《The Dark Region》
Book One: Prologue/First Chapter
Prologue
Year 562 of the New Era, 5th day of Quearthe
The sky was a musky grey, the land barren. A small scorpion scurried across the ground. There was not a single bird in the sky. There was a small oasis close by, and a giant mine. To the right of the mine, a single building was in sight. In the distance, a man and woman, carrying a small bundle of cloth slowly approached the building.
¡°Are you sure this is the best thing we can do, my wife?¡± the man asked, looking to the side to see the face of his beloved.
The woman was thin, pale, and had exceptionally dark hair, but the strangest thing in her appearance was her eyes, which were a bright, pale blue hue. The woman slowly walked up to the doorstep of the building and gently set down the bundle of cloth in front of the building, and then turned around, and walked away from the building and the bundle of cloth.
¡°Jorlath, if we take this child with us, it will die in the first 3 years. The child was not born with the ability to practice the spiritual arts, its meridians were crippled. We cannot take a cripple with us,¡± The woman stated clearly. ¡°I want to take our child with us, but where we are going, unless he can pass the Mortal stages of the spiritual arts, and become an immortal, we will be unable to care for him and take him with us.¡±
Jorlath thought about what his wife was saying, and decided that she was probably right, but he still had a few questions pestering his thoughts.
¡° Xarlethe, couldn¡¯t you just heal his wounds?¡± Jorlath questioned his wife. ¡°You are a Deity, after all.¡±
¡°Jorlath, you know as well as I do that the Deities are not allowed to mess around with humans as we want.¡± Xarlethe criticized Jorlath harshly. ¡°If I could heal him, do you think I would leave little Raize here in the middle of nowhere?¡±
Jorlath lowered his head in shame. He now understood, and felt ashamed that he had not realized it earlier.
¡°Lets leave then, Xarlethe. We can¡¯t let your enemies find out about our child.¡± Jorlath started to slowly walk away from the building. Xarlethe followed him at a short distance away.
As they left, the doors to the building were opened, and out stepped an old woman, dressed in an ugly green dress. As she walked outside, she saw the small bundle of cloth on the ground. She slowly started to unwrap the cloth and found a small baby inside the cloth with a single note with it.
The note said ¡°His name is Raize, and he is 1 month old.¡±
4 years later. Year 566 of the New Era. The 24th day of Xarlethe
A little boy in a deep dark hole, with no light whatsoever, and a pickaxe that weighs twice as much as him. The little boy was slowly attacking the rocks in front of him with a pickaxe, chipping the rock and putting it in a sack on the little boys back.
The little boy had started the job 2 years before, because the lady in charge of his orphanage needed to replace a boy who was killed in a tunnel collapse. The little boy was unlucky, because he was a cripple who could not channel spiritual energy, so no one wanted to be around him, and the headmistress of the orphanage loved to torment him. Plus, the government didn¡¯t care about him at all because he was a cripple, so the headmistress could get away with whatever she wanted to do to him, even murdering him.
So, because of his very unlucky birth defect, he was forced to become a miner until he died, turned 13, or got adopted. But who would want a child soaked in sweat and soot?
The little boy continued to strike the stones for a couple more hours, before he heard a girl call his name.
¡°Raize, the headmistress wants you, and she is really angry."
Raize started climbing out of his mining tunnel. When he got out, he stood up and looked at the girl in front of him.
"Thank you for telling me, Eliza. And thank you for being nice." Raize thanked her meaningfully, bowed to her to show his thankfulness, and then ran off to see what the headmistress wanted him for.
Chapter One: The Orphanage
Raize ran through the desert to get to the orphanage. The desert was quite barren, with no seeable life around. The only thing that was above the sand was a building. The building looked awful, like it was about to tear down. On the walls, the paint was peeling and the wood was all rotten. It definitely was not going to survive for much longer.
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As Raize ran to the front door of the orphanage, he slowed down when he saw something shiny in the sand to the north. He slowly walked up to the shiny thing and picked it up. He looked closely, inspecting every side before coming to a conclusion on what it was.
¡°Its a copper coin!¡± He was so excited. He had never had money of his own. All the money he knew about was because of the headmistress receiving money to take care of the orphanage. He quickly hid the coin in his pocket afraid that someone would see him with it and would tell the headmistress.
¡°If the headmistress finds out i have this copper coin, she will take it from me, and then I will get a lot more chores because of hiding this coin from her.¡± the little boy had thought very hard about what to do. He had had to grow up fast because he was hated and abused by everyone in the orphanage, but he was most abused by the headmistress. She despised him so much that whenever she was angry, he was the one she took it out on, even if it was a different child¡¯s fault. Because of that, all the children thought they could get away with doing anything, which led to the predicament he was going to have to deal with today.
Raize walked into the orphanage and looked around, trying to find out where the headmistress was. Inside the building was almost the same as the outside, except that the wood was not as rotten, but the paint was peeling even more here. All around the floor was random vermin traps, so they all had to watch where they were walking. If they stepped on one, it could break their tiny little foot, and the headmistress would be so stressed that she would give everyone even more chores. The children had found this out the hard way, when Eliza had gotten her foot broken. She had a limp ever since then.
