Kassius anxiously waited for someone to take him the very next day. Aurelius was very vague on when or who would take him to this institution that he was talking about. Kassius stayed under the tree near the playground, hoping that the person to fetch him will go to the place where he and Auralius met. He kept the book Ms. Jean gave him, taking care not to break the old book. He stared at the book, and at the barely legible title, wondering what it could say. He opened the book, hoping to find something more legible to read. The pages were as worn and old as the cover of the book but had text that was readable at least.
He flipped through the book and noticed that there were no chapter numbers and no pictures. Kassius had read a lot of books in the small library of the orphanage as an excuse not to play with the other children when they had to stay in, whether it was during a storm or a huge celebration that happened in the village. He was never fond of picture books normal for kids his age at the time, he was drawn to novels and the like due to his vivid imagination, but Miss Jean would take most away from him saying it was inappropriate for his age.
In place of chapters, he saw that the pages were divided by titles. He noticed that a few pages had poems, while the rest looked like pages of a storybook. He noticed titles such as “Broken Wings by Sylvie Artrea” and “Swimming through flowers by Nessia” were some of the poems that were written, “odd names…” Kassius thought. He also came across a few stories “A fairy in the Modern world by Atrius” and “The Tale of the Jinx by Astrid Hunneman”. He flipped through all the stories and poems that were in the book, a lot of them sounded like children’s bedtime stories and the poems seemed like lullabies. By the end of the book, he found a curious title. All of the other titles were those you would expect from children’s stories. This story, however, sounded like more of the novels that Kassius had read that nearly got him in trouble with Miss Jean.“The War of the Seven” was the title of the story, further down, Kassius noticed that there was no author. He sat under the tree dumbfounded and baffled. Curiosity filling his body, he began to read the story.
In the beginning, Chaos had been the only entity. In the chaos, came six entities of tremendous power, and together they shaped the world that we would come to know as Gaia. Shaping the earth, came the beast giant, Vidar, molding the land into its shape and roaming its hunting grounds. Bringing life to the earth, came the first fairy, Lumina, using her shining magic to birth the very green that encompassed Gaia. Rising from the chasms of the earth, came the water that would form the vast oceans. Rising from the oceans came the lord of raging seas, Netian, bringing down raging storms and flooding Gaia with vast bodies of water. Molded from Chaos itself, came the Hekcim, using their magic to prosper and thrive. Lastly, a drop of light and shadow gave form to twin beings of opposition. The Archan Knight, a shining being and a beacon of light burning the darkness away. Born from the drop of shadow, came the foe of light, the Priest of the Abyss, consuming all in the dark cloak covered in death and toxic of the underworld. In six days and seven nights, the six entities completed their purpose and ruled over all of Gaia. Chaos, however, remained.
Kassius found himself buried in the text. It was the history of the world he came from, it was the first taste of the world he wanted to be a part of. He felt as if he was already a part of the world and that he was one of the people. While he felt happy, he had a hint of grim curiosity as he was reminded of the ominous presence of the story. Despite this, he continued to read.
These six entities gave birth to the people of Gaia and, thus came the beginning. Although, all was not well, as the desire to claim the world for their own consumed the six. The people of Gaia were thrust into a conflict that would be echoed for all eternity, and their role; to pledge their allegiance. Thus, Gaia was in conflict. Tensions rose and animosity birthed between the people. Those that pledged their allegiance to an entity dubbed them, the Six Lords of Gaia. As time passed, tensions only grew to an inevitability, war. Conflict broke out and ravaged the world. Blood and destruction came from the ensuing conflict, scorching the once beautiful lands and seas with a mark of Chaos. Days became months, months became years, and years became centuries as the conflict had no end and grew bloodier and violent. Children were lost, families are torn apart and the very beings of Gaia were broken. After one desperate action after the other, the Six Lords have come to the decision, to end it once and for all. Each of the lords gave all their powers to create six relics for one purpose, to destroy.
“Relics?” “War?” Kassius almost believed that the world of Gaia was a peaceful place. He thought of the images that he saw from the smoke, the beautiful waterfall with the shining figure with wings, which he concluded were the fairies and the shining necropolis. And then, he remembered the last image he saw. The shadow figures in a circle, and the towering, menacing shadow. Shivers came down his whole body at the thought of it. He continued reading.
