Sei

At birth, I was abandoned by my father. My mother, I believe, died shortly after my birth, leading my father to believe that he wouldn’t be able to take care of me and therefore decided to send me off to an orphanage.

It was called ‘The Sheperd’s Orphanage.” When I first arrived, there were 12 other orphans, 7 girls, and 5 boys. I brought that count up to 13. With only two caretakers, a half dwarf *The other half was always left out of conversations, for some reason* named Ren, and a full dwarf named Gesha, they had a rough time taking care of everyone.

Since I was the final bearing in pushing them over the edge in their workload, making them sometimes unable to feed themselves a proper amount of food or get proper amounts of rest, I wanted to help them from early on.

I wasn’t really the type of person to do such things in my previous life, so this time I decided to change.

I decided to be a better person.

My first step would be to help these caretakers. It’d be bothersome if they found out that I was able to do anything yet, so I need a way to help them without them being able to tell it’s me.

There was a sound, like rushing water, for a faint second.

I looked about from where I was, but nobody else seemed to hear it.

Then, an image floated to my mind.

It was one of me with a bucket in my hands. I recognized the bucket, it was the same one that the caretakers used to hold water so they wouldn’t have to go out multiple times for water.

But they have to wake up very early to get to it, then they have to carry it all the way back, while probably sleep deprived, hungry, and exhausted from the day before.

Another image came. I was outside, with the bucket, on the streets.

Another. An unfamiliar street, with the bucket.

Another. They started coming like film, projecting a scene.

I might be able to do it. I might be able to get the water before the caretakers wake up. That’d take one thing off their hands, right? There’s no way they’d suspect it to be the youngest child here, either.

That being said, I immediately went about working out my legs and arms, trying to get at least enough muscle to lift the bucket.

It’ll take work, but I want to help, so I must.

I heard Ren shuffling through the kitchen. She was tired, judging by her movements.

“Water, water, water… Where’s the bucket again?” I could hear her soft muttering. Seems that she’s more exhausted than I thought, to be muttering that loudly in a room of (supposedly) sleeping children.

“Hmm…? It’s already full…” There was a long pause, probably Ren thinking who could have done that.

“Oh well… I guess I’ll just go back to sleep, then. Nothing else to do while the children are sleeping…”

I smiled. It’s a nice feeling, to have helped somebody.

Time flowed like water. I continued that routine, leaving no time for my body to rest, nor time for the other children. In their eyes, I was sleeping most of the day, so there wasn’t even really a chance to try and connect.

Of course, as time went by, I was generally more active during the day, as my body developed to be accustomed to the work I did each morning.

So, in two years’ time, I was ready to finally be introduced to the other inhabitants of the orphanage. In those two years, there was not a single child left on our doorstep, and only two girls were adopted.

“Sei, I think it’s time for you to get along with the others.” Ren was much more friendly towards me than Gesha, the other caretaker. I couldn’t tell you why.

I silently turned towards the total of three boys and five girls, who were all separated throughout the orphanage ‘play zone,’ before turning back to Ren with a face that conveyed my little enthusiasm.

“You don’t even know what they’re like, why don’t you want to talk to them…” Ren muttered, placing her head in her hand.

“You’re going to introduce yourself to them, at the very least.”

At times like this, it seems like Ren’s my mother. I guess it’s somewhat accurate, as she did raise me to where I was.

Then, as a son, the only proper response is to go along with it.

I nodded, albeit with the same face. I didn’t want to talk with the others, but I would bear with it.

The children… they’re actually older than me, so I guess I’ll call them something else from now on.

Either way, they were in front of me, in a neat and orderly line. If I started pacing in front of them, it would seem like I’m a sergeant training cadets.

While I entertained myself with that thought, they had already stopped talking amongst themselves and were ready to start.

“It seems he doesn’t want to talk, so I’ll introduce him.” Ren’s voice was one of somebody who’s given up on something. “This little one is Sei, and it’s been two years now since he’s come here.”

A child, about nine years old, stepped up, kneeling down to get on eye level with the tiny me.

