After two days of sleep filled with nightmares and memories of traumatizing incidents, Kane woke up screaming in an unfamiliar place. Tears were still streaming from his eyes, and his mind was unable to understand and assimilate what actually happened that night.
He looked around the room in fear intuitively in search of his mother, but all he saw was the spreading crying and screaming of children lying on wooden beds and old priestesses dressed in white habits with green decorations symbolizing the church of Arotia, the Goddess of life. Running in panic from bed to bed trying to calm and take care of the orphans who arrived here in large numbers through the empire's attacks, children of all ages, from babies to 14-year-olds. This place made for childcare was created by Priestess Corinne from an old, large barn on the outskirts of the city converted to care for children lonely by war or abandoned.
A broken Kane was still trying to spot his mother with with confusion and fear in his eyes, until one of the orphanage's priestesses came up to him.
"Hello sweetie, how are you feeling? Do you need anything?"
Kane slowly stopped crying. Contact with another human being helped him realize that the incidents from 2 days ago, were not just a nightmare.
"..."
The priestess, receiving no answer, saw only the face of a devastated, pale boy with a blank, dead gaze without a ray of the will to live or hope, staring ahead like a wraith or cursed with remnants of tears running down his cheeks. The smile assumed to calm down the children momentarily disappeared from her face, Staring at Kane after a moment's reflection with slight fear but also understanding, she decided to leave him alone and said.
"Now everything will be fine. This is the orphanage in Millwood, it's safe here, and you don't have to be afraid anymore. If you need anything, call one of the priestesses, she will certainly help you."
After which, she left Kane to take care of the child from the bed next to him.
Kane, full of piercing fear, pain, trauma... unable to come to terms with the loss, ate nothing for the next five days, by turns only crying and staring into nothingness with a blank stare, not reacting or talking to anyone the whole time.
One of the priestesses, concerned about his state, one day took the boy on her arms and carried him outside so that he could see the small park in front of the orphanage and breathe some fresh air.
Among the running and happy children who lived there even before the attack on the village, a place full of sunshine and shouts of joy, he was sitting. A pale, cold and lifeless child staring worriedly ahead. Unmoved by anything, whether by the rays of the sun flying straight into his eyes or the insects flying in front of his face. Like a living corpse among children.
While sitting on a bench, sighing in internal agony, Kane started to assimilate what had happened, in silence and loneliness... In time, after coming to terms with what had happened to his only family, he slowly began to live, eat and walk while getting familiar with his new reality, but still without any will or reason to live. All he could see in front of his eyes was the corpse of his mother lying on the ground, with a slowly growing pool of blood coming out of her back. Nothing could make him smile like he used to. Children who were afraid of Kane, bypassed and ignored the boy, only made his condition worse leaving him alone.
With each passing month, children were leaving and coming to the orphanage. The priestesses in charge of the children, seeing that six months after Kane's arrival he still hadn't recovered compared to the three children who had also lost family or been abandoned by them, as a result of the Empire's attack, decided to call a local doctor.
On a rainy, windy day, the Millwood town doctor arrived to deal with children like Kane, who were arriving in increasing numbers from border villages after another Empire attack.
The priestess came up to Kane, who was staring at the window, watching the storm outside the window, grabbed him by the arm and said in a soft, quiet voice.
"Kane child, Mr. Ralf has come to talk to you, come with me, please."
The child, as usual, without answering, only looked at the older woman and did as she said. On the sidelines of the orphanage away from the other children, Kane sat on a creaky wooden chair and the doctor in front of him.
"Hello Kane, I am Mr. Ralf, I work as a doctor in this city, I would just like to talk to you for a while, okay?"
"..."
"ekhm... I know about the tragedy that happened in your life, please could you tell me how you feel after six months in Mrs. Corinne's orphanage? Is something specific bothering you, or do you need help?"
Kane, already a 7-year-old boy without a single trace of reaction, stared with dead, piercing eyes straight at Mr. Ralf. The pale kid, who hadn't left the orphanage in six months, stared with cold, shattered eyes at the doctor with no will to live when lightning struck behind the child's back time and again in the heavy rain. The doctor, slightly worried by the lack of any response or reaction, continued to try to start a conversation with the child
"Then maybe let's start by telling me something about yourself Kane, what do you do do or eat, are you interested in anything?"
"..."
Still without any answer, the child only sighed.
Mr. Ralf, as a doctor specializing in cases of children orphaned by war, was unable to communicate with the boy. During the 15-minute session, no matter what Mr. Ralf would say, or do in the boy's presence in an attempt to force any response from him, the doctor didn't receive any reaction or response. During the entire time, the petite boy in the chair didn't even flinch, he just stared straight into the doctor's eyes for 15 minutes, like a dark puppet created to scare people. The lightning striking in the background, visible from the window that was behind Kane, only intensified the doctor's strange feelings toward the boy.
Resigned, the doctor sighed, looking at the boy with mild fright and called out to the priestess, signaling that he was done talking to him.
After the boy went back to his bed, the concerned priestess tried to ask the doctor what was wrong with the child, or get some advice on how to care for him. The aged man merely rubbed his eyes and said.
"In all my life, after all the invasions and battles, after talking to hundreds of children, I have never seen a man in such a shattered state. Even if it is a child after incidents, after half a year it should not be in such a bad condition"
"Then tell me, what should I do with him? Can he be helped somehow?"
Mr. Ralf, with tired eyes, only spoke after an uncommon meeting.
"Even though it won't be any meaningful help to you, it's best to leave him alone for a while longer, although I shouldn't say that as a doctor. Just try to gradually assimilate him to his peers, perhaps any remnants of human emotions will return to him. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything"
Devastated by his incompetence and the patient's condition, the doctor left the orphanage, staring at the ground, trying not to make eye contact with the disappointed priestesses.
