Days passed quickly in a smooth rhythm for Torrin. Each morning he'd gather mana into his inert core until breakfast. Afterwards he'd be tasked with a light chore to get back into the swing of things during his recovery. He found his favorite one to be visiting the kindly older blacksmith, Mr Brandon.

Once his chore for the day was done, he'd completely ignore the world and return to his meditations, only stopping midday to do some light exercises, followed by another break for "leisure and learning" time with Thalia and the kids before returning to the small storeroom to meditate once more until late into the night.

Soon an entire week had passed and Torrin was choking down another delicious breakfast of thick gloppy porridge with a battered apple on the side.

'What did I ever do to deserve this?' he sighed inwardly after putting his wooden dishes away. Complaining made him feel as if he had some slight control over something.

His inert core was brimming with the mana he'd gathered, he figured a few more days were all he'd need to be able to start condensing his mana into an active core or break down his inert core or whatever he was actually supposed to be doing. Pushing himself forward was the only thing keeping him moving at all. He wanted to return to meditating as soon as possible, but his plans didn't seem to be in his hands at this time.

"Rin, please help Martha with gathering water from the river today." Thalia said nonchalantly, but Torrin caught the sly gaze the old lady had. At least he thought it was sly. Thalia was still a complete mystery to him even after a week.

Torrin had finally accepted his new moniker, Rin, as others refused to use his full name. He was surprised to be paired with Martha, as she would bring water back everyday alone. He didn't mind getting out of the orphanage as he hadn't left the village walls since his accident. Stretching his legs felt nice. Martha seemed to be of a different mind, though.

"Why do you ignore us now?" Martha asked Torrin with a glare as they trudged through the woods.

"What do you mean?" He responded with obvious confusion on his face.

"The other kids in the village don't like us orphans, so it's always been the four of us standing together, yet since the river..." She trailed off, possibly thinking back to that day before clearing her throat and continuing, "Since that day, you haven't been talking to us! You haven't played with us once!" Martha screamed as tears began falling down her face.

'Uhh... What's going on here?' Torrin was thoroughly confused by the outburst, but kept his thoughts to himself as he replied.

"I've just been tired... Trying to recover. I don't know what you want me to say. Even Mother Thalia has been telling me to rest every day. I've also been working on sensing mana. Since that doesn't take much physical energy, it's been helping me pass the time while I rested." Torrin tried to placate the young girl.

"See? You even talk funny now! If you don't want to be our friend then just say so!" Martha said, wiping her tears and stomping ahead of him toward the river with her bucket swinging wildly.

'This is far too much...' Torrin sighed inwardly again. 'Who knew dealing with kids would be such a hassle?'

He caught up to her by the river. He didn't want things to be awkward in the orphanage with him not being their friend... But, Little Lark died in the river that day. Torrin was nearly a grown man mentally and didn't want to waste his time playing games with these little kids.

He had a goal and wanted to achieve it. It was a worthy distraction, at least. He wanted to finish forming his core. His hand landed on Martha's shoulder and he spoke softly.

"Martha, it's not that I don't want to be friends with you guys... That day I fell in the river... It changed me. I was close to dying..." He trailed off, trying to leave the rest of his explanation open ended.

'Hopefully she'll accept this and let me go my own way.'

"Rin, we've been best friends since we were born. I know you are different, but... But you didn't die. You're here. Right now. And I feel like even though you're here I lost my best friend." Tears streamed down the little girls face as she sat on the riverbank, forcing Torrin to relent.

"Well then, how about we all play together tonight, after dinner?" Torrin shrugged as she looked at him. Torrin didn't want to be the cause of a little girl's crying. It felt wrong. So, he tried offering something that may make her feel better.

"Okay!" Martha jumped up with a beaming smile on her face.

'Phew...'

The chore was completed quickly and Torrin returned to his daily ritual until after lessons. Thankfully, they'd finished the small history book days ago so he didn't have to listen to that drudgery anymore. He sat gathering mana for their two hours of practice and when he was done, he joined the kids to play for the first time since arriving in his new world.

As Thalia relieved the kids of their meditations, she looked to Torrin, saying, "Well, Little Rin, I believe you've rested enough. It may be better for you to play with the other kids tonight to help build your strength back up."

Her words caught Torrin by surprise, but he just smiled wryly, "Of course, Mother Thalia," he replied, before joining the kids in running out the front door. The words had seemed to come out of nowhere, so Torrin couldn't help wondering exactly what Thalia was playing at. He decided it didn't matter as he had planned to join them anyway.

"Okay, so what are we gonna play?" Torrin asked once they'd arrived in the forest outside the village.

"Swords and Sorcerers!" the twins exclaimed in delight at the same time.

Even Martha seemed delighted by the idea, so they all found big sticks to act as swords and twigs to act as a wand. Seeing how the kids swung the fake swords around made Torrin wince. His time spent training hours on end, learning sword techniques and footwork flashed through his mind.

