'Orphanage? That must mean... brother..'
~thump~
Arden's heart throbbed. At the time they were trying to flee, it all had felt unreal to him. But now that he could gather his thoughts... This type of loss of his was too much for a young child.
As Arden was feeling dejected, the cold looking man broke the silence by throwing some clothes on the bed.
"Wear this." He glanced at Arden seeing how distressed he is.
"Get dressed, and I'll show you around."
Without uttering another word he left the room to let Arden change, understanding Arden's current mental state.
'Mother...Father...'
'..Brother.'
"Damn it, if only I were stronger.."
Tears streamed down his face as he thought of his family.
*
* 5 minutes later
*
'I have to get going. I can't skulk forever. Mother wouldn't want this... I have to try my best, for them.'
Arden got up and took a look at the clothes that were handed to him.
A plain white shirt and blue cloth pants,
They matched his turquoise hair and blue eyes quite well.
A little better than the semi rugged clothes he was currently wearing.
'Mother used to leave me clothes to wear on the bed after I'd taken a bath...'
Arden changed clothes and folded his old ones, leaving them on the bed he was previously resting on.
Arden opened the door and entered the hallway.
The mysterious guy was reading a book while waiting for Arden to get ready
"Good, you are ready, follow me"
The man closed his book and led Arden, walking in a pace that A child like Arden could follow.
"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Glacies. I am a caretaker and a teacher here at Sunscreen Orphanage"
'So it's called sunscreen orphanage? What a weird name.' Arden thought to himself as he looked at the pale skin of Glacies.
Glacies showed Arden around.
The Orphanage wasn't anything grand, a simple building with a classroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, an outhouse, a guestroom, and a place for caretakers and for the children to rest.
A simple building that got its water from an outside well. Which, of course was located in a poor neighbourhood.
"Look at the time! This is a great opportunity for you to meet the others, it's time for today's lecture."
~sigh~
'I wonder what brother is doing...'
in all truth, Arden couldn't care less about the tour, much less a lecture. The only thing in his mind right now was his family.
Arden and Glacies walked into the classroom, Glacies sat at his desk while Arden stood next to him, some children were already there and some were whispering while looking at Arden though not much later, the rest of the children also arrived and the lecture could start.
There weren't many children in the orphanage, only 6 children were sat in the classroom currently.
Glacies stood up from his desk and spoke to the class.
"I see everyone is here, good, today we have a new member at Sunscreen Orphanage, why don't you introduce yourself Arden?"
Arden took a deep breath to stabilize his thoughts.
"My name is Arden Vi Fiore, nice to meet you everyone."
He didn't feel like saying much.
"Nice to meet you."
"Hi."
The children weren't very enthusiastic either...
"You can take that seat by the window Arden."
It wasn't a big classroom, but it was still mostly empty with only 6 children in it.
As Arden took a seat, Glacies started lecturing.
"Today we will be revising the elements, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Light and Darkness. These are the 6 main and most common elements, of course there are many mutations and other Rarer elements, but they are extremely rare, more often seen in family lineages like the Chalybe family who can control and materialise metal. But we will get to the sub elements on another day. Now lets see... Agnes, do you know the weakness of fire?"
"Of course I do! It's water" Agnes declared high in confidence, her bright red hair stood out from the rest, she was sat to the right of Arden.
Agnes materialised fire in her right hand.
"But of course, water is too weak of an element to oppose a fire mage even if it is its counter."
~muhehehehe~
Glacies adjusted his glasses, and praised Agnes.
"Correct, good job Agnes."
'Mother and Father never really taught me any of this, could it be because of "that" incident?'
When Arden was a little younger, a certain incident occurred.
*Flashback*
Arden had gotten kidnapped by some Tower Crawlers to be used as bait in case they needed to escape from a powerful monster, if necessary.
Arden's memories of this event are a bit blurry, but he vividly remembers one detail...
"DAMN! I TOLD YOU WE SHOULDN'T HAVE COME TO THIS FLOOR! WE ARE NOT READY!"
A small group of four veteran looking Crawlers were running away from a bunch of wolf type monsters. while one of the crawlers was holding a young child on his shoulders like a duffle bag. Arden.
The Wolves were quite a while away from the group, but they had already sensed them, so it was a matter of time before they got swarmed.
"HA! THIS IS WHY WE BROUGHT BAIT ALONG WITH US! ISNT IT?"
