<h4>Chapter 202: Not A Child, But Weapon</h4>
Jason’s POV
Raven looked at her as if asking what she meant. It was Raven’s good quality that he wouldn’t ignore a new person once he was assured they weren’t entirely strangers to us.
"I mean, though you do not like to y here, what do you think is the most interesting thing around?" I asked, as if having a normal chat with him.
Raven’s gaze moved to the chessboard, but I said, "Don’t say chess. I saw you ying earlier. Tell me something else you see here. Umm... like, when I was your age, I used to y on the swing. You see this mark on my chin? I got hurt after falling from it, but it was still my favorite."
Raven looked at the mark on I’s chin, and she asked, "So which one for you?"
Raven’s gaze once more moved and then settled on the huge blocks that were arranged in order toplete the puzzle. We understood his answer, but I asked, "Which one?"
This time he pointed towards it. A reaction instead of a silent stare.
"So you do like brainstorming things," I concluded. "What about sliders and swings? Don’t you want to try them?"
He looked at her, as if her question didn’t make a sense to him.
I observed him for a moment, keeping that pleasant smile on her lips. "I know you have never tried it, but you should. Aren’t you curious how it feels to y there? Trust me, it’s real fun."
In response, he looked at me.
"I think I is right," I told him. "And you are free to do whatever you want to. Go ahead."
He got down from the bench and walked toward the ying area. Just as we thought he would go to the fun activity section, he went to that puzzle blocks where no one was ying, and started to solve it.
I stood up. She didn’t look surprised at all.
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"What do you think?" I asked I.
"Mind trained to follow the strict rules, even the body reflexes, submissive, trained to always ask for permission, decision-making ability almost destroyed..." I continued to recount her observation as I listened silently, both of us watching him.
"He wasn’t born mute," I added.
"When you have no right to ask questions, not allowed to resist, you are lonely, restrictions and strict rules bury you under—then one day you give up and choose to follow only to keep the peace of your mind," she said. "And then therees the day your brain is infused with it to the extent it bes normal for you.
"In Raven’s case, I am sure he didn’t even have anyone to talk with other than the ones appointed to train him, with whom he had nothing to talk about. Simply following those fixed rules became the way for him to live, which left nothing for him to talk about. More like a robot infused with a certain fixed program."
"Why would they turn him this way?" I asked. "They could just let him live like a normal kid."
"A good future weapon which asks no questions but only knows how to obey," I answered—and now it hit me.
For them, he wasn’t a child, but a living weapon.
The damn wicked people. Raven was a pureblood and would possess powers. They were preparing him as a weapon?
"It’s nothing new, isn’t it?" I asked.
"Yes, they are sold as ves, abused and broken, and then raised to be a weapon—like dead ones only breathing and following orders," I told her. "But I’ve never seen someone raised like Raven, like someone royal and sophisticated. Seems like these people have changed their ways."
I thought for a while and replied, "Perhaps this weapon is well nned and raised to fulfill a certain fixed purpose."
Her words made sense. "The way the deal was made even before he was born, I can only agree with you."
The revtions we are getting these days clearly pointed towards something big being nned long before, involving Eira and our pack.
"And, the mute ones do not reveal the secrets," I added.
"So we can say, he was purposely raised to be mute," I concluded.
I hummed. "The kind of well nned, psychological maniption and silent torture he had been through, you can only imagine."
<i>The bastards will pay for it. </i>
"Is there a chance we can change him?" I asked.
"He is just a kid whose brain is still developing," she said. "Just like they infused those things in his mind, we can always add our and change him. As they say, kids are like y that we can mold as we want. The key is always patience."
I hummed in agreement. "We will do everything we can. But, will he talk?"
"He is not mute, he just needs a reason to talk," I said.
"When we try to make him talk, he prefers silence over responding to us," I exined, "and in the end we have to give in to him."
She smiled lightly. "It will take time. But before that, your first challenge is to make him smile andugh, or maybe cry. Talkinges after that. Smiling andughing are instinctive, and one can’t stop if something is there to trigger that instinct in them. Crying will shake his stilled emotions.
"Let’s take babies—they smile,ugh, and cry first. So you have to start from the basics here. You need to make him hear his own voice and let him know his throat is not idle and he can feel emotions. Then slowly he wille around.
"Right now he is like a crisp, perfectly ironed, unstained, good-quality nk white sheet. We have to fill it with different colors to turn it into a beautiful painting."
I understood what she meant and hummed again.
Raven had finished already and was returning to us.
"This kid is a genius, and far ahead of the kids of his age," Imented. "I am sure his gene purity is of the highest ranking."
"We will know after Liam has done some tests," I told her.
Raven returned to us and we headed back. On the way, I asked I about Eira.
"There are positive changes in her, and she is doing better than I had expected," I said. "Having her wolf is like a miracle for her body and mind, so we should thank her wolf."
It was a relief to know it. I could only wish the best for her.