Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
For the outside world, Same was a terrifyingly quiet, exceptionally brilliant, and obedient toddler. For Same, these three years were a rigorous, self-imposed boot camp. Because of his perfect comprehension, he didn't just learn to walk and talk; he learned to perfectly control every single muscle fiber, nerve, and tendon in his body. By age two, he had secretly mapped out the entire anatomy of the human body and began experimenting with the strange energy he had sensed on the day of his birth.
He discovered that Earth was bathed in a diluted form of cosmic energy. Humans—the so-called 49th race—were mostly oblivious to it, save for a hidden echelon of society.
His father was one of them.
Same sat on the plush carpet of their heavily guarded mansion's library, pretending to play with building blocks. In reality, he was eavesdropping on a conversation happening behind a closed door down the hall. His hearing, already pushing past normal human limits, picked up his father's gruff, stressed voice.
"The rifts are expanding," his father was saying, his tone laced with exhaustion. "The Vanguard is losing ground in the Third Sector. If those beings from the Higher Realms push through, it won't just be isolated skirmishes anymore. It will be a full-scale invasion."
Same stacked a red block on top of a blue one. Vanguard? Rifts? Higher Realms? So that was his father's 'work'. The rough clothing, the constant absences, the terrifying aura he sometimes leaked—his father was a warrior on the front lines of a secret war defending their world.
"We need more time," a second, unfamiliar voice replied. "The ancient fossils are refusing to intervene. They're still spooked by whatever that cosmic gaze was three years ago. They think a Supreme Being has its eyes set on Earth."
Same smirked, accidentally crushing the wooden block in his tiny hand into fine sawdust.
Oops. His physical strength was breaking its limits faster than he anticipated.
That 'cosmic gaze' was the Eye, and by extension, him. The very phenomenon of his birth had inadvertently bought humanity a three-year ceasefire by terrifying the hidden monsters of the universe into hiding. But a ceasefire wasn't a victory. And Same knew that in this mysterious "game" the Eye had thrown him into, playing defensively was a losing strategy.
He dusted the sawdust off his palms and stood up, his eyes flashing with the faint, spectral image of a floating crown that only appeared when he channeled the cosmic energy. It was time to stop playing with blocks and start preparing for the game.