Ara's Will

Veil, child of Vie'yan and Raltox from the city of Cilis, has been born.

They were very excited that they finally made a child after years of having children die in Vie'yan's womb.

She is a weak person; thus, her babies could barely survive, but one day, Vie'yan had a dream of successfully giving birth to a child that has been cursed by the darkness.

It is the most sinister vision Vie'yan has seen in her life.

She felt especially scared of her recent born, Veil, because she thought of the possibility of this child being the one in her dream.

"Let's abandon this cursed child in this orphanage! Let's set off to the nearest city…"

Without any hesitation, she told Raltox to abandon Veil in an orphanage and go to somewhere far away.

[...]

Raltox was hesitant, but seeing the fear from Vie'yan's eyes pushed him to leave the poor Veil in the orphanage they have never even investigated beforehand.

"I understand. I am sorry Veil; we had to do this for your mother. I hope you grow up to be a wonderful person." Raltox bitterly wiped his tears before setting off.

After leaving Veil at the care of the orphanage, the two set off into a neighboring country called Plevo.

Plevo is not too different from Cilis in terms of size and population, but Plevo has more options for jobs that can help the two live a better life, way better than Cilis, at least.

The two will start a whole new life in Plevo and maybe someday, they could meet the grown up Veil, without the curse and all.

A few moments later, a kid noticed a baby was left in a box near the orphanage.

The kid then notified the woman, seemingly a staff from the orphanage.

While Veil is still fast asleep, the woman that has been tasked in handling the orphans, carrying Veil, was called in a room behind the desk where she was stationed.

She was called by the owner of this orphanage; he is a burly man named Morrow.

"Send her to the place."

Morrow asked the woman, she nodded with cold sweat and brought Veil to the said area of the orphanage.

Inside the so-called place, there are numerous children varying in ages, all malnourished and famished.

Some are crying, some are acting wild and some are totally dead silent.

This is a disgusting place especially for children.

Hearing the sudden noise, Veil burst into tears, she is still a baby, so the slight disturbances caused her to cry.

"Uwahhh, uwahhh, uwaaahhhh"

One of the grown children by the name of Ara took Veil from the woman and caressed the crying baby, by her soothing touch, Veil calmed down.

[...]

Ara is also an orphan who was abandoned when she was 10 years old and since then, for years, she fought for her life to survive in this rotten place. Veil snoozed soundly.

The night falls, it is finally meal time for the orphans.

The ration provided consists of just small pieces of tasteless dry bread, everyone is provided except for Veil, as she was provided milk for nutrition.

This vicious cycle repeated for 7 years. Veil grew up under Ara's care.

She was even educated by Ara because Ara was their family's breadwinner and has always been the top of her class.

She was forced to be in this orphanage because her whole family was caught up in a catastrophe.

This catastrophe happened years ago, when suddenly in a nearby city once known as the paradise, Crownwell, the ground suddenly cracked and erupted as if the gates of hell are opening.

Some houses got devoured by the roaring flames instantly and only after a whole day did the eruptions stopped.

Almost everyone in that city died, only few survived and one of them is Ara.

The catastrophe then was named the Crownwell incident.

Veil grew up to be a fast learner. Ara also taught her self defense maneuvers because of the place they are in.

Veil has learned of the cruel reality at a young age.

These peaceful days of Ara and Veil continued only until one day when Morrow entered the children's room.

Bang!

Every single child shuddered in fear from the loud thud of the door, every cell in their body screaming fear for their lives.

Morrow's eyes scanned the whole room, from left to right, ending at the direction of Ara who's looking ready to fight if anything happens.

Sensing Ara's hostility, Morrow smirked and grabbed Ara's hands to disable her from using her knife.

Cling!

This huge of a man moved so quickly, even Veil was surprised of the developments.

The situation has escalated.

It seems that one of the orphans tipped off Morrow about Ara's rebellion.

Seeing all this, Veil dropped to her knees, being so powerless in front of absolute power.

Helpless by Morrow's iron hands, Ara still tried getting out of Morrow's grip as he drags her out of the room.

When they are almost out of the room, Ara shed a tear and smiled at Veil, she mouthed to her:

"Live."

