Waking(1)

~Melting Lands~Filiurge Empire~

The Melting Lands are known for its blistering hot temperatures, the sun with its full brilliance on display shining down on the residents. Around the outskirts of the Melting Lands, three children stand facing a wall.

"You got us caught again, Gen. Its the third time now."

"This moron can't stop eating to save his life. Somehow it always leads us to this situation."

A faint sob is all the third child could muster. The other two turn to face him, "You are not getting away by crying again. No way."

A yell comes from behind the wall, "Quiet out there or its another hour in the sun."

The three go silent and keep facing the wall.

The three now drenched in sweat by the end of their punishment, trudge into the large building behind the wall.

They push open the gates and walk upto the doors to the orphanage. Gen pushes the door open and takes a few steps in, only to get assaulted by a wave of water from the side. A light green frame of light appears in front of the two behind him and blocks whatever water coming at them. One of the boys, with his green eyes slightly glowing, "I'm not falling for that again." he says. His eyes stop glowing and with it the barrier of light fades away.

"We almost got you guys!" A few kids walk from the origin of the water. "Honestly, I would have preferred to get hit there James, could have cooled us off easy."

The final member of the three troublemakers replies, looking at the blond James. "We will end up in the bath either way Stryke, at least we dont resemble a wet dog like Gen over there."

"Screw you both" replies the heavyset Gen, his red hair with streaks of black now just a sopping mess.

THWACK

THWACK

THWACK

THWACK

A flying ladle hits the children consecutively and goes flying back in the direction it came from.

"The floor is all wet now and you little pranksters are cleaning it up right now, and you three, I really hope 2 hours in the sun is enough punishment, get cleaned up lunch is almost ready."

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Stryke walked down the corridor to the main dining hall, his black hair still a little wet. His eyes dart across his surroundings as he stuffs a piece of paper into his clothes.

He takes a quick left into a smaller room with a few cradles.

Reaching into one of the cradles, he pulls out one of the babies and carries it into the dining hall.

"Place Speil in his little seat and come grab your food Stryke." The caretaker, Mama Kemp says. Her size might be intidating to some, but to the orphans it was both comfortable and reliable.

"Yes Mama." comes the reply as he places the baby. James and Gen both enter the dining hall, each carrying a baby and do the same.

Soon, the whole dining hall is filled with twenty-three little children with the three troublemakers being the oldest.

The orphanage, contrary to most expectations is pretty well maintained. The kids don't miss any of their meals and are well taken care of. That still doesnt mean they are fed feasts everyday. Funding usually comes from the orphanage graduates. The ones who grew past the age limit of an orphange.

"So, any new wakings today?" Mama Kemp asks. The room goes silent, waiting for someone to reply.

"Me" says a meek voice from within the group of children. The kids erupt in cheers, congratulating the little girl how had just spoken.

"Congratulations, Jeana, I'm proud of you." Mama Kemp exclaims in elation, lifting her up and giving her a little twirl in the air.

"What is your power?" asks one of the kids in the group.

Jeana looks at the group then at Kemp for affirmation. Mama Kemp puts her down and gives her a slight nod.

Jeana takes a few steps toward the group and her eyes glow a dull purple, behind her a crystalline object takes shape.

They slowly form into beautiful crystal butterfly wings. She gives a little frown and focuses a little. The wings slowly start to move, picking up pace with each flap. Jeana's little feet slowly leave the ground and she floats in place.

"Wow"

 "Cool"

"Beautiful"

"Woah"

Jeana shifts her body forward and starts flailing as she dives face first into the ground eliciting a bunch of "oohs" and laughs.

"Are you fine girlie?" Mama Kemp asks."You are just learning to control your abilities and flight based ones are in general quite hard to adapt to, an extra body part and everything."

Jeana nods in reply.

"Trust me you will get good at it child we believe in you" Kemp assures.

"No we don't" come a couple of shouts from the crowd.

Jeana gives them a deadpan stare and huffs.

"Well this calls for celebrations don't it!"

 "Yeaaaahhhh" the children roar.

"Jeana is now the 9th waking among us." Stryke points out.

"Yep, her ability does look pretty cool though, the second transformation type in our group." James says.

Gen looks at her in pride and nods while muching on snacks.

"Well you have to give her some pointers Gen." says Stryke, "Also where do you get those snacks from anyway?"

"I have my ways"

"Aaand you did not answer my question again." James smiles and look at Stryke, "At least her ability doesn't seem to be useful in combat. So Stryke you have a chance."

Stryke frowns," I don't know, a physical cannot beat a modification type easily though."

He looks down crestfallen, his insecurity over his ability showing clearly.

 A few minutes later, the boys head toward Jeana lifting the little girl up and congratulating and pampering her.

"Welcome to the club J." says Gen.

"I am proud of you J." Stryke says, feeling happy for the little girl.

The girl looks at them beaming, resulting in another wave of pampering.

