The Orphanage
There was only three rules in the orphanage.
"If you take the life of a fellow orphan, yours will be taken as compensation."
"If you "take" from the orphanage everything will be taken from you."
"If you failed to reach the next "rank" by the time you turn 12, you will be cast out."
These are the rules that dictated Heyui's life from the moment he learned to crawl, and the rules that all abondoned children must follow if they want to survive.
Being alone in a world where power mattered most was a death sentence. However some people saw value in the lost children, deciding to make use of their potential. However, those without use have no place in the orphanage.
The name "Orphanage" supposedly came from the places that took in children in the old world. But Heyui's mother never mentioned anything about them in her journal.
The name now carries a different weight. Of all the places in the world there is only one Orphanage, and the Orphans are known for being fierce yet disposable.
Survival in the Orphanage depends on two things. Intelligence. Knowledge is power, and in the orphanage, the powerless die.
The second and most important thing, following the rules. Stealing from a Ward or someone under their protection or damaging the school means breaking rule #2. "If you "take" from the orphanage everything will be taken from you." At best you will lose your freedom and work as a slave for the rest of your life.
Breaking the other rules is a guaranteed death sentence. Regarding the third and final rule, not one Orphan doesn't covet the "manuals" with the knowledge to increase their power.
Every time there is a rumor of one floating around, it us either quickly stolen or obtained by either the strongest or smartest Orphans.
Survival for each and every Orphan depends on the knowledge within those manuals. Those born with naturally strong energy can be made exceptions, but its incredibly rare for such a child to have no home to call their own.
This was a free for all to see who could come out on top and earn a chance to survive. As such trust was a rare commodity in the orphanage. Not a day went by where an Orphan didn't accuse another of theft or treachery.
But because of this, of those that truly became friends in the orphanage, they were friends for life. Heyui had one such friend. Being only five years old, securing food at the mess hall was near impossible.
However a fellow Orphan took notice of the emancipated child and began to offer part of his meals to him. His name was Farren. The two found themselves to be fast friends, a bond tied deep in their hearts by their shared struggles.
Farren was eight when he first took notice of Heyui had shared his meals with him. Since that moment Heyui had never left his side, permanently engraving every word Farren said into his memory.
In the beginning Farren spoke haphazardly about things in life, but once he noticed Heyui's attachment to his every word, he began to think carefully about how his words would affect Heyui's mindset.
While Farren had been the one to help Heyui, perhaps these circumstances also helped Farren to grow. He began to think carefully before he spoke and found that the skill was useful for more than providing guidance to little Heyui.
It became apparent that almost any situation could be resolved or shifted to his benefit if he carefully chose his words. Soon his eloquence won him a group of followers, but the only person he put his trust in was Heyui.
With this in mind, he began to teach Heyui how to lead. He quickly established Heyui as his second in command. At first his followers rejected the idea of listening to a five year old, but Farren quickly made it so those who held these objections had two options, leave, or obey Heyui.
The groups main goal, was to aquire manuals. Farren knew that if he wanted the group to truly accept Heyui, then he would have to prove himself. So he began to impart his knowledge to Heyui and devised a plan.
The number of manuals was not many, however there was still quite a few floating around, the problem was that once the knowledge was absorbed, they were destroyed. Those that tried to copy the knowledge onto paper found it impossible.
Meaning that every time an Orphan got their hands on a manual, they used it immediately. Creating a high demand for them. Additionally, just having a manual didn't guarantee an Orphan to rise to the next rank.
It was how well they could utalize the knowledge that determined if they could grow. However just possessing the knowledge gave then a huge advantage over the other Orphans. They could increase their power and dominate others easily.
It would often take more than 10 Orphans to overpower a single person that had trained with the manuals knowledge. The other Orphans began to refer to them as the "empowered".
These manuals were the crux of all power in the Orphanage. As such many groups formed to hoard these manuals to trade a ridiculously high prices. This angered many of the Orphans.
Through these disgruntled people Farren began to collect knowledge about one such group. They had the biggest monopoly on the manuals and charged outrageously even for a "hoarder group".
This made them many enemies, however they had remained untouched ever since they started operating. Farren learned from a former member exactly why no one could touch them. Every single member was an empowered.
This made them dangerous, yet it also meant that they had absolute confidence that they would remain untouched. After watching them for several weeks Farren noticed something.
Of all their territories, there was only one room that remained guarded at all times. 'This was probably where the manuals are stored' he realized.
Now he had all the knowledge he needed to pull off a successful heist.
He told Heyui his plans and went to go spread the necessary rumors.
Heyui had everyone wake up before the had yet to rise. Fearful of Farren's punishment of being cast out, they did as he said and began to get ready.
The Orphanage had many rooms just big enough to accommodate about five people. These rooms belonged to whomever could claim them as their own, Farren's ability to secure one such a room was much of the reason that hi group followed him.
Heyui directed the Orphans to the common area outside, the weather was freezing and many complained, but none dared to disobey. Heyui guided around a corner to the side of one of the buildings.
The group were confused untill they heard a commotion going on above.
Many Orphans ad heard about the raid on the hoarders manual room and rushed to get an opportunity at a life saving manual.
Farren had leaked the location of the manual room to prevent the theft to being traced back to them once the group started asking around as well as create a diversion that would force every guard, including the one at the window to fight for their lives.
Once Farren's messenger gave Heyui the signal he ordered the group to for a human ladder to the second story window. Heyui climbed up and used he hammer Farren told him to prepare to break the glass.
The commotion on the other side of the door covered up the noise fairly well, but it was only a matter of time untill they investigated. Heyui quickly climbed in and marveled at all the lime green book lying about.
'They can definitely do without this much ' he thought as he jumped through the window as soon as he got his hands on the prize. Farren was there to catch him as he fell.
"Its a good thing your so small, or this wouldn't have worked" Farren said pointedly. The other members were still confused untill Heyui raised his prize high in the air.
Everyone couldn't believe their eyes, he was hold one of the coveted manuals in his tiny hand. "Now, we can sell this for more cloths and another room!" Heyui announced.
The other members of the group almost dropped to their knees in shame and gratitude. A manual was the most precious thing in the world to an Orphan, and the child hey had secretly mocked for so long was going to give his up for the benefit of the group.
Farren smiled, the group had accepted Heyui as their leader and as Farren's second in command. "Lets go back inside everybody, we still have work to do." Everyone nodded in agreement.
Once they got back to the room Farren ordered everyone to patroll the area to make sure they weren't found out by the hoarders. Once everybody had left, Farren asked "How did it go"?. Heyui smiled and pulled two additional manuals from his trousers "great".