When Raize found out that the headmistress was in her study with all of the other children, Raize got extremely worried. The headmistress only called in all the children when something big was going to or had already happened.
Raize knocked gently on the door. ¡°Come in, Raize,¡± an awful, scratchy voice called out. Raize gently opened the door, walked in, and closed the door behind him. He knew that if he left the door open, the headmistress would get angry at him.
In the headmistress''s room, there were 9 children, the headmistress, and Raize. The children were all lined up by age. Claire, the oldest, is 12 years old, and is an F¨¡r¨¨n Level 5 Cultivator. Next in the line was Ethain. He is 11, and is an F¨¡r¨¨n Level 3 Cultivator. After Ethain was the troubled triplets. The three troublemakers Rin, Weir, and Yaul. All three are 9 years old, and they are also F¨¡r¨¨n Level 3. After them is Elaine. Elaine is a kindhearted girl, who cares about everyone. She is 6 years old, and was not a cultivator, though she did have the talent for it. After Elaine is John, Stephanie, and Reathe. All three are 5 years old, and F¨¡r¨¨n Level 2. Eliza, the headmistress¡¯s favorite, was not here. Eliza is 8 years old, but she had the farthest cultivation level at F¨¡r¨¨n Level 8 Cultivator.
With Cultivators, all stages were separated by 12 levels. First was the F¨¡r¨¨n stage, where their powers showed up, after they practiced and got used to the power, they would become a Z¨¥ng Cultivator, where they would create a ¡°power heart¡±. The power heart was the center of all their power, and if destroyed, would cripple them, and make it so that they couldn¡¯t cultivate any more. After the Z¨¥ng stage was the D¨¤z¨¬r¨¢n stage. The D¨¤z¨¬r¨¢n cultivators would explode their power heart, and create a Dantian, which would store their power and make them a true cultivator.
Cultivators had a longer lifespan than normal humans. F¨¡r¨¨n stage cultivators could live from 100-150 years, while Z¨¥ng stage cultivators could live for over 200 years! D¨¤z¨¬r¨¢n stage cultivators had the great gift of being able to live for over 500 years!
When Raize had heard about cultivators, he had been extremely excited and asked the headmistress if he could become a cultivator. That was the day his dreams got crushed. The headmistress had laughed in his face and told him that he had crippled meridians, and would be lucky to live past the age of 80. Raize had been extremely saddened and had ran away for a few hours.He returned after that because the desert was too big for a small child to run through, and the nearest town was 20 miles away. That was the day that Raize was sent to the mine.
Raize gently walked up to the line and went to his spot at the very end. Raize was the youngest at the orphanage, at the age of 4. Raize was crippled at birth, so he had no ability to practice the spiritual arts.
When Raize got to his spot, the headmistress started to explain why everyone was there. ¡°A big event is happening in 3 days, and many of you know what it is. Adoption day. The day when we will be visiting the village and they will be able to choose a child out of you few children.¡±
All the children were getting hyped up. Adoption day! The day that they could get their freedom from this awful orphanage. On adoption day, the price for a kid lowered by half, and most parents could afford to get a child, so on adoption day, the adults would go through the kids and pick the best child and auction who would get them.
While all the children were getting excited, the headmistress continued talking. ¡°You all need to get ready for this, and you all better be on your best behavior. Dismissed. Go pack up and get ready, we leave tomorrow afternoon.¡±
All the children started to leave, but suddenly the headmistress called out once again. ¡°Raize, I need to speak with you for a second. Stay here.¡±
Raize froze. He knew that something was wrong. The headmistress only called on him when she was angry or had more chores for him to do.
¡° Raize, in order to come with us, I need you to finish your 14 hours in the tunnel. If you cannot finish them, you will have to stay here and add an extra 73 hours onto your time.¡± The headmistress explained to Raize.
¡°Yes, Headmistress, I understand. I will do as much work as possible to be able to come.¡± Raize told the headmistress.
Raize really wanted to go, so he didn¡¯t mind finishing his 14 hours of mining. In fact, he even planned on sleeping in the mine so that he would be able to get all the hours done. When the headmistress dismissed him, Raize ran back to the mine, and when he got there, he saw Eliza was still standing next to his mining hole.
¡°Raize, the headmistress wanted me to tell you that you have to return to the orphanage by 23:20, and that you can only continue mining at 6:10. That is all.¡± Elize stated what was meant to be said, and then left.
Raize stared in shock. ¡°Right now is about 10:00, so I have about 13 hours today, and then i will have about 6 hours tomorrow, and that is including time to eat, pack, and get changed. I will have to hurry up.¡±
Raize could tell that the headmistress did not want Raize to be able to go to adoption day, but he was still going to try to go.
Book One: Second Chapter/Third Chapter
Raize ran back into the mine to finish his assigned time. He started his descent. As he was going down, he scanned around, trying to see if anything had changed while he had been gone.
