Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eruhaben looks blankly at bundled blankets in a basket in front of him, his eyes looking like he’s suddenly aged another century. Closing his eyes and letting his hand rub on his forehead he sighs, ‘...How Unlucky.’

In the baskets lies a sleeping baby, an innocuous note lying on the top of the bundle of blankets, the divine feeling of Death reeking from both the baby and note. Reaching a hand forward and picking the note up using a nail to open it. Even if the appearance of the baby and note is an unwelcome one, it is without a doubt from a god, so he might as well try to treat it with respect.

‘ Heya Eruberry!’ Eruhaben already feels a deep seated cringe go through his entire body, grimacing as he reluctantly continues reading.

‘ So funny story actually I may or may not have screwed up just a little itty bitty bit, and accidentally sent the soul of this one mortal from another world to the wrong place. And I may or may not have panicked to fix it, resulting in slight time fuckery and praying to a potentially higher being. 

Long story short I ended up with a baby angel that holds the memories and abilities of his past life, and I can’t send him to the divine realm cause he was meant to be with you all anyway, the most I’ll say is he’ll become quite important in the future, all I ask of you is to give him a safe place to learn and grow until the time comes, and once it does it’ll be your choice to follow him or not. … Anyway, Have Fun!

-Your beloved God, Death

PS: He shouldn’t bite but don't count on that (*^▽^*)’

  Staring blankly at the letter Eruhaben feels a headache coming on, letting out a sigh he turns back to the sleeping angel baby apparently. Knowing that the baby may have the memories of a past life doesn’t phase him that much, as it should be easier for it to pick things up.

Looking at the baby Eruhaben nods silently to himself, yes this should be quite easy. At least his last few years in this world should be quite interesting.

—

Now sitting in the lounge area of his lair, Eruhaben finds himself engaged in a fierce battle. Staring at the winged babe, now sitting up and staring back at him, Eruhaben only wonders one thing…. Why hasn’t it gone to hunt yet?

The baby in response only seems to give the golden dragon a deadpan look, as though it’s trying to say ‘ What the fuck is wrong with you im an infant do it yourself ’ But that would be ridiculous. Eruhaben was fending for himself straight from the egg, surely an angel should be able to do the same. Though the longer this staring contest goes on, the more he finds himself doubting it.

Finally closing his eyes the golden dragon sighs, relenting on this front against the winged menace. Clearing his throat, “I will get you food this time, but you must learn fast how to get it yourself.” Looking back at the baby, whose face seems to be even more deadpan than before if possible, Eruhaben turns to leave the room, in order to prepare a meal.

Now that he thinks about it, What do angel babies eat? What do angels eat? Now faced with this sudden dilemma he nods to himself, he’ll simply have to experiment. Nodding to himself he enters the kitchen area of his lair.

—

As soon as Rok Soo was set at the table, he felt something in his soul die a little. Sure the circumstances of apparently being reincarnated into a winged baby isn’t ideal, but he can roll with it. But for fucks sake he just wants food. It doesn’t have to be a five-star meal, just something that’s ya know digestible for babies.

Turning his head to the golden man he’s found himself in the care of he can't help but let out a little huff. The golden man looks so proud of himself for the sheer amount of food laid out across the table. 

Seeing the baby’s eyes Eruhaben proudly starts speaking, “I realized that I have no clue what angel babies can eat, so I just made a wide variety of foods from all across the world. This way you can eat all you want to, and grow faster.” 

Curiously the baby’s face becomes deadpan once more, before opening its mouth and pointing. Strange, does it want me to feed it? 

As if hearing his thoughts The baby shakes his hand a little, emphasizing his mouth. Looking closer suddenly the dots connected in the golden dragon's head. “Ah….You don’t have teeth.”

Hearing his realization, the baby vigorously nods in response. Realizing the issue now, Eruhaben picks up the babe walking him around the table, “Well, in that case, point at what you want, and I'll make it more delectable to your current capabilities.” 

With that the babe silently looked around the table for minutes at a time, determined for his first meal in this world to be something good. Finally spotting something that could be good, the baby pulls on Eruhaben’s sleeves, silently pointing out a dish in the center.

Nodding in response Eruhaben picks the meal up with his magic, bringing it back to the kitchen, where he magically blends the meal up into a bowl, setting it down on the table once more, for the baby to eat.

Looking at the baby, his eyes shining brightly at the prospect of enjoying a meal, Eruhaben grabs the spoon in the bowl, “I suppose I should feed you as well then.” At this, the babe’s eyes shine even brighter at finally not having to spell out its needs to the golden dragon.

Mechanically Eruhaben feeds the baby while thinking about his present circumstances. From what he’s seen despite the baby undeniably being an angel, it seems to function much like that of a human baby. While mildly disappointed at what will most likely be a more intensive endeavor than previously anticipated. Eruhaben also finds himself feeling excited at the challenges this could bring, after all, it's been quite a long time since the ancient dragon was challenged. And challenge is where Eruhaben finds himself growing the most.

Smiling while feeding the baby, Eruhaben looks forward to the future. Seeing the golden man's smile Rok Soo feels a shiver go down his spine, why does he feel a growing sense of dread? 

After feeding and burping the angel baby (Eruhaben does know a little about caring for human babies, he’s picked up bits and pieces in his thousand years of life), the babe starts falling asleep in his arms, finally fed. 

Upon seeing this, he realizes that he does not in fact have anything in which the baby can sleep in safely, which means he’ll have to monitor the baby's sleep until he’s able to find something that it can safely sleep in. 

Letting out a sigh, he moves to his bedroom, a room fitted head to toe in cushions and pillows, allowing him to sleep in his dragon form. Letting his magic lift the baby from his arms, Eruhaben transforms his body from his elf form into his dragon form, curling around the baby and facing his head towards the entrance to his sleeping area.

Eruhaben slowly closes his eyes, but spreads out his senses, watching for any disturbance within his lair, while protectively letting the baby sleep.

Chapter Text

A few weeks have passed since the angel baby ended up in Eruhaben’s care, and the golden dragon has been challenged for a fact by the dark-haired babe. As time went on the baby seemed to sleep more, content to wrap itself in its wings and doze off. Luckily the baby’s preference for sleep has allowed Eruhaben time to descend upon the closest human village. 

While the experience wasn’t necessarily a noteworthy one, he did come across various books that outlined not just baby care, but also parenting techniques. While many of the several books he bought did have a lot of repeatable information, each one had its own tips and tricks, all of which centered on how it may or may not work depending on the child's personality. 

Now from what Eruhaben has learned from the material is that the angel baby, despite sleeping most of the time, seems to be growing faster than the rate of human babies. When the baby came into Eruhaben’s care it seemed very young still, around 2 months old, however, the baby seems to be nearing the 7-month mark in only 3 weeks.

Of course, Eruhaben is not complaining over the fact, as the older the baby gets, the less challenge he’ll get from trying to figure out his needs. (Later Eruhaben will look back at this moment and internally cry to himself, he truly was a fool. Now if Rok Soo would just tell him what was wrong the world would be better for it, not him moodily going to blow up an island after more memories come back.) 

The downside is that he doesn’t have any time to prepare for more sudden than usual developments. For the last 2 days, the baby has been more fussy, and not sleeping as much as usual, though not for lack of choice it seems. 

Finally sitting down with the baby, Eruhaben and the baby have another staring contest. While Eruhaben has come to the conclusion already that the baby is in fact teething, he has reached a roadblock. The baby's absolute refusal to allow Eruhaben to touch anywhere near his mouth. Eruhaben had given it teething toys that he had purchased on one of his trips to various human settlements around his lair.

But the baby had looked at the toys with a sense of disgust, refused to use them, and at some points threw them as far as his baby arms would allow. Concerned that the baby is having a different issue, Eruhaben has tried to get a look in his mouth, and all that's met him has been the fluffy wings of the baby, covering his head from view. 

Normally this is an issue that Eruhaben would just brush past, forcing the baby to open his mouth. However, with the addition of wings, and all the books specifying how fragile babies are, Eruhaben is yet to travel down that path. After all, he isn’t sure about how fragile angel baby wings are yet, and he’d rather not risk an injury on that front.

So here he is now, staring at the pouting baby, his eyes searching the baby’s face so he can tell him his secrets. Unfortunately not much is released on that front, except that the baby is very tired, but is still awake. Letting out a sigh, Eruhaben once more meets the winged menace’s gaze, “If you let me look at your mouth I’ll read a book of your choice later.” 

Instantly the baby opens his mouth finally allowing Eruhaben the ability to look inside at last. Holding the baby’s jaw gently Eruhaben looks into his mouth, seeing two fangs peeking out of the top of his mouth. Looking closer Eruhaben can ascertain that the fangs are definitely sharper than your normal baby’s. It seems there are more biological differences between humans and angels than just the wings and accelerated growth. How intriguing. 

Putting his other hand in the baby’s mouth feeling around the gums, trying to ascertain if there are any other teeth that are coming out, or close to them. 

In response to the sudden pressure on his gums, the baby rapidly closes his mouth. The two sharp fangs pierced through Eruhaben’s hand. 

Mother Fucker- Eruhaben thinks to himself, unprepared for the pang, though not very painful in the long run. Deadpan staring at the baby, who's still latched onto his hand, “Really?” he asks.