“Hello there, Sei. I’m Aurora, and I consider myself to be a sort of ‘third caretaker’ around here. I’ll be the one you can come to if you need anything, or if you have any problems.”

She let off an innocent smile. Those eyes could charm savage animals with a glance. Even I wasn’t let off the hook too easily, my heart skipping a beat.

But then she stood, brushed off her knees, and the next one came up. This one was a boy, probably around six years old.

“Nice to meet you, Sei, I’m Kenneth.” He looked me up and down a few times as if seeing if I was worthy to meet his expectations.

Then he stuck out his hand. By habit, I reached out to shake it. It seems that was a bad idea, though, as all eyes changed when they saw me respond to Kenneth’s handshake, which it did indeed happen to be.

The next person took his place. A small girl, probably about five years old.

“Heya Sei, I’m Lilia! Hope we can get along!” With that, she hugged me against her chest, which, of course, had next to no bust. Even worse, she was enthusiastic. She seemed the type to like bugs and cause trouble everywhere with her enthusiasm.

“Sei, your face is starting to scare me. How can a child even look this displeased…” The second part was muttered, but I must admit it seems my hearing is even better than it was in my previous life.

The next one was a boy, about seven.

“Nice to meet you, Sei. The name’s Axel. Treat me well, please.” With that, he bowed to me, a full 45 degrees. I was tempted to stop him, but he pulled up quickly enough and it seems the other children were holding back laughs. Perhaps they put him up to this.

Either way, I noticed his speaking was strangely smooth, each one connecting to the other without pause. It was similar to a tie in a music sheet. Each of the notes flowed into the next. Having played a wind instrument in my previous life, I can say only one thing; that must be using a lot of air.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Next was a girl, also seeming about 7.

“Name’s Irilith. Sister to Axel. Nice to meet you, Sei.” She seemed to have trouble gathering the courage to say those words, as she spoke quickly, in short sentences.

All in all, it was quite cute, and I was tempted to applaud. Instead, I simply nodded, just as I had done with the rest of them, and let her walk away without getting any more attention.

Next was the last boy, about 4.

“Darius. Nice to meet you.” He nodded to me. A man of few words, hmm? Nice to know there’s somebody I might be able to get along with here.

Two more girls left.

“The name’s Jilian, but call me Jill, please! Nice to meet you, Sei.” She seemed insistent upon me calling her Jill. I’m tempted to not follow that just because she’s so insistent about it.

Either way, she seems like a nice girl, even though looks can be deceiving.

Now, the final girl. She seems to be about 2.

“N-Nice to meet you, Sei. I-I hope we can get alonhm- Ow… Along. My name’s Astrid…” She looked at me, something in her eyes that I can’t quite describe.

But she bit her tongue, and she stuttered… so cute…

I stepped up to her. She was about the same height as myself, but I was a bit taller, probably because of my muscles, which had been trained for the past two years.

I rested my hand upon her head, gently rubbing it. She had little fox ears that sprung up, interesting me. I pet those too.

I turned to the side, let out a hoarse cough, muffling the sound as much as I could.

“Of course. Let’s get along.”

And I spoke my first words.

Aurora, the ‘third caretaker’ and the oldest of the orphans.

Kenneth, the one who sized me up before shaking my hand. He’s the one who has the job of a recruiter in his future.

Lilia, the enthusiastic one who seems as if she has no idea what the ‘personal bubble’ is.

Axel, the gullible child who does whatever he’s asked. He also has a strange way of speaking, each of his words connected together.

Irilith, Axel’s sister, and a bit shy, her sentences spoken choppily.

Darius, a man of few words.

Jill, a nice looking girl who’s insistent about her nickname.

Astrid, a fox girl who’s the same age as me, and quite shy. She has an aura that makes me want to protect her.

I distinctly remember the chaos after that. Lilia, the enthusiastic one, basically tackled the tiny Astrid, complaining about how she was the only one who got a response from me.