The Waking did not just mean receiving powers, it made it easier to survive the outside world, it made it easier to find jobs and connect oneself with others and most importantly, it raised their chances of getting adopted. 

And now with 9 waking children among them, the prospect of people coming for adoption increases, even if they were there to recruit them as members of their clan or society.

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I stared at the sun. 

No one is outside at this point in the day, children being no exception as they are more prone heat strokes, the heat is unbearable for a lot of people Waking or not. 

I can stand the sun, so I come up to the terrace to be left alone for a while.

I am a Physical.

The most common type of waking.

Physicals are basically an upgrade to the average human. Increased stats all across the board, stronger, faster, smarter. Higher muscle development and control. 

But thats where it stops.

A truly powerful ability is one that could wield a concept. Though I did not know what that meant, I did know that it did not include Physicals.

In a world where almost anything can happen, and anyone can die for any reason, being a little physically strong is just useless.

I blinked away the tears as my eyes stung.

I left the terrace after the sun went down a little and eyes did not hurt as much.

"Gen, James, lets go." I call out. "Filly trucks should have arrived by now."

"What are we taking today Stryke?" James asks.

I pulled out a paper from my pocket.

"The usual stuff is still available, candy and such, anything we find in excess, we take."

Gen shuffled his feet as he asked, "You think we can get away again, they might catch us."

"They dont check the amount properly, we can get away with taking a few things Gen, relax. We have done this for 2 years." I replied with a smile.

"Its not like they expect 3 twelve year olds to 'take' supplies anyway. And its not like most of the town people dont know us." James said as he looked out of the windows.

I looked over the items for this cycle's supplies. Supplies came from the centre of the empire. There was almost no trade between towns, the empire discourages it, "Localization" they said. 

A cycle generally lasts around 3 months and supplies come at the start of each cycle. A certain amount assigned to each town in the Melting Lands. Because its the outskirts, the supplies are not of the greatest quality but that means nothing when the quantity is higher.

The three of us left the orphange walls and ran into the town. We had to get to the supplies before the trucks left.

We ran into the supply hold while avoiding every camera nearby. Gen took his position under the loading bay. James went into the security camera room. It was always empty when the trucks arrived. The guards always went away with the truckers until they had to leave, this gave us around 40 minutes to get whatever we needed.

Our method of sharing information was pretty straightforward. Gen watched for people. He would then signal to the camera, from where James would move the camera to let me know of the situation. James would also disable the recording feature in the cameras. No one would expect supplies to be taken when the trucks where still there would they?

I made my way into the storage and rummaged through the supplies. I pocketed some candy and some fruits. My jacket had large pockets and there was enough space for most things.

Reaching into one of the boxes, I grabbed a long object. A black pipe? Building material in food storage? Well, misplaced items are lost items. Its ours now and I would find some use for it.

Did I have enough time? I signaled toward the camera in the room, it moved left and right fast.

No?

Did someone come?

I needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

The camera started moving faster, indicating that I needed to hurry.

I ran out of the storage and made my way to the security room. I could hear voices now, I cannot lose our haul. I cannot get caught now. WE cannot get caught now. 

I could get us out. I could. I WOULD.

My mind cleared up, my ability started. I thought faster. 

I knew what I had to do.

Throwing the jacket into the security room," James take it and run when you hear them chasing me. Switch the recording on as well. They shouldn't notice you."

My grip on the pipe tightened and I started running while hitting the side walls.

"Hey!"

"What's that?"

The guards ran toward me and past the security room.

They caught up to me fast and lifted me up.

"How'd you get here boy?", on of the guards threatened.

"I walked in from where the trucks are parked." I said quivering."Don't hit me."

They didn't notice a brown haired boy with a bundle slide out the other end of the hallway. Hopefully he made it out without anyone else seeing him.

The guards asked me if I took anything and did a little frisking to confirm I hadn't taken anything.

They also just assumed I had the pipe on me from beforehand. Why would they? Materials were not stored here.

After a stern warning, I was escorted out. My tears dissuaded them from any other actions.

Acting was not my strong suit, but I was able to perform pretty well due to my ability. Controlling facial expressions was almost second nature to me.

My eyes did not glow unless I strained myself. Maybe they would glow as I got older and started using my power properly but for now, this worked in my favor more often than not.

I trudge back to the orphanage, making sure to wave my pipe around, poking and prodding random things along the way. Just in case, I was followed, I needed to make myself look like a child who was just lost while playing around.

Most adults, just assumed that children just played around all day.

Lucky me. 

Pushing open the orphanage doors, I made my way back into our room. Gen and James were hunched over something on the bed.

"Made it out boys. How's the haul?" I asked, my face beaming.

We had enough to last us for half the cycle if we consumed the candy sparingly. But the fruits had to be consumed early, couldn't risk them rotting. Food went bad fast here. Something about the temperature being too high for proper long life storage.

But, we made it.

Good haul.