Yes. The baby’s eyes seem to respond, resolutely staring him down with an ineffective glare. Still holding his mouth down on Eruhaben’s hand, Eruhaben takes the moment to observe the glaring baby. His eyes are drawn to his hair, which seems to have poofed up in his anger, looking closely Eruhaben notices little feathers decorating his hair. The feather’s almost invisible if not for the light just subtly glancing off of it, turning the black color into an iridescent purple. 

Using his hand not currently being bit Eruhaben reaches out laying his hand on top of the baby angel's head, slowly rubbing it, taking extra care around any of the feathers found within the baby’s hair. Almost instantly the baby's mouth loosens around his hand, his head tilting into Eruhaben’s hand and leaning in as much as possible. His previously glaring eyes are now closed, and a soft trill is escaping his throat.

Continuing the rubs on the baby’s head, Eruhaben slowly removes his hand, grimacing slightly at the blood decorating it. After a while of rubbing the baby’s head, the little menace finally falls asleep.

Picking up the baby Eruhaben moves to a table with a draw on top of it, setting the sleeping angel in the draw. Settling on the couch across the table, Eruhaben summons a healing potion, drinking a little just to get the wound on his hand to close.

However, much to his disappointment and fascination, the wound refuses to heal. Bringing his hand closer to his face he stares at the two puncture wounds, fascination bleeding into his eyes.

“Hoh,” he breathes, “Now this is rather interesting.” Standing up, Eruhaben wanders into his lair to find bandages, as it seems the wound refuses to heal. Thinking to himself Eruhaben thinks of the possibilities of how this reaction has occurred.

It’s obviously related to the baby’s status as an angel, but is the wound's refusal to heal due to intention, or power? Of Course, it’s too early to tell, but it’ll be an interesting experiment in the future.

(Despite being peacefully asleep Rok Soo feels a growing sense of dread, this world really isn’t proving healthy for him.)

Chapter Text

Staring at the room around him Rok Soo will finally admit, he’s bored. Perish the thought, this is what he desires, doing absolutely nothing all day. But sometimes a man wants to get up and walk around, and not still be in fucking diapers.

Hearing the golden man walk into the room, Rok Soo’s eyes instantly draw to him. The man instantly comes over to Rok Soo and picks him up. Subconsciously Rok Soo finds himself leaning into the man's hold, resting his head on his chest and closing his eyes, a sense of peace encompassing him that he hasn’t felt for a long time.

While enjoying the sense of peace, Rok Soo thinks. Just because it’s peaceful doesn’t mean he wants to be at the whims of another for so long, he’s starting to feel antsy. Slowly Rok Soo squints his eyes open looking at the golden dragon, (He’s woken up surrounded by golden scales to know by this point, but the question is why?)

Come to think of it, he still doesn’t know the man’s name, that fact bothers him more than he wants to. He knows that the man doesn’t know his, nor has he given him one. (If he had been given a new one he would have rolled with it, but he thinks he would have mourned the loss of his name.)

Opening his eyes the rest of the way, Rok Soo looks at the golden man, before finally opening his mouth, “What’s your name?” he asks. A smile painted his face happy he finally will get an answer to the question. 

The golden man stumbles. 

Surprised golden eyes meet deadpanned red-brown ones. Eruhaben… did not expect this. He knew the baby would learn faster, and that it retained memories of a past life, but up to this point, he hadn’t even attempted to say anything. So a full sentence was unexpected. While the sentence itself was pronounced correctly, there was an inescapable baby lisp that came with it, almost drawing a coo from the ancient dragon's mouth. 

“...So?” the baby asks him, though it comes out sounding more like ‘tho?’. Finally registering the question Eruhaben realizes that in the 3 months of the angel baby’s stay, he’s never once told him his name. 

So the question is valid, Eruhaben can admit fault on that point at least. Clearing his throat he responds to the baby’s question. “Eruhaben, and yours is?”

In response the baby blinks, “So you didn’t have one for me?”

“No?” Eruhaben responds, “Why would I? While we are different species, it is customary for dragons to choose their own name, no reason for me not to give you that privilege as well.”

The baby in response nods his head, “Kim Rok Soo, but you can call me Rok Soo.” 

“The name of your past life I assume?” Eruhaben asks. 

“I believe so, yes.”

At that, Eruhaben blinks a question in his eyes, “You believe so?” 

“I’ll be honest, when it comes to my past life, I remember things, but don't at the same time. Mostly information about myself, and impressions of moments. I do find it strange though…”

“What’s strange about it?” Eruhaben asks, tilting his head. It makes sense for the memories to be fuzzy, both for the passage of time, as well as the process of reincarnation in the first place. Eruhaben thinks it would make sense for memories to be missing in that process, not everything can survive it.

“One of the things I remember about my life, I’m an existence cursed with the inability to forget. So being unable to recollect is a…. Strange thing. I can’t help but feel it’s for the best for now at least.” 

At that Eruhaben pauses, an existence unable to forget, he supposes a curse is a fair comparison to make. But at the same time it saddens him, the fact the child, Rok Soo he reminds himself, refers to it as a good thing that he doesn’t remember, it points to a lot of pain in his past life. The pain he was unable to forget even with the direct memory of it gone.

Impressions, Eruhaben thinks, is such a vague term, but it’s understandable, he forgot the direct memory but still remembers the impression it left on him. Something that, while still painful, is a mercy compared to before.

“Do you think the memories will come back?” Eruhaben ends up asking, after all, if they do, with the amount of implied pain behind Rok Soo’s words, Eruhaben would like to be prepared. Even if he wasn’t a saint in his past life, Eruhaben has come to care for him, and Eruhaben never said he was good.

“I suspect they will, I don’t know if it’ll all flood in once, or trickle slowly. But undeniably there feels like a… thin barrier in my head that's blocking them, and the barrier is already cracking. I suspect it was meant to hold up longer, but my ability is pushing it more than it was made to uphold.” The longer he speaks Rok Soo’s eye’s slowly close, leaning more into Eruhaben’s hold once more, his words slurring even more. At the sight, Eruhaben can’t help the small smile that forms on his face.

Breaking the sudden silence Eruhaben speaks, “Well even if that’s the case, we’ll simply cross that bridge when we get there.” Hearing Eruhaben’s words, Rok Soo’s eyes squint open a little, something about the sentence is comforting, on a level Rok Soo can’t analyze yet with his missing memories. (In the future he’ll look back and realize the comfort that came from the golden dragon implying that not only will he still be there in the future, he’ll be there for Rok Soo. And that fact brought more comfort than he thought it would, a smile growing across his face.)

“Anyway,” Eruhaben continues, “Now that I know you can talk I have a question for you.”

“Hm?”

“Why haven’t you started walking yet? Or trying to move around in general? All the books I’ve read said you should’ve started walking around by now. You started speaking on time but the lack of movement… was concerning to say the least.”

Hearing the question the angel baby suddenly jolts in his arms, his eyes wide open and a slight flush painting his cheeks, the little menace refusing to make eye contact as he stutters out an answer. 

“W-Well about that…” He trails off.

“Please continue.” Eruhaben closed eye smiles at the baby, in a way he hopes to be comforting, Rok Soo, however, thinks the expression comes off as threatening, gulping down saliva trying to avoid the golden dragon’s gaze.

“I-I happen to find it quite hard to figure out how to… balance with my wings.”

Eruhaben’s golden eyes widen in response, “That’s it?” he questions, disbelief clouding his words.

“W-Well it’s not like I had them in my past life anyway, besides it’s hard figuring out how to move around with them in general, they bump into so many things, it’s quite a pain, not moving is easier,”

Humming in response Eruhaben looks at the room around them before nodding to himself, “Alright then. Let’s work on it then.”

“Right now?” Rok Soo asks, upset at the notion of not taking a nap.

“No time like the present, besides the sooner you figure it out the better.”

In response Rok Soo let out a huff, his lips pouting slightly. Eruhaben smiles in return, setting the winged babe on the floor. 

Grabbing Rok Soo’s arms Eruhaben lifts slightly, letting Rok Soo move to stand on his stubby baby legs. Once Rok Soo was balanced out his wings started instinctually flapping, in response to the sudden anxiety of the situation, having Rok Soo quickly lose his balance. 

Eruhaben still holding on let Rok Soo balance himself again before talking, “Try and lift your feet and set them on top of mine, we can start trying to get you more used to the movement instead of throwing you straight to the wolves.”

Listening, Rok Soo sets his feet on top of Eruhaben’s, soon the dragon starts waddling them around the room, giving Rok Soo the opportunity to flex his wings and start figuring out how to balance the newly added weight to his body. Unbeknownst to Rok Soo, during the process his eyes lit up, a beaming smile adorning his face, even light giggles escaping his mouth. Eruhaben watched him ingraining this moment as deep as he could in his memory.

After a few laps around the room, Rok Soo finally puts his own feet on the ground, Eruhaben still holding his arms up. Then they walked more and more until eventually Eruhaben slowly loosened his grip. 

Slowly letting Rok Soo go, Rok Soo kept going, the feeling of finally moving around entrancing him, making him ignorant of the dragon’s lacking grip on him. From there Rok Soo takes his first few steps without any assistance.

One

Two

Three, and his wings flexed again, ruining the balance, and the dark-winged angel fell to the ground. The pain racks the baby’s body making his eyes automatically tear up. 

Almost instantly he was whirled back up into the golden dragon's arms, hiding his face in the man's chest, embarrassed for the out-of-character tearful reaction. Feeling rumbles radiate from Eruhaben’s chest, Rok Soo looks up at Eruhaben, who was quietly laughing at the entire situation.

