Legacy of Judah Gremory

The escape from childhood

My name is Judah for short. Judah Judas Gremory for long. I have no family. I am a simple orphan who, today is his last day at the Orphanage, because I am ten years old, and from that age, I can no longer live at the Orphanage, because I have reached the age of a person who can work as a scout, apprentice, squire, farmer and garbage collector and other small jobs that do not require you to be over sixteen years of age. I could even work as a priest apprentice, but this job is not destined for people like me.

I am in the room where I lived for ten years, dreaming, playing, reading novels and talking with my roommates. I look at the paintings on the wall, made by a few of my roommates, very talented in the art of drawing and painting. One shows children playing in the woods, and another shows an armored knight fighting wolves with his squire. The other one shows three kids, playing with a ball made of dirty clothes. Then I look out the window and watch the sunrise from its hiding place and decide to get out of bed, take my backpack with my clothes I've got from my birthdays from the nuns, together with three books I've bought from a market squire. I left the room, and I saw some of my friends standing in the main hall.

These kids were my dear friends, my very first friends I'd got in this sad and yet sunny place I have lived for ten years. Olive is a girl with black hair, wearing a red robe, and with a pair of shoes made of deer leather. The other kid is Henry, a kid smaller than me in height, but six months younger than me, he is bald and wears dirty clothes like always because he is always taking care of the animals this orphanage owns. And the last kid is Mircea, who is my best friend and a hot-headed person, and very competitive most of the time. Next month, it will be his time to leave.

"Judah." says Olive, going at me, she is all red, and he handed me a brown hat. "Take this."

"Thanks, Olive." I took the hat on and put it on my head. "It fits."

"I-I'm glad." she says to me, getting all red, and then she suddenly hugs me and flees to her room. "That was weird." I said to myself.

"Hey, Judah!" says Mircea, coming at me with her smug look. "Don't forget next month I will leave too, you hear?"

"We will look outside until then, Mircea." I said to him, and both of us shook our hands,

Then Mircea, leave me alone, and he goes to his room. He waved at me and told me "Good luck!" as he was walking away from me.

Henry, however, looked at me, and with tears in his eyes, he hugged me and told me to be careful. I hugged him back, and I told him.

"I will be back, boy! And I promise I will give you something good to read."

After this hard goodbye I had, I am ready to go to the Nun's office, where I have my papers to let me leave this place. It was my first home.

***

I entered the room where the nuns, who took care of me for ten years, and did the parchments that needed to be completed and presented to the Kingdom. When I got there, they were talking to each other who were coming for someone who wanted to adopt a child, or they were calming down when they had a hard day. I headed to an office. I opened the door, and there I saw the nun who was responsible for the parchments. When I entered and looked around, I noticed a nun sitting at a desk waiting for me. Usually, there were two or three, but when there is only one. Probably one is sick or they are busy with other things. But it's probably not my business because today is my last day as a "free" child.

The nun there, who was sitting at the table and writing on parchment, asked me, after she took a look at me:

"Are you, Judas Judah Gremory?"

"Yes. I am", I tell that nun. I sit on the chair next to the desk. The nun proceeds to complete that parchment she took after I told her my name. "Today is my last day and I have come to apologize for the trouble I have caused, to thank you and to say goodbye."

"You don't have to apologize," says the nun, leaving her goose feather. She used it to write the parchment back in the inkwell. "You didn't do any harm or much trouble while you were here". The nun hands me the parchment which shows that I am now a child who has "graduated" from the Orphanage.

"I-I don't understand you. I think you forget what happened four days ago when I destroyed my pillows in the room by mistake."

"That was just a harmless spell like the other twenty you've done all the time you lived here."

"Wait?! ... How do you know I can wield magic?" I asked, surprised because I had been trying my very best for ten years to hide the magic I had got.