In his mining tunnel, it was really empty. There was a ladder that went down about 60 meters. Surrounding the ladder was a 2 meter empty space and around that was rock. When he hit the bottom, there was a pickaxe, miners helmet, a jacket, and a little bit of food. The tunnel that was 60 meters underground was pretty small. It was about 1.5 meters tall, and 2 meters wide. Raize was only about 1 meter tall, so he fit fine in the tunnel, but most older kids couldn¡¯t fit in the tunnel.
Raize liked it down in the tunnel. It was a lot better than in the orphanage. In the orphanage, all the children were expected to do something to help sustain it. Cleaning up the orphanage, Doing the laundry, washing the dishes, and fixing the walls were just a few of the jobs.
Before Raize became a miner, his job was to do the dishes. All the children had hated him then too. Everyone, except for Eliza. All the children had tried to push their duties onto Raize¡¯s shoulders, and he got blamed by the headmistress if he didn¡¯t get the jobs done.
So when Raize was sent to the mine, he was ecstatic. Miners did not have to work in the orphanage, and they had a special room right outside of their tunnels to sleep and eat in. The headmistress had thought that Raize would start begging to be allowed back into the orphanage, but after two weeks of silence, found out that he was enjoying it.
She would have made Raize come back to the orphanage, if she had had the power to, but once an orphan becomes a miner, it was their only job until they got adopted, or they turned 13.
13 is the age of adulthood in the nation that Raize lives in. When an orphan turns 13, they either become a miner for the nation, and get sent to the Northern Wushack Mines for 9 years, or they get sent to the army to be a soldier for 6 years. After the time period is up, they are free to do whatever they want, but generally, they tend to stick to being a miner or soldier, because thats all they know how to do.
Raize didn¡¯t want to be stuck as a miner or soldier for the rest of his life, so he was trying his hardest to get his time finished in the mine so that he could go to adoption day in the city.
Raize picked up his jacket, put it on along with the helmet, grabbed the pickaxe, and journeyed down the tunnel. Inside the tunnel, it was pitch black. A normal person couldn¡¯t see anything, and torches cost money or hours to buy. Miners could work more hours for the ability to get better equipment. But Raize didn¡¯t need a torch. Ever since Raize could remember, he could see in the darkness. He could also see miles away, and he was exceedingly good at pickpocketing.
Pickpocketing had become a necessity for Raize. He was required to purchase his own food, equipment, and everything else that was needed. That was why he had to finish up the 14 hours of mining. He only had 14 hours left of mining before he was able to start collecting money from mining. With mining, it was a different type of industry. If he found anything of value, he was able to get 30% of the price of the item/ mineral found. If he found coal, he was allowed to keep it to use as he desired. All miners were given 5 coppers per hour as their wage.
Money was separated into 4 different groupings. There were the coppers, which were small copper coins that were small currency. After the coppers were the silver squares. The silver squares were shaped into a small square, and was the standard pocket change of the rich. After the silver squares were the golden nuggets. The golden nuggets were small round spheres of gold used as big currency. The final type of currency was an exotic type. They were cores.
Cores are spheres that hold an animal¡¯s, beast¡¯s, or demon¡¯s cultivation progress. The higher the level, the more expensive they were. Cores were really hard to find, because the cores only appeared in beasts and demons that were level 8 Awakening Cultivator or higher, and a level 1 Dajran Cultivator. The cores were really hard to get, but sometimes you could find cores in the mines because of a dead beasts, animals, or demons corpse.
When Raize was 3 and a half years old, he was sent to the mines. That was when he learned to pickpocket. At first, he only was good for about a fourth of the time, now he could pickpocket almost anyone, and they basically never noticed they were robbed. He had some strange skills, but he could use them really well.
Raize looked for the spot that he was working on when Eliza had called him up.
¡°There it is. Oh Eliza, we both know that you hate me now, why do you pretend to like me?¡±
Raize said to himself, moving to the area that he was working on last.
Eliza was always saying nice things to him and about him when he was around, so Raize was very grateful to her. He had even thought that she was his only friend. Then he heard the real Eliza. She didn¡¯t know that Raize was right around the corner, and she was talking about how much she loathed being around him. She hated him, and wished that he didn¡¯t exist. Raize finally understood that while she didn¡¯t like him, she still tried to be nice to him, but his heart had become frozen to all the people at the orphanage from that day onwards.
Raize started mining. As he repeatedly hit the rock, he started listening to the rhythm.
Clack. Clack. Clack
The sound continued.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Raize started to think about what it would be like to be adopted by someone, and what it would be like to get a home. He really wanted to be adopted at this adoption day, because adoption day only happened once every two years, and people loved talented kids and really young kids.
But while Raize was thinking about getting adopted into a family, he thought about the other possibility. There were other types of people looking to adopt. Rich families that were looking for young servants, slave merchants that wanted to have slaves to sell to the next town, and the army that was looking for children that could receive special training to become a special part of the army. Raize was questioning whether or not he would be chosen by one of the groups that he did not want to be a part of. But all he could do was hope.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Raize was getting tired. He had been mining for quite a few hours, and had even found quite a few ores. In this mine, all of the mine belonged to the mayor of the city that hosted adoption day. The city was called Naupal. All the ore was given to a guard that appeared by the mines in the morning, and he paid the miners.