Letting out another huff, Rok Soo hides his face again, closing his eyes, and fading off into a dreamless sleep. Watching Eruhaben fondly smile at the now sleeping angel. 

Summoning a hidden video device, he quickly goes through the footage, stopping and repeating Rok Soo’s first steps, smiling to himself all the while still holding the sleeping baby. After all, the books he read say it was very important to catch developmental milestones, and he caught both the first words and the first steps today.

Chapter Text

‘ Finally,’ Rok Soo silently thinks to himself, sneaking around corners of walls attempting to sneak around the dragon's lair he calls home, ‘ Freedom…’

See, for the last two months he’s been working on walking and balancing without falling, and throughout all of that Eruhaben had been hovering over him, only ever leaving him alone for minutes at a time. While he didn’t dislike the time spent, he felt the childlike urge to explore. (Little did he know Eruhaben was just following the book's advice of constant supervision. Something about babies shoving things into their mouths, that are most definitely not supposed to be in their mouths.)

Eruhaben had left on a trip to a village he apparently needs to visit every few years. Which left the lair for Rok Soo’s perusal until the golden dragon returned. Of course, Eruhaben had told him not to wander, but Rok Soo also has no plans to get caught, so what he doesn’t know can't hurt him. 

Rounding a corner Rok Soo finally comes across the door he was looking for. Back when he was still an infant and Eruhaben had to carry him everywhere, he frequently ended up in this room, sleeping in the dragon's arms as he read. While he was sleeping most of the time, he did still record the room itself, so he did know that beyond these doors was the library.

Even with his memories from his past life gone, he does remember his love for books and stories, and how nothing beats the feeling of falling into a good novel. And it’s something he desires to experience again, something he can actually hold a memory of, not just a vague feeling.

While he did find the door easily enough, the next challenge is actually opening it. Luckily it was a push door, so reaching the handles wasn’t an issue, unlucky for him as he's currently in the weak body of a two-year-old child. 

Well no time like the present he supposes, reaching forward he puts both hands on the door pushing on it with all his might. The door in response, moved only a centimeter. Glaring at the centimeter given, Rok Soo starts flapping his wings, trying to push it open even more. 

Putting all his focus into getting the door open, he suddenly feels a powerful surge in his wings, a breeze manifesting and pushing him into the door, and the door opening. As the door opens he slips on his feet, tumbling even more into his face slamming into the side of it. Ignoring the stinging pain he quickly scrambles up out of the doors way, and into the library. His wings just made it out of the path of the door in time for the booming slam of the door closing again to sound around him.

Hissing at the sound Rok Soo brings his wings closer to his body while being yet to injure the wings, the thought of the pain from that door slamming into them is too vivid for his liking. (Sometimes it’s hard to tell what is or isn’t an impression of his past life.)

Making his way further into the library, something within Rok Soo has to admire the sheer collection of books within the library, all incredibly well preserved. The shelves tower over his small form, the height of the shelves of no concern to a dragon with magic. Unfortunately Rok Soo, this also means, most books are out of his reach. 

Quickly looking around the room his eyes zone on one a comfortable-looking chair, positioned in a corner of the room, a side table next to it, pointing towards an ever-burning hearth. On top of the small oak table, lies a book covered in a dark green outline. 

Latching onto the sight of the book Rok Soo quickly walks to it, every step still clumsy, but the last two months show themselves in the movement of his wings balancing his every step. Standing in front of the chair, Rok Soo climbs into it, the seat itself lined up with his chin, making the endeavor into the chair that more challenging for the small angel. 

Putting his hands forward he finds purchase on the couch, trying to pull himself up, using the slight openings behind the chair’s arm and the seat. Standing on the tips of his toes he tries little hops, seemingly getting himself nowhere, his wings start flapping around him, not in the way one would see an attempt to fly, but more so the struggle of trying to get on the chair and the muscles start extending in a hope to help. 

Finally, in a last-ditch effort, he gears up for as big a jump as his little body can get him, pulling on the seat as much as possible, his wings finally flapping in time with his jumps, the same familiar burst of power, lifting him into the chair. 

Sitting up in the chair properly, Rok Soo wraps one of his wings around his body staring at the feathered appendage with narrowed eyes. 

“Strange,” he mutters, his eyes still squinting at the wing. The burst of power was both unexpected and unknown. Unfortunately for him no matter how long he stares at the dark feathers, the wings do not divulge their secrets. Letting out a sigh he moves his wing to his back once more, shoving the issue off for later, he comes to the library with an objective and he has every intention of seeing it through.

Looking at the dark green book laid out on the table, Rok Soo quickly grabs it, putting it on his lap, looking at the cover to read the title. As soon as he looked at the words on the front though, his eyes widened, realization dawned on him.

He can’t read this world's language.

He doesn’t know why it didn’t occur to him that it would be any different from what he knew from his previous world, but he is now reaping the consequences. All of this maneuvering to read a book he can’t even read. 

Looking forward at the hearth and its dancing flames in front of him, he lets out a despondent sigh, looking back down at the book he thinks back to all of the times he’s been in this library within Eruhaben’s arms, trying to make sense of the fuzzy memories of a sleeping baby, and a murmuring man as he reads.

Staring back at the book a flame of determination lights in his eyes, sure he might not be able to read, but he’s heard the book read plenty of times, he just has to figure it out, like a puzzle. Opening up the book he starts attempting to read the book, his finger following each line, trying to sound out the murmuring words of a dragon in time with his memory. 

While he’s unsure how far he will get within the book from his memories, there's also a possibility of pictures to look at. And with that thought, he gets absorbed into this new challenge in front of him.

(Unknown to him, with the first use of Record finally showing itself, the wall in his head cracks even more, a small film being all that covers the first leakage of memories back into his mind. But that's not a problem for today.)

—

Eruhaben lets out a sigh walking into the main room, seeing the glaring lack of a small child, he doesn’t worry too deeply as if Rok Soo had attempted to leave, or if someone had broken in during his absence, the wards would have told him. However that doesn’t mean the rascal hasn’t gotten up to anything else during his absence, and so a worm of panic still settles its way into his heart. 

Taking a deep breath he concentrates on the magic that flows through his lair, spreading out his senses for his wayward angel. After about a minute he senses Rok Soo sequestered away in his library. 

Upon learning of his location, Eruhaben let out a sigh, a fond smirk lighting up his lips as he walked through the halls, eventually finding himself at the library’s thick doors. Stopping for a second his head tilts to the side, thinking of the small 2-year-old on the other side of the doors. Just how exactly did he even open the doors with his small frame?

Shaking his head he pushes the door open, his eyes instantly focusing in on the boy curled up on a chair two times his size, eyes squinted as he glares at the book in front of him. His lips pursed in a small pout. 

Staring at Rok Soo, his eyes soften, a fond smile tugging at his lips. He takes a few steps forward, finally noticing the book in the boy's hands. It was a collection of fairy tales he’d found on one of his material runs for the angel baby. Following one of the parenting books about enriching bedtime stories to help develop a child's curiosity and moral values. He’d taken up reading the book to Rok Soo whenever an opportunity arose. Though it was never really read as a bedtime story due to the boy's ability to fall asleep wherever. 

Eventually, he approached the chair of the intently reading child. 

“Are you enjoying the book so far?” he eventually asks, watching amused as the boy jumps up, the book falling off his lap and onto the floor in front of him. The feathers hidden throughout his hair, instantly poofed up at the sudden surprise. 

“W-When did you get back?” Rok Soo quietly murmurs out, skillfully avoiding eye contact with the ancient dragon. 

Letting out an amused huff, “Just now,” Eruhaben responds, “Now, since when did you pick up on reading?” he asks.

Looking back at the book fallen on the ground, Rok Soo lets out a quiet sigh, “I’m not, but… I’m attempting to figure it out.”

Letting out a hum, Eruhaben carefully picks up the fallen book. Picking the child up off the chair, before sitting in it himself, setting the child back down on his lap, and opening the book out in front of them. “Well then point out where you were. It might not be traditional teaching, but I can help you in figuring it out.”

The boy’s eyes quickly widened at Eruhaben, practically sparkling, before turning back to the book, his finger landing on a word halfway down the first page. “I’ve started to recognize certain words like ‘and’ and ‘the’ but it's taking more time to figure out…”

Watching the boy ramble at what he's figured out so far. A light warmth makes itself known in Eruhabens chest as he opens his mouth to answer the boy's unending questions.

Chapter Text

The past week was filled with, in Eruhaben's opinion, a non-stop story time. The flood gates opened on Rok Soo’s curiosity and desire to learn. As soon as they finished the first book, Eruhaben was sent on a search for another by the demanding toddler.

Alas, after going through the few story books Eruhaben has in his library (He’s much more a fan of nonfiction thank you very much.) Eruhaben is sent on the hunt for story books. He went from village to village, gathering as much as he could, in order to be prepared for the sheer speed Rok Soo is going through. 

Once he arrived back home, he showed the fruits of his labor to the small child. Once he had set out the collection of 20 something books, Rok Soo descended on them with a critical eye.

He finally settles on one about an overzealous elf, who kept sending its elemental after a dragon who can hear them, trying to gain the beings favor, however in the end the elf does get the attention of the dragon, unfortunately that attention did come in the form of a beating. 

The dragon did not take kindly to the constant noise of the elf’s elemental, and went out his way to make the lesson stick to the younger elf. The moral of the story being more along the lines of not going out of your way to bother someone needlessly.

Eruhaben chose this one, because with Rok Soo being who he is, undeniably he's destined to meet more dragons, and he wants the young angel to be aware of any dangers that could come from it.

