Leaving The Orphanage

A new day has come and I am ready to leave this little old town of mine. Though, I will admit I will miss this place. But I don't want to stay here forever so it's best for me to leave now and walk towards my future.

Packing my stuff wasn't hard to be honest. I didn't have much in the first place, the only things I had were several beaten and ripped up clothes, the money I saved up, some stale bread with a broken up canteen holding questionable water, a worn out book, and a sword.

How I have this sword is an easy story. During the time Gregory was gone and some of my friends were going to their new family, I decided to explore the orphanage to pass time. I did many times, even when Gregory was still there and was making his famous soup.

I miss his soup. How the stew melted in my mouth and the balls of meat that you chewed with the vegetables. How he always made it when one of the kids got sick or when it was cold outside. Ha, nice times. I miss those times.

Anyways, it was during this little adventure of mine in the orphanage that I decided to check out Gregory's old room. It has been a long time since his forced departure, so his room got dirty and dusty. His bed was covered in dust and most of his furniture had spiderwebs on their surfaces.

So as the good kid that Gregory raised, I decided to clean his room up. I went to the orphanage's basement and grabbed the cleaning tools we had, which was just a broom and an almost broken duster.

I think I spent hours trying to clean up his room. I remember wiping his table and his drawers off of dust. I remember stubbing my toe on his bed when I was dancing to my own tune while I was whistling. I remember bouncing up and down his bed once my work was done.

That is how I actually found his sword. During my jumps, I accidently pushed his bed too hard onto the ground after a strong jump. I heard a click and thought that I had just broken one of his bed legs. So I got on my knees and laid my head on the wooden floor to check which leg was broken. It was then that I discovered the legs were all deep into the floor, which was worse since I thought I had broken the floorboards.

So I used my weak body and, after several painful seconds of struggling, lifted the bed off the ground. But when I did, I heard another click and then something falling onto the bed from above. I looked up and saw a square hole in the roof.

I was scared of course, but then wondered what fell down. Was it the ceiling tile? But shouldn't there have been a lot of dust or maybe even a loud smashing sound. So I dropped the bed, which made a loud thud, and checked what was on the bed. When I looked I saw something long wrapped around in brown cloth.

Its cloth was dusty and had small bugs on its surface, of course I didn't fear the bugs at the time because of my constant magic called [Pest Control]. So I just grabbed the item and swatted the bugs off, of course the bugs died seconds later after they were exposed to my magic. I stared at the cloth covered item in my hand and felt a strange weight in my arm. The item wasn't heavy or weirdly shaped, it in fact felt like a long, but small, brick shaped item. Or so I think from what I could see and feel while it was hidden by the cloth. Yet, for some reason my arms felt heavy by just holding it.

I sat on the bed and placed the item on my lap. I stared at it for several more moments before unwrapping it. I widened my eyes and gulped when I saw what it was. It was, without a fact, a sword. But at the same time I couldn't call it one.

For instance, the sheath was just a dark wooden block that seemed to have been burned from the marks I could see on its surface. Yet it didn't seem damaged or cracked, as if it was burnt on purpose. Then there was the handle. Its surface was coated from its pommel to its tip in a white scale-like thing. The scales didn't hurt when I grabbed onto them, in fact it felt as if I had a better grip on it than any other item. But from what I could see from its pommel, the inside of it was made from the same burnt wood as the sheath as the pommel was just a smooth bottom for the handle.

Then finally the blade. I know there are blades with two sides and blades with one side. I know that there are blades that are as straight as a stick or even blades as crescent as the moon. Yet I have never seen a blade like this. When I unsheathed the blade, I was shocked at seeing a giant metal rod with a very sharp tip. There were no cuts on the blade that showed any sharp parts or even spikes. The only sign or sharpness was its tip, but even that was weird as it was slanted with a hollow inside. Like a needle. Another thing was that this metal rod wasn't small like a rapier. In fact it was almost the same size as the handle that my little small kid hand couldn't even wrap around.

As I stared at this blade, something caught my eye. It was a worn out leather book with a title on its surface. Though I couldn't read or write, there was one word that Gregory talked about. He spoke about a time when he visited a town or a city just to meet a friend. On this trip, he passed by a stand that had a strange looking fish on sale. He asked about it and the fisherman said he had caught it along with his friends during a fishing trip. He said it was quite rare in the south and that he was willing to sell it for cheap. 

Gregory had bought the fish and asked his friend if he could cook it. After a game the fish was done and the two sat down and ate the fish. Gregory said it was the tastiest thing to eat. Of course the story ended with Gregory saying bye to his friend and continuing his travel to meet another friend. But the name of the fish was something he kept repeating over and over again.

Belone. I remember Gregory telling me it meant needle. I read the book of course and its first page said this.

"Hello there. If you are reading this, then it means you wish to improve your life. Before you read further I will tell you a few things. The first is a warning. I do not know how you see me, either as a good person or a bad one, but once you read this book you will understand what I was. The second is a wish. You probably found the sword that came with this book. It is called Belone, which you could probably guess from the title of this book. I had Belone on my side since I was young, during my days in the academy at the capital and during the Red War. Or at least that is what it was called during my time. It has been my partner for so long that I wish that when I get old that it finds a good successor. Which leads us to my wish. I wish you to not read further than this unless you wish to live a life you can enjoy. I do not wish for someone who craves violence to read this book. Nor one who craves peace in their time. I wish for someone who wishes to move with time and do things they want. If that is by living as a soldier or as a simple wanderer. The reason for this is simple, this book holds every spell and technique I have discovered, made, and used throughout my life. It also tells tales of my past that I wish those I knew well to read. A tale during my time in the Red War and my time as I wandered the land. So do not read further until you have decided to improve your life and have set foot in your new journey."

I listened to his words and did not read the book again. I wrapped both the book and sword back in the cloth and put it back on the ceiling. Of course I had to find a way to get it up there and also find a way to hide the broken ceiling. It wasn't easy, especially since I was trying my best to hide it from the other kids and adults, fearing they would tarnish Gregory's wish. But I was able to do both tasks and went on my merry way.

I never dared to go near Gregory's room, unless it was for cleaning, nor think about the sword and book. It was only until today did I go back to his room and take the sword and book for myself. After all, today was the day I decided to improve my life by participating in the academy. And since there was no one left in our orphanage, I might as well take it with me.

I used the cloth to wrap all my belongings in it before placing it at the edge of the blades sheath and slung over my shoulder. I walked through the orphanage once again. Admiring its hallway and the rooms that were once full of children. All laughing while throwing toys around.

I walked one last time, before stopping at the exit. I stared at it one more time, took a deep breath, and walked outside. The sun was shining on my figure as I left my first home in this world.