--five years after Runaan was found: year 480 of the Crownsman Empire--
"Runaan come here! Come on you need to keep up if you want to play with us!" Yelled a small girl no more the age of 7, her name was Carigora, Runaan's best friend growing up in the orphanage.
"Carri you guys run too fast for me to keep up, why don't you guys ever slow down for me?" Runaan retorted back at Carigora. Carigora turned into a big sister of sorts for Runaan, she became a dependable person he looked up to whenever he had an issue.
"Come on Carri just leave 'Runt' behind, he's an invalid that will never live up to anything." Said a large boy surrounded by the other orphans, clearly being the leader of the group.
"Shut up James, he's not an invalid, he's already so much better looking than you too!" Carri snapped at James sticking out her tongue and pulling her eyelid down.
"What's that for? I'm just saying it like it is." James and the others were always bullying Runaan for his stunted growth. He was always half a foot shorter than the rest of the 5-year old orphans. He always seemed to have something holding his growth back.
*Hmph,* "I don't want to play with you guys anymore, let's go Runaan!" Carri quickly turned around grabbing Runaan's hand pulling him away, turning back towards the orphanage. Carri lead Runaan back towards the orphanage's reading room that was placed there to help the children learn to read.
Most people in the world couldn't read, but the orphanage was endorsed by the Holy Order of Kothrishard through the Cathedral, which was subsequently endorsed by the Imperial Household. As such the few orphans that were accepted had the chance to learn the very basics of literature and arithmetics.
This was to overall help the Crownsman empire in the future. The thought behind these actions was that even though they're orphans, they are to be given the same chances at success as those from common families.
In the human realm, where cultivation and ability speak more than everything else, having the basics down was important to make the difference between surviving and thriving.
Being accepted into the orphanage wasn't hard, as with any other city, the orphanage took in the strays and forgotten children of the world and gave them a safe place to grow. Though they would grow up healthy, they would grow up without the love of their families, without a mother's love.
Runaan constantly thought of his mother, not knowing where she was or even who she had been. She had left Runaan in this world all alone, even though at the age of five, Runaan would be melancholic whenever the thought of his mother entered his mind.
Runaan was told by Eladreas that his mother died giving birth to him before, but he didn't understand how one could die due to giving birth, he didn't even understand the concept of bringing life into this world.
Inside the orphanage's reading room, Runaan pulled out a large book from the shelf that had all sorts of sigils and engravings on it. The book was almost as big as he was, the book described how to use magic for beginners.
"Hey, you nosy little runt! You know you can't be reading this! How the hell did you even get this in here!?!?" As Runaan was about to read the book and try and understand the meaning behind magic it was ripped out of his hands and taken away.
There was a large burly man standing no less than 2 meters tall, he was the orphanage's caretaker, Borrian Prim. "Why can't I start learning magic Mr. Borrian! I know I can do it!"
"No! You know the rules Runt, not until after your soul awakening ceremony when you turn 7! Carri is the only orphan here who is almost ready to have her own ceremony take place, she's not even allowed to read this book! Now go away!" Borrian angrily yelled at Runaan, this hasn't been the first time Runaan has tried to read the "magic traditions guide" before.
"If I catch you sneaking this book again, you'll be needing Father Menders to heal your behind when I'm through with you!" Borrian added as he was throwing Runaan out from the reading room.
*hmph* "I'm not scared of you Jacka$$, I will learn magic and you can't stop me!" Runaan yelled from the doorway as he was running down the hall. Only noticing Eladreas begin to enter the room because of all of the commotion.
"Come on Borrian, can't you at least explain to him properly why children cannot learn magic before their ceremonies?" Eladreas said from the doorway holding Runaan by his tattered shirt collar.
"Don't you think he's too young to know the consequences of underaged mana use? Especially with his disposition and how he came to this orphanage, to begin with. He's at a higher risk than even normal children." Borrian replied to Eladreas in a respectful tone.
"Your right about his past and his current disposition, but he needs to know before he incurs those consequences right?" Eladreas said plainly as he looked back at Runaan, and changing his tone of voice he said simply, "you'll die if you practice magic right now Runaan."
Runaan stopped struggling as soon as he heard Eladreas' response to Borrian and then his short explanation to him thereafter. "W-w-what do you mean I can die?" Runaan said with a trembling voice caused by Eladreas' imposing tone of voice as he stared at him with unmoving eyes.
"I mean that if those who try and practice magic before their ceremonies, they run the risk of being corroded by this world's mana, and then die because their bodies cannot handle the corruption the mana causes. Or something worse could happen, and you'll..." Eladreas stopped himself before going further.
Eladreas saw that he was getting through to Runaan with his explanation, everyone knew of mana corruption and the dangers they posed. Even children weren't privileged enough to avoid this terrifying truth.
Human children, as they grew, were more susceptible to mana corruption than other species of Alterra because of the soul-awakening process needing to take place so late in life.
Humans were a weird species on Alterra, most animals have their soul-awakenings happen while they were developing in their mother's wombs. Yet this phenomenon didn't occur with humans, they required an external factor to force their soul awakenings.
The soul awakenings allowed for creatures on Alterra to use its mana and convert it into energies for magic and even longevity. Humans were special though; because they required the late soul awakenings, they were able to cultivate easier than other species.
However, the risk in this came from the misuse of mana before the soul awakening. Human souls were able to withstand the use of mana before their awakenings which leads to mana corruption.
Runaan was special in this way, he'd already been consumed by mana corruption before, though he didn't die and wasn't converted into a demonic being, no one knew of the adverse side effects of repeat mana corruption, especially in a child at such a young age.
After Runaan began to settle down and completely dangled in Eladreas' grasp he asked, "But what did Mr. Prim mean by saying that my disposition will kill me? What does disposition even mean?" Runaan asked Eladreas only to see that Borrian had flinched after hearing what Runaan had asked.
"I didn't mean to-" Borrian was cut off by Eladreas' dreadful glare, he knew he had overstepped his bounds and spoken of something that wasn't meant to be revealed to Runaan this early, let alone ever.