When Rok Soo picked out the book, he looked at Eruhaben, a light of determination sparkling in his eyes. 

“I’m going to read this one myself!” he declares.

“Ho!” Eruhaben looks at the determined toddler, a proud smile settling on his face. So far all the books they’ve gone through have been together. Eruhaben working with Rok Soo’s unconventional way of learning. 

Seeing the approving look in the ancient dragon's eyes, Rok Soo nods to himself, running off to a couch in the main living room, settling down with the book.

Seeing that the toddler will be busy for a while Eruhaben leaves to the kitchen, preparing dinner for the two of them.

—

Right as he finished up dinner, the winged toddler comes bolting into the room, the book that he just finished clutched in his hands. 

“Eruhaben!” He exclaims as soon as he enters, holding the book up at him, “I did it! I read the book fully!” 

The look of joy lighting up the boy's face, made something in Eruhaben’s chest pound fondly, a smile painting his face. 

“Really!” he exclaims, making sure to have the pride in his voice shown, “Did you enjoy the book!”

“Mhm!” The young boy nods rapidly, his wings shaking behind him showing just how excited he is.

Eruhaben reaches out his hand to give the angel a head pat. The second his hand reached out to the boy, he flinched backward, his eyes clouding over.

The sound of the book thudding against the floor rings out.

As soon as the book slams into the floor the young boy curls up, his hands going on top of his head, his wings curling around his small form. A constant stream of “I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry.” flowing out of Rok Soo’s mouth.

Eruhaben stands shocked at the sudden reaction, his eyes sharpening on every tremble the boy lets out, how his feathers are puffing up, attempting to hide his whole body in the grasp of his wings.

Words from the letter he got from the God of Death rolled into his head once more, ‘ Long story short I ended up with a baby angel that holds the memories and abilities of his past life.’

Memories , he thinks. The form of the young boy curled up and crying out imprints itself into his brain.

Quickly he picks up the boy, buying all the anger in his soul deeply just for this now. He rubs the boy's back, whispering comforting words to his young charge, ( His son, his brain echos at him ). 

“Hey it’s ok Rok Soo, nothing can hurt you while I’m here I promise.” He holds Rok Soo close to his chest, letting the young boy settle his tearing breaths, while listening to Eruhaben’s heartbeat.

Rok Soo’s hands clutch onto Eruhaben’s shirt, after calming his breaths finally, he quietly mumbles out, “I’m sorry.”

“You did nothing wrong Rok Soo, You’ll be fine I promise, just breathe ok.” 

In response the boy simply focuses on his breathing, the heart he can hear, and the arms encircling him. At some point Rok Soo falls asleep in Eruhabens arms.

As soon as Eruhaben has determined the boy to be firmly asleep in his arms, he lets go of the rage he held in his soul, Dragon Fear activating, radiating itself throughout the entire lair. Eruhaben’s body acting as the eye of the storm, Rok Soo comfortably staying asleep in his arms.

“ God of Death ” Eruhaben growls out into the empty space, aware the God would have some awareness to what was going on around the angel he left in Eruhaben’s care.

The silence of the kitchen rings around him as he waits for a response. 

Eventually the air in front of Eruhaben starts to thicken, a sticky blackness form’s into another letter, dropping down on the table in front of him.

The letter lacked the greeting of the last, a note to the more serious air of this matter.

‘You’re pretty scary, you know that Golden Dragon? I already informed you he would retain memories of his past life, granted I didn’t expect they would start coming back this soon, I was hoping he would have at least another year, but Rok Soo’s always been good at breaking through my expectations.

For context, he didn’t have the best of lives in his past life, so don't be surprised if more attacks like this happen in the future, he’s always been very good at adapting so you don’t have to worry!

-The God of Death

P.S: He’ll start slowing down the rapid aging by the time he physically reaches about 5, so don’t worry about him growing up too quickly.’

A low growl escapes the ancient dragon's mouth after finishing the letter, what a hole load of nothing. 

Does this god think him an idiot?

Does this god have the audacity to tell him to just deal with it.

That his son will have to deal with flashes of memory from what was apparently a bad life, and there is nothing Eruhaben can do about it.

“What bullshit.” 

Looking down at the sleeping toddler in his arms he lets out a tired sigh. Reigning in the Dragon Fear that had exploded around him, Eruhaben brings the boy to their room for now. 

The least he can do is let the boy sleep a little longer before waking him up for dinner.

In the meantime he needs to plan out what to do, he refuses to take the gods words at face value, so the question is where to next.

Looking up at the intricate designs of his bedroom the thought suddenly comes to him.

The World Tree.

Chapter Text

Eruhaben let out a sigh as he looked at the still sleeping toddler. He has admittedly not cooled down too much from his initial rage. The audacity of the God of Death’s words still have a simmering rage swirling inside of him.

However he has now had an opportunity to sit down and breathe, so the air around him is no longer curling with rage fuelled mana, the small things in life.

He knew it hadn’t been too long since he last visited The World Tree, so coming so soon could throw the elves into a bit of panic, hysteria, and or the never ending worship. Knowing what he does about the neverending worship of the elves it's probably gonna be a mixture of all three. 

Normally that wouldn't bother Eruhaben, however in order to get the World Tree’s full opinion on the matter, he would have to take Rok Soo with him. The never ending worship elves have for dragons is already something, but have that worship towards the baby angel under his care? 

…It might be too much for the quiet boy. While Rok Soo presents himself as indifferent to most things, it's clear to see what he truly feels in his eyes. He can already see the overwhelmed boy hiding away while within the elf village to escape peering eyes.

In addition to this, it would be Rok Soo’s first time outside of Eruhaben’s home since arriving in this world, as well as, his first time meeting other beings than the Golden Dragon. 

Letting out a sigh Eruhabens looks at the curled up angel leaning into his side, noting every twitch of his feathers in his dreams, his face occasionally screwing up, but all around looking more peaceful than a few hours prior. 

While he would prefer to not have to expose his charge to the finatic elves just yet, he needs answers on how to best help him. Resolving his heart he gently flares his magic, as a signal to the sleeping angel to start waking up. 

He’s used the technique before when he noticed Rok Soo would always jolt awake eyes wide and breathing heavily whenever he would attempt to shake the boy awake. Flaring his magic seems to work just as well in waking the boy up without the panic that seemed to come with any other method. 

While he wants the boy to get as much peaceful sleep as he needs, he also wants the boy to be eating, and dinner still waits cold in the abandoned kitchen. With that thought he warms the food in the kitchen to be ready in time for Eruhaben and Rok Soo to eat. 

After a few seconds Rok Soo’s face seems to screw up a little as he starts to awaken. His eyes open up slowly as his wings stretch his sleep off behind him, a small yawn escaping from the sleepy child. 

Letting out a quiet breath Eruhaben prepares himself for explaining to Rok Soo where they are going.

Gods this best go well or else Eruhaben will commit to his threats against the God of Death and hunt him for sport. While it would be hard to kill a God Eruhaben trusts he could figure out if he really has to.

—

Thankfully Rok Soo does take the news of them traveling to see The World Tree well enough. While he doesn’t look thrilled about dealing with the overzealous elven population, there is a spark of curiosity in his eyes about seeing the rest of the world outside of their home.

In regards to Rok Soo’s current mental state, he seems to be keeping his head down more so than anything else. Not speaking unless spoken to first and mostly keeping to himself. Now for all intents and purposes this isn't much different from how the angel usually acts. But every movement he makes is accompanied with a hesitation that wasn't previously there. 

The sight of Rok Soo seeming to double check every step he takes is almost enough for Eruhaben to rage, but he breathes through it as best he can, lest anything he does set off the boy. Outside of that though Rok Soo seems to be taking it relatively well, not confusing the present moments with the memories he regained as he had initially. 

And while he is quieter and hesitating more, the longer it’s passed since the event he does seem to regain more and more confidence in where he is and what he's doing. 

Of course whether this is actually a good or bad way of dealing with the situation is yet to be seen, all Eruhaben can do at this moment is hope really. (And speak to the World Tree but he’s working on that damnit)

Wanting to get answers as soon as possible he made sure to get Rok Soo dressed after eating his much belated dinner. Picking the small boy up, Eruhaben prepares to teleport the two of them straight to the elven village that protects the World Tree.

He refuses to have his son at the mercy of memories from a lifetime that is no longer his.

—

Rok Soo would like to state to any higher being that may be listening that, One he’s fine he’s already dealt with the memories there just… slightly fresher then what he’s used to and it’s taking time for him to adjust. Two, unfortunately his lacking memories made him forget how much he hates being the center of attention, but oh my god this is terrible.

Despite them arriving late at night the elves in the village seemed to instantly know when Eruhaben arrived and came flooding out of their homes to catch a glimpse at the dragon, and the apparent baby angel Eruhaben arrived with. 

If anyone was to point out Rok Soo hiding his face away in Eruhabens shoulder while the Dragon walks through the village, Rok Soo would also like to reiterate that he’s simply tired. 

Unknown to Rok Soo, Eruhaben looked down at the hiding boy and his red ears with a fond smile, as he made his way through the gathered elves. Who knew Rok Soo was so shy?

At some point in his unfortunately very slow walk through the village the large crowd of elves finally part leaving room for Melnish and his protege Adite.

“Eruhaben-nim” The Priest greets the dragon, his eyes flitting slightly to the winged child in Eruhaben’s arms. As if sensing his gaze Rok Soo turns slightly to gaze at the old elf. 

