---Hervalle Empire, Gloomrot Marshes-----
Walking back to the camp with the rest of the students and escorted by the masked Iron Guard, Avior couldn't help but feel he was forgetting something. The uneasy feeling grew stronger every time he looked at the crestfallen Windsor Ridley walking behind him. As he watched the boy's frantic attempts to piece his family's artifact, which had shattered under the blows of the Legion attacker, back together in vain, Avior finally came across the memory causing the uncomfortable feeling when he focused on Windsor's terrified eyes on the verge of tears. The memory was from a rather long time ago.
------------Regression One-----------
Avior started his first regression with the same sensations as this one. Darkness to light he'd been reborn into this world to the exact same mother, father, and nursemaid. Only he'd been emotionally overcome with the realization he'd regressed. Avior was a completely silent baby for his first few months simply coping. His first life had been relatively uneventful with the only brightly shining star in it being his wonderful wife Aurora. Losing all of that in an instant. Losing her, as the world was suddenly covered in burning light, then finding himself returned to the start of his life with nothing. To say it was something he struggled to come to terms with would be an understatement.
His silence scared his mother, his father was unaware having already cut contact. His mother worked relentlessly to do everything she could to "fix" him. Researching remedies, trying new techniques, doing anything she believed could help act as a catalyst to cause some type of response from her baby. Seeing his mother trying so hard to help him Avior forced himself to forget about his first life for now. Besides he convinced himself Aurora was likely in the same situation. She couldn't have forgotten their happy life together. Right?
Avior forced himself to put it out of his mind for now, focusing instead on being the best son he could in this life. As soon as he physically could he spoke to his mother in full sentences not bothering to hide his adult intelligence. Shocked his mother was overjoyed to have such a "gifted" baby. She bragged to the entire town and word quickly traveled. Before Avior turned three years old a man in white robes appeared on their doorstep. A priest from the Church of Radiance had arrived.
The priest told Avior's mother that Avior had been chosen by the Radiance and that if he were allowed to grow up under the Church's guidance he would be able to grow into a Hero.
Avior's mother was skeptical not wanting to let her son leave her side. Avior himself spoke saying he didn't want to go. Hearing her son's words his mother had told the man from the Church no. The man from the Church had given them a warm smile saying he understood, but emphasizing Avior's mother didn't have the resources a potential genius like Avior would need to reach his potential. Unphased seeing her son's adamant refusal Avior's mother held her ground refusing the Priest's offer.
That night Avior's house had burned down and the villagers were horrified to find burned corpses inside. One corpse was Avior's mother while the other resembled a three year old child. The village mourned the loss of life and buried the family. Even Avior's father returned to shed bitter tears.
As for the real Avior he was carried away squirming into the night by the same Priest who visited them earlier in the day.
The Priest didn't speak to Avior. His strength easily overpowering the three-year-old child who had no mana. Eventually, Avior stopped resisting physically focusing on grieving the loss of his mother and slowly coming to a realization strength was everything. He hadn't been able to protect his mother from the attention he'd drawn because he was weaker than a simple priest. He would make sure in this life he could at least grow enough to protect Aurora. He wouldn't fail twice.
After a few weeks of traveling backroads, they reached their destination deep in the Spire Mountains. Three year old Avior took in the plain-looking buildings surrounded by a triple layers of fences. Its appearance was similar to a heavily fortified prison. The Priest still silent took Avior through gates manned by soldiers wearing symbols of the Church when another Priest who looked far kinder met them.
"Oh and who might this little one be? A new orphan?" The Priest's smile now seemed far more wicked than kind.
The Abducting Priest replied, speaking for the first time since the afternoon Avior had been kidnapped. "Careful this might be a baby but it can already speak like an adult."
The smiling Priest turned his attention back to Avior. "Oh is that so? That might prove challenging, but I'm sure we can make him into something the Church can be proud of."
Avior resolved to do whatever he needed hid his teeth as well as he could. He would find Aurora and avenge his mother by growing stronger. So for now he would play along until the time came for him to rebel. These thoughts circling in Avior's mind he gave the priest an amenable response.
"Yessir."
--
The Orphanage Avior was brought to turned out to be the Church's secret project hidden deep in the Spines. It was likely only a few outside of the facility would know of its existence and those that did would know better than to say anything.
Upon entering the orphanage Avior was told his name was 51. If he ever tried to say his name was anything else or called any of the other kids by a name other than their designation he'd be punished severely. Afterwards, he was introduced to the other "orphans."
