I hear the rain hitting against the shingles of the roof and the loud thunderous claps of lightning, but for some reason I can seem to open my eyes,
I then ask myself in my mind.
"am I in the afterlife?
a few moments later I hear a door swing open, followed up with the gasp of a female voice.
"Sister Rose another child has been left on our doorstep."
confused I wonder.
"child? what is going on?"
I hear a different female voice.
"well bring in the child from the cold or it will freeze to death."
I feel a warm embrace a very similar to the ones Mistress Isabelle always gave me.
"this poor boy, was just left abandoned."
one of them makes a remark.
"look there is a note inside the wooden basket."
I ask myself.
"am I experiencing some kind of old memory in this afterlife?"
I finally open my eyes and see two human females staring at me, one of has short brown hair and brown eyes and the other has a black ponytail and light brown eyes, the one with the black ponytail smiles at me.
"aren't you cute a toddler?"
baffled with this situation I try to speak to them but something feels off, since the only thing coming out my mouth are baby noises, the one holding me in her arms kisses me on the forehead.
"don't you worry little fella, we'll take care of you."
I wonder in my thoughts.
"I'm either in some weird purgatory experiencing some old memories, or I was somehow transported back in time."
one of them tickles my stomach, and I couldn't help myself but to laugh, the one holding me says.
"Sister Rose, the sounds of children laughing always cure my soul."
I say to her in my mind.
"don't look down on me human."
Sister Rose giggles.
"someone is grumpy."
the one carrying me asks Sister Rose.
"do you think he's hungry."
she responds.
"yes, it may seem like it."
I think to myself.
"well I play along for now and let them nourish me for however long I'm stuck in this bizarre memory of mine."
the one holding me asks while walking side by side.
"how old do you think he is."
Sister Rose inspects me with her eyes.
"I'd say between one and two years old."
they walk me inside the cafeteria while carrying me, and I hear the chatter of various human children of different ages and the sounds of silverware clanking, Sister Rose calls out to another.
"Sister Melani can you please look after this new child that was left at footstep?"
I hear her reply.
"yes, Sister Rose right away."
the one holding me hands me over to Sister Melani and heads of to get me my nourishment, I stare at young female human with wavy orange hair, and green eyes, wearing a tunic that seems to be is central piece of the all the sisters uniform, It is a loose dress made of serge fabric pleated at the neck and it drapes down to the ground, she is wearing it pinned up in the front to allow low her to work, the next thing I notice is a scapular which is an apron that hangs from both front and back she is wearing it over it her tunic and they are both kept in place with a cincture around the waist made of leather, I then think to myself.
"I've seen this attire before, religious humans usually wear these silly clothes."
I manage to let out a sigh and think to myself.
"out of all the places in this world i could be at, I'm here stuck in some kind of human religious institution."
Sister Melani grabs me and asks the other sisters with a concerned tone.
"we are going to have trouble having anyone adopting a child with brown skin."
I wonder.
"good if that is the case, I'd rather avoid getting adopted."
Sister Rose waves her finger at Sister Melani.
"even if that is the case, we will raise this child properly like any other child, no matter if he has brown skin."
Sister Melani hugs me.
"I'm sorry young one, I'll make sure to look after you and have you receive all the love that your parents should have given you."
I think to myself feeling annoyed.
"all of you need to stop looking down at me."
I then give up and sigh to myself.
"they all seem decent and have their heart in the right place, maybe I'll spare them from my inevitable wrath."
the Sister who took comes back with a bottle filled with white liquid and hands it over to Sister Melani.
"here you go, I made sure warm up the milk."
I think to myself.
"I don't want milk, I want some proper food."
Sister Melani brings it close to my lips and says.
"here you go honey, let's get some milk in your stomach."
even though I want to protest, I sigh in defeat and think to myself.
"I'll endure for now."
I open my mouth and begin suck on the teat and as the milk hits my stomach, my mind melts with with pleasure.
"I didn't expect milk to taste amazing."
Sister Melani smiles at me.
"see it isn't bad, right little guy."
I say to her in mind.
"I will spare you as well Sister Melani."
Sister Melani then asks Sister Rose.
"what is his name?"
Sister Rose replies.
"there was a note inside."
she asks.
"what was written on it."
she answers.
"I'm assuming his name is Darius Lindon."
she asks.
"anything else?"
she shakes her head.
"no."
she looks at me and asks them.
"what about the necklace he is wearing? should we take it off him?"
Sister Rose responds.
"no we should leave it with him, it might be his only connection to his parents."
I reply to them in my mind.
"you couldn't be more wrong sister."
Around four years have gone passed by and in those years there has been no sign that I'm in some kind of weird after life, if anything it seems that I'm in the humans capital kingdom Makendon the exact same name, when I was still serving Mistress Isabelle, so I came to the conclusion that I was somehow transported back in time, and I always thought to myself.
"time magic is unheard of, it's impossible for it to exist."
but everytime I see my young self in the mirror, my
assumption of it being some kind of time magic just grows stronger, I clutch the stone from the necklace and say to myself.