When Melnish doesn’t say anything else Rok Soo turns his head back to Eruhaben, “Can we see the tree now, I don’t like the crowd.” 

Not expecting that to be what he says Eruhaben lets out a light laugh at the boy, which gets punctuated by the sound of an elf fainting somewhere in the background. His eyes glowing with amusement he turns his head back towards Milnesh.

“Well?” he calls out his eyes searching Milnesh for answers.

The old Elf clears his throat slightly opening his mouth, “B-Before that, Adite if you would do the honors.” The nervous tilt in his voice was more prevalent then normal. 

Suddenly Little Adite runs forward, a clinking bag of coins shoved out in front of her as she bows lowly at Rok Soo.

“PLEASE DON’T BURN DOWN THE WORLD TREE!” She pleads with the small boy. 

‘What?’ Eruhaben thinks to himself, ignoring how Rok Soo gladly reaches out and takes the bag.

“WE SAVED UP THE COINS JUST FOR YOU!” She continues to plead to the amazed child, who was staring into the bag of money like it holds the answers to the universe.

“What???” 

Chapter Text

After the scene in the center of the village Melnish and Adite led them to the World Tree. Once reaching the building surrounding the tree, Melnish veered off course and invited them to sit and talk.

While Eruhaben wants nothing more then to talk to the World Tree, he also wants answers for what the fuck that was, so he follows around with little complaint, ignoring the pouting toddler in his arms.

Once they were settled down with Melnish and Adite on one side of the small table and Eruhaben and Rok Soo on the other. Looking to his side Eruhaben has to stop himself from cooing at Rok Soo, who's holding a teacup while looking at Melnish and Adite with a determined look in his eye. He looks like he's trying his best to be professional.

After taking a second to collect himself Melnish starts speaking, “I-I apologize for the scene earlier… The World Tree had been warning of your arrival for the past few hours and we panicked…”

Eruhaben narrows his eyes at the jumpy priest “And why would the World Tree be warning you about my charge?”

The two elves across the table glanced at each other nervously before turning back towards Eruhaben, “I-It had talked about the young m-master here possessing a power that had threatened to burn it in ancient times.”

Slowly Eruhaben turned to look at the toddler sitting next to him. Rok Soo turns to look at Eruhaben blinks slowly and goes back to sipping tea, and acting like he's not staring at the bag of coins on his lap.

“...Rok Soo.” Eruhaben starts.

“I have no clue what they're talking about.” Rok Soo quickly responds, refusing to look at Eruhaben.

“ Kim Rok Soo '' Eruhaben stresses quietly, slowly the boy looks back up at Eruhaben, before huffing slightly and looking to the side again.

“I might have an idea about what they mean.”

The longer Eruhaben stares at the boy, the more Rok Soo seems to wilt, eventually breaking under his guardian's stare he lifts his hand, and a rose gold lightning bolt lights up floating slightly in his hand.

At the sight of it the two elves across the table jumped away both screaming as they latched onto each other. Seeing this, Rok Soo flinches slightly and closes his palm, the lightning bolt disappearing as he does so. Instantly after closing his hand he moves closer to Eruhaben, his wing brushing against Eruhaben’s back. His eyes take a wary sheen to them as he stares at the slowly calming down elves. 

Seeing his charge’s reaction to the exaggerated reaction of the elves, Eruhaben turns a stern stare on the two elves, “Stop acting like children and sit.”

Melnish and Adite instantly sit down across from them again, pretending to calmly sip their tea once more.

Letting out a sigh Eruhaben ruffles Rok Soo’s hair, noting the feathers in it sticking up as he watches the two elves stilly. After a few moments of rubbing his head Rok Soo seemed to settle down a little, slumping against Eruhaben’s side, still staring unblinkingly at the two elves.

After a few moments of nothing blowing up in front of them, Eruhaben lets out a sigh.

“Rok Soo?” He asks the boy, making sure his tone sounds calm.

“Yes?”  Rok Soo responds.

“How long did you know about this apparent power of yours?”

—

Rok Soo stares at his guardian, slightly forgetting the strange elves that are sitting across the table. He looks around trying to think of an appropriate answer, eventually deciding on a slight shrug and looking away. 

“He’s just kinda been here since I got here.”

“He?” Eruhaben asks, his eyes torn between natural curiosity and concern.

“I call him Cheapskate mostly. He’s quiet most of the time, but after my… memories started coming back he’s been talking more.” Rok Soo still refuses to look at his guardian whilst speaking. He knows the whole thing isn’t exactly normal, but his situation in itself isn’t normal. 

Not many human kids become a transmigrating angel baby.

“And why did you never mention anything about this… Cheapskate?” Eruhaben probes gently.

“I just assumed with my whole… situation, it's just another thing to the pile. Besides, I like him well enough to not have to complain.”

-Awwww you admit you like me.

Shut up.

“Outside of that while he was there it was… muted before my memories started coming back.”

“So you don’t know why he’s there.” Eruhaben states.

Finally looking up at his guardian Rok Soo nods, “I was just gonna ask the tree, outside of it the only other place I could get answers is probably the God of Death.”

At the reminder of the God of Death’s continued existence the temperature seems to drop for a second around Eruhaben, before suddenly evening out as he coolly looks to the silent elves.

“I believe it’s time for us to go see the World Tree.” 

After a minute of getting his promise to not burn down the World Tree, Eruhaben picked up Rok Soo and they were on their way once more.

—

For a World Tree it’s actually pretty small, Rok Soo think’s quietly to himself as they approach the normal looking tree.

The closer they got the more the tree started to shake and lean away from them. 

“He promised he won’t burn you.” Melnish stated, as soon as the words were spoken the tree stopped shaking and shot back to normal. A branch coming down and waving slightly, if Rok Soo didn’t know any better he would say the tree is being shy.

Eruhaben lets out an exasperated sigh, Rok Soo turning his head to his guardian curiously, a slight head tilt, exposing his curiosity. Seeing Rok Soo’s reaction Eruhaben lets out a light laugh, “It’s quite a dramatic tree is it not.”

Rok Soo rapidly nods his head, before turning around and looking around the World Tree, almost as though he’s looking for any other magically sentient plant. Seeing this Eruhaben lets out a light smile before putting the boy down.

“Feel free to explore while I talk to the tree, I imagine it will want to talk right after so stay close.”

Almost instantly Rok Soo speeds off to the other side of the tree, to see if anything interesting is over there.

Letting out a light huff of amusement at the boy's hidden excitement Eurhaben heads towards the world tree, breezing right by Milnesh.

Placing his hand on the tree he opens his mouth.

“Hello again old friend.”

-....Hello

The World Tree despite its earlier welcome sounds nervous.

“I presume you know why I’m here.”

-The God of Death is not very good at making his presence quiet.

“Good, I wasn’t sure if you would be able to see him due to his… not of this world nature.”

-I can catch glimpses, he’s more of this world then you know.

At that Eruhaben narrows his eyes at the tree, noting the slight shivering of the leaves.

“And what do you mean by that?” 

The World Tree hesitates for a moment.

-I can’t share… I’m afraid it’s something I’m told he has to discover himself.

“I doubt I have to voice my sentiments to you.”

-If it helps… in the future I will be able to supply the answers he needs, it comes down to when he is able to ask the right questions. So… please don’t do anything rash.

“Is it rash if it’s premeditated?” Eruhaben asks with a slight teasing smile on his face.

One of the tree branches comes down and bops Eruhaben lightly on the head.

-Quit your teasing.

Eruhaben lets out a light huff of amusement at the tree's tone. If the tree had a face he’s fully convinced it would be pouting at him.

-In your luck, I was informed about your son’s situation in full.

Eruhaben goes wide eyed, ‘ Son?’ his brain unhelpfully points out to himself. (It’s one thing for him to call Rok Soo what he is in his head, it’s an entirely different beast when it’s pointed out to him by the oldest being in this world.) 

Fortunately Eruhaben was quickly able to latch on to the full scope of the sentence.

“What can I do to help him as his memories come back?” Eruhaben instantly states.

-Unfortunately when it comes to that, there's nothing you’ll be able to do to stop the influx of memories. 

The tree’s voice seems to harden at Eruhaben when he unintentionally lets a low growl out at the tree's words.

- However, while you might not be able to stop, that doesn’t mean you aren’t able to help the boy. The memories you can’t stop, they’re an aftereffect of an ability he had in his old world that got painted in his very soul. There is only so much even a god's power can do to stop that.

-Outside of simply being there for him if he needs you, and from what I’ve heard he will end up needing you, he’s lived a hard life Eruhaben. The main thing the God of Death asks of you is to both, teach him, give him something to focus on, as well as, give him the childhood he was never able to have.

“Is that really all I’m able to do for him?” Eruhaben asks the tree quietly, his voice trembling lightly.

-Not all fate is escapable unfortunately. 

Eruhaben feels his hand curl into a fist at his side, unmoving. His eyes close slightly as he takes a deep breath.

“Outside of that… What's that whole scene about Rok Soo’s apparent power?”

At the mention of the rose gold lightning bolt, the tree seemed to flinch at him.

-Ahhh right, yes that. That power of his is not… necessarily his.

“I beg your pardon?” Eruhaben states, slowly growing tired of the trees way of talking around topics, granted this is what always happens talking to it, but when the content of the conversation leans towards his young charge the dragons famed patience (For a dragon of course) seems to be waning fast.