The fifty other children in the orphanage. Their ages varied with the oldest appearing to be thirteen and the youngest being around Avior's age. They all looked at Avior with fierce gazes that didn't belong to children their age.
Avior's life continued in the Orphanage. He grew up with other young children being put through incredibly harsh physical training meant to build their strength while also providing a chance for them to awaken as a mage. Something that shocked Avior since in his first life he thought the potential to be a Mage was something you were born with not something you could train to get.
Most of the other children going through the physical trials were at least six years old. Avior stood out being one of the youngest in the group. The other children seemed to be talented in ways other than Avior. The brightest star of the group was a boy known as 11. Avior guessed he was around eight years old, but his face was already weathered, giving off a deep sense of melancholy. Whenever he spoke his voice came out deadpan reflecting his emotionless demeanor. He was by far the most brutal of the children and Avior suspected it was a product of growing up in the Orphanage.
Occasionally another of the numbered children would try to stand up to 11. But Eleven's brutality was backed by unmatched strength. Specializing in the water element, number 11 had once blinded another boy by stuffing his eyes full of his own blood until they burst. It was rumored the boy in question had invoked number 11's anger by breaking the number one rule he imposed upon the other numbers: No looking at number 12.
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Avior didn't know how to describe number 12 the second most powerful child in the Orphanage since he'd never been stupid enough to break that rule. He had spoken to her and found her to be extremely friendly far more so than the other orphans.
Twelve loved to talk to others especially when discussing the Church's doctrine and the goodness of Radiance. But there was a bitterness just below the surface of her friendly and bubbly attitude. Avior suspected it was due to no one reciprocating her friendliness or even looking at her. Avior didn't believe 12 knew about 11's rule, but Avior just like the other children didn't want to face the consequences of being the one to tell her.
She was gifted with the air element often using it to cast a cooling breeze through the Orphanage's yard much to the relief of the numbers baking in the open sun. Twelve ended up spending most of her time with Eleven. Apparently, the two were siblings although Avior wasn't sure if he believed the rumor or not.
Eleven's one-sided rules and free reign to punish those who broke them was telling of the Orphanage's nature. The Priests did little other than give them daily tasks meant to push them to their limits and preach the Church of Radiance's doctrine. Even food was dumped in the middle of the Orphanage's yard rather than distributed individually.
Avior suspected it was so they would fight over it. But for better or for worse that never happened because 11 was the one who stood at the top of the Orphanage's food chain and he didn't care about stockpiling food. He only cared about one thing and that was 12. Sure other numbers may have tried to stockpile food or keep it away from weaker numbers in the past, but it never lasted for long because of 12. Twelve didn't like when other numbers would prey on weaker students openly so she would ask them nicely to stop. If 11 was around or they were smart they'd stop; however, every once in a while when 11 was away from 12 someone would test her and say no.
The ones who said no died. No exceptions. Those who witnessed it would learn as Avior quickly did why the reason people avoided talking to 12 wasn't just because of 11's rule. It was also because being seen as "evil" by 12 was the fastest way to die in the Orphanage.
Avior grew older passing his fourth and fifth birthdays in the orphanage. Taking advantage of his intelligence as an adult and fueled by his determination to grow strong enough to protect Aurora he progressed quickly in combat drills although he still hadn't managed to awaken.
Right before he turned six years old 11 and 12 were suddenly "adopted" and left the orphanage. With the iron-fisted rulers gone, there was a power vacuum. The little order there was previously fell apart while the Priests did little to stop it. Avior believed the Priests even encouraged it by secretly lessening the amount of food they placed in the food pile.
The favorites to become the new "leaders" of the orphanage were the awakened orphans. There were only eight older numbers who had already awakened and instead of throwing themselves into a war amongst themselves, they practiced caution. Not wanting to make the first move and give the other awakened a reason to focus on them alone. As a result, the conflict at first was between the unawakened orphans like Avior.
Driven by hunger, the children who had grown in number since Avior had first arrived to over a hundred children, was reduced back to fifty in a single week. In the fights for food, Avior frequently stood out besting the other unawakened easily while avoiding killing them. In fact, he stood out too much.
Avior, who had been focused on training rather than making friends since entering the Orphanage eventually found himself targeted by larger groups of unawakened. They overpowered him with numbers before beating him relentlessly. On the ground believing he was about to die, possibly for real this time, Avior panicked reaching for something deep inside his body. Pulling at it until a warmth flooded out of his body. Tiny flames emerged from Avior, striking his attackers who fled immediately in fear. Avior felt himself blacking out while battling a feeling he'd used the wrong element. That the fire element wasn't the one he should be using, but before Avior could investigate further he passed out.