Vidar gave his beastly souls to his people and made a being, the embodiment of beastly wrath, the Pantheon. Lumina made an instrument to call down the power of nature, a flute that sings the song of battle, the Ingdrasil. The Hekcim crafted a weapon of pure magic and of mass destruction, the Kanon. The Lord of the raging seas molded a staff from crystallized water that can summon the most powerful storm, the Waking Sea. The Knight of Light imbued a blade with the strong fire from its own light, burning away the foes of its people. The Priest of the Abyss poured the black blood of his cloak, those who drank the blood became the creature of darkness simply known as, the Beast. These relics caused a stalemate in the conflict bringing the war to its violent conclusion, the battle that will end it all. For a final confrontation, the armies of each warring faction gathered in a valley. A storm upon them, the lords and their armies stood preparing for the end. At the crack of the first thunder, the armies commenced the final charge. Days of battle went on, with both sides losing by the thousands. Blood began to cover the earth as the army's numbers dwindled. When the dust settled, and the bodies piled, all that was left was a red mist and the Six Lords. As they armed themselves and prepared for the final fight, A figure appeared on the top of the hill. A towering armored figure, dark armor, and feathered robe. This mysterious figure gave the six lords pause, as it raised its hand. In response, the lords prepared the relics and, in one moment…..The lords released the full power of the relics and the blast spanned most of Gaia. As the dust settled, nothing remained from the battlefield. As centuries passed, the battle became known as the War of the Seven. End.
Kassius closed the book and sat amazed and shocked. He never knew that such an event gave birth to such a world. He always thought that his dreams were real to an extent, and with the images shown to him by Auralius, he had no doubt that it was real. However, after reading that story, he began to wonder how such a devastating event in history gave rise to anything but destruction. He wondered how they or anyone could recover from that.
He was filled with curiosity as much as he was filled with wonder by the description of the war and these six lords. With all these feelings and thoughts, one thought appeared at the back of his mind. “The towering armored figure…” Kassius wondered but somehow he knew that what he saw in smoke had a relation to this armored figure. Just as he made the connection, he tried to bury the thought by reading the lullabies and children’s stories in the book.
For the rest of the afternoon, Kassius spent his time reading the numerous tales and lullabies in his books, even though he didn’t really understand a lot of it. With words such as, “Ent” and “Driors”, he could not understand what any of it was about even if he tried. He noticed the light growing dim, as he tried to read more. He looked up and noticed the sun going down. He stood up and made his way to the orphanage, disappointed that no one came for him.
Kassius came back to the orphanage that evening and expected an empty hallway when he walked through the front door. Much to his surprise, he saw Ms. Jean talking with a person in a long purple coat. They had hair stretching to their shoulders with bright blonde color. They had a fit figure hidden under the cloak and dark pants with a buttoned shirt. Kassius had his suspicions on who it was, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up.
He proceeded to the stairs and moved up to his room. When he got to the third floor, he noticed that his door was open and he heard faint voices coming from inside his room. He heard a high-pitched female voice nervously conversing with another voice that sounded calmer and deeper, and more aggressive. The third voice, slightly deep and masculine, sounded indifferent compared to the other two, a lot calmer and neutral. Kassius slowly walked up to the edge of the door next to his to listen in.
“What are we looking for?” the female voice said. “The freak is up to something and I’m not waiting to find out.” The aggressive voice responded. Kassius can hear them flipping the bed sheets and pillows and looking under the mattress.
“Dude, there’s probably nothing, let's just leave it.” the neutral said with slight nervousness. “If you guys wanna leave then go ahead, don’t blame me if the freak gets you first.” the aggressive voice said, growing more paranoid.
“What makes you think he has something, it could be some dumb shit he found lying around in the playground.” the female voice said concerningly. “That freak is hiding something, I know it.”
Kassius contemplated whether to confront them or to wait until they left. He did his best to avoid trouble for so long, with great effort. He didn’t want to bother spending more time with the people that didn’t want anything to do with him in the first place. Confronting them about every little thing other people did would be pointless and it would have proved them right, that he was something to be afraid of. However, despite his efforts to avoid trouble, he always had the desire and the bottled-up rage that came from all the things they said. Kassius moved a little further to peek inside the room. He saw a big burly blonde kid frantically looking for something all throughout the room, a brunette skinny girl standing near the door nervously standing and watching the big kid searching, and the tall skinny kid standing near the desk by the window.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Why are you so desperate to find something?” The skinny kid confronted the big burly kid standing in his way abruptly stopping him from searching. The two boys stood staring at each other with their brows furrowed, looking as if they were about to fight.
“Stop being a bunch of idiots and let’s go!” the girl whispered as loudly as she could, trying hard not to cause a fight. The big burly kid sighed deeply and took a breath and said “This punk is hiding something, I don’t care if he’s special, and I don’t care if he’s Miss Jean’s charity case–” before the kid could finish, Kassius found himself pushing the door in a burst of temporary rage. The three kids stared at him startled. The group stood in silence for a moment before the big kid spoke.