Tears welled up in Veil's eyes, as her knees shudder in fear, she could only watch Ara try to escape Morrow's clutches as the two depart.

As Veil cried loudly as she witnessed her only friend that cared for her as if they are sisters get dragged outside of the room.

She knew what happened when she even heard laughter from one of the boys in the room.

Veil realized that some of the kids sold off Ara in hopes of getting something in return.

When another night comes, Morrow entered the room, while the boys wait eagerly.

"Hehehe, I wonder what Mr. Morrow will reward us." one of the boys said expectantly.

But to everyone's surprise, Morrow threw a punch straight to the boy's gut, making him puke blood.

Thuk. Uweekkk!

Veil could not understand these events as she considered the possibilities.

The boy, by the name of Nyx, kneels on the floor while recovering from Morrow's punch, he feels like collapsing any moment as he pukes more blood and saliva.

"You deserved that, scum!" Morrow said to Nyx that he deserved this punishment for betraying another.

Nyx could only give Morrow a cold look as he stands up and sit at the back of the room.

[...]

Veil watched everything unfold quietly as she toughened to save Ara and the other kids from the man named Morrow and ultimately, destroy this façade of an orphanage.

Veil's daily life of suffering and survival continued, as she started reading one of the books given to her by Ara.

This book features a tale of humans learning dark arts from the underworld.

Ara believed this story to be true as she introduced it to Veil.

Veil reads the book ever so interestingly in the hopes of getting powerful like the protagonists of the book.

Little did she know, this book is called a Noir, a cursed scripture that has been passed down for centuries with the intention of warning its readers of an existing dark art.

Legends have it that whoever finishes the book gets cursed by the spirits protecting the story of Noir.

Time has slowly passed, Veil giving no care to her surrounding as she immerses herself in reading Noir.

One night, the woman from the front desk suddenly entered the room to give an announcement that politicians are visiting their orphanage, and that the kids must behave at their best, all in order to get the favor of these politicians to donate to the orphanage.

The day comes; the politicians visit the orphanage with media to make it look like they are doing something good as the election is coming.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

The recording crystals capture the children behaving really well, all except for Nyx and his gang.

Nyx is already 17 years old, the oldest of the orphans.

He is uninterested in these politicians as he knows they are all fakes.

Veil, meanwhile, sneaked out of the crowd to go back to their room.

She pulled out the Noir in the hidden compartment in the floor made by Ara in her years of stay here to hide the book from Morrow and his lackeys.

She is almost finished in reading the book; the stories get more interesting as there are cursed phrases in the ending of the book.

"???"

While Veil is immersed in the room, Morrow noticed that something is amiss, because the children are seen whispering to each other and pointing at the orphanage.

Whisper. Whisper. Noise. Noise.

Bothered, Morrow went inside the orphanage with his guards to investigate what the commotion is about.

After entering the building, Morrow heard someone speaking in the room, a voice of a girl reading unknown words aloud.

Cursed phrases getting louder and louder.

Morrow grabbed his club and his lackeys grabbed different weapons.

Shing.

They got chills from the rapid recitation of the girl in the room.

Bang!

They bust the door open, in that exact moment, they saw Veil floating in the center of the room while finishing the final curses of Noir as its pages spread out in the air, forming magical circles.

"!!!???"

This scene stunned Morrow and his guards, but they quickly regained their senses, the guards immediately charged towards Veil while morrow tightly grips his club.

"Stop her!"

Before the blades could touch Veil, she finished reciting the final text of the Noir, the glows in her eye slowly fading away as she drops back to the floor.

Plop.

Suddenly; the guards were blown away by the small impact after Veil touched the floor.

Shockwave!

At this moment, Veil is not in control of herself, she felt crazy, and her mind is going blank after she started reading the ending of Noir.

Thud. Boom. Creaaaak.

The guards that were sent flying crashed into different parts of the room, cracking the walls in the process.

"Youuu!"

Witnessing this, Morrow himself charged towards Veil and swung his club.

Wooosh~

Veil, being controlled by an unknown force, reacted instantly, and dodged the club.

After ducking, Veil touched the club ever so gently and it instantly disintegrated, seeing this, Morrow instinctively jumped back meters away from Veil.

"!!!"

His sharp senses are sending him different signals to retreat away from Veil.