Aurora was momentarily stunned for some reason, before going to help out Astrid. Quite careless of the self-proclaimed ‘third caretaker’.

Axel, the one with the smooth voice, had already begun walking away but turned back for a few seconds when he heard me.

I looked about, not really at any significant speed, and realized that the rest of the people in the room were similarly affected, other than Lilia.

“Why does everyone seem focused on me?”

As soon as I spoke, everyone seemed to freeze. Even Lilia stopped cuddling Astrid on the floor.

I looked to Ren, who was similarly stunned.

She crouched down a bad idea for somebody in a skirt, before picking me up.

She held me out as if I was Simba. At the very least, it wasn’t over a cliff.

“Your voice is beautiful…” Her eyes seemed… hypnotized.

I’d have to be careful speaking from now on…

Eventually, I was taught the alphabet, albeit with quite a bit of complaining from the others that they’d no longer be able to hear my voice.

I used a little board, similar to a whiteboard, to write down what I wanted, then erased it.

Luckily, I didn’t really need to say much. I didn’t have much to say to the children that I couldn’t just simply drag them to, point at, nod or shake my head too.

There was a single sentence I wrote quite often.

‘May I pet you?’

Astrid was quite lenient in allowing me too nearly whenever I asked. There were a few times when she refused, but whispering the question in her ears almost always worked.

Petting her was my stress reliever.

I felt a bit of guilt for doing it because I knew she wouldn’t complain, but that was completely destroyed by how soft her ears were.

I limited my strength to the utmost, leaving my petting sessions gentle and calm, even though I could have easily lifted her entire body many times in succession.

I got stronger quite easily. I realized this as I grew up. By the time I was three years old, even though my only real exercise was gathering water, I felt as if I could lift up even Ren if I tried hard enough.

But something was happening through the orphanage that I couldn’t help with just my strength.

Three years since I’ve been here. It’s been decided that that day would be considered my birthday.

But the odd part? Not a single baby left after me. Nobody came for adoptions.

It seemed almost as if this orphanage had turned into a locked room. Nobody was in this world but us.

‘That reminds me, what’re everyone’s races? Obviously, I don’t need to know Astrid’s, but the rest of them look quite similar.’

I brought up this discussion with Gesha, the other caretaker.

“Well, let’s see…”

Kenneth, Dwarf

Axel, Half elf, half dwarf

Darius, Elf

Lilia, Human

Irilith, Half elf, half dwarf

Jill, Clay elemental (looks quite similar to human skin, but has a bit less work)

Aurora, Human

Ren, Half Dwarf

Gesha, Dwarf

She listed them off. I thought about it for a bit, and it made a bit more sense. Half-kins would be more likely to be in an orphanage, but there are tons of reasons for people to be dropped off in an orphanage.

Such as my own, which is technically unknown. I am a full dwarf, though.

I was shaken out of my thoughts by a knock on the door. Well, I guess knock wouldn’t describe it correctly.

The door was slammed three times in succession. It sounded like somebody was throwing their entire body at it.

I began walking towards it, afraid that something would happen.

Astrid was toddling towards it, reaching towards the door handle.

I silently snuck up behind her. I didn’t like the sounds that were just being made by that door.

The door silently fell. If I had not been watching, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that it moved at all. I don’t even remember hearing the hinges break, but the door fell either way.

Right atop Astrid and I.

The door was pure stone. It must’ve weighed at least a hundred pounds, if not more.

But I lifted my hands and braced my body to move it.

Diverting something is much easier than taking the full force of it. However, when that thing has two points dug into the ground, further apart than your hands can reach, it’s impossible to divert any of it.

So when the door hit my hands, a crack resounded out as the full force of it landed on my wrists, most likely shattering them.

The pain bounced throughout my head. My first instinct was to bring both hands to my stomach and curl over them, protecting them, but I focused every bit of will I had into ignoring that.

I’d protect this scared little fox with my life on the line.

“Astrid. Astrid!” I called her name, trying to get her attention.

She looked up to me.

“Get out from under this slab of rock! Now! Please!”

