Solgaret

Aster's eyes fluttered open.

"Morning…"He muttered to himself as he struggled to keep his strained eyes open, rubbing them with his fingers.

"Agh…come on….stop it." As he grumbled, his eyes finally started to regain their clarity, looking above and spotting a lamp.

The faint yellow glow of the lamp above cast eerie glow over the empty room, the stale air filled with dust.

He slowly twisted his head left, facing the wooden wall.

"These walls…..I hate them. Haaahh…" Sighing, he continued to look at them. Those wooden walls, which were once filled with a honey brown color, now seemed old and greyish. Though it was no matter to Aster, it was a sight that he just….disliked. It had no decorations nor any wall hangings on it like the other kids had. Just plain, worn, and weathered wooden planks.

Aster jolted upright, his legs thrashing wildly as he kicked off half the worn blanket that had been covering him. The sudden movement sent the fabric sliding down to his knees, revealing a pair of scrawny thighs that seemed to be made of pale skin and bones.

"Yet another day in this sh*thole..." The words trailed off into a defeated groan, the only thing that followed being the heavy, oppressive quiet.

Silence and a gloomy darkness surrounded him as he gazed down upon his hands, clinging to the thin, completely brown and wrinkled sheet.

"Tick…tick…tick.." Aster raised his head, spotting the old circular clock that was attached to the wall ticking with a steady and ominous beat. It was covered in dust, so much so that it was impossible to look at the time.

So how did Aster end up here?

....

Kizuna Orphanage.

Suddenly abandoned at the age of six, Aster had spent the last five years living within the walls of this orphanage.

A Japanese orphanage that housed around 8 children, including Aster. It was funded by the government, which meant that it naturally had enough funds to last 30-40 children. But by fate, or somehow, it had only 8 due to it being branded as a 'haunted' orphanage due to the presence of a single entity: Aster.

Naturally, the seven children living there made friends with each other.

But with Aster....it was out of the question.

He had a long scar on his back ever since he was 5 after being attacked by a wild dog that had entered the orphanage when he was small.

Aster's eyes were a deep, pitch black, the kind of eyes that seemed like an empty void which could absorb the light. His hair was a dark and foreboding obsidian color. At first glance, these features would make him seem just like any other person out there.

But, in a world where black-eyed people had become incredibly rare and had dwindled to the point of extinction, Aster's appearance was a stark contrast to the norm.

Those with naturally occurring black eyes, like Aster's, carried a sense of mystery and intrigue.

But this was not due to any inherent mystique - it was because that the person with black eyes was born with a unique disability.

The disability was named….

The Curse of the Hollow Bloodline.

The people who came to be afflicted with this curse at birth came to be called the 'Voidborn' or as some might call them, the 'The Seedless'.

But why? Wasn't it just any other normal eye color? Why was it considered taboo?

The reason wasn't any other flaw that these people had. It was due to them having a really low chance for the seed of awakening inside them to sprout. (explanation in prologue)

But why, you ask? Well, after some investigating and researching, the six lineages found out the following things:

These were usually the chances for the seed of awakening to sprout in people:

People that have the bloodline of one of the six lineages: 95% Normal People that didn't have a special bloodline: 70% Naturally black-eyed people: 0.99%.

Although it seemed stupid and superficious, after countless surveys and experiments, this was the reality.

Due to this, Aster had been labeled as a 'freak' and was shunned by everybody in the orphanage.

Even the nuns would look at him as if he was a disgusting reincarnation of the devil. 'Devil's Spawn' and 'Cursed Child' were his given titles.

They would taunt him with these names, and if he ever tried to retaliate, they would beat him up even more and not feed him, as if he was some sort of animal.

So why not just kick him out of the orphanage?

They couldn't.

But why?

....

…..

Because it was fun.

It was fun to keep the so called devil around.

Oh yes, it was so much fun, especially for the nuns of the orphanage.

Oh!

Also, there was one more reason as to why they were keeping Aster in the orphanage.

Kizuna Orphanage was a strictly religious orphanage that followed the word of God. Thus, it was compulsory to adhere to the God's expectations and commands.

So, when a child believed to be the 'Devil's Spawn' was left at their orphanage, what would you think that they would normally do? Of course. They wouldn't treat Aster as a normal human being and keep him as a guinea pig to let out their anger on.

This might seem like a thing only psychopaths would do, but it made sense. To every single being who lived in the orphanage of course.

Have you committed a sin? Redeem yourself by punishing the devil's reincarnation!

Sinfully feeling angry? Redeem yourself and let go of the sinful anger by punishing the devil's reincarnation!

Possessed by unholy emotions? Redeem yourself and let go of your emotions by punishing the devil's reincarnation!

This was the belief of a so called 'religious' orphanage.

Life is joyful? Hah. It was the exact opposite for Aster.

Unlike the others, he only got food and water once a day. The food was stale, and the water dirty and impure. He was tied up, beaten to the point of death, barely surviving. This tradition that was created by the nuns was so popular to the point that every single person you could come across in this hellhole called an orphanage knew Aster and hated him down to their core.