“Saves me the trouble of searching this piece of crap room.” the big kid said, smirking, while Kassius and the other two kids stood silent.
“So what were you hiding huh?” the big kid continued. “What’s it to you, why do you care?” Kassius said back, raising his voice.
The big kid walked up to Kassius looking down on him. “You’re up to something, freak.” Before he could continue, the tall skinny kid grabbed his shoulder trying to pull him back but the big kid shrugged him off. The big kid bent down and whispered closely to Kassius.
“You might act like some innocent victim, with all your baggage bs. But I know what you really are, just a plain freak that doesn’t belong here.” Kassius clenched his fist, feeling his rage build up, feeling rage from the past few years and the words coming out of the kid right now, however, he still tried his absolute best to stay in control.
“Everyone knows it, even Miss Jean made those pity birthday parties just to make herself feel better.” Rage consuming him, Kassius punched the big kid with all his strength and the kid stumbled down. Without a second thought, Kassius grabbed the staggered kid by the collar of his shirt and pinned him to the wall with his forearm at his neck. His mind went blank with rage and before he knew it, he was choking the kid to the point that the kid turned blue and was gasping for air desperately. Kassius released him and stepped back looking shocked.
Kassius had never fought anyone and avoided a fight with anyone trying to provoke him. He was baffled by what he had done, unable to comprehend what came over him. He looked at the kid on his knees taking deep breaths, then up and turned to the other two that were in the room, shock and horror present in their face. He also saw the door of his room packed with some of the young kids crowding to see what was going on in the room.
All who looked at Kassius had fear in their eyes as if they had seen a monster. He thought it was because of what had happened but the look of fear seemed more akin to a child afraid of the boogie man under their bed. The crowd began to squirm and move, as Miss Mary and Miss Jean came in between the crowd of children, followed by the person that was talking to Miss Jean. Just like the children, Miss Mary looked at Kassius with the same fearful look, while Miss Jean looked at him shocked and extremely concerned. Kassius noticed that the person behind Miss Jean was a woman, he also noticed how she looked at him.
Unlike the fearful and shocked looks, everyone else gave him, it was one of curiosity and intrigue. With all that was going on and all that had happened in an instant, Kassius didn’t know what to do and was breathing fast, unable to explain himself or what had happened. The two other kids that were in the room stood speechless, while the big kid tried to regain his footing as he stood up.
“HE’S A FREAK! AN ANIMAL!” the big kid shouted with roaring conviction. Were it not for Kassius’s own shock and remorse for what he had done, he would have run at him again and pummeled him into the ground. “HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!” the big kid continued, his yelling becoming more hysterical with tears streaming down his face.
“BETTER TO KILL HIM NOW!” said the big kid before Miss Mary interrupted with a loud yell of her own. “THAT’S ENOUGH!” The whole house became silent. “Miss Jean, would you please bring Kassius downstairs to our library.” Miss Mary said, straining her voice trying to keep it calm. Miss Jean walked up to Kassius and grabbed his hand guiding him to the door.
“Miss Mary, he shouldn’t be here! We could get hurt or worse! He–” the girl protested but Miss Mary interrupted her with another command. “I said that’s enough. This matter does not concern any of you anymore!” Miss Mary said strictly.
“You two, bring him to his room and call Miss Kayla to get him checked.” she gestured to the big kid’s friends. The two kids supported the big kid and walked out of the room keeping a distance from Kassius.
“The rest of you go back to your rooms and wait for dinner.” Miss Mary said. The crowd immediately scurried off into the rooms of the floor, leaving only the tall woman at the door.
Miss Jean continued to guide Kassius down the stairs and into the library on the ground floor, with Kassius looking down at the floor, tears filling up his eyes. As they went into the room, Miss Jean sat Kassius down on one of the chairs in the middle of the room and she brought a chair and placed it next to his, and sat beside him.
Miss Jean didn’t ask questions nor did she scold him, she only put an arm around him and comforted him as he let his tears flow down from his eyes. He was still shaken from the fact he almost killed someone. What he felt at that moment, that moment when the kid talked about Miss Jean, something burst out of him. Rage would be a mild description, what he felt at that moment was primal and instinctive. He felt as if he was something else as if he was a beast. This one the only time he truly believed that he was a freak.
He heard steps coming down from the stairs and expected a hard scolding from Miss Mary. To his surprise, Miss Mary did not look infuriated or even distressed when she came through the door. She looked unfazed, even if he knew that it was quite the opposite. The woman trailed behind her, looking as if she too had not witnessed what the kids witnessed. “Thankfully the situation was managed.” Miss Mary said, letting out a big sigh. A moment of silence fell in the room, as Kassius looked up to face Miss Mary expecting some sort of punishment after her moment of calm.