Clack. Clack. Ting. Ting.
Raize suddenly startled out of his sleepy state and looked to see what the pickaxe was hitting against. He saw glowing, rounded metal. He picked back up the pickaxe and started mining gently around it. As he mined it out, he saw more and more of it. When he had gotten it completely uncovered, he found out it was a small gauntlet, about the size of a child¡¯s hand.
Raize pulled out the glove and examined it. On the glove, there were 4 jewels slotted into the gauntlet. The gauntlet was strange, with the jewels being 4 different colors: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. It was also fingerless. Raize slipped it on to see how it fit, and it fit him like it was created for him. The gauntlet was striped all the way down, and the 4 jewels started at the top of the back of the hand, and went down to the middle of the arm. The gauntlet was for the right hand.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Raize started mining around the area where he found the gauntlet, but he couldn¡¯t find anymore armor that seemed to go with it. The strangest thing was, though, was that he found extremely expensive ore all around where he found the gauntlet.
After Raize finished looking for more armor pieces, investigating and probing the glove, and mining, he tried to take off the gauntlet, but it wouldn¡¯t come off. It was stuck on him, attached to him. He couldn¡¯t figure out how to take it off, so he decided to leave it on for the moment. Raize gathered all the ore into a single area, and then packed it up, and set off for his special room.
¡°Today, I worked 10 hours.¡±
Raize praised himself. He was so glad that he was more than halfway done, and that there was only 4 hours left that was needed to work. And on top of that, he had gotten all of the precious ores that were almost never found. Raize felt extremely lucky. Lucky, except for one thing.
¡°Why can¡¯t i get this stupid gauntlet off?¡±
Raize started grumbling to himself. He didn¡¯t want the gauntlet on, because he knew that he could sell it for, most likely, more than the precious ores. If the gauntlet could come off, he would be striking it rich, and could purchase himself.
In the orphanage, There was adoption day, and there was the your 13th birthday, and those were normally the only days that you could get out of the orphanage. But there was another, not as well known option. To purchase a count title. A count title would give you the right to a servant to take care of you, and it would give you a few km of land. It would make it so that you would not need to worry about the army or mining. The only problem with purchasing a count title, is that it costs 45 Silver Squares.
Copper Coins are the common amount that is earned by common people. So to get Silver Squares is extremely difficult. The distribution is separated evenly. 1000 Coppers = 100 Silver = 1 Gold. 10 Copper Coins is equal to 1 Silver Square. In order to get a count title, you would need 450 Coppers, which would take 90 years for a regular miner wage. So, it is normally impossible to purchase a count title.
Raize was really hoping that he had enough to purchase a count title. But even if he didn¡¯t, he would still be able to go to adoption day. Raize got to his room, and dropped off the ores into the bucket to give to the guard that would come by. After he did that, he got out of his mining suit, and then laid onto his cot of hay and went to sleep.
. . .
The sun set slowly in a large city. Men and women were running to get inside their homes, to avoid the curfew. After all the people disappeared, a man, dressed in all black, came out onto the road. He started to walk down the road, and started humming to himself. But, as soon as a guard appeared, the man jumped into the dark alleys, and waited for the guard to pass by.
After getting about 300 meters away from where he started down the road, the man jumped into an extremely dark alley. In the alley, there were many people who were homeless. The man passed by them all. The people were starved, thin, and were all diseased in some way, but the man paid no attention to them, and just went on, not even glancing at them.
After walking about 10 meters, he stopped, and turned right. In front of him was a wall. He walked up to the wall and knocked in a set sequence.
Knock. Knock Knock Knock. Knock Knock. Knock.
The man took a step back from the wall. After waiting for a bit, the wall suddenly opened to reveal a tall man.
¡°Password?¡± The tall man asked.
¡°Regent Archer¡± The man in black answered.
¡°They have been waiting for you, Ra¡¯thar.¡±
¡°I know, Zedachi.¡±
Raize awoke suddenly. As he got up from his cot, he questioned what he had just seen.
¡°Who are Ra¡¯thar and Zedachi?¡± He asked himself, but he couldn¡¯t get any ideas about who they were. He started to get up as he thought about it. ¡°Probably just a strange dream. Its not like it matters or anything.¡± As he got up, he looked down at his right hand. The gauntlet was still there, and nothing had changed about it.
Raize was really worried about what everyone would think about it when they saw it.
¡°I wish it looked like an extremely worn out leather glove. Then people wouldn¡¯t worry about it as much.¡± As Raize said that, he stared at the gauntlet. As he continued to examine it, he got dressed and prepared to start mining again for the day.
After he finished getting dressed, he grabbed the big bag of ores, and took them to where the guard was. The guard¡¯s name was Erthan, and he was the only one that actually was truly kind to Raize. Erthan had been in an orphanage growing up, and he was the one that everyone hated, so Erthan tried to help Raize, and to take care of him.
