"Come on Runaan, you'll find out when you're older." Shooing Runaan out of the way now, Eladreas ended their conversation then and there. Even he wasn't in a position to reveal anything about Runaan's background. He felt only the Emperor himself had the authority and well enough encompassing knowledge to speak of Runaan's heritage.
"Why won't you tell me? I thought we were friends Eladreas" Runaan pouted with pursed lips and widened eyes. Eladreas could only give a wry smile back.
Eladreas bent down to face Runaan eye to eye, "of course we're still friends Runaan, we will be forever okay?" he held out his pinky towards Runaan expecting him to cling his own pinky finger to his.
"You promise?" tears were just about to well up in Runaan's eyes as he clasped his pinky around Eladreas'. "You can back out of that okay! We're friends! But I won't be friends with Mr. Prim, he's a jackass" after commenting about Borrian, Runaan ran off.
"WHY YOU LITTLE RUNT!!!" Mr. Prim began to chase after Runaan, only to be stopped in his tracks by Eladreas.
"You know you have to be more careful when dealing with Runaan. If anything about him is let out, it isn't just our heads that are on the line. We can only tell him how he came to the orphanage after his ceremony. Only then... no, never mind. Just don't bring this up near Runaan again, he mustn't find out he's already lived through mana corruption once." Eladreas let out a long sigh and scolded Borrian.
"I know, I'm sorry Eladreas, the magic that can cure mana corruption isn't supposed to be revealed to anyone. Though people know it exists, the people who can use it are far too rare to be left alone." Borrian said in a dismayed voice, knowing he'd screwed up.
If anyone found out that the Head Priest can cure mana corruption, wars could be waged on gaining his abilities.
Standing just around the corner, Runaan stood shocked. Fear was coursing through his head as he overheard Eladreas and the Jackass talking. He never knew he'd already survived mana corruption before.
He knew the seriousness of mana corruption, and the implications it can cause. He was absolutely dumbfounded to find out he's nearly died before, or worse, become a horrible abomination that only the storybooks in the reading room hinted at.
"What happened to me before I came here? I only ever remember living at the orphanage." Runaan mumbled to himself.
Runaan began to saunter off towards the sleeping courters all of the other orphans lived in. After overhearing the conversation between Eladreas and Borrian, he needed time to digest what he heard.
In his bed, Runaan began to stare blankly at the ceiling with a confused look. He couldn't figure out what he had heard, and just kept running in circles in his mind trying to figure it out.
Suddenly Carri appeared over his head, "there you! Where did you go? I know the Jackass can be mean but at least Eladreas would've let you read in the room still." Carri nonchalantly said as she looked at Runaan.
Carri was several meters away behind a mountain of bookshelves trying to find her favorite storybook, so she didn't hear the conversation between the three. Just that Runaan was getting yelled at again by Borrian and Eladreas came to his rescue, again.
"Go away Carri, I don't want to talk about it, you get to have your ceremony next month and start to learn magic. You're gonna leave me behind and I'm gonna be all alone again." Runaan began to pout again. Tears forming in his eyes as he turned his head away from Carri.
"Oh come on, it's not like me having my ceremony will get me adopted. You know that people only ever get adopted before their ceremonies so the family who took them in can reap the benefits of a good soul awakening." Carri laid down next to Runaan in his bed to stare at the ceiling.
It was rare for families to adopt children, to begin with. Even more so when the child had already had their soul awakened. Having the child adopted before their soul awakening, they could manipulate the children into staying with them after their ceremony giving them a home to stay in after.
However, those who didn't have a great soul awakening would be abandoned again either outright or after a little while so the adopting family wouldn't get looked down upon. Though the orphanage knows of this practice, they can't do anything about it.
They can't shelter the thousands of children older than 7. Children older than 7 can already learn about magic even if it's without formal education, everyone had an innate ability for some form of magic, and that would allow them to scrounge out a living.
Meager as it may be, hundreds, if not thousands of children end up abandoned after a poor soul awakening, but oftentimes they have no other choice but to take a gamble and risk being abandoned again.
The church hated this practice, but there was nothing that could be done. Even if the orphanage took in children after their soul awakenings, there was no way to care for them because they would almost immediately run out of resources.
Though the orphanage is set up to care for nearly 40 children at a time, adding in even a handful of adolescents could reduce the number of children they could care for drastically.
"I know sis" Runaan said solemnly. "I just hope you can awaken good enough to get into one of the schools the empire runs to learn about magic."
In a daze, Carri was thinking about the empirical school of magic, "wouldn't that be nice... but those schools are just for nobles and people who awaken to rare elemental affinities. I probably won't get a chance to join any of those schools."
Then retracting her gaze from the ceiling to look at Runaan, Carri scolded, "And don't call me sis! My name's Carri!"
"That's okay sis, I know you will get the rarest element of them all!" Runaan stated confidently looking into Carri's auburn eyes.
"I said don't call me sis!" Carri said while pushing Runaan off the bed. As Runaan fell he hit his head on the ground in an awkward way. "Oh my gosh Runaan are you oka-" Carri stopped herself as she looked down at Runaan.
"What was that about Carri!?... gahhh!" Runaan retorted looking back at Carri above him. Now feeling a burning sensation inside of his eyes.
"W-w-what's happening to your eyes Runaan!?!" Carri had hurriedly asked as Runaans eyes began to glow an ominous red hue. It was the color of crimson blood but had amber whisps burning around them as his pupils began to change shape from rounded dots to serpent's eyes.
"GahhhhHHH!!!!!" Runaan began to scream out in pain as his eyes started to bleed. But to the bewilderment of Carri, it was that not only did Runaan's eyes begin to bleed, even the blood dripping down his face seem to exude a certain degree of heat.
Shortly after his eyes begin to bleed, did the blood drip off of his red cheeks flushed with pain drop to the ground. *Tssss* The blood sizzled and burned the cobbled floor scorching the rocks beneath them.
Only after the drop of blood hitting the ground did Runaan's pain subside and his eyes turn back to normal. Runaan looked back up at Carri again, only to see her terrified expression.
He didn't know what was happening, and clearly, Carri didn't either. Carri began to turn around and run away. Carri soon came back with Eladreas in tow, pulling him as forcefully as she could to the sleeping courters.
Carri's terrified look etched itself into Runaan's mind. Looking up at Eladreas now Kneeling next to him did he ask, "what's wrong with me?"