They had all casted him out from ever even coming near them, and if Aster would ever try, obviously there was only solution...to punish and violate him so bad that he could never repeat his actions again. This was primarily done by the nuns.

But why? Why was he called the devil's spawn? Why was he called the devil's reincarnation? Even if his disability was really rare, going as far calling him the second coming of devil is too much isn't it?

Oh, as believed by the nuns, there was one final reason.

It was because his parents were considered Satanists. People who worshipped Satan.

Though Aster knew absolutely nothing about them, the one thing everybody including him knew was that they were practicing some sort of worship or praise towards the devil regularly.

So, being a son of Satanists, people believed that the more they hurt the abomination, the more God will be happy. They would taunt him, saying he was born of evil, that he was a monster. This was the belief of every single person who lived in this orphanage.

In his eyes, all humans were heartless and cruel monsters.

These horrifying sadist monsters would feed on his despair. On his despondency. On his anguish and moroseness.

...….

So he couldn't help to even care about them. He didn't care if they despised him or even tried to violate him. He didn't want those inhumane things to even have a good opinion of him.

Obsess himself over what other people think of him? Hate and despise them? Constantly try to hide his black eyes? Actually care about how people talk about him behind his back and how they would call him a freak? Nah.

Aster didn't really ever even give a single sh*t towards what others thought about him. He was just gonna do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

"Now...good morning to my lovely self. I love you! How am I? I'm fine. In fact, I feel a lot fresher today! " Aster muttered to himself, looking at his own reflection in the mirror. Yet, he knew that what he had just said right now was a lie. His obsidian-black hair was messy, but his body especially was not even close to fine.

His eyes were strained due to lack of sleep. His body, throbbing from pain in different areas. An area on the stomach, an area on the right shoulder, an area behind his right thigh, etc. They were all burning with an intense, fiery sting.

Why?

Well, of course, just the other day, He had been whipped by a leather whip all over his body by a nun because he had apparently 'intentionally' pushed a boy by mistake.

'Ugh....it hurts.... too much…..' Aster grasped his stomach tightly to try to ease the throbbing, burning pain, but to no avail.

Though an ordinary person would not be even able to move and would feel intense and excruciating pain, Aster was used to this.

He had gotten used to the pain. Though it stung a lot, his body had adjusted itself to move even while suffering severe pain or injuries.

"Haah…" Aster sighed as he sat down on the hard, wooden floor, resting his head against the wall.

'What to do today...I know that as soon as I get out of my room, I'll be targeted by the nuns and the other kids. I should avoid confronting them as much as possible.' This was the only logical plan Aster could come up with. He wanted to refrain from ever facing every single human that would live in this orphanage.

"What kind of life even is this? A kind of life where I have to face the risk of getting beaten to death every single day and live as if every moment is a challenge to survive?" Aster let his thoughts out loud.

"Give me…freedom…".

He had always wondered; would he ever get out of this place? Would he ever get to have a normal life which he had thought about? It seemed…. impossible. The gates of the orphanage were so close, yet having a happenstance at being free seemed so far.

"CLANG! CLANG!" Aster heard the sharp noise of a bell's deep clang piercing the air twice in a row. He froze as his right arm's hair was experiencing goosebumps. It was the worst possible thing that could have happened today.

The Orphanage Bell. It is rung two times when someone intends to call and gather all of the kids near the bell. Usually, it was a very rare occurrence.

It had been a long time since Aster had heard it clang. But now, it was clear that he had to gather near the bell, which meant that he had to face every kid and nun that would stay in this orphanage! Drops of sweat ran down from Aster's forehead, his heart banging loudly like a drum in a continuous rhythm. 'What?! I can't gather near all of the people staying in this orphanage at once! I've already suffered a beating just yesterday!' Aster thought to himself as he let out a deep sigh.

"Haaahh. Calm down. I have to think about this carefully." Aster swiftly cooled down his mind and started to think about the best solution to this problem.

Now, Aster was faced with two choices. Firstly, he could just follow the command and gather near the bell. Though it was a very risky choice as Aster could possibly anger somebody and risk getting hammered upon by the kids of the orphanage.

The second choice was even crazier, which was to pretend having not listened to the bell ring. This would seem like a logical conclusion. But, there was a reason why this choice was even crazier than the first choice.

There was a strict rule in this orphanage. It stated that whenever the orphanage bell would be rung twice in a row, everybody, including the nuns had to compulsorily gather near it. Whenever this rule would be violated, the culprit would be faced with punishment.

In Aster's case however...you can guess what would happen if he were to ever violate that rule. Both of the choices outweighed each other. If Aster would choose the first one, he could omit getting the nuns angry.

But, there was a chance of Aster unintentionally angering someone and getting severely beaten by multiple kids at the same time.

And if Aster would dare to choose the second one, he could avoid a severe beating for now, but the grim reapers known as nuns would definitely come for him later. However, by that time, Aster's body wouldn't be in a state of pain as it is now, and could potentially face the beating anyway.

"Ok….I know what to do now.." Aster said as his mind arrived to a solution.