"Because you are not the only child who has crossed the threshold of this house and who cannot completely handle magic. We know how to deal with such attacks and how to control children who cannot cope or can't be able to control their powers. Before it was hard to be a mage, wizard or sorcerer, but now ... Now you can easily escape execution because they have become free and got the same rights as normal humans.".

"Really?" I asked that lady who took great care of me in those ten years. I always thought it would be extremely hard to contain my magic, but now, I feel a big relief because I am safe from execution.

"Really ... Before, you were beheaded if you mastered magic, and now they let you live because magicians have become useful in everyday life. And thanks to our new King ... Tell me. Have you thought about where to work while you lived here?"

"P-Probably a scout."

"Very well," says the Nun, smiling at me and taking another parchment from a drawer, she takes the goose's father and completes the parchment. "Good choice because a magician scout can earn a lot of money and can be useful on certain missions."

"Thank you," I said, looking at the parchment that the nun gave me. "What is this?"

"The first parchment I gave you is the departure sheet. And this one is a recommendation sheet. You will easily get a job, and a few more coins in salary. All you have to do is sign it and you can happily go wherever you want."

"I see."

I took the feather from that inkwell that Nun used to complete the parchment a few moments ago. I used the feather to write my name where it should be, then I put it back on, took that parchment from Nun, and put it together with the departure sheet, after which I asked her:

"Don't be upset. B-But ... Do you know what kind of magic I use?"

"Of course, we know." says the Nun, looking with a smile at me: "How long have I noticed? Seven or was it nine years? Whatever. You can control spells, like destructive ones and helpful ones. For example, that time when you cured Adrian's flu."

"I did that?"

"Yes. You probably wished Adrian would be alright tomorrow or to be alright after some medicine."

"... I see. But how is that spell working?"

"Have you touched Adrian and felt something weird in your body?"

"Yes… Yes, I did feel something strange."

"That is a healing spell. And it is one that can help a lot of people in need."

"What kind of helpful spell do I also have?"

"Slowing down, Fire and Shield, I think, since you are a basic wizard..." the nun sighs and she looks at me. "There is also something we have to tell you."

"What is it?" I asked, feeling a bit nervous.

"Do you know your family? Your complete family?"

"They are dead." I said to the nun. "I do not have a family."

"They are alive."

"Huh?"

"Your relatives are alive, but they are not in this kingdom."

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"The story about your mother is a lie."

"A lie?!"

"We planted a false memory on your mind when you were a baby… The person who sent you here was actually your uncle. He sent you here, and he left you. And he did that for good reason."

"Why?"

"He was sent to war. In a massive and hard war. And your aunt was also trying to take you, but she… was not able to do it because she was also involved in the wars with your uncle."

"I cannot believe… You are lying."

"I am not lying, Judah."

"So. Then what happened to my parents?"

"They are gone. They died a few weeks since you were born by a tribe."

"…Thanks for telling me that." I said to the nun. After I took a few moments of silence to cope with all of this, I put my packages on the backpack, and I raised from my seat.

"Take care of yourself there, Judah."

"Thanks for everything.". I said as I headed to the door. "Goodbye! We will meet again."

"Let's hope this will be the case."

I'm leaving that room. I keep going to the door of the building and I'm asking myself, "So can I really handle magic?", "Why did they lie to me?", "Does that mean that the night dreams I have could really mean something or are they just stupid dreams?"

Sometimes I have the same dream that shows an old man dressed strangely and with two sticks on his back, one made of metal and the other made of wood with a dark green aura. If I remember correctly ... Most of the dreams I had were just that person performing a strange dance and attacking big wild animals. That person could be the wizard who brought me to this world, or my uncle.

"What were my parents?" I asked myself as I walked to the entrance and the exit of this Orphanage.

I left the Orphanage. I was walking down the stairs and some little girls and boys playing hide-and-seek, fighting with sticks that they think are swords in the orphanage yard looking at me, and ran towards me. I take a few more steps and I notice a few children leaving the games and coming to me to tell me in a tone that people say when I see a loved one who has left you for a long time in their lives:

"Don't leave us, Judah!" says a little girl to me.

