New World, New Struggles

The first 5 years of Atlas' new life was anything but easy. When he was born, an elderly nun found him abandoned in front of the local church in the slums of the Nova Kingdom. He had nothing but a blanket and a letter saying, "My name is Atlas. My mother and father are dying. They believed leaving me with your church would be the best choice.".

Taking pity on the child, the nun takes the young Atlas into the church's care. Raising him alongside the other abandoned and orphaned children.

The church was ran by the one nun. She took care of five kids, including Atlas, two boys and three girls. These children were between the ages of 4 to 7. Freeman age 7, May age 6, Lucy age 5, Jennie age 4 and Atlas being the youngest being only a few months old.

The church didn't have much money but the nun made just enough from selling the eggs each day to have enough to keep bellies of the young children filled. The children would also help at times, carrying the eggs to the market place or collecting old tools left around to resell for a measly one or two copper coins.

Once Atlas was 4 years old, he also began helping around. Of course, Atlas still remembered his time with Kai in the white room and so he was hoping that once the memories from his past life returned to him, he could use it to his advantage and make tons of money so everyone could finally relax and enjoy their days together. Unfortunately, those days that he hoped for would never come.

When Atlas was 5 years old, the elderly nun died. One morning, the children tried to wake up the nun but found that she had passed away in her sleep that night. All of the children cried their eyes out. Freeman being the oldest at the age of 12, was the first to recover. He convinced the others to allow him to bury the nun behind the church. Freeman and Atlas spent all morning digging a hole deep enough for the nun to rest. The girls, hand in hand, went to the market place to look for the pretty flower they saw growing around there. They wanted to place them on the nun's grave when the boys were done.

By noon, the boys had finished digging the grave and with the help of the girls, they all carefully lowered the nun into the grave. Freeman took one of the few flowers the girls picked and placed it between the nun's hands. He then utters a few words.

"Sister Samantha, thank you for helping me when my parents died. If it wasn't for you, I would have starved that day and died a dog's death. I promise that I will take care of everyone from now on."

Freeman takes a step back. May walks forward and places a flower between the nun's hands. She also says a few words.

"Sister Samantha, thank you for taking in my sister Lucy and I. When our family could not afford to keep food on the table, our father abandoned us in the woods. You found us both sick and weak, barely able to stand on our own feet. Yet you took us in and nursed us back to health. I promise you that I will use the life you've given me to bring change into this world."

May steps back and Lucy takes her place. She places a flower with the others. Lucy stood there for a moment, she tried to say a few words but every time she attempted to, she would begin to cry. May takes Lucy's hands and walks her back to where Freeman is standing.

Jennie steps forward and places a flower down. She doesn't even attempt to utter a word. Throughout the entire funeral, she has been sobbing on her own. She quickly walks over to where the others are standing, wiping away the tears clouding her vision.

Atlas repeats the same steps everyone else has. Atlas doesn't say anything but he makes a promise to himself in this moment. No matter what, he will do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe. They may not be family but they are as close as you can get to one.

Once he finished, Freeman walks forward and covers up the grave. The grave was marked by a pile of rocks stacked on top of each other. The girls also put the rest of the flowers next to shabby tombstone, Jennie said it would make her grandma happy if she could look at the flowers every day. By the time the funeral was complete, it was about three in the afternoon. Not wanting to do anything else, Freeman prepares a meal for everyone and then they spend the rest of the afternoon talking to one another, making sure everyone was alright.

The next day, everyone began to work together in earnest. Everyone wanted to pull their own weight and make enough money so they can continue to live together. The girls continued collecting eggs and selling them in the market every morning, Freeman began doing any manual labor that would hire him and Atlas being only 5 years old, was told to help the girls collect the eggs in the morning and do the chores around the church while everyone was out. They lived like this for a month before one of the local gangs discovered that the nun had passed.

When the Red Shanks, the local gang that learned of the nuns passing, realize that only the kids were left, they seized the property from the kids, forcing them to live on the streets of the slum. Freeman knew he couldn't do anything about it so he left with all the younger ones, reassuring them that everything would be okay. Atlas on the other hand, memorized as many faces as he could, vowing that one day, he would come back and take what was rightfully theirs.

At this point, Atlas has felt nothing but pain and loss. His birth parents left him at this church because they were dying. The nun happily accepted him in. Even with the little food and money they had, Atlas was still happy. However, the world wasn't done and took away his happiness once again. Not only was the only adult in his life gone but the place he called home was taken too. Atlas began to wonder if Kai actually sent him here as punishment. 'Was Kai actually a death god? He seemed genuine when he said that I could count on him. Maybe it was all a ploy and I am actually being punished by being forced to live a life filled with pain and sorrow?' These were the thoughts that were on his mind as he was running away with the rest of the kids.