Erthan was already at his post when Raize got there. Erthan was sitting, right next to a table, devoid of anything except a book, a pile of scrolls, a quill, and ink. Raize dropped off the bag onto the table, and then sat on the bench across from Erthan.
¡°I see you¡¯ve brought even more ores today, Raize. You have been doing really well in the mine.¡±
Erthan complemented Raize heartily. He loved to complement everybody for doing good work. As Erthan was grinning, he looked down and saw the gauntlet on Raize¡¯s arm.
¡°Um, Raize, you know that you have to give everything that you find to the owners of the mine, and that you can¡¯t keep anything? If you do, and it is found out, you can be executed, and I don¡¯t want that to happen.¡± Erthan tried to coax Raize into giving him the gauntlet.
Raize responded grumbling, ¡°If you want the gauntlet, take it off. I would, but i got it stuck on my arm yesterday, and it hasn¡¯t come off since.¡± Raize lifted up his hand and put it across the table, in front of Erthan. Erthan lightly grabbed Raize¡¯s arm with one hand, and the gauntlet with the other. Erthan started pulling. He started gently at first, but seeing that the gauntlet wasn¡¯t coming off, he started pulling harder and harder, until Raize couldn¡¯t stand the pain of his arm getting pulled any more.
¡°STOP! IT HURTS, IT HURTS!¡± Raize yelled out, crying helplessly. Erthan, upon seeing Raize in tears, immediately stopped.
¡°Damn, sorry kid, I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you. But you are right, the gauntlet seems to have become attached to you. I wonder, could it be ¡.. No, there¡¯s no way it could be that.¡±
¡°What Erthan? What couldn¡¯t it be?¡± Raize was extremely curious about what Erthan was talking to himself about.
¡°Well Raize, out in the outside world, there are a type of armors called Cursed armor pieces. They immediately bond on contact with any human, animal, or beast. They tend to be harmful to the owner of the armor, leeching out blood, spiritual energy, or other things out of your body. They are parasitic beings that feed off of our kind. I¡¯m really starting to believe that the gauntlet you are wearing is a cursed gauntlet, but I would need to take you to a magician for that.¡±
Magicians were fairly hard to find. They were followers of a different path of Spiritual Arts. They were the Magical Arts. They led to the same place as the normal spiritual artists, but they tended to have special abilities, and specialized in far ranged fights. Magicians also could inspect items that had special abilities too. If you had an item that you wanted identified, they would identify it, and then send you off with a scroll of the abilities of the item, and what type of item it was, like a common spoon, or a magical spoon of the half-elves.
Raize shook his head, sadly exclaiming, ¡°I don¡¯t have any money to pay for a magician, plus I have to worry about saving money for the trip that the orphanage is having to get to adoption day.¡±
Raize was extremely saddened that he had a cursed gauntlet, but what he was most sad about was how expensive magicians were. Usually it was 3 gold per identification, and that was considered cheap.
¡°It¡¯s completely understandable, Raize. Now, let¡¯s see what types of ores you have here.¡± Erthan pulled the bag closer to him. ¡°Hmm, well , I see that you found more iron. I also see some silver, gold, and¡¡. WHAT THE ****, How did you find Moonlight Tigerstone? And you also found Vermilion Sunstone, Phoenix Fire Ruby, and the Turquoise Turtlestone? All these together, you are one rich man. The Tigerstone alone is 14 gold pieces for you, combined with all the others, you have 76 gold, 60 Silver and 3 Coppers. You are rich now, Raize.¡±
Raize was dumbfounded. He thought that he would probably get, if he was lucky, a few gold nuggets, but he never expected 76 of them. As he accepted the money, he started counting. After he counted, he found that he only had 43 gold, 52 Silvers, and 7 Coppers.
¡°You had a deduction from the total because of the count title, price for the mining equipment, and for the trip to the city. You are a Count now kid, the only child from an orphanage to become a count. I¡¯m proud of you, kid.¡±
Raize was ecstatic. He was finally free from all of the hassles of living in the orphanage, and having to work in the mines. He was completely free. Erthan handed him a scroll that told him what it meant to be a count. Raize speed read it all and then signed his name at the bottom. Raize and all the children at the orphanage had learned to read and write, so it was fairly simple for Raize to read and sign the document.
After Raize signed the document, he was given a surname, and a seal ring. The seal ring was a ring that had the family seal that belonged to his new family. His surname was a simple one.
Diviano.
In the language of the Southern Region, Diviano was the meaning of another word.
¡°Catalyst¡±.
Book One: Fourth Chapter/Fifth Chapter
After the long, but happy, talk with Erthan, Raize ran to his ¡°room¡±. Raize was so excited. He was finally free. Free from all of the troubles that had plagued his heart. Free from all the people in the orphanage that didn¡¯t want him around. He was free from everything. He could finally have a nice life in a real village, and not have to go to a mine everyday.
While Raize was freaking out about how happy he was, Erthan was in his office, as pale as a ghost. ¡°Why him, why did Raize have to get cursed with this? Why couldn¡¯t it have been one of the other damn kids? The only one I didn¡¯t want it to happen to was Raize. Is this karma for all the things that I have done? Is this because of my lifestyle? But why torture the kid for it? Or did he do something too?¡±
Erthan was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door.
