, have you found an academy that suits your fancy, Ray?" questioned Amy.

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"... No, I've not thought of it."

"Bahaha! Someone of my son's caliber should not be in a school any worse than the Phoenix or Transcendental academies!" Landon exclaimed.

After all, Landon himself didn't get the academy opportunity, he understood just how important it was.

Rayford knew of these two schools, he read about them in one of the books the previous Rayford collected. The three most important academies:

Phoenix Academy, Transcendental Academy, and Hydra Academy.

Phoenix Academy was the closest to Rayford, so he was heavily considering going there.

"Dear... don't get Ray's hopes up, those schools' tuition is too expensive for us!"

'Ah, and there Amy goes, crus.h.i.+ng this little one's dream...' thought Rayford.

Landon, however, smirked... he wasn't worried about tuition at all, he had more than a few connections!

In the meantime, Rayford had finished his breakfast.

"Alright, I finished breakfast... going to room to study" said Rayford.

...

Thrusting both of his hands forward, clenching his b.u.t.tox in the dead of dusk, Rayford screamed:

"HAA!"

He failed.