Mangaka: Fidxair.
Artist :Nil.
Anime company :Jxst fxr.
They say your childhood shapes you.
If that's true, mine was carved from dust and silence.
My parents abandoned me when I was 4 they said I was an abomination to mankind because of my power. I wandered the around aftermath of war called home. The southern district was always affected when there was war because it lacks security and is very close to the battlefield.
The king says he is fighting for the people, but it seems only the people who live in the golden districts praised him and his words. While people in the shadows of the golden districts laid curses on the king after every war. The war destroyed home, killed families, buried people alive under ruins destroyed farms, food supply and so on .
After that, it was just me… and Caretaker Isha a kind hearted lady who took me in.
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She wasn't my real mother — just another survivor too stubborn to die. She ran an orphan shelter, though "shelter" is a generous word for a half-broken building that leaked when it rained and froze when it didn't.
But she gave us food, and she gave us words.
"Brains will save you more than fists, Ten," she used to tell me, brushing dust from my hair. "Outsmart them before you ever try to fight them."
Maybe that's where it started — my intelligence .
While the other kids fought over scraps, I was learning how to take the scraps and trade them for bread. I studied patterns — people's habits, the guards' patrol times, even how the market prices changed after each war.
Information was survival.
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By the time I was twelve, by reading the environment,I could predict the next war before it even happened.
That's when the royals noticed me.
They came in their polished carriages, their guards armed with shining steel — a parade of gold cutting through our ruins. Everyone stopped working to watch. Even the air felt scared.
One of them stepped down — tall, elegant, his coat so clean it hurt my eyes. He looked at me like I was an insect that somehow learned to talk.
"You're the boy who warned the workers before the war ," he said. "How did you know?"
I told him the truth.
"I listened."
That made him laugh. A sharp, brittle sound that didn't reach his eyes.
"Listen carefully, then," he said. "A mind like yours shouldn't rot in the slums."
He punched me in the stomach Isha tried to stop him but the guard held her and threw her into a pile of dirt .
I fell on the ground, he kept on kicking me I defended myself with my arms covering my face.
Isha trembled as she laid on the ground pleading with them to stop hitting me.
"Huh what's this" the Royal said looking at my bandage covered arms in disgust, he grabbed my arm a d started to forcefully untie my bandages.
"Please stop" I said.
He finished unting it his palm covered his mouth in disgust, he threw me back in disgust and turned to his troops.
"Kill them all" he said.
"Wait no" I said. I got up and was about to run towards them but the Royal used the back of his sword to hit me hard, i fell unconscious.
All the knights pointed their arrows filled with flames and shot it at the orphanage killing all the children and destroying the orphanage, after that the Royal walked towards Isha who was in tears and was under the ruins of the orphanage trying to crawl out.
He brought out his sword and raised it in the air for a while then striked Isha.
I regained consciousness I looked at the orphanage it was destroyed, the orphans we're all dead .
Even the lady who refused to give in to death died may her soul rest in peace. I knelt down on the floor and burst into tears the only place I could live in was gone and all the people who made the place feel like home were gone too.
I looked around and begged the people to help me but they could only look at me in pity, none of them had the guys to interfere with what people from the royal palace had done fear was written all over their faces.
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At night, I'd lie on silk sheets under the remain of the orphanage and think about Isha, about the other kids . I wondered why they killed them and left me behind. The mistake they made wasn't just killing them but leaving me alive.
The only thing I can think of is revenge on the royals for making living here unbearable for all of us, for killing innocent people unnecessarily, for putting people here under fear.
And one day… that smoke would rise again.
🔥 End of Reap 2 🔥