¡°Come in.¡± Erthan said, fixing his composure and removing all emotion from his face. The orphanage headmistress walked in.
¡°What did you want me for, Erthan. Why send a kid for me, and a kid other than Raize, at that. I know that he is your favorite, but why¡¡±
¡°Raize has been cursed. He has the gauntlet.¡± Erthan¡¯s pale complexion suddenly reappeared.
¡°Oh god, no. Why that kid? Why would the Deities curse that little kid even more now?¡± The headmistress became even paler than Erthan.
The headmistress had been rude and evil to Raize, but it was all an act. She had been trying to get him to stay away from the other kids because of his disabilities, so that they wouldn¡¯t hurt him. She did it in a strange way, but she really cared about him. Partly because she knew who his parents were. The headmistress was a cultivator, and a special type at that. She followed the path of Visionary. She was a type of seer. So she knew who Raize¡¯s parents were, and where he came from. She knew everything about him. Everything, but the secrets that surrounded the glove.
¡°I believe it is because of his mother. She was not a loved person in the Upper Kingdom. If I had to guess, they think she left him here because she was planning to come back to get him, but we know that she is never coming back.¡± Erthan stood up and started to pace around the office. The headmistress continued to stand still, but if you looked closely, you would see that she was shivering rather fiercely.
¡°Take him to your band of thieves, Ra¡¯thar. It¡¯s the only way that he will be able to survive.¡± The headmistress used Erthan¡¯s other name.
¡°Elaina, you know that we can¡¯t do that. The wearer of the gauntlet should be a warrior, or a knight, not a common thief.¡± Erthan/Ra¡¯thar rejected the idea almost immediately. ¡°And you know as well as I do that you aren¡¯t allowed to use that name anywhere around here.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Erthan, but I don¡¯t know what else to do. I called you here because of the kid, and I hurt his heart and body so much so he would become the perfect follower of your beliefs, but now you need him to follow a different set of beliefs? It won¡¯t work. He won¡¯t want to help the world, not when the world has done all this to him. He hates the world, Erthan, and we did it all. Maybe that¡¯s why the Deities chose him, so that the world would die.
Elaina and Erthan stood silently, trying to find out what to do.
. . .
A few hours after the discussion between Erthan and Elaina, all the children was gathered by the front door of the orphanage. They were waiting for headmistress Elaina to get ready.
¡°Hey Raize, where do you think you¡¯re going?¡± Ethain mocked Raize, and then walked up to him and took his pack. ¡°You don¡¯t need this, how about I take it and keep ahold of it¡. Whoops, looks like I lost it.¡± After Ethain took Raize¡¯s bag, he threw it into the mine, and then pretended that it was an accident.
¡°Ethain, shut the hell up.¡± Raize screamed at him. Raize had finally snapped. After having to deal with all of the children in the orphanage making fun and bullying him, he had finally gotten a way out, but he had finally been pushed as far as he could. Raize pulled up his hand wearing the gauntlet and punched Ethain in the face.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
All the children were shocked. Raize had always stayed quiet when they bullied him, and he never put up any resistance. They had never expected him to finally snap and punch Ethain in the face.
Ethain let out a bloodcurdling scream. ¡°You broke my nose, you piece of shit!¡± He ran at Raize.
Raize froze. He was so scared, he didn¡¯t know what to do. He just watched as Ethain ran up to him and grabbed his neck, and threw him into the wall of the orphanage. The wall collapsed onto Raize.
The children were even more shocked now. Ethain was trying to kill Raize! This had never happened in the 5 years that Raize had been at the orphanage. Raize had always been quiet, and stayed in the back, away from everyone else. This was the first time he had ever done anything to get attention on him.
The headmistress ran outside soon after Raize was thrown into the wall. She had heard Ethain¡¯s scream, and came out to check out what was going on. As soon as she saw Ethain¡¯s broken nose, and Raize in the hole, she sucked in harshly.
¡°What happened?¡± The headmistress asked the other children, but none of them could answer, they were all too shocked. With that Ethain chose this moment to push himself into the limelight.
¡°Headmistress, Raize was trying to kill me. He ran at me for no reason, and punched me with that glove of¡. Wait, since when did Raize have a glove?¡± As Ethain started to complain, he realized that he had skipped noticing a minor detail which could have changed the outcome of the whole fight.
The headmistress started looking around. All the children were standing straight as a board, too shocked to move. They didn¡¯t even utter a word. She then looked at Raize, and pulled the little kid out of the wall. He had a broken arm, and his head was gently bleeding.
¡°Will Raize be okay?¡± Eliza was the first to get over the shock, but she was worried for Raize. She had always talked bad about him behind his back, but that was only because she didn¡¯t want the other children to be mean to her, just like how they were mean to Raize. It¡¯s not that she didn¡¯t like Raize, she just was more scared of how others would react to what she did.