“Kassius, this is Miss Fara, she is–” Before she could finish, Fara turned to Kassius and spoke. “The name is Fara, Kassius, pleased to meet you,” she said cheerfully, beaming at Kassius. Kassius sat speechless, surprised at how carefree she seemed after what had happened. “I’m a friend of Auralius and I’m here to–”
“Give the boy some room to breathe, won’t you dear sister?” a deep, slightly harsh voice said from behind Kassius. Everyone in the room turned to the source of the voice to see a tall man with short pristine hair, and a well-groomed mustache. He wore a long black coat lined with gold, excreting a very wealthy aura. “Oh shut up, Mos. You can’t tell me you ain’t just a wee bit curious.” Before the man could respond, Miss Mary interrupted the conversation. “Miss Fara please behave yourselves.” Fara and the man became silent and Miss Mary continued. “Kassius, Miss Fara, and her brother Mister Meos are here to take you to a new institute that would better suit your needs than we could.” Kassius looked at Fara and Meos noticing that they don’t look like they are from here. Fara’s coat was a dark purple and her hair was bright blonde and wavy, whereas her brother looked as if he was a nobleman from another time, with the clean and shining attire and well-groomed appearance.
“A-are you, Auralius’s friend?” Kassius asked, already knowing the answer. “Right you are, we’re here to bring you home,” Fara said in her eccentric and energetic manner. “Home?” Kassius asked. “Yes, HOME, you know?” Fara said, looking at Kassius expecting him to know exactly what she means.
But he remained confused as to what she meant. “Forgive her “in your face” mannerism Kassius. She means we are here to bring you to Gaia.” Meos said in a dignified manner. “You don’t gotta act like such a dignified git y’know Mos,” Fara responded, pouting.
Kassius would have felt overjoyed that they came, were it not for the events that preceded this news. “Given what has happened today, I don’t think we have a choice. We need to send you away, Kassius.” Miss Mary said grimly, appearing stressed from the event. “But where will he stay? He has no family, this is the only place he could stay.” Miss Jean protested.
Kassius felt a little warm from her protest. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of his accommodations in our institute, some of the children also live on the grounds. He will be well taken care of.”
Fara reassured Miss Jean, however, Miss Jean did not change her worried expression. Kassius did not feel as happy or excited about the idea of leaving. He’s always wanted to leave but he always thought it would be under better circumstances. He thought that the day he would come back to where he belonged it would feel like more of a homecoming, but now, it felt more like they were kicking him out, for the first time in his life, he truly felt like an outcast, because now he saw the fearful looks everyone had given him and it was burnt into his mind.
“I’m sorry Kassius, after what happened we can’t let you stay near the others. I hope you understand.” Miss Mary said in a gentle but pitiful tone. Kassius sadly nodded, holding back a few tears. “We’ll give you a moment. Mister Meos, you and your sister can wait by the door.” Miss Mary said. She stood up and gestured Fara out the door and guided them towards the front door. Kassius couldn’t find the words nor could he find the energy to even speak. For a moment, silence fell in the room.
“At least I don’t have to pack,” Kassius said with a weak chuckle. “I should just leave and save everyone the trouble of being–” Miss Jean pulled him in a hug before he could finish. Kassius couldn’t resist the hug, he couldn’t say stop, in the surprise of the hug, he found himself melting and hugging her back. Miss Jean pulled away and knelt to face Kassius.
“No matter where you’re from, no matter where you go, you’ve become an amazing part of my life the moment you arrived at the orphanage.” Miss Jean said with her voice trembling. “I’ve come to consider you as my own son, and nothing can convince me otherwise.” she continued. She put her hand on his cheek.
“You are my son, and you will always have a home wherever I am.” Miss Jean said, smiling with tears streaming down her face. Kassius could not hold back the tears he kept in and burst into tears as he hugged her again. They stayed in this embrace for a few moments, cherishing every moment they could before the inevitable end.
After what seemed like many hours melted away in the hug, they pulled away and began to walk toward the front door. They saw Ms. Mary, Fara, and Meos waiting by the door. “I’m ready.” Kassius said, facing Fara and Meos.
They nodded and gestured him forwards, they said goodbye to Ms. Mary and Ms. Jean as they walked away from the front door, further, and further away. Kassius turned back one more time, spotting Ms. Jean, waving him goodbye. He gave one last wave goodbye and followed Fara and Meos, leaving the orphanage for good this time.