My knees began to buckle. Something just took a step onto the ramped door. Astrid began to crawl away. It seems that she was too scared to move properly.

“What have you done?!” I could hear Ren yelling. Was she yelling at me or the person above me?

“I’ve gotten stronger. Can’t you tell?” A voice from above. Hearing it gave me shivers.

I could feel the weight above me getting closer. With each step, my wrists hurt more.

I felt a warm liquid dripping down my arms. One of my bones must’ve pierced the skin.

“Goddamn it… Don’t come here just to ruin my life again you bastard! You’re the one who stopped people from coming here, aren’t you!” Ren shouted, the slithery sound of steel on leather, like a blade being drawn, accompanying her voice.

“Of course… I can’t have anyone tampering with you, after all. Whenever somebody came by… Well, I’m sure you know what I did to them…”

I could feel a strange anger building behind my back. I wanted to look back, but something in me decided that would be harmful to my brain, and made it instinctual to not look.

“You killed them all, didn’t you?” Ren’s voice was oddly quiet, like a raging fire dying down to embers.

“Weeelll… I may have played with them for a bit first, but yes, they did end up dead. Some of them took over an hour to do so, though! Pfft… Ha… Haha… Hahahahaha!” His laugh was loud, and the perfect example of a villain. Had I not been mentally strained by the enormous presence behind me and physically strained by the door, I would have commented.

“And, my love, I’m here to take you to hell! Don’t worry, I’ll make it light and painless! Can’t have you tortured like those other poor children. A few of them were old enough to understand what was happening, too. Their screams were wonderful!”

The presence behind me made me shiver, twisting my wrists and causing enormous pain to course through me. But I was trembling in fear so much that I couldn’t even grimace to show that pain.

“I’ll take you with me, then!” Ren yelled, the embers of her voice from earlier sparking into a bonfire.

I could tell something was happening behind me, but my eyes were still focused on Astrid and the edge of the door above her. She looked behind me, at whatever was happening, and began to cry, her body trembling in something other than the cold.

A light bathed her face, forcing her to close her eyes before the weight atop the door disappeared, as did all the noise.

The silence lasted a full minute. In that time, the foxgirl finally managed to get out from under the door, and I let it drop to the ground, panting heavily.

I don’t remember much of what happened after that. Everything was hazy, and I passed out shortly afterward.

When I woke up, I noticed a few things. One, my wrists were bandaged up quite a bit, but still broken. Two, Astrid was next to me on the bed, still sleeping. Three, Ren, Aurora, and Axel were all gone.

When I questioned Gesha- I had to use my voice since I could no longer use my hands -She said she didn’t really know either. One moment, there was a strange man walking atop the ramped door, the kids behind Ren, who’d drawn her dagger from inside her sleeve.

The next moment, there was a blinding flash of light from Ren.

And then, when she’d opened her eyes, the man, Ren, Aurora, and Axel were all gone.

“Well, I guess there’s nothing more I can do for them. Other than that, why’s Astrid here in my bed?”

“Ah, well, she exhausted herself watching over you. You’ve been out for a day now, and children really should get their rest, so I suggested that she sleep in your bed, so that she’ll be sure that you wake up alright. Seems that it worked…” She smirked at me, before waving goodbye and walking away, leaving me with new information, a girl in my bed, and a very confused heart.

When Astrid woke up, she stayed quite close to me, happy that I was awake and healing. With her like this, I got quite a lot of petting time in, which kept me quite happy.

Without Ren, the work should have piled up on Gesha, but I healed quickly enough to continue getting the water, and since Ren took two children with her, and the children had matured a little bit, everyone felt enough responsibility to keep the work required to a minimum.

All these things combined, time passed through my fingers like honey, slow enough to get some sweet moments, but eventually leaving.

So here I sit at four years old, Astrid leaning against my shoulder, sleeping soundly. I read up on some history from the book in my lap, continuing to turn the pages even when I started thinking about other things.

To this day I don’t know what happened to Ren and the others, but I’m sure they’re safe somewhere, out there…