¡°Raize will have some problems. His left arm is broken, but he should be fine. Now we need to leave soon, so Raize will be in the carriage with me. The rest of you, get ready.¡± The headmistress started preparing to leave.
¡°Wait!¡± Eliza screamed to the headmistress. ¡°Ethain threw Raize¡¯s bag into the mine.¡±
The headmistress paused for a second. ¡°Eliza, would you get Raize¡¯s bag and bring it to me? And Ethain, I think you might want to stay here and fix up that wall.¡±
Ethain froze, not even breathing. He had no idea what to say or do. It was always Raize who got picked on, not him.
¡°Go, you are not allowed to come to Adoption Day.¡± Everyone could see that the headmistress was serious.
¡°W-what a-about R-raize? He b-broke the w-wall too!¡± Ethain gathered up his courage and asked the headmistress.
¡°Raize is not under my jurisdiction anymore. He is now the son of Erthan.¡±
All the children started. They had never thought that the knight that was always at the orphanage would choose a cripple. But as they thought, they realized that Raize was always with him, and he would only talk nicely to Raize and the headmistress, so it made sense.
Erthan stepped out of the orphanage.
¡°Did I miss something? I heard my name called.¡±
¡°No Erthan, the children were just complaining and I decided that Ethain was not coming with us to Adoption Day. So nothing serious. Wait, maybe you should look at Raize. He was thrown into the wall.¡±
The headmistress explained the situation to Erthan, and then handed him Raize.
¡°He just has a broken arm and he has a small cut on his head, so I can just give him a Health Pill and he should be fine in a day or two. You should keep him in your carriage though, he won¡¯t be able to stress his muscles too much.¡±
Erthan looked at Raize, gave his synopsis of the situation, and then returned him to the headmistress.
The headmistress took Raize and put him in the carriage. Erthan then handed her a pill.
¡°Give that to him when he wakes up. He is going to need it if you want him to follow my group.¡±
¡°I know, I will make sure he takes it.¡±
Erthan and the headmistress then went their separate ways, Erthan to his horse, and the headmistress to her carriage. She hopped in, and then was handed a bag by Eliza.
¡°Here is Raize¡¯s bag. It took me a little to find it, but I did.¡±
The headmistress took Raize¡¯s bag, and then set it down next to Raize¡¯s unconscious body.
¡°Thank you Eliza, would you like to ride in the carriage with me? I need someone to watch over Raize.¡±
Eliza nodded enthusiastically. ¡°I would love to watch over him, headmistress.¡±
Eliza then proceeded to sit next to the headmistress. She closed the door to the carriage.
¡°We shall be off. Everyone, Lets go.¡±
The Journey has begun.
Book One: Chapter Six
3 days into the journey.
The children were tired. They had been walking all day, and then slept at night, and repeated it. They had been walking so much, that they didn¡¯t even know how much they had walked.
Meanwhile, in the carriage, Raize had awakened. The headmistress gave Raize the pill and had him swallow it. After he had taken the pill, the headmistress made a sling and put it on him.
¡°Try not to move your arm. It could cause the bones to heal in a strange way. And make sure to get more rest. You are going to need it, where you are going.¡± The headmistress made sure that Raize understood everything, and then left the carriage to check on the children.
After the headmistress left, Eliza scooted closer to Raize.
¡°How are you feeling, Raize? Are you okay?¡±
¡°I¡¯m fine, Eliza, you don¡¯t have to worry about me.¡±
¡°Yes, I do. You were thrown into a wall, and if the headmistress hadn¡¯t of gotten there sooner, you could¡¯ve died. I think I do need to worry about you.¡± Eliza was exasperated. Raize was acting as if nothing had happened, as if it was just a normal day. She didn¡¯t understand how he could act so lifeless.
¡°Eliza, I know you talk bad about me with the others. You don¡¯t have to stay around me if you don¡¯t like me. I don¡¯t need you to stay around me anymore. And I will be leaving with Erthan when we get there.¡±
Raize pushed Eliza away.
¡°I can¡¯t have you stay close to me. So just stay with the other kids in the orphanage, or just wait until you get adopted. You have such a nice personality, and you look nice, so i bet you will be picked almost immediately. So why don¡¯t you¡¡±
Eliza scooted closer to Raize and hugged him tight.
¡°I¡¯m sorry for talking bad about you with the other kids, but i just couldn¡¯t allow them to react badly to me. I¡¯m not mean to you when you are around because I don¡¯t want you to think badly of me. I really want you to stay with me. I really like to have you around. You are the only one who hasn¡¯t judged me on how the headmistress feels about me. All the other kids just want the headmistress to like them, so they are nice to me, but i know that they don¡¯t actually like me. Just please don¡¯t leave me.¡±
Raize was taken aback. He finally understood Eliza. She only cared about herself, and her own popularity. She only wanted someone who liked her because she was nice to them. She didn¡¯t care about Raize at all. She just wanted him to be around so that she would have someone who could make her feel good about herself.
Raize pushed her away again.
¡°Please stay away from me. I don¡¯t want you around me anymore. I don¡¯t think that you are a good person.¡±
Eliza was shocked. She had always been nice to Raize, and this was how he treated her, by saying that she was not a good person?
