Chapter 1: Abnormality and deadly lessons are recommended for the good development of a child.
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Hello guys here the edited version of the first chapter. Thanks to Horizon42. Enjoy

 "Jesse...Your mom love you...you can move forward without fear...I watch over you...Be strong...

 I wake up suddenly, the rays of dawn dazzling me through the window. I took a moment to look around to identify my surroundings.

 The presence of hand-painted ferocious beasts on the walls and ceiling and the presence of tools and mechanical parts of all kinds around me in what appeared to be my bed told me I was in my room. I seemed to doze off in the middle of some mechanical fabrication, one of the few things that fascinated me.

 "KIDS!!! IF YOU DON'T GET UP RIGHT AWAY, I WILL START SPITTING INTO A RANDOM BOWL!!!" Thundered an angry voice.

 Knowing that whoever that voice belonged to was perfectly capable of carrying out his threat, I jumped out of my bed and rushed out of the room, nearly tripping one of the many books and parchments strewn on the floor of the room.  

 Running like my life depended on it, I walked through a long hallway leading to spiral staircases as I descended, skipping a few steps before breaking into a dining room large enough to seat about fifty

people.

 

 Anybody could see that despite the obvious renovations, this room had a certain age.

 Paintings showing horsemen in armor or fantastic creatures could be seen on the walls and even on the ceiling. In the middle of the room was a long wooden table, on both sides of the table sat about fifteen boys and girls in pyjamas, the youngest was 5 years old and the oldest maybe around 9. I could notice that some of them were out of breath, indicating to me that they had also done a some exercise to get there. 

  

 At the end of the table stood a man with

messy brown hair, wearing a white apron adorned with flowers, a large wooden tray filled with bowls from which emanated a delicious smell of onion soup balanced on his right hand while on the other he placed bowls in front of each child with one arm stretching out and squirming like a snake.

 

"Last to rise, last to arrive as always, Jesse Reslow. Being the oldest, you should be setting an example for other kids." He told me in a loving tone that didn't match his blue eyes looking at me like I was the worst criminal who ever lived.

 "Sorry Myers ..."

 That was all I could say because he was telling the truth. From my 13 years, I was the eldest among the young residents of this house. For this reason, I was often designated responsible for taking care of the other children. 

 

 I sat down on a chair and began to eat my

bowl of soup in silence. The last words I heard before waking up echoed endlessly in my head. My mother...Someone I knew absolutely nothing about, whether it was her appearance or even her name. A total mystery to me. Finally losing my appetite, I put down my bowl, politely thanked Myers, and left the room through a door at the back of the room to go outside.

                     ) ++++++++ (

Once outside I took the time to take in every bite of the fresh air while looking at the only home I have ever known, this strange castle, very probably unique in its structure. The towers, of Japanese design as well as the whole of the scarlet roof, harmonized perfectly with the European architecture of the main parts of the castle built in black stone. 

 This castle would have once served as a royal library for a country that has now disappeared before being converted into an orphanage, hence the impressive number of books of all kinds that

could be found there or its name «Flywise».

 Lost in these thoughts, I suddenly felt two delicate arms too big to belong to a child wrap affectionately around my neck.

 "Hi Jessie, I'm going away for a few months and the first thing I find when I come back is a boy with a burial head?" A soft, mocking voice whispered.

 

Instinctively I released myself from the embrace, turning around to find myself facing a fair-skinned woman in her twenties with long, wavy silver hair. 

 Her smile showed a clear desire to share her good humor with everyone around her. It was Leslie Watson, she was with Myers the only adults in the whole orphanage. While Myers took care of household chores like cooking or washing, Leslie took care of the education of the residents of the orphanage. I have often wondered how two people could take on so much work on their own in such a large house. Without ever daring to ask them.

 "Don't call me that. My name is Jesse."

 "I know but Jessie is so much cuter, don't you think?"

 "Not really, people think I'm a girl when they hear that name..."