"When are you coming back to us?" asked a guy who is probably five years younger than me.

"Please visit us again!" said another kid to me.

"Please don't leave us!" says a girl who is three years younger than me.

I looked at those children in front of me with a sad face and I said to them:

"We will see each other out there soon. Now... Do you have to take care of this house? Do the chores the nuns order and be kind. Okay?"

Some children started to cry, mostly little girls, but some boys were trying so hard to hide their tears and others just smiled at me with jealousy. I looked at everyone around me and I hugged everyone. After a few seconds, I looked at them and I said to them:

"I will miss you guys. I will never forget anyone from here."

"I hope we will see you outside pretty soon." says a guy who is one year younger than me.

"We will surely see outside." says a fat kid with a big stick.

"We will miss you, Judah!" said the children to me while I was walking forward to the exit of the orphanage.

When I left the orphanage and their range of vision, I started to cry while I was walking because my mind started to show me some flashbacks of them and I, playing games, joking around, talking about girls, and laughing at each other's mistakes in writing, reading or helping the nuns to clean. I felt so sad leaving them, but I can't go back there. I'm not a child anymore. I'm ten years old and I have a new objective; to find a job as a squire and pay the kingdom to keep me alive. It sounds sad, but I cannot leave this kingdom for two reasons. One, the other kingdoms hate people who use magic, and second, I am way too young to leave the kingdom. There is another law here which says I can leave the kingdom to leave for another when I am sixteen years old. Also, I have to pay them fifteen coins as a tax to leave the kingdom.

Now that I have become a free child, it is time to look for a job and a home. As I walked through the streets of this kingdom I had no idea where to make some parchments for employment. I walked a few feet before I got into the middle of the capital, in the center, the area where people are either selling stuff or they are doing some business. Why is this kingdom so big? So, I decided to venture through the city for a few minutes, then ask a person who seemed friendly.

As I walked through this kingdom, I came across many people who did not seem friendly, some bad, sad, or funny. I walk a little more until I reach a market, and at that market, I notice a child who I think is three years older or less than me.

"Hey!" I said to that child.

"Hello! Can I help you?" asked the boy, looking at me.

"I need to know where the royal palace is."

That kid looked like he was some kind of bad guy, but he looked at his left, raised his hand in the direction he was looking and said to me while he pointed to the them there:

"Go straight ahead till you see a fountain and go fifteen steps left, then thirty steps to the right and one hundred steps to the left..."

After a few seconds, I looked at him and asked:

"That's it."

"Yes. That's it, kaibigan."

"What?"

"Kaibigan means friends in my natal language."

"Oh. I see. Thank you very much."

I left that guy who helped me and I followed the steps he told me to take. I went straight ahead till I saw a fountain decorated in silver, then left, right and again left. That guy was right. After a few minutes, I arrived at the Royal Palace without problems.

I was very surprised by how it looked because it is huge, protected by strong guards at the gates and archers at the top of the towers. I was looking at the palace for a few minutes, then I gained some courage and went straight ahead to the entrance of that palace to find a job. I didn't take a few good steps when I arrived in front of the huge door of that castle and I was stopped by two guards who blocked my way by putting my swords to block the entrance. These two are looking serious at me:

"The name and reason you want to enter." says a guard, pointing to me a sword and wearing a bronze mask.

"Judah Judas Gremory and I came to look for a job as a squire." I said, taking two steps back and talking to those two knights.

"Parents?" asked the same guardian.

"I have no parents, sir. They died a long time ago."

"Do you have documents that prove you are an orphan?"

"I've got this sheet." I showed the parchment with the leave from the Orphanage to the guard on the right. He took it, looked at it, and he handed it back to me.

"I see... You can go ahead. The room of "Human Resources" is the one that can help you in finding a squire job."