The man holding Arden threw him to the ground.
"NOW RUNNN!"
"YAHAHOUU!!!! RUN MY LEEGS!! RU-n!"
'Yowch I bit my tongue.'
The group of Crawlers run as fast as they could, by the time Arden stood up they were long gone.
"NO!"
Arden started sprinting as fast as he could
'WHY!? WHY. WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY..'
'They ran this way right!?!?'
Arden run towards the direction the Crawlers who kidnapped him went.
'This way must be the exit!'
~Howwwl~
The Wolves were closing in on Arden.
A child wouldn't be able to outrun a wolf, Aden understood that but even so, he persisted.
Thundering was slowly rising up in intensity as the wolves approached.
At this point, Arden was surrounded form left and right, it was a matter of time before-
"Gaah!"
Arden got body slammed by a wolf and hit his back on a tree.
The Wolves surrounded him in a less than second.
Arden was backed against a tree.
'NO!' Arden's hands trembled as the wolfs drew nearer, he felt his heart rate rise.
The Wolves had a Grey fur and bright amber eyes.
~Jump~
A white wolf with Green eyes and a larger build than the others jumped to the front and started approaching Arden while growling and showing teeth.
'I don't want this! Why me!?' Arden's emotions were heightening.
As the wolf approached, it's aura was suffocating. As it got closer and Arden felt the beasts' breath touch his body.
His emotions went haywire.
"NO!" Arden's eyes glowed a bright green and vines sprouted from the ground, immobilising the Wolves.
'Now! This is my chance!' Arden didn't waste a moment since the opportunity arose, and so he run.
And run
And run
*Flashback end*
Arden's eyes flickered Green for a split second as he was sitting in the class listening to the lecture
'Damn it. I need to calm down.'
Arden started breathing heavily and felt cold sweat on his body
'Listening to the lecture will take my mind off this.'
"Moving on, we will talk about synergies between the elements."
Glacies picked up his textbook just in case he'd forget something.
"Many people remember that fire can be enhanced by wind, making it's firepower a lot stronger in the process. But does anyone know what synergizes with the water element?"
The children were caught off guard with that question, since they didn't care much about the water element they didn't know the answer.
Seeing this, Glacies took it upon himself to answer the question.
"Water is a versatile element even if weak compared to the others. Water can strengthen the sub element ice, similar to how wind does with fire. Water also synergizes with earth to create mud, a possible way to use this is to limit your opponent's movement. If you know how to use water, it isn't entirely useless, although it's firepower is a bit lacklustre compared to other elements."
It was obvious that Glacies was talking about the water element in order to cheer up Arden, but it was still an important lesson.
Agnes announced loudly to the classroom
"And if you want a lush garden a water mage is a must!" As Agnes was proud of her joke she held her nose up high.
"Hahahha." At least some found it funny.
And like that, the lesson about elements eventually ended.
"That is all for the lesson today, you are free for the day. Arden you follow me." Glacies packed his stuff.
"Ah, finally I can go stretch my legs!" Agnes rushed outside to play and the rest of the children followed.
'I wonder what Glacies wants.'
Glacies started walking and Arden followed from behind.
As they were in the hallway, Glacies stopped at a wall candle and pulled it.
'Oh no way! It's like a secret passage!'
Arden had read about similar passages in fairy tales, never did he expect to see something similar in real life.
The wall in front of them rumbled and started sliding to the side, soon enough, the wall had an opening large enough to fit an adult.
Glacies stepped in.
'He isn't going to do anything weird is he? He is a little suspicious.' Arden was cautious, Glacies was a stranger Afterall.
~step~
But even so, Arden felt a weird need to follow behind Glacies.
As they stepped inside, the wall behind them closed and magic crystals lit up the way.
A stairway leading underground.
As they reached the end of the stairway, they entered a medium sized room with a dirt floor and some old wooden weapons on a weapon rack.
"What is this? Why take me here?"
Arden was confused, but he intuitively felt that something was up. 'Why would Glacies take me here?'
Glacies walked to the weapon rack in silence and picked up a wooden sword.
He threw the sword in front of Arden's legs, making it stick right up from the ground.
"Pick it up." Glacies looked coldly at Arden.
'!'
Glacies picked up a sword and exuded his aura, pressuring Arden in the process.
"If you want to survive, Pick. it. up."