Avior waned in and out of consciousness for the next few months until finally, he was able to stay conscious long enough to think straight. The next time he awoke he was in the Orphanage's infirmary with the same Priest who had welcomed him to the orphanage three years ago at his side.
"Congratulations 51! You've awakened." He said smiling warmly.
"And at such a young age! Most don't awaken until sixteen in this world while those who do before ten are seen as some of the most promising Mages. Even the 11 and 12 you knew only awakened when they were around as old as you are now and they didn't show your talent for physical training." The remark reflected Avior's focus and effectiveness in physical training due to his intelligence being that of an adult.
"The Church has a position which needs to be filled by such a promising Mage. It will allow you to be "adopted" and leave the Orphanage for good I just need to see you're able to finish the job if need be."
Avior gave the Priest a confused look.
"You see according to our records you haven't killed anyone yet. We just need to make sure you won't hesitate when purging evil in the future. Oh I know! How about the Orphans who almost beat you to death earlier? I woud say that was a very bad thing to do wouldn't you? You could even call them evil for doing such a thing."
The Priest's smile grew wider as he placed a dagger beside Avior's bed. Before Avior could ask why another priest ushered the six orphans who had attacked him into the infirmary all armed with small daggers like the one Avior had just been given.
Avior was stunned. He'd never killed anyone in his first life or even so far in this one. He'd done his best not to. He didn't want to take that final step. He couldn't!
Seeing Avior's hesitation the Priest's smile began to drop. "If you don't have the resolve to kill them then they'll just kill you." He turned to the six orphans. "If you kill 51 you can live." He pointed to the oldest of the orphans. "21, you're up first." Before stepping out of their way.
Twenty-one wasted no time rushing right at Avior. Avior still in bed grabbed the dagger stabbing wildly toward the rushing orphan's unprotected throat. The older orphan continued running straight into the knife as it went right into his throat. Despite being hit the orphan continued forward, his momentum carrying his body into Avior knocking him out of the bed and onto the floor.
Avior got to his feet as quickly as could with his weakened six-year-old body. Ready to defend himself Avior focused on his attacker only to find the boy who had attacked him gurgling blood on the ground in his death throes. Avior looked at the gash along the boy's throat who had suddenly gone still, then looked at the bloody dagger in his hands. His face turned white, and his body shook. Cold sweat began pouring out of him. He had killed someone!
The Priest seeing Avior's look of pure horror decided to chime in. "51 if you have any dreams or goals of any worth this will be the least of what will be required. If you don't realize that by now you're hopeless." He turned back to the now visibly more fearful orphans remaining before pointing at the smallest one. "67, you're next."
Avior thought of Aurora and how he couldn't let her be harmed, but doubt invaded his mind. His mother only died because of him. Maybe Aurora would be better off without-
His thoughts were interrupted as a searing pain cut through him. Looking down Avior saw the scared eyes of a young boy his age holding a dagger hilt above his heart. Avior looked for the rest of the dagger only to realize it was already inside him. Avior looked past his attacker to see 67 the girl who was supposed to attack him was on the ground seemingly being pushed out of the way by the boy in question.
The smiling Priest was no longer smiling his face contorted in rage as he pushed the boy aside to try to heal Avior. It seems like the Priest had been bluffing. Losing an awakened child was likely a rather bad thing to have happen. Even if the child in question lacked resolve they were simply too valuable. The Priest had overplayed his hand.
Turning his eyes back to meet those of terrified child's who was still holding the bloody dagger Avior's vision faded. The next time he awoke he was surrounded by the increasingly familiar scene of his birth. His second regression had begun.
-------------
Back in the present Avior looked curiously at the terrified Windsor Ridley and realized he had the same eyes and face as the boy who'd killed him in his first regression just older! But why had Windsor Ridley, a child from a privileged family, be sent to the Church's Orphanage? What had allowed Windsor to escape that fate in this life?
Avior, no longer the emotional boy from his first few regressions, didn't particularly care Windsor had killed him he just wanted to understand why he'd been there in the first place. Making a note to look into it when he reached the Ninth rank again, Avior shelved the thought deciding to bask a little more in the nostalgia of his earlier regressions. He was trying to have a little more emotion this time around after all and he was by far the most emotional in those early lives.