6 years had passed since I was born. I was almost 7, and I had a mop of messy black hair and eyes, and was rather short and skinny. I should've been a happy child at this age. But, my life had gotten sour ever since the vial incident.

My mother, Emily, refuses to look at me in the eyes ever since then. Each time she had to come near me, she would avert her eyes and rush around, finishing whatever she had to do as quickly as possible.

My cousin, who I initially thought was my brother, seems to hate me. He would mistreat me whenever he got the chance, spilling soup on my clothes, tearing apart my only belongings, or even occasionally punched.

Strangely enough, he seemed to adore my mother, treating her as his own. It made me suspect that my mother was now his mother in his own eyes.

My father seemed to have gone long ago, even before I was gone. They say he used to be a decent mercenary, but he vanished long ago.

Anyways, I am almost 7 now. At first I attempted to play with the other children of the village, but they would always end up beating me, or at the very least, throwing rocks at me, screaming "Runt!" or "Goblin!" due to my small small stature. As it was, I ended up spending all my time indoors at the local equivalent of a library.

In this case, it was the Clerics house. The Cleric was the only one who would acknowledge my existence as a human being. Even my mother refused to do so for some reason. The Cleric would help me learn how to read, and she would often teach me various things such as the local vegetation, or herbary.

When I asked her to teach me magic, she refused, saying, "The Institute has strict rule regarding magic. If disobeyed, the lesser punishment is death."

Shocked, I asked her, "Who are the Institute? Why do they regulate magic?"

Shandra, the Cleric, replied, "The Institute, is a special place. They take in young children and turn them into fearsome warrior, cold and calculating tacticians. They were the ones responsible for securing us humans land, even when we are surrounded by elves and dwarves."

Elves? Dwarves? The hell? My mind was scrambling around to accept this knowledge. In my past life, I had a hobby of collecting and reading old novels, masterpieces of long forgotten authors. One of my favourite had been about a all powerful ring, and now, in this world. there were dwarves and elves?

I asked her if there were any other races as well as who where the elves and dwarves.

"Hmmmm... How can I say this in a way you would understand......"(Reminder, she thinks the mc is still 6 years old, when mentally he is older)

"The elves are old, very old people with long pointy ears. They much better at everything us humans can do. If you meet an elf, you have to be very careful. Because if you anger them, they will hunt you down, no matter what." She smiled warmly as she explained to me. I was sitting opposite of a table to her as I listened.

"The dwarves on the other hand....They are very sturdy. They have better strength than us, yet they are short. Really really short. They are actually about as tall as you!" She said while rubbing my nose.

"Shandraaaaaa" I whined, pulling my head back. Though she might think it was cute, it actually hurt a lot.

She continued on, "The dwarves also have really really long beards. They are loud, and often love drinking beer. You'll learn what beer is later." Shandra picked up a book and flipped through the pages.

"Besides them, there are fierce creatures, like this dragon!" She exclaimed, holding a picture of a gigantic lizard with wings.

:Although you'll learn more later, just know that we humans, are weak," she said suddenly, in a serious tone. "Listen carefully child, if you ever meet any of them, either run or bow. They are strong, much stronger than us. Don't anger them."

Blinking away the sweat that suddenly formed on my forehead, I said "Yes Shandra" as I left the Cleric's house. The bright young woman soon went back to work, collecting the herbs that she was growing. I collected my books and left for home.

The sun was setting as I slowly walked down the dusty road. The village children were also returning, screaming with joy as they chased each other. I looked at them, and was reminded of my past, and how different they were.

I looked down at the ground, and returned home.

The candles were lit in our small shack. My mother and cousin were talking to each other as I walked in. They both went silent, my mother offered no words of welcome, and my cousin stared angrily at me for disrupting the mood. I went into my room, and ate the bowl of food they so graciously placed there for me.

Sighing, I pulled out a black book, titled, 'The History of Augura, And Uster." I read it already, and found and ignored all the endless propoganda that manipulated what seemed to be the true history of the two countries.