-The Fire of Destruction is an ancient power from our world… its creator and previous owner having previously threatened my existence… hence the fear of the powers return. As for why he has it… from what I could tell from the God of Death’s slightly panicked rambling… things had not gone to plan with Rok Soo’s transfer into our world. 

Eruhaben nods, aware that the God majorly screwed something up in regards to Rok Soo, though when it comes to Rok Soo coming into his life, he would never put that against the god. (He tries not to think about if God's original plans came to fruition if he would ever have met the boy he now holds so close to his heart.)

-The God of Death in his panic negotiated with the ancient power in order for Rok Soo to have it now, so long as Rok Soo follows through with certain aspects of its chosen test when he’s older. 

“Essentially the God of Death panicked and gave a baby a power called Fire of Destruction in order for Rok Soo to have something to protect himself with?”

-....yes

“I’m not even surprised by this point.”

The tree seemed hesitant for a moment before Eruhaben heard its voice once more.

-....Can I talk to him now?

Letting out a sigh, Eruhaben supposes his main concerns have been stated now, “Yes you can talk to him now.”

He pointedly ignores its branches seemingly shaking in excitement.

-Great!! He sat down a while ago and has just been counting coins, and I already dealt with one money obsessed person with destructive fire power… I don’t really want that to happen again. 

Turning his head to where Rok Soo parked himself on the ground a few feet from them, Eruhaben looks at his sparkling eyes, “...I think you're too late for that.”

Eruhaben will not point out the sob like sound that seemed to come from the tree.

— 

Rok Soo reluctantly parted from his bag of coins for the time being when Eruhaben seemed to wave him over. 

-I’ll teach you everything you need to gather all the money your heart can desire.

…

He’ll consider.

Rok Soo pointedly ignores the cheers of excitement coming from the firebolt.

As soon as Rok Soo made it up to Eruhaben, the golden dragon crouched down and spoke quietly to him.

“All you have to do is place your hand against the tree, you’ll know when it starts talking to you.”

Rok Soo nods, noting slight hesitation in Eruhaben he doesn’t move and stares at the man. Seeing this Eruhaben lets out a small smile, rubbing his hand against Rok Soo’s head.

“And if you need anything at all, I’ll be right here. Promise.”

Seeing that Eruhaben is done, Rok Soo nods again, muttering out a quiet okay, before putting his hand against the tree.

-Hello Death’s Angel

The tree aptly greets him. Rok Soo quietly notes that how it talks to him feels similar to when he hears Cheapskates voice, different yet similar.

“Hello” He greets politely.

-I had a great conversation with your father just now, but I imagine you probably have some of your own questions.

Rok Soo’s eyes go wide, “Ah- He’s not-”

-He very much is young man, while he is your guardian, he is not just there taking care of you. He’s committed to making sure you live the best life you can. Besides if he wasn’t your father… why would I call you his son and he not correct me.

Rok Soo stares wide eyed at the tree, the world seeming to tilt on itself for a second. To be fair to the tree, the only reason Rok Soo call’s Eruhaben his guardian is more so for lack of a better word… he’s always just called whoever is taking care of him his guardian.

Despite getting his memories back of him up to 4 so far… he doesn’t actually remember his father. Only his Uncle, and that man was his guardian even if it was only in the eyes of the law. But the thought of comparing the Golden Dragon to that man even slightly feels wrong.

The dots finally connect in his brain, and he nods his head, determination in his eyes. “I suppose that's fair.” 

In response the tree seems to let out a twinkling laugh, amused at the angel’s sudden acceptance of Eruhaben being his father.

-Now do you have any idea why you have that power of yours?

Caught off guard by the question, Rok Soo shakes his head, “No.. he’s just been here.”

-Then I can explain.

The tree goes on to tell him of the God of Death and his worry over protecting Rok Soo’s ability to protect himself while in this new world, and how he negotiated with the power to work with Rok Soo, at least temporarily.

Rok Soo squints his eyes at the tree once it's finished. “Temporarily?” 

-Yes, eventually the answers you seek on how to make the power a more permanent fixture will present itself to you, until then while you do possess the Fire of Destruction, it's a powered down version of it. Ancient Powers require tests after all, and you are yet to take it’s test. 

“And how will I know that I found those answers?” His head tilting, bangs brushing against his forehead and in front of his eye.

-There are many answers to many questions you have hidden away in your head… it’s simply a matter of time for the correct memories to present themselves. While you might not like the memories you find, don’t be scared of them, they are what makes you you after all.

Rok Soo shouldn’t be surprised by the literal World Tree to hit the nail on the head enough for him to be knocked out of his fears. While he knows it's inevitable… he’s not really pleased with the fact that it is reliant on him remembering what he knows wasn’t the best life. 

Unsure of what to say, Rok Soo suddenly feels a brushing sensation on his head, looking up, Rok Soo expects to see Eruhaben again. 

What he doesn’t expect is a tree branch.

-You are allowed to go now, if you wish, I won’t keep you here. All I ask is that you make sure to visit again, even if you have to badger your father about it. You feel quite greatly of this worlds nature, it's a comfort for sure to be in your presence. 

Nodding his head he brings his hand off the tree muttering a quiet goodbye before turning to Eruhaben.

“It wants me to tell you that you have to bring me back again, something about I feel like this world's nature. Can we go home now? I’m tired.”

At the sudden question Eruhaben lets out a laugh, the whiplash of ending the conversation to demanding they go home now greatly amusing the Golden Dragon.

“Yes Yes, we can head back now.” Eruhaben says picking up Rok Soo, making sure to pat his head whilst doing so. 

Turning towards Milnesh and little Adite, Eruhaben nods goodbye, and promptly teleports back to his home. 

—

The next day started off quietly with Eruhaben waking up the ever sleepy boy and getting them both eating breakfast. While doing that Eruhaben also noted that Rok Soo seemed to be getting rather… antsy.

The boy's shiftiness is massively out of character, after finishing their breakfast Eruhaben approaches the pacing toddler.

“Is everything ok?” He asks, worried it was related to the boy's memories. Did he miss more of them coming back?

After stopping for a second Rok Soo slow blinks at Eruhaben before seemingly reluctantly nodding his head, “Everything is fine.”

Eruhaben stares at the shifting boy with a look of disbelief, “And why are you moving around so much then?” he asks gently.

A look of understanding seems to light up in Rok Soo’s eyes, “Oh sorry, I wasn’t trying to. I’ll stop.”

At the boy's words Eruhabens eyes softened slightly, “It’s not a problem that you are shifting Rok Soo, I’m less concerned over you doing it and more why you're doing it. If you wish to run around in circles I wouldn’t mind, I’m simply worried over the sudden change that's all.”

“Oh.” Rok Soo quietly mumbles out. “I just feel…I don’t know? Itchy, not physically just, it feels wrong to just be… still right now?”

The boy’s question has Eruhaben pausing for a moment, “Just physically?”

Rok Soo rapidly nods, “Yeah, Honestly? I wanna go take a nap right now, but everything in me is just… moving?”

Seeing the apparently energized boy, who seems to want to be nothing but, Eruhaben lets out a light laugh. “Let's try something for you to do then at least, if it wears you down then you should be tired enough to sleep.”

Rok Soo pauses a moment, turning Eruhabens words over in his head, before nodding in agreement.

“How do you feel about learning to fly?” The Dragon asks the Angel. Almost instantly Rok Soo’s wings seemed to instinctively flex at the thought of flight. Rok Soo rapidly nods his head, his eyes sparkling slightly at the thought of soaring through the air. 

—

Eruhaben may have overestimated his ability to teach an angel to fly given their anatomy differences, the one saving grace being the fact that Eruhaben can make Rok Soo float with his magic, preventing any nasty falls that could have happened if Rok Soo was doing this himself.

After a bit of trial and error though, Rok Soo was able to properly lift himself off the ground, the main issue with his wings seeming to be the lacking strength he currently has in them due to the lack of use they’ve had thus far.

Rok Soo was able to float and land again with frequent consistency, but Eruhaben could see the antsy feeling from earlier make its return as he got used to it. Looking closer at Rok Soo’s eyes, Eruhaben suddenly had a bad feeling at the determination in them.

The next attempt to try and actually take off went slightly different this time. Overall Rok Soo did everything the same, but his apparent frustration about not being able to actually take off showed itself, after all while Rok Soo was floating, he hadn’t truly flown yet. The same feeling that had gotten him even practicing to fly seemed to demand he soar. 

So he listened.

The same power that helped open the large doors to the library and get into the large chair, seemed to flow down his wings, a seemingly magical breeze brushing through the dark feathers on his wings. Following instinct he did one exaggerated flap, and the power racing through his feathers launched him up in the air.

Surprised by the sudden air he had gotten his eyes widen, but feeling the breeze the higher in the air he got, he let the same instinct that guided him to get this far, take hold. Spreading his wings out, he feels them catch on the breeze and suddenly he’s guiding, carefully flapping his wings anytime he starts to tilt down. 

Eruhaben caught off guard by the sudden air Rok Soo took, froze for a second at the unknown power that seemed to fuel his take off, shaking his head he looked to the gliding boy in the air, his wings spread fully out, tilting when needed to account for the wind. Peering closer he sees a wide grin breaking out across the boy's face, his eyes sparkling with pure joy.

After a few minutes, Eruhaben noted when Rok Soo’s energy started to finally wane, after a full day of nonstop movement. The boy’s sleepy personality seemed to take hold of him. Carefully the boy started descending, panicking slightly when he got closer to the ground, realizing he didn't know exactly how to land after gliding, only how to land back on his feet after hovering. 

Seeing this a tad too late, Eruhaben witnessed Rok Soo’s first proper fall of the day, quickly running over the boy now laying on the ground. As soon as Eruhaben made it over to the boy, Rok Soo shot up off the ground, running to stand in front of Eruhaben for once talking a mile a minute, his eyes still sparkling with the same joy he had earlier in the air, a wide grin splitting his face.

“Dad! Dad! Did you see that, I flew properly, and everything just felt right in the world, and all that energy I had was gone, but it felt so right!!”

Eruhaben froze at the sudden armful of excited boy he now was holding, a happy trill seeming to escape Rok Soo’s mouth as he ranted about his first proper flight.

However Eruhaben’s mind got stuck on one word.

Dad

Oh my.. He called me Dad.

A burst of happiness seemed to spark in the Golden Dragon chest, looking down at the bright boy in his arms, his son. 

Chapter Text

Looking above in the sky at a soaring Rok Soo, Eruhaben lets out a quiet sigh. While learning to fly did seem to help Rok Soo with the excess energy he has, it’s only doing so much. If anything it's gotten to the point where flying around isn’t helping him anymore. It’s presenting itself as enough of a problem that the chronically sleepy boy can't sleep. 

Eruhaben will be talking to him and he’ll start to doze off mid conversation, something that is admittedly normal for the boy, but instead of his inevitable nap, he would jolt awake, sleepiness completely gone. While it could be chalked up to the boundless energy of a child, Eruhaben had a feeling something else was at play.

Seeing Rok Soo almost flying out of the range they had set for how far he could go out right now. While he is fine letting Rok Soo his freedom beyond his range, he also needs to make sure he’d be able to handle and protect himself before Eruhaben would let him go without supervision. 

Hmm.

That might be it actually. 

Teleporting himself next to the soaring angel, Eruhaben signals for Rok Soo to work on floating next to Eruhaben in the air. Seeing the signal Rok Soo reluctantly comes closer and works on making sure he stays steady in the air. His displeasure of having to stop his flight showed slightly on his face, though he doesn’t say anything, simply peers at Eruhaben.

“How would you feel about visiting some villages with me?” 

Taken off guard by the question, Rok Soo dips a little in the air before righting himself up again. 

“Why?” He finds himself asking his head tilting to the side, showing his curiosity.

“I notice you keep pushing the boundaries we set for how far out you can fly.”

Rok Soo’s face takes on a slight flush, looking in the other direction, “It… isn’t intentional, I just fly and everythings great but then that itch starts up again and I find myself…drifting.”

“Well we can try traveling together for now, see if exploring helps. You might just have a natural instinct for freedom.”

Seeing the logic in Eruhaben’s words Rok Soo nods in agreement. His eyes seemingly scream displeasure about having a natural instinct to travel.

He really wants to sleep all day doesn’t he?

—

Walking through a small village’s marketplace, Eruhaben lets a small smile paint his face. Rok Soo, invisible due to Eruhabens magic, holding lightly to one finger of the golden dragon’s hanging hand. As soon as they arrived on the outskirts of the village, Eruhaben transformed his body into a more humanoid form.

While he’s quite comfortable with walking around as an elf, he does understand that it’s not a frequent image to run into. Usually he doesn’t have such cares unless he truly has a reason, and while Rok Soo is hidden, he’d rather not deal with the unwanted attention with the angel by his side. 

As they walk Eruhaben notes the crowd unconsciously parting away from them, while some people do have sharper instincts and are able to tell Eruhaben as something more this kind of overwhelming reaction was something new. His eyes draw towards Rok Soo, granted the instinct to avoid death is only natural.

Eruhaben lets a gentle smile across his face. While that may make Rok Soo’s interactions with others harder in the future, Eruhaben is very aware that there are many people in this world that don’t fear death.

He has faith Rok Soo will find his place.

Rok Soo seems to be looking around, eyes sparkling at the bustling movement of the village's center. 

His eyes lock onto a small stand selling some sweets, his eyes locking onto the candies. Letting out a small chuckle Eruhaben goes to approach the stand, however Rok Soo’s hand stops him.

The angel tugs on his hand to get his attention, looking down at the boy, Rok Soo reaches his hand into the bag the the elves had given him when they visited the world tree before giving Eruhaben the money for the candies, his eyes shining happily.

Letting out a light laugh, Eruhaben pats the boy's head, uncaring of the strange looks sent towards him.

“ You don’t have to. ” Eruhaben says, out of obligation if nothing else, in response Rok Soo shakes his head, patting his hand to Eruhaben’s. Resisting the urge to chuckle, Eruhaben continues forward, quickly purchasing a couple candies, continuing on with their walk as he subtly hands the bag of treats to Rok Soo.

Rok Soo takes one of the treats out and lets out a pleasant trill at the taste of the candies, putting one into Eruhaben’s hand like he had with the coins just a few minutes prior. 

Smiling lightly Eruhaben accepts the candy, popping it into his mouth, a pleasant orange flavor melting into his mouth.

Rok Soo, tugs on Eruhaben’s hand again pointing at a bookstore, the question clear in his eyes. Eruhaben nods at the boy, allowing him to pull the dragon into the store. 

The two roam the shelves, Rok Soo picking out book after book, setting them into Eruhaben’s hands. Looking down the Dragon notes with amusement it's more fiction. 

He’ll get the boy to read more educational material one day, but while he learns the written languages of this world, it’s only right for Eruhaben to teach him with books he enjoys. 

As soon as Rok Soo decided he had enough, Eruhaben was already using his magic to float the books alongside him, giving up on trying to hold the influx. Checking out, Eruhaben expertly dodge’s the angel's hand trying to give him more money, paying for the books himself, amused by the annoyed pout on Rok Soo’s face. 

Putting all the books in a pocket dimension, they leave the store wandering around the town. Returning back to the outskirts of the town they go into the neighboring forest before Eruhaben uses his magic to teleport them back to the cave.

As soon as they arrived Rok Soo grabbed Eruhaben’s hand, dragging the golden dragon to the library. Getting started as soon as they arrive at organizing the influx of books.

As Eruhaben works on floating the books to the correct places he turns his head slightly, looking towards Rok Soo, curled up on a couch, sleeping soundly for the first time in days.

Smiling he lifts the boy up bringing him into what Eruhaben has crafted into Rok Soo’s room. An offshoot from Eruhabens own, allowing the boy his own privacy and space, whilst requiring that anything trying to get to Rok Soo would find themselves faced with a golden dragon instead.

Setting the boy into a large bed (Eruhaben doesn’t want to replace it as the boy ages so he simply made it as big as he could… Staring at how Rok Soo has decorated it with pillows and blankets though does make it seem more like a nest than anything. But the boy finds it comfortable and that's what matters.)

Eruhaben brings one of the central blankets in the boy's nest to rest over him. 

It’s good to know that travel seems to be what tires the boy out at least.

Letting out a hum, Eruhaben spreads his awareness around his home, heading back towards the library.

He has to plan some excursions. 

—

They find themselves traveling somewhere new everyday. Rok Soo’s energy subtly increases everyday. The tipping point comes when in a new town weeks away from their home, Rok Soo drags Eruhaben in a shop before subtly trying to sneak off. 

Eruhaben snorts in amusement at the attempt, reaching behind him and grabbing the angel by his collar.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Eruhaben asks, still inspecting the shelves in front of him in faux interest. 

“I’m just… checking out the otherside of the store.” Rok Soo answers, making sure to not look anywhere in Eruhaben’s direction. 

Laughing lightly, Eruhaben pulls Rok Soo towards him, crouching on the floor to stand eye level with the angel. (He finds Rok Soo is less likely to be anxious if he gets low to the floor with him.)

“I’ll lay it out plainly.” Eruhaben starts, maintaining contact with Rok Soo’s red-brown eyes. “We both know this doesn’t seem to be working the way we wish it, so I need you to tell me what your instincts want.”

It was obvious the longer Eruhaben thought of it, as Rok Soo got used to the monotony of visiting new towns it was just that monotony. It’s constantly the same thing, eventually losing the appeal of travel. Admittedly Eruhaben has mostly just been bringing him to different towns all over the continent, but he doesn’t want to risk exposing the young boy to anything too severe just yet. 

Rok Soo hesitates for a moment, his eyes shifting, before coming to what he deems a safe conclusion, “...I want to interact with the world.”

Eruhaben smiles sadly at the boy, notes of his earlier observations ringing in his head. 

If only it was that easy. ( If only the boy was never put in this position in the first place.)

“I suppose I could teach you how to hide your wings.” Eruhaben says, his eyes dragging up to Rok Soo’s feathered hair, “...And other non-human features.”

Instantly Rok Soo’s eyes shined up at Eruhaben, a happy grin on his face. 

“...Though to do so I would have to teach you magic.” Eruhaben says watching the words instantly dim the boy. 

Eruhaben stops himself from laughing at the boy. While they hadn’t talked about the idea of learning magic yet, it was clear in how Rok Soo interacts with Eruhaben it’s something he’d rather let other people do, his interest in it seeming to lay in what it could achieve for him via Eruhaben’s help. 

Most subjects Rok Soo was interested in learning he’d just approach and absorb it, but magic, despite it surrounding him most of the time, continued to evade his interest.

“Now don’t look so dejected, it’ll simply be some basics to lead to being able to polymorph.” Eruhaben tries to comfort the boy. All it gets in response is a look of horror from Rok Soo. 

“...I don’t think you know what is considered ‘easy’ magic.” Rok Soo says, gesturing at Eruhaben.

Seeing this Eruhaben can’t help but laugh out loud. “Rok Soo,” he starts, “While being a dragon does make magic come naturally to me, what do you think being an angel would do for it.”

Looking up at Eruhaben, Rok Soo shrugs, “I don’t know, outside of the wings I feel pretty human.”

Eruhaben tilts his head, it is fair, he supposes. Rok Soo does seem to follow more human patterns than anything else, but the fact he is an angel is still something that needs to be remembered. 

Thinking of all the crowds that split around them, and cold shivers he sees those get too close to Rok Soo have. He can’t help but sigh a little, “You are more than just a human with wings Rok Soo, while you might not see it now, you will one day.”

Rok Soo stares at Eruhaben before shrugging, “I don’t see how that’ll help with learning magic.”

Letting out a light laugh, Eruhaben pats Rok Soo on the head, “Let’s just see how it goes.”

Humming Rok Soo nods, “I guess.”

—

Sitting in the library, Eruhaben supervises as Rok Soo reads book after book on basic magic. Initially Rok Soo seemed hesitant to approach any of the books, practically dragging his feet into the library to actually read the book. But once the boy was sitting with them it’s like a switch was flipped and he was suddenly speeding through the books.

Eruhaben had expected the boy to approach him with questions at some point but in the hours since he brought Rok Soo to the library, the angel hadn't moved from the large seat by the fireplace. 

Eventually Eruhaben puts down his own book, before approaching Rok Soo.

“Would you like to try something practical?” Eruhaben asks the boy, in all honesty he expected to move onto something practical as soon as Rok Soo finished the first book, but the boy just grabbed the next and continued his reading.

At Eruhaben’s voice Rok Soo looked up from the book, his eyes shining, “You know, magic didn’t exist in my world.” he states, “...I’m not really interested in doing it but learning how it works… It's definitely pretty interesting.”

Eruhaben hums out, it makes sense he supposes with the boys fixation on fictional series, being able to understand the intricacies of something he’d use to never have the ability to do does sound interestings. But the lack of wanting to actually do it could become a problem.

…Granted with the boy's memory, and his apparent fascination with the theory of magic could make casting it easier. Can’t really mess up a magic circle if the entire circle is ingrained in your head. 

“Have you attempted to access any mana yet?” Eruhaben asks, noting as soon as the question leaves his lips, Rok Soo seems to avoid looking anywhere near Eruhaben. 

“...I don’t understand how to actually access mana.”  Rok Soo admits, his ears heating up. Sure he can read all about the theory of magic and the intricacies that make spells come to fruition… but that crucial first step just doesn’t make sense to him.

How is one to get a feel for mana in the air? If mana is always in the air doesn’t it just feel like air? Acting like it’s just something you can breathe and feel is foolish. 

Seeing Rok Soo’s frustration, Eruhaben tilts his head. Lifting his hand up, he takes a low-grade magic stone.

“Hold this in your hand, focus on the feeling within the stone.” Eruhaben offers.

Truly he has no clue on how to really trigger someone's sense to mana as dragons are born with the sense. But the world to him always feels like it's overflowing with mana, so in order to awaken the sense perhaps they just need to connect with something that is overflowing with mana.

Holding the stone in his hand Rok Soo closes his eyes, focusing on the feeling of the stone in his hand. Every ridge and valley of the stone imprinting itself into his mind. He tightens his grip on the stone, trying to feel anything within it.

The more he tries to feel something the more it feels just out of his grasp, like he’s so close but just one step is missing. He lifts his other hand pressing it on the top of the stone, fully concealing it in his hands. 

Maybe if he holds the concentrated mana fully, he’ll be able to sense the end and beginning within the stone. 

Feeling like he should give up, a white glow suddenly overtakes his vision. 

Which is more noticeable considering Rok Soo’s eyes are still closed. 

Sitting up he feels for the edges of the white glow, slowly collapsing it in his mind, until it fully resembles the stone in his hand, every ridge in the valley being detailed by the white glow. 

Staring at the glow he brings the rock closer to his face, noting the way the glow seems to leave a grayish trail behind it, focusing on the gray trail the rock leaves in its wake. Watching the gray he sees it darken into the black of the rest of his vision.

Ah.

He thought it earlier, didn't he?

How can you get a feel for mana in the air? When it's the air itself.

He somehow feels like a fool and a genius. 

Opening his eyes he meets Eruhaben’s wide eyes.

“Hoh.” The golden dragon breathes out looking at Rok Soo. The surprise Eruhaben felt clearly visible to the child. 

It’s not everyday you see someone fully warp the mana in a room into a singular space. While the void in mana is slowly returning (Healing itself as nature always does.) Eruhaben still can’t help the stupor he fell into. 

Granted he knew being an angel, Rok Soo would be capable of far more than your average person, yet somehow he discounted the strength the species is known to have. The ability to warp the very world around them, does seem like a solid reason for them to stay away from worlds unless destruction is wrought upon them.

(You can’t accidentally destroy an already decimated world after all.)

Rok Soo, seeing Eruhaben’s state, slowly approaches the golden dragon, stopping right before him, he grabs at Eruhaben’s hand tugging it slightly, forcing the dragon's attention at the physically 5 year old boy. 

“Dad?” A small voice calls out, Rok Soo’s nerves instantly showing themselves with the one word. 

Snapping Eruhaben out of his stupor he looks down at the angel, worried red-brown eyes meeting his. 

Shaking his head, Eruhaben clears his throat, “Well I can confidently say you have an awareness of mana now.”

Rok Soo nods his head, his nerves slowly melting away as he smiles at Eruhaben. “I get it now when they say it's the air.”

Eruhaben tilts his head at Rok Soo, “I mean it’s more than just the air it's in everything, both life and death.”

The words seem to resonate with Rok Soo, the boy staring wide eyed up at Eruhaben. “I suppose that makes sense considering dead mana is still mana.” the boy states, his head tilted.

Eruhaben stares at the young boy, “...When did you learn about dead mana?” He asks, the question fueled mostly by curiosity. He’s familiar with every book that decorates his halls, and while many do reference dead mana, none of them are books that Rok Soo would have read. Especially with the boys aversion to anything but fiction until Eruhaben finally got him to read the books on magic, all of which still rest on a side table by the large chair. None of which with a mention of dead mana.

At the question Rok Soo’s eyes widened, before squinting in confusion at Eruhaben, “Huh?” The boy questions, a hand coming to rest on his head, “I… don’t recall.”

The answer itself striking itself at Eruhaben’s core. With Rok Soo’s ability to not forget the fact that he doesn’t recall how he knows the information says he learned it somehow before his transportation to this world and his subsequent loss of memory.

But how would a boy from a world without magic know about dead mana?

‘How curious.’ Eruhaben thinks. While he wants to know, he’s made peace with a lot of mysteries around Rok Soo will only be solved when the boy recovers all his memories. (Or whenever he’s able to interrogate the God of Death for actual solid answers instead of cryptic notes.)

Shaking his head once more, he sets his head on Rok Soo’s head gently, rubbing it, “Either way, you still picked up on the mana in the air, so how about we start trying to put all that theory you read to practice?”

Rok Soo looks up at Eruhaben and shrugs, his disinterest in actually learning how to still quite clear.

Letting out a sigh, Eruhaben looks up at the high ceiling of his library. Summoning a small ball from his pocket dimension he hands it to Rok Soo, “Try levitating this ball, don’t worry about getting it to a certain height, I just want to see how you go about it.”

Afterall, while Rok Soo may have the theory memorized at the moment, this is his first practical experience using said theory. 

Nodding his head, Rok Soo put’s great care into forming the simple magic circle in his hand. (While he doesn’t really want to learn, if he’s going through the effort he might as well try to get some tangible results.)

As soon as the circle was formed, Eruhaben nodded at him, not seeing any errors in its formation.

Seeing this Rok Soo grabbed at the mana in the air, imbuing it into the magic circle allowing the ball in the center to hover.

Which it should have done.

Instead the ball went flying up into the ceiling, lodging itself in the roof of the cave, small rocks falling down and harmlessly hitting the ground.

Staring at the now blank space of mana in front of him Eruhaben let out a sigh… this might not work out.

“Rok Soo?” he asks quietly, making sure to keep his voice gentle.

“I didn’t know the spell could do that?” Rok Soo offers up as a defense, his nerves clearly shown with how tense the boys wings were.

“No no that’s fine, just… Do you know how to use the mana within your body?” Eruhaben asks, swearing that was covered in the books. First an understanding of mana in the natural world then mana within you. 

Rok Soo tilts his head at Eruhaben, “I just used the mana.”

Eruhaben wants to laugh. 

Of course the mana of the world would bend to the angels whim, but perhaps it did a little too eagerly. 

“...Perhaps I could look into making an object to force a partial transformation.” Eruhaben says.

Looking up at him Rok Soo slowly nods his head, “...Can I finish reading the magic books?”

“Go ahead,” Eruhaben says, feeling like he just handed a weapon of mass destruction ammunition, “I’ll help you find more once you’re finished with these ones.” 

Eruhaben may be part of the problem.

Letting out a sigh he approaches the abandoned magic stone on the floor, before leaving Rok Soo to his studies and heading towards his lab. He subconsciously inspects the stone in his hand while he walks, before suddenly freezing in the middle of a hallway, his eyes locking onto the glowing stone in his hand.

It somehow went up in power.