Instead of beating up the little kids, he just played along for a few hours as they all screamed spells at each other and faked dying. The kids soon lost enough vision to see, so they began to trudge through the forest toward the village.

"That was the best day ever! So much fun!" Tim or Tom said, both had a huge grin plastered on their faces.

Part way through the game, he'd decided to teach them a few moves from his past life, passing it off as playing "Academy Instructor" to them. They were still terrible with zero coordination, but it made Torrin's time go by quicker and he even had a little fun watching them try so hard.

After walking through the forest for a few minutes, Martha stopped and asked the twins to go on ahead, saying she wanted to talk to Torrin alone for a minute.

'Oh no... What now?' Torrin sighed aloud this time.

"Rin... Do you want to talk about it? That day, I mean..." Martha trailed off in a low voice, avoiding looking at Torrin directly.

"There's not much to say. I fell in and couldn't swim, but you saved me. Thank you, Martha. You saved my life." Torrin said with actual gratitude lacing his words, patting her on her lowered head. The truth was, he didn't know if he would have gone into Little Lark's body without her shouting and punching. The sensations had helped anchor him in that darkness.

'I really should be more grateful,' Torrin thought, 'I've been so focused on making a mana core and my own depression and wanting revenge that I've caused this little kid a lot of grief... Kinda rude and definitely not grateful...'

After that, Martha's face brightened considerably and she stood taller, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Torrin looked away as something in the air caught his attention.

"Is that smoke I smell?" Torrin asked rhetorically as he smelled smoke very intensely. It must have been a lot of smoke to cause such a heavy scent.

Through the trees ahead they could see a bright glow. The town would only light a few lamps outside at night, so the glow was definitely abnormal. He tried scrambling through Little Lark's memories, trying to see if there were any other cases of large fires at the village, like a celebration he didn't know about. He found nothing in the memories.

"R-Rin... Why is there a fire in the village?" Martha asked in a tiny voice, quiet as a buzzing insect.

"I don't know, Martha, stay close, let's see what's going on."

The pair tentatively stepped through the forest, both wary of what had caused the fire. As they got closer to the village they heard a scream tear through the night.

"Martha! No!" Torrin shouted as Martha ran full speed ahead after the scream rang out.

Turning her little head, she shouted back "That was Mother Thalia! I know it!"

Worry crept over Torrin. What could cause such a large fire in the village, even causing that old lady to be screaming with such a scary tone? He ran forward quickly and caught up to the girl just as they reached the edge of the forest with the village walls in sight.

'What the hell?!' Torrin was dumbfounded.

"Martha, get back. We can't go in there." Torrin whispered, trying to pull the girl into a crouch beside him.

"I have to check on Mother Thalia!" She demanded with scrunched up brows and brimming determination, standing up and bouncing on the balls of her feet as she prepared to sprint towards the village.

"Martha, there's nothing we can do in there!" Torrin replied desperately.

The walls were on fire. The wooden buildings were on fire. A disgusting stench of burnt hair and flesh was prominent, wafting from the village on an unseen wind. The smells caused Torrin's stomach to do backflips as his nose was assaulted.

*BOOM*

An explosion rang out as a huge fire ball detonated on the walls, completely disintegrating a large portion of them into ash instantly. The intensity of the blast even stopped Martha cold, her feet planted firmly and eyes nearly as wide as her open mouth.

'Magic...' Torrin sat with wide eyes, staring at the pile of ash that used to be the wall closest to them.

Through the 20 foot gap, what Torrin saw made his blood run cold. People were on fire or being cut down by cloaked figures that seemed no more than blurred shadows as they flitted about, slicing people apart left and right. Even in his old world, he'd never seen such a brutal massacre. The shadows seemed to avoid hurting the children, though. It was a small relief in the otherwise daunting scene.

A figure holding a young child was struck down just as they reached the exit of the village. The young child was immediately grabbed up by the shadow and whisked away, leaving nothing behind but the two halves that used to make up a body.

As he watched, Torrin prepared to run away with Martha. There was absolutely no way they could approach that death trap. If they escaped now, they wouldn't be taken by these shadows. As he turned back to Martha to tell her as much, he saw her eyes double in size. Her lips moved wordlessly, as if she could no longer speak.

Torrin turned to see what she was looking at. It was Thalia, running with the twins at full speed to the gap in the fence. Martha ran to meet them before Torrin could react.

Another shadow appeared in Thalia's path and a shout from the old lady rang out, but Torrin couldn't tell what she'd said over the screams of the tortured townsfolk.

'What do I do?' Torrin thought frantically.

Torrin watched as Thalia's head was mercilessly removed from her body. His mind flashed back to another decapitated head from his memories. A fountain of blood shot across the twins as their faces twisted in terror, screaming at the top of their lungs.

