At mealtime, Viv ate his meal neatly, eating the potato soup with excellent manners always scored him points with the easily pleased old nuns.
Beside him. Elva eyed him cautiously, still thinking about what he had heard while waiting for Viv.
"..." Elva took a mouthful of soup to his mouth unceremoniously, with some of the soup splattering to the table. This earned him a look from a kind sister.
He wasn't sure if Viv always had a habit to talking to himself, but Elva was sure his delusion this time was so bad he thought he was getting hurt by a wilted potted plant.
The cogs in Elva's brain turned slowly, after all, despite everything, he was still only 6. Now Elva wasn't sure whether or not to classify Viv as crazy person or a monster.
After the meal, they hung around the orphanage, most of the children not doing anything as the traumatizing incident was still fresh in their minds.
The only ones playing were the lucky young ones who still had their innocence, most likely from being saved by their older peers.
When it was time to wash up before bed, Viv approached Elva from behind, who was fixated on his appearance in the mirror. The youthful glow on Elva's face was gone, dark eye bags replacing it as the child seemed to have aged rapidly in just a few days.
Was the shock from the appearance change too great for him to handle? Viv wondered.
Viv's hands stretched out, and grasped onto Elva's shoulders as he put his mouth near his ear and whispered.
"Despite everything, it's still you."
"..." Elva turned his head, and stared directly into Viv's eyes. "Don't mess with me."
After saying these curt words, Elva turned and left the community bathroom.
Bored, and having nothing else to do, Vivillian went back to his room and laid in his bed, watching how the sky slowly grew darker and darker. Somewhere along the lines Elva quietly entered and headed to bed, slowly falling asleep.
Finally, Viv began to stir as he quietly got up and opened the old window with some effort. Above the church, a full moon shone brightly across the capital city. Even though it was nighttime, people still roamed the streets, smiling without a care because it was probably the safest place in the world for humans.
Knights roamed the streets, making sure things were in order, with easy ways to contact the knights with the help of special magical items.
The old window couldn't open all the way, only slightly ajar enough to let the air in, but this was enough for Viv, who wanted to test if his hallucination was real or not.
Slowly, his body began to change, as his bones twisted grotesquely and his clothes soon fell to the floor with a soft thud.
What was left of the boy was a black dove, with shiny feathers.
The dove cooed, before hopping onto the windowsill and flapping its wings. After stumbling for a bit, the dove hopped onto the ajar window, and flew away.
Flying past the various tall and fancy buildings, the bird flapped its wings with ease, hidden from its predators because of its black feathers.
Out of curiosity, the dove flew to the highest building it could see, landing on a ledge of someone's room high up.
The bones of the dove began to twist, as it slowly grew bigger and bigger, shaping into a cat beastmen.
Viv looked down at his bare body, before clothes began to sprout and form around it.
How convenient.
He peered into the room and through the curtains, and saw a room adorned with pink and frills. It was a luxurious room that would defy a commoner's worldview. And inside the pretty room, a girl with long black hair lay asleep on the pink bed.
"..." Viv's eyebrow twitched, as he came to the realization that currently a 28 year old man was looking into the room and an unknown little girl.
Just as he turned around, curiosity sated and was preparing to leave, a small voice stopped him.
"Are you an angel?" For some reason, the little girl had awoken, rubbing her ruby eyes as she lay on the bed. "Don't go, please."
"...Why should I not?" Viv turned around, and looked at the little girl, his expression blank.
"You came here for me, right?" The girl choked out weakly, before coughing violently. She grasped her chest as she fell down onto the bed, weak from the violent fit of coughs. "Aren't you the angels in storybooks mama told me about?"
"..." Viv entered the room after pushing open the doors, looking eerie as his green eyes scanned the girl. "What if I said no?"
"Then that would be unfortunate." The girl responded weakly, as she lay back onto her bed. "Mama said that I was just a little special from everyone else, so I have to stay in this room all day to get better."
She must be an important npc if she lives in a rich place like this, and has a sob story.
Keeping his thoughts to himself, Viv tilted his head and sat beside the bed on the floor, looking at the girl with curiosity.
"And do you listen?" He asked.
"Sometimes."
"Then you won't get better."
"Maybe." The girl turned her head, as she looked at the pair of green eyes staring at her. "...A cat?"
Viv twitched, he almost forgot about that trait.
"No, I'm an angel."
"Then can you make me better?"
"No."
"So even an angel can't fix me..." The girl coughed weakly, as she weakly grasped her pillows. "Then, are you here to take me to the sky?"
"Sky?" He tilted his head.
"I heard that when people spend enough time here, they go party on top of the clouds and watch us from below."
"Sounds creepy."
"But it sounds fun."
Viv frowned. "How old are you?"
"Seven."
"You're older than me."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
The girl let out a giggle. "That's good then, I never met anyone younger than me...is this my reward for living so long?"
"..." Viv wanted to refute her, but the girl seemed to be losing strength as her eyelids began to close.
He got up, and went to leave.
Just as he was about to transform back into a bird, the little girl spoke again.
"Are you going to visit me again, angel?"
"...Maybe." Viv looked at the dying girl, before he got curious about what he could transform into.
Picturing an angel in his mind, his body twisted again, as wings sprouted from his back, his hair turning into a golden blond as a long white robe encased him.
"...Woah." The girl stared at the mysterious being in front of her, who matched the image of the picture books she had seen, yet did not have the same kind smile like in the books.
"..." Viv stared at her reaction, feeling a bit foolish for entertaining the wills of a video game character, but nonetheless, at least he knew now his transformation wasn't just limited to animal beings.
He spread open his wings and took flight, then found it a bit burdensome to fly like this, so he turned back into a dove and returned to the orphanage.