"The mortal dream, always having an end and never overburdened with responsibilities beyond the natural calling. To think that I would have to live by it because of 'that' guy." Laizan mumbled while cross sitting on the bed he just woke up from. He couldn't see much since the only spot that was illuminated by the moonlight from a small window was the stone floor in the middle of the room.

"It's... Good. Interesting. Better than that shitty place where trash piled up infront of me. He gave me a degenerated body so now he thinks he is better than me? Typical filth. I'll eradicate you, scum. I'll tear out your disgusting intestines and strangle you with them, I'll shove your entirety into the deepest and hottest fires that cannot be extinguished. I'll stomp on you and throw you away like litter." He didn't continue referring to mumbling and started talking casually. Someone had heard his rambling and woke up momentarily only to reposition themself and fall asleep again. Laizan noted that it would be best if he didn't trouble the residents of the orphanage and jumped off from his bed.

 The problem he faced was the darkness which was incredible dense, even with the moonshine on the cold stone floor which was supposed to at least lessen the dimness. Laizan grabbed whatever he could from his resting area and took it with him to the only light source. As expected of bed sheets, they slightly reflected light due to their white texture, but it was enough for Laizan to begin his search for the exit. It took a few minutes of tilting the sheet to find the vague location of the door which he took strides to. To his surprise, it didn't have handle or a knob, so he simply pushed it. The door seemed to be against the floor and ceiling tightly, which is why there were curves of scrapes on the stone floor. The ceiling was made of same material as the door, wood, the marks left behind weren't clearly visible to those who didn't pay attention. Laizan found a handle on the other side of the door and closed it.

"So outdated, have humans still stayed the same? Or perhaps I've gone back in time?! That explains the child form. Further investigation is needed before I come to a conclusion." He started talking to himself once again after initiating his walk towards the end of the hallway where the orphanage's main door was, at least it looked like the entrance door that he came through. From his viewpoint, on the left side there were 3 doors and the middle one was slightly open while letting orange light through that brightened the hallway, and on the left side there were simply paintings and a few unlit candles between the paintings. Laizan walked up to the most enlightened painting in accordance to the middle door and stared. It was an illustration of the orphanage itself, there was no author's signature however. He didn't seem to care much about the painting, turned around, and walked inside the room where the light source originated from. 

Half-filled bookshelves against the wall, right and left from the door. Inkpots lying around on small round tables with papers right under. Quills lying around on the floor, some were even whole. And at the end of the room, opposite of the door, there was a desk and a chair, a candle and a book, a man and a boy.

"What are you doing?" Laizan asked of the man who was reading something. The long black robes and glasses, accompanied with long gray hair and short gray beard, gave him an important vibe.

"AHH!" The man jumped slightly while shrieking in between before he turned his face left and saw the child waiting for an answer. The man let out a long breath before giving an irritated glare at the boy. "If I had a weak heart, I would make sure that you would join me in death." He said without giving a second thought about the boy's young age.

"Blaming your weakness on another is pitiful, I suppose it's comforting for a human to swim in the same shit with another." Laizan replied to the man's threat.

"Stingy, aren't you?" The man said while raising his brow.

"So what are you reading?" Asked Laizan since he discovered an open book on the desk. The man looked back at his unfinished read, closed it while holding a thumb between the pages he most likely had business with, and showed the cover to the boy. It had an octagon shape with red lines and in the middle of the octagon was a black drawing something similar to a humanoid with wings, all done in a simplified drawing. The background was simply black. Laizan showed a surprised expression, something that was quite rare.

"You interested? It's a fantasy novel about a man who took the world for himself, enslaving the gods, uniting creeds, destroying and re-establishing kingdoms, just because he was crushed by a fallen star. Impossible and too ridiculous to happen if you ask me, but it's a fun read." Said the man while having a hearty smile on his face.

"No doubt it's about the Emperor." Laizan said and his annoyed expression revealed itself.

"Ah yeah, it said something about the man finally becoming the emperor in the introductions. Have you read this, boy? If so, do you know anything about this symbol? I have a feeling that I've seen this somewhere, but nothing comes up." Said the man while pointing a finger at the center of the cover.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That's the trademark of the Empire. And records of the Emperor don't interest me one bit." Laizan answered while stretching with his annoyed expression still active.

"Empire? Ah! I think I've heard about that somewhere..." The man closed his eyes and concentrated on digging out his old memories which might reveal what he wants to know.

"It's an old order that shouldn't be given attention as it crumbles apart because of one man." Said Leizen while yawning after he was done stretching.

"Well, if I can't remember it, I guess it wasn't important. By the way.. Aren't you the new kid?" Asked the man while shifting his glasses around and expressing a thinking look.