'Oh no...' Torrin thought sadly.

Martha arrived at that time and sent her little fist directly into the shadow's back. There was no reaction at all. The shadow eventually turned around and grabbed up Martha like a sack of grain, throwing her over his shoulder. She tried struggling, but went limp as the person put a finger to her forehead. Seeing that she was still alive, Torrin decided getting captured himself would be of little help if any.

'I've gotta go.'

Decision made, Torrin no longer hesitated. He turned around and booked it as fast as he could directly back through the forest toward the burbling river.

'Definitely no time to play hero. I'm in a 6 year old body with no access to magic or weapons. Why the hell would Martha run in there like that?!' Torrin's mind whirled.

Torrin understood the yearning to help, but he was smart enough to know that there was no possible way they could change the out come of the village's fate.

'Why did they take the kids with them? Are they gonna use them in some magic sacrifice? Shit... I gotta get to safety! I didn't revive here just to be some sacrifice for a bunch of weirdos!' Torrin was dimly aware that his thoughts were becoming more erratic as panic set in deeper with each step further from the village.

Torrin soon met the river and jumped straight in without hesitation. He swam through the flowing water like a fish, reaching the other side in moments.

'Sorry, Little Lark, but I won't be joining your spirit in this watery grave anytime soon, I actually learned to swim when I was a kid' As soon as he had this thought, Torrin felt bad. He shouldn't be trash talking a dead kid whose body he stole... Not very nice at all.

'I get murdered by a shadowy figure in my last world, now in this new world a whole group of shadows attack the village I'm in... What kind of cursed luck is this?!' Torrin cried inwardly.

Torrin's thoughts were erratic, his mind spouting nonsense constantly as he fled into another forest on the other side of the river from Velin. He knew there were no more villages this direction, so he planned to start running perpendicular to the river soon. He didn't want to run into any Mana Beasts out here. He'd learned this forest was the reason he'd been orphaned, this forest was where Little Lark's father had died as the village tried to expand.

He turned to run perpendicular with the river, staying in the forest to avoid being noticed. His legs were burning and his breaths were becoming ragged after about an hour of running. He slowed his pace to save energy.

*Crack*

A twig snapped nearby and Torrin froze. 'Oh shit' was the only thing that came to mind hearing the noise.

He stopped and crouched by a tree near him. He strained his ears, trying to hear any other noises. Light footsteps could be heard nearby as well as rustling bushes. His heart beat in his chest like a drum, he started to worry his little heart might not be able to take the stress, so he started breathing slowly, trying to relax. Adrenaline fought with his desperation and he made little progress in calming himself.

He'd fought many creatures and even fought bandits in his previous life, but he'd been armed and had access to Chi then. Now, he had no weapon and no clue how to utilize the meager amount of mana he'd stored up over the last week--he had no real way to defend himself from a beast.

The foot steps came closer, there were at least two beasts snuffling and shuffling through the forest. As a bush beside him began to move, he bolted once more. He shot forward with the speed of a fireball. He ran for all he was worth and didn't slow down one bit as the beasts began their chase.

"Shhhhiiiiiiiiiittt!" He shouted as he dove to the side, barely avoiding the maw of some small panther-type beast. He was back on his feet in an instant, continuing his escape. He knew cats were good at climbing, so going up a tree wasn't an option.

'Water!' he thought suddenly. 'Cats hate water, so surely a mana beast cat would also hate water, right?'

'Please let this work,' he prayed to every god and goddess in every world there was, hoping one of them would answer his call.

He dodged a swipe, but was still caught by sharp claws on his right elbow as he dove to the left. Liquid fire coursed across his arm, if he had more light he may have been able to see his bone showing deep within the cut.

He stifled his cries and continued directly for the water, only moving to the side when his will felt the approach of an attack, but he wasn't fast enough in his reactions, so he was taking small cuts that were stacking up quickly.

Luckily, the worst wound he'd taken so far was his first one, on his elbow. But sadly, he started to feel faint as the river came into view. His only chance was to get into that water and hope the cats wouldn't follow. If they did, he'd hopefully be able to outswim them. As he was just about to dive into the water he felt both of the beasts jumping at his back and knew he wouldn't make it.

*Snap!*

A loud snap rang out to his right, along the river. He sensed the two beasts immediately explode behind him, gore spattering across his back.

'What... The... Fuck...' Was all he could think as he stopped, slowly turning his head towards the snapping noise.

An old hag, even older than Thalia, stood next to the river, one hand resting on a sleek black cane, and the other raised in the air, still holding the finger snapping gesture. The moonlight shone vibrantly on her silver hair.

As he took in the aged appearance of the hag, his vision quickly dimmed and blackness greeted him as he fell forward into the water. An inane thought burbled to the surface as he lost consciousness, 'I guess the prayer worked.'