'The righteous and just country of Augura, was invaded in 840, 5th month of the year of the Kraken.' I mindlessly read. Strangely, this world named their years after legendary beasts.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The first year was Fenrir, Second was Leviathan, Third was Cerberus, Fourth was Kraken, and so on and so forth. They repeated themselves every ten years, meaning there was a ten year cycle.

I could only wonder why it was affected by Earths naming sense. It seemed this world had many connections to Earth.

Well, that was something to ask Rekces.

As I flipped through the pages, my door opened all of a sudden, not taking my eyes of the pages, I mumbled, "Get out of my room, Eric." Eric was the name of my cousin.

But who answered me was not him.

"Son....We need to talk." My mother spoke softly.

I looked up, and saw her standing at my door. I stared at her, and she beckoned me to follow her. She left, and I hastily followed her.

She sat down at the small table we used for guests, and my cousin sat next to her. I sat down.

"What is it mother?" I spoke. It was the first time since 4 years ago since we last spoke. I couldn't bear to speak to her, and she couldn't to me. We had lived in silence since then.

She replied softly, "....It's your seventh year soon. It's almost time for you to go to the church and receive your blessings."

"Blessings?" I asked. From who? Why?

My cousin spat out a sigh. "You must be an idiot, not knowing what you should already. Every child get's a blessing from certain gods. Those gods become "Chaperone gods" and the child, their champions. The gods give blessings in return for you doing their bidding occasionally. When a child is 7 years old, like you will be, they must go to church and receive those blessings. But that's not the reason why you're here right now."

"Eric..." My mother seemed to be warning him.

"Then why am I here? I thought you both hate me?" I asked softly. My mother raised her head, and looked at me in the eyes for the first time. I could see tears in her eyes as she gazed at me. Her lips were trembling softly as she silently said

"I am sorry. I'm so sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" I asked as Eric gave her a cloth to wipe her face with. "What did you do?"

She replied, "I.....You....." She breathed in as if composing herself. "When you turn 7, and receive your blessings, the Institute will come here to take you. I....Had you take a test, many years ago, wether they would accept you or not. They did, and they will take you."

"When," I simply asked, "When exactly."

She stared at me, "Aren't you angry? Sad? That I, Your mother, who should raise you, a 6 year old child, sold you off like livestock to the Institute?" She said angrily, as if berating herself.

I looked at her. I softly said, "It isn't hard to leave when you ignored me since I was born."

"Shut up, you brat!" hissed Eric, "How dare you speak like that to your mother!"

"Like I said, it's almost as if she isn't my mother."

I went back to my room. I didn't feel anger at my mother. Or happy to leave my cousin. No I felt apathetic. I really don't care what happened to either of them. Ever since my past life childhood, I lost almost all emotions.

But still, I admit I did feel a slight bit of something as I went to sleep. Something similar to sadness.

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When my son entered the house, I didn't know what to say to him. 'I sold you off?' 'You're going to the Institute?'.

I can't even look at him. I hadn't since the acceptance letter from the Institute came.

But, it was only 2 weeks till the ceremonial blessings. 2 weeks until he would leave for the Institute. I had to tell him. I had to talk to him at least once.

I mustered my courage and went to his door. "Son..." I called out. The first ever time I said that.

We gathered at the table. As I talked to him, I felt afraid. Not at what emotions he would show. No, I had already prepared my self for the anger and sadness that would come. But it didn't.

He looked empty.

The first time I had ever looked into my child's eyes, and I didn't see a thing. Only dark blank black eyes, filled with no emotions. I was angry. At him for not showing me his emotions, for I had to see what he thought, as well as myself, for having to say this at all.

He said a few words that broke my heart. "It isn't hard to leave when you ignored me since I was born."

It's true. I had. Even so, I did take care of him. But what he said shattered what was left of my weak emotions.

"Like I said, it's almost as if she isn't my mother."

I.....I am not fit to be a mother. I can't believe my own son said that. I....I can't do this. Not anymore. No longer. I give up.

I decided to stop being a mother that day. My son seemed to have lost faith in me. I won't try to get him back.

I, Emily Qwintun, am no longer a mother.

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