¡°How can you be so mean? After all the things I have done for you? I tried my hardest to be nice to you and yet...¡±
Eliza started to cry. Raize didn¡¯t know what to do. He had never been mean to someone before, and he had never caused a girl to cry. He usually wasn¡¯t even around the kids at the orphanage this long, unless it was because of a meeting that the headmistress had called. He had cried plenty of times, but he had never had anyone to cheer him up after it, so he had no idea what to do. And on top of that, he felt that she deserved it, but he still felt bad.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
¡°I¡¯m sorry Eliza. I didn¡¯t mean to be rude. I just feel that you have been using me. I didn¡¯t mean to make you cry.¡±
Eliza started to calm down. She started to think about what she had done, and started to realize that she had been using him to make herself feel better.
¡°You don¡¯t have to be sorry, Raize. I just realized that I have been using you. I am so sorry for that. I never thought that I was using you for myself, but I do know.¡±
After Eliza apologized to Raize, the carriage was quiet. It stayed that way for the next few minutes until the headmistress came in.
. . .
2 days later
The carriage and caravan of children came to a stop in front of a tavern. The journey had taken a toll on the children. They were all extremely tired from walking, and they were all soaked in sweat from the heat. After five days of hard walking, they had finally arrived at the city. Everyone was excited.
Raize, Eliza, and the headmistress exited the carriage, and Erthan got off of his horse. The four people started to walk into the tavern.
¡°Children, please stay close to the caravan. It wouldn¡¯t be good if one of you got lost in the town. And don¡¯t worry, the carriage driver will watch over you all.¡±
After the headmistress told them that, she left them and she went into the inn. Inside the inn, the smell was extremely foul, and the look of the place wasn¡¯t much better. When she entered, she walked right up to the bar counter and sat down.
The owner of the bar went straight to her.
¡°Welcome back, Elaine. It is nice to have you back again. I am guessing you are here for the Adoption day? Because I already have the rooms set up for you, Erthan, and the children.¡±
¡°Thank you Boritan. I am here for the Adoption day, but Erthan and I have found two new children for you to train. One is for the guild, and one is to be my successor. I have brought them with me. This is Raize, he is Erthan¡¯s apprentice, and this is Eliza, she is to succeed me.¡±
Eliza and Raize were startled. They were planning something for both of them.
Raize was the first to speak his mind.
¡°Headmistress, what do you mean? I thought that I was free to go away and do whatever i wanted. Why am I joining your guild?¡±
¡°Raize, Erthan is your guardian. He accepted you as his adopted son when he gave you the name Diviano. He wants to have the ability to protect you, and for you to have the ability to protect yourself. And as for you, Eliza, I want you to succeed me because you are the most fit for the job. You are kind, and you have a great magical ability. You will need that in the future if you are to succeed me. You two are the ones chosen because of your abilities, and other circumstances. And neither of you need to call me headmistress anymore, just call me Lady Elaine.¡±
Elaine/ the headmistress explained everything to them. They finally understood why they went into the inn with Erthan and Elaine.
¡°Children, you two don¡¯t have to worry about anything. Elaine and I will watch over you for right now. You will be under our protection.¡±
Erthan tried to lessen the fright that it gave to Raize and Eliza.
Elaine, Erthan and Boritan continued to talk for a few more minutes, and then they split up. Elaine left to take care of the other children, Boritan left to help the other customers, and Erthan took Eliza and Erthan.
¡°Where are we going, Knight Erthan?¡± Eliza inquired.
¡°We are going to where you are going to spend the next few years, children. We are going to your new home.¡±
Erthan led them into a dark alley, filled with sick and starved people everywhere. Raize started to feel D¨¦j¨¤ vu, but he continued following Erthan. Erthan continued through the alley, until he reached a place where the alley was empty. He then looked around, made sure that no one was around, and then walked up to a wall, and knocked.
Knock. Knock Knock Knock. Knock Knock. Knock.
Raize finally remembered where he had seen all of this before.
Erthan took a step back from the wall. After waiting for a bit, the wall suddenly opened to reveal a tall man.
¡°Password?¡± The tall man asked.
¡°Regent Archer¡± Erthan answered.
¡°Ra¡¯thar,¡± Raize said.
Erthan was startled. He whipped around to Raize, grabbing onto his shoulders.
¡°Where have you heard that name before?,¡± Erthan screamed at Raize.
¡°I-I heard it in a dream.¡±
Raize was scared, and started to cry. He didn¡¯t know what to say to Erthan, so he just told him the truth.
Erthan looked at Raize, saw how scared he was, and pulled himself back.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Raize, it¡¯s just that the name you just mentioned is a name you cannot say right now. Please don¡¯t say it anymore.¡±
Erthan started feeling guilty about Raize, so he picked him up and hugged him tight.
¡°I really am sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to freak out that much. I¡¯m sorry.¡±
Raize started to calm down, but Erthan kept ahold of him.
Erthan talked to the tall man for a little, and then he led the children into the dark room.
The children¡¯s new lives had begun.