 "You seem to me to be much better now." She said to me, smiling even more beautifully. She stood staring at me for a few seconds without saying anything.

 

"Something seems to be messing with you, do you want to talk about it?"

 

I wanted to say something but not a word left my mouth. And she felt it.

 

"Alright don't force yourself if you don't feel ready to discuss it. How about showing me what you learned from your last lesson?" 

She tied her hair in a ponytail, cracked the knuckles with her fists, and got into a fighting stance. The day we celebrated my 6th birthday, Leslie gave me a rather singular gift. 

 She offered to teach me the art of combat. More precisely the melee combat and the handling of the sword. When I asked her where she learned these things herself, she simply referred to her knowledge as the result of a life well-lived. 

 Seeing no harm it could do to me I simply accepted, something I often almost regretted. The first years were a series of daily beatings. Melee or with a wooden sword, she always kept one hand in a pocket and kicked my butt with the other. 

 After three years I finally managed to get him to use both hands to hold his

weapon or defend herself in close combat. From there she began to intensify her lessons and even make us use real swords. 

 Even now I rarely came out of a workout without a bruise or a cut while she always ended up perfectly unharmed. I raised my fists, put myself in a fighting stance and when she gave me the green light with a wink, I rushed towards her, sending her a left hook which she blocked without difficulty.

 She replied by giving three successive punches, I dodged the first then the second and when the third came, I managed to block it, to grip his forearm before kicking her aiming his head. 

 

She managed to block it with her free hand but I could clearly see the effort required to do so in her face. We traded blows like this until the sun was high in the sky. Lying exhausted in the grass I felt my body for any bruises when Leslie leaned over me, a certain pride in her eyes.

 "I could see you weren't lazy while I was gone." You have made tremendous progress.

 

"The idea of finally making you bite the dust motivated me..."

 

"Ouch! You hurt my little heart!" She scoffed. "But you know, for your age it's pretty impressive. I didn't manage to give you any fatal blows, despite the fact that I have the advantage of physique and experience."

 

Preferring to ignore that she admitted to striking me to kill, I straightened up as she sat down next to me.

 "So where have you been the last few months? You just left a letter before you left without saying goodbye.

 

"All over the place, here and there I saw how society differed with those like us from one place to another."

 "Oh I see..."

 

«Those like us»she said. Flywise's strange castle was an orphanage that took in childrens from all over the world. But no misunderstanding, it was not a famous or recognized orphanage. 

 In fact, we can even say the number of people knowing its existence can be

counted on the hands and this for 2 reasons. The first one...

 

"Oh, yet another..."

 Ignoring Leslie's warning, I just watched out of the corner of my eye the huge plane that flewa above us and then the castle without really caring.

 "I know they are common at this altitude but we never really get any do we? She said sarcastically.

 

 I understood what she meant. One of the reasons our orphanage got so little talk was its location. It was not in an isolated region or some lost hole. But in the sky. We were at an altitude of 10,000 meters. As to how this is possible, the castle was enveloped in an invisible barrier that allowed the castle to float while hiding it from the view of the outside world. 

 

This same barrier also protected us from living conditions at this altitude from air pressure to temperature and filtered

excessively strong sound waves, such as those from airplane engines until they were bearable and seemed to broadcast a frequency that seemed to keep planes away that could unconsciously put the castle in their air corridor. Once the racket caused by the plane had gotten far enough away Leslie smiled at me and held out her hand.

 

"Come on little wolf, knowing Myers he's going to sulk if someone misses lunch."

 Unable to deny that she was thinking right, I took her hand to get up, and then as she hugged me, wings of crimson light rose behind her back. 

 

In an instant, we took off to land in the inner courtyard of the castle. This was the second and surely the most important reason why the existence of the orphanage was unknown to most of the world.

 No one here was ordinary. Everyone, from adults to the youngest children, was endowed with superhuman abilities or peculiarities. It was according