"And you are?" Leizen asked while imitating the same look that the man has.

"Me? I am the priest here, Petre Azston. And you are?" The priest imitated the imitator.

"The new kid, Laizan." Answered the boy without adding anything special, unlike before with the farmer. He figured that the use of the titles that he was given would be meaningless, after all, he was not a prideful person.

"I, uhh.. Thought you were put into the bedroom?" The priest was confused as to where the boy came from.

"True." Said Laizan. Petre's mouth opened in awe, but the next moment it closed and the reaction was wiped.

"Strange, I thought I shut the door tight." Said the priest. Laizan ignored him and walked towards the bookshelves to inspect the works laid there.

"Ah, don't touch anything! This room isn't mine, but a very serious scholar owns it. I just like to read here, gives a relaxing feel." Said the priest while glancing at the boy before he is able to cause trouble. Laizan saw this orphanage valuable the moment he heard the priest mention a scholar, he was in need of information. He turned himself towards the priest and simply looked a few seconds before saying anything.

"Are there conditions to entering the orphanage? If so, I would like to clear them." Said Laizan. The priest put up a serious face after basically hearing a child's plead to be taken into the orphanage. Considering the unusual attitude of the boy's and his curiosity, priest Petre knew that Laizan hasn't been in a normal household before. The priest sighed and smiled afterwards.

"Since the scholarly deacon is away, I'll have to make the decision. And I have decided to accept you into the family that has gathered here. I'm not gonna ask if you have a home or someone waiting for you, because who in the damn world would ask to be sheltered if they already have support?" The priest chuckled, "I heard that you were lost, would you elaborate?" Asked the priest.

"I suppose that the best way to put it is... I am lost in this world." Said Laizan. The priest looked at him like an idiot before bursting out laughing. Petre soon realized his mistake as he saw the boy's irritated face, so he ceased his clowning and coughed once.

"Aren't you a bit young to be lost in those things?" Petre the priest said. Laizan wondered what he meant by 'those things', as if the priest only thought of the world as 'that thing'. "Anyway, just go with the flow. Make friends, get a hobby, get a job. You will realize your place in this world just by going with the flow, if you get me." Added the priest.

"Go with the flow...?" Mumbled Laizan and thought for a few seconds, "Whatever." He said and left the room without parting. Petre the priest just looked at the lad walk out without a thought on his mind.

"I think I should get some sleep.." He told himself after seeing the strange child leave.

Opening his eyes, Laizan saw the orange ceiling. He looked to his right to see the orange wall and empty beds. Looking to his left he saw a boy waking up, but he was also orange along with the wall and the beds.

"Stupid sun.." Said the lad who was waking up. Laizan decided to awaken himself aswell and sat up, only to see a bunch of children varying in different sizes immersing themselves in the door that led out of the room. Possibly two oldest of the bunch were charging the door with their shoulder first, but alas, their efforts to get the door to even budge were in vain.

"Come on, again!" 

"You can do it, Mason!"

"Isn't the father up yet?"

Some of the bunch were cheering the two boys on, while others simply did their own activities or waited. Laizan noticed he was the last one to wake, wasn't much of a surprise though. He looked to his left again to ask something, but he was greeted by a stare. The boy had blonde hair and was a bit smaller than Laizan.

"What are they doing?" Asked Laizan.

"Eh?" The boy looked at the once again charging lads, "Oh! They are trying to open the door." He said and looked back at Laizan, "What's your name?! My name is Aston!" 

"Laizan." Was the name that was revealed. Aston started smiling before speaking out,

"Then I can call you Lai?" He asked.

"Then I will call you Ton." Said Laizan.

"EEHH!?" Aston panicked at his new nickname, it wasn't very appealing to him.

"Just kidding." Said Laizan with a very dull face that didn't match his sentence at all. Aston felt relieved and sighed. "Do not pester me or ignore me, otherwise I will bring upon the symphony of death upon you." Laizan added.

"Eh? Ah..Ahhaha! You are just kidding, right?" Aston said after a nervous laugh, but Laizan didn't reply and jumped out of his bed. The blonde lad left in confusion thought that he was still dreaming and put his head on his pillow once more. Laizan went and stood behind everyone else who waited to get out of the room. 

"Don't hurt yourselves there! Wait until I get father Petre to open it." A voice from the other side reached through.

"Sister Ela! I want to pee, please hurry!"

"Sister just dump water on the old man." 

Laizan felt his need for hunger and decided to speed up the duty that the father was supposed to do. He walked up to the door from the sides as the older lads prepared to charge, one of them took notice of his 'sneaking'.

"Hey, get out of the wa-" The one who took notice was warning the new kid to move, but he couldn't finish his sentence since Laizan pushed the door half a meter far and just walked out.