In a year of non-stop attempts to save the child, almost all the priestesses gave up that it was possible to save the boy. Only Corinna, the orphanage's founder, was the last to spend time with the child, trying in every way to engage in longer conversations with him or to force any emotion, even negative ones. Meanwhile more children from the war between the Empire of Leronia and the Kingdom of Forsteck continued to arrive to orphanages throughout the kingdom. Although the front of the war had moved south of the orphanage, the effects of the empire's invasions, which looted and burned villages at night, were still visible.
The child's condition slowly improved over time, he began to eat more and go outside to watch the park, gazing from the bench where he always sat at the orphanage children playing outside with with vacancy in your eyes. Some priestesses once in a while managed to lead a longer conversation with Kane, but only when he was the one who needed an answer to a question. Despite his young age, he was completely uninterested in anything. He spent his days eating, sleeping and staring at the park's trees.
At the age of 10, Kane was showing the effects of Corinna's 3-year effort. Although the boy still had a blank stare and showed no emotion, and the kids were still afraid of him and tried to avoid him even despite Priestess Corinna's pleas to try to play with him, he could be talked to and was living a normal daily life.
One spring morning, 4 years after the events that changed Kane's life, while the children were eating breakfast, suddenly everyone heard the sounds of horses and armed men. Some of the children were instantly traumatized and panicked by the familiar sounds, which they associated with horses and the armor of Imperial soldiers. Instantly, the screaming throughout the orphanage began. The priestesses, having the worst-case scenario in their minds, reluctantly and slowly opened the door.
However, in the entryway, they saw 4 messengers from the Forsteck Kingdom's army, upon seeing them, the children gradually began to calm down, knowing that they were in no danger. After a while, the children began to continue their meal, when the priestesses' worries could be heard in the background, as they gazed from the distance of the orphanage at the children while talking to the soldiers. After the children finished their meal, Corinna clapped her hands loudly and said to her children in care.
"Dear children, I have some rather shocking news. I request all children who are at least 10 years old to go outside in front of the orphanage, the rest stay inside."
The faces of the bewildered children, who did not understand what was happening, looked around them, and the priestesses began to escort outside the children who met the stated requirements. As one of the priestesses grabbed Kane's hand to escort him out, Corinna tried to intervene discreetly in the soldiers' ignorance to get Kane outside.
"Lena please leave Kane in the orphanage, you can see for yourself the state he is in. We don't know what they want from them, he managed to pull himself together in the end, let's not give him away."
Lena, one of the older priestesses, who also took part in the boy's care for the first year of his stay, became slightly upset and began arguing with the orphanage owner.
"For four years we struggled with him, I know he is in a tough situation, but each of us is tired of him. It's impossible to talk to him normally or even ask him what he wants, as if a wraith walks among the children. He only stares at everyone with that dead stare. Every one of us except you has wanted to get rid of him for three years now, and this is the perfect opportunity."
One of the soldiers noticed a discussion between two priestesses. Understanding what was going on, he approached and interrupted the arguing priestesses by asking directly.
"Is this boy over 10 years old?"
Lena, without hesitation and not hiding her satisfaction, answered in front of Corinna, almost shouting, enthusiastically, knowing that she had a chance to get rid of Kane.
"Yes! He is over 10 years old!"
Without thinking, the messenger grabbed the boy's hand and walked with him outside. An outraged Corinna spoke only to the priestess.
"You don't even know what you just did to that boy..."
After which she walked outside to the gathered children. Lined up kids in front of the wall of the orphanage were anxious and scared of the soldiers. After counting a total of 17 compliant children. One of the messengers, in his shining armor and a banner in the red and dark blue colors of the kingdom behind him, after seeing that all the children had gathered, shouted.
"Attention everyone! I am Rayder Warlash, a soldier of the Kingdom of Forsteck with the rank of Local Defense Commander. At the request of your king, Doran the Steel, you are taken from this orphanage, and from today you will be trained to be the future strength of this kingdom."
All the children did not know how to react to such information, after a moment of silence, they looked at Priestess Corinna, except for Kane, who stared blankly ahead and did not react to the soldier's information. Which caught the attention of one of the messengers. The priestess, with sadness in her eyes, looked at her little children's charges, crouched down in front of them, and regretfully said.
"I know this is sudden for you, but unfortunately, you must listen and go with them. Go, pack your stuff and gather at the same place."
The children silently, after it came to them that they were being taken to an unknown place, reluctantly returned to the orphanage to take their stuff. The rest of the children inside watched the returning orphans with concern and fear as they silently began packing, shedding tears in the meantime. As Kane was packing, Corinna approached him, smiled at the boy and knowing that it was difficult to live with him, took a moment to think of the words that could best help him through the next few years, and finally said only.
"Kane, wherever the soldiers take you, it will be hard for you to get used to another new life again. People might be harsh and brutal, but do your best and don't cause problems for anyone, and you will have an easier life. Good luck."
After which she hugged Kane, the boy mouthed to the person who had been the only one to care for him all these years.
"Thank you."
One short word brought the priestess to tears, she took one last look at the boy and smiled at him, then returned to the soldiers outside. Kane finished packing the things he had received from the orphanage during his stay, grabbed his bag and began dragging it along the floor behind him toward the exit, in the priestesses' eyes still as a sad child with no will to live who was nothing but a bother, but to Corinna as a quiet boy who might change for the better in the future after he grows up.
After going outside, Kane saw the park of the orphanage bathed in sunshine for the last time with his own eyes and headed toward the messengers taking the children to a wooden cart harnessed by two brown horses. Kane boarded the cart, beginning his journey in silence.