"this necklace has something to do with what happened to me."
a knock on the door interrupts my thoughts.
"Darius come on down, and have breakfast with the other children."
I reply.
"yes, Sister Melani."
I walk out the shared bedroom and make my way downstairs towards the cafeteria where I run into one of the kids who I share the bedroom with, sitting at the bottom of the stairs crying while Sister Melani is comforting him.
"it's okay sweetie, they didn't mean any harm with their words."
I sigh and ask the chubby human with the hideous black bowl cut haircut.
"what happened now Ryan?"
he sniffles.
"nothing Darius, we were just playing a game."
I grumble and ask Sister Melani.
"are you not going to do anything about this?"
she pleads to me.
"Darius please don't cause any trouble today, everything has already been resolved."
I click my tongue.
"useless."
I give Ryan my hand.
"come on let's go eat."
Sister Melani sighs in relief.
"thank you, Darry."
I pout.
"it's Darius."
she giggles.
"you don't need to be serious all the time, it's not normal for a kid your age."
Me and Ryan walk together to the cafeteria he looks down, as I ask.
"are you going to keep letting them make fun of you?"
he responds.
"I'm sorry Darius, I'm just not strong like you."
I grumble and ask.
"remember when you forced me to take the brotherly oath with you and that I wouldn't regret doing so?"
he nods.
"yes I remember."
I reply.
"I'm starting to have second thoughts on it."
he laughs.
"come on Darius, you don't have to be so mean."
after standing in line and grabbing our food, we sit down at empty table, and I ask him.
"do you want me to get them for you?"
he shakes his head.
"no I don't want you getting in trouble again because of me."
I look at him and grumble to myself.
"I can't believe, you had me take the brotherly oath with you."
the time I spent with Mistress Isabelle, I made a few brotherly oaths and took them very serious and never broke them no matter what, I then say to him.
"after we are done with morning chores, you are coming to train with me in the woods."
he groans.
"but chores tire me out."
I reply.
"if you want to keep calling yourself my brother then I need you to become stronger."
he slumps down from his chair and groans.
"fine."
I look at him and sigh.
"if he didn't have so much physical strength potential, then I would have given up on him."
I chew on my food and the point my fork at him.
"you're luck that I like you Ryan."
he smiles.
"and I'm grateful brother Darius."
I throw on of my peas at his forehead and say.
"you don't get to call me brother until you have gotten stronger."
he looks down on his food with a sad expression, I grumble and then sigh.
"sorry, it's just I don't want to see you waste your potential."
he points at himself.
"me really?"
I nod.
"now eat, I need you to have energy for later."
after eating all the kids currently staying in the orphanage gather in formation where Sister Rose points at the chalkboard.
"these are your assigned morning chores, and once your done, you will be allowed to play outside."
I look and see that I'm stuck cleaning the bathrooms, with some one else, I then head towards the closet and grab some towels, a mop, a broom, and a bucket filled with soap, my partner
who is also stuck cleaning the bathrooms asks.
"do you need help carrying some of the stuff Darius?"
I turn around and reply to the female child who is two years older me.
"yes, Sarah."
I give her the broom and mop and say.
"let's go the sooner we finish the sooner we can go outside."
she runs her hand through her straight long brown hair and looks at me with her brown eyes.
"yeah, I agree."
as we climb the stairs.
she asks.
"you plan on confronting them today?"
I shake my head.
"no I really don't want to cause anymore trouble for Sister Melani."
she smiles.
"did anyone tell you don't ever act like a five year?"
I reply.
"yes, I've been told that, more times than I care to keep count."
she sighs.
"can't you act more normal?"
after entering the bathroom together, I answer.
"it doesn't matter how many times I get told that I'm not normal, it won't cause me the change the way I am."
she giggles.
"see that is not a normal response."
I grumble.
"whatever let's get this done."
if Mistress Isabelle would have seen how soft I've gotten she'd be rolling over dying of laughter, I then tightly grip the mop.
"it doesn't matter what she thinks, she betrayed me without giving it a second thought."
after an hour or so of cleaning the bathroom, I think to myself.
"in a year from now Mistress Isabelle will be riding through various orphanages, looking to recruit humans to become Demon-Humans."
I sigh.
"I should have figured out that I wasn't a pureblooded Demon."
we finish cleaning up and call one of the sisters to check on our work, and after being satisfied with what she sees, she let's us go, Sarah asks as we head downstairs.
"do you want to play hide and seek with me and the girls?"
I shake my head.
"sorry but I'm going to hanging out with Ryan."
she sighs sounding disappointed.
"okay, well maybe tomorrow then?"
I reply.
"sure."
I make my way outside and notice Ryan is already waiting for me, I run up to him and say.
"come on let's go deep into the forest, so no one can bother us."
as we go head into the forest he asks.
"what are we going to do?"
I respond.
"we are going to have you lose weight."
he groans.
"really?"
I reply.
"yes."
I then begin to jog.
"oh and if you can't keep up, I'll make you run longer next time."
he shouts.
"hold on, wait for me Darius."