The next morning, Albert was still asleep ten minutes before breakfast. Heh, this is the perfect opportunity to mess with him. I attempted to vault over the crib fence. With this two-year-old body, it was a lot more difficult than you might think. I failed and fell down several times before I sloppily got myself to the top of the post. Using the vertical beams, I slid myself down onto the floor. I crawled towards Albert's bed and climbed myself near Albert's sleeping figure. I was ready to launch the assault. I rolled my body onto his chest and shouted to his face, "Brother, Breakfast!"

"Ahh!" His body jolted awake. He peered at me with eyes of disdain which soon relaxed back to Albert's usual nonchalant expression. "What time is it?" Albert groaned. I pointed to the clock that showed that it was ten minutes before the eighth hour. "Ah, shoot," Albert muttered. He quickly got himself dressed and brought him and myself down for breakfast. Now comes the most difficult part. Convincing my parents to meet the Scarlets. 

I vowed not to speak anything longer than a basic sentence at this age. I was already forced to break my previous vow in order to break my parent's infighting. If this keeps on going, they'll notice my deep, baritone voice before hitting puberty. Even so, I have to ask for my parent's permission to have any hope of overcoming this blockade that was unfairly cast my way. 

Knock Knock, somebody was at the door. My mother opened the door and a familiar face showed up.

"Good morning, thank you for treating us for lunch the other day. I made a bunch of stardust bread yesterday so I was wondering if you would like some," Ms. Scarlet offered. Looks like they came here instead, that saves me extra work. Now, it's time to use my cuteness to my advantage. I crawled towards her and longingly looked into her eyes. "Aww, what a cute little boy he is. He looks around the same age as Yllsse. Maybe I should bring her next time." Ms. Scarlet said as she gives a bag's worth of bread to my mom.   

"Oh yes, I bet Ouya would appreciate having company his own age," my mother replied.

"Great! Maybe she can come over tomorrow?" Ms. Scarlet suggested.

"That sounds great, feel free to bring your whole family! I'll make some good food," my mother said as she gave a big smile. Ms. Scarlet agreed and went back home. It seems that everything is going according to plan with minimal intervention from myself. Hopefully, I can remain this lucky in the future but I would not like it to happen too often as that creates some ominous foreboding. 

"Since you got that out of the way, I'm willing to continue your Verse training," Ethos said. 

"Hold on a minute, I thought I was unable to progress further in my training. Wasn't that why you asked me to study from Yllsse?" I asked quizzically.

"Then I wouldn't be much of a teacher if that was the case." Ethos answered. "Nevertheless, that girl seemed very interesting. Though talent does not necessarily guarantee her to be a great teacher for you." Great, it seems like I was being used as a puppet on Ethos' hands. It seems that Ethos purposely stopped my training in order for me to reach out to Yllsse just for his own damn curiosity. "I think a large number of your problems come from one thing. You really need to learn how to walk; it's like a damn prerequisite," Ethos stated matter-of-factly. 

I sat there puzzled. It's not like I haven't tried learning how to walk. In fact, I put walking on my main priority list and tried and tried and tried again. Yet, I haven't been able to do it as I faceplanted more times than I can count. Most babies learned how to walk before the age of two. In fact, I learned how to walk before being a year old in my former life. So what the hell is wrong with me?

"After observing you for two whole years, I believe I know the problem is," Ethos informed.

Huh? Does he know what's wrong with me? Does he know why my legs don't move the way I want them to? 

"I believe you are generally good at adapting to new scenarios. It's a very important trait for martial artists to possess. Therefore, if this problem was one you could fix by properly acclimating to your new body, you would have done it a long time ago." Ethos said long-windedly yet felt uplifting in some form. "However, I believe it is that adaptability of yours that paradoxically stuck you further into this rut," he advised.

I was incredibly confused by his cryptic explanation, "I really don't understand what you're talking about. Could you simplify it even more?" I requested.

"Simply speaking, your soul and body are disconnected," he said. "The circumstances surrounding your reincarnation are unique," he added. "In particular, it has to do with your soul originally being from Mada."

He stated that he was going to speak in more simple terms, but I am still as confused as I was before. Actually, I probably have even more questions than before. Regardless, he continued. "Once you accepted the reality of your reincarnation. You probably believed that you are now a being indigenous to the world you found yourself in and retroactively accepted that you are no longer a Mausida when in fact, it is more like 50/50." His speech was beginning to get tediously lengthy and I received no level of comprehension to justify his long-windedness. 

Ethos knew that he wasn't getting anywhere with me, so he tried to change it up. "Fine, I will offer you some of my wisdom," he claimed. "The world you now live in is called Mera, a planet adjacent to Mada. The people of Mera are called Meridians. Mera is made up of 17 nations split into 5 continents. Right now, you live in Liberos, the land of freedom, within the continent of Disgaea," he said in rapid-fire barraging me with torrents of information. 

"Thanks for the lesson, so how does that help me with my walking dilemma?" I asked.

"It was necessary so I could explain that you have forsaken yourself as a Mausida and had embraced your new self as a Meridian" he explained. "However, 50% of yourself proudly remains that of a Mausida due to the unique properties of your soul!" His explanations were starting to make a little bit of sense. "Think about it, you were pretty comfortable resting with your new body when you were reborn. Considering how much smaller your limbs were. wouldn't you think that's strange?" he added. He's right, it did feel like I was still in my former body after I was reborn. Maybe that's why my hand-eye coordination was so out of whack, let alone coordinating my legs.  

"Phantom limbs" he briefly mentioned. "It's a psychological effect where you still feel your missing limbs. In your case, you have a special Mausida variation of Todd's syndrome. Since you still feel like you're in your former body, your limb coordination is at a disconnect with your current baby body. Eventually, that disconnect will lessen once you grow older and reach similar proportions to your former body. However, it would be embarrassing to finally be able to walk once you become 8 years old don't you think?"  

He's right, it would condemn my pride and reputation. However, it's not like I have a choice about this matter. I'm in between a rock and a hard place. 

"Thankfully, I have a solution," Ethos declared.

"Really? What do you suggest?" I asked.

Ethos looked at me with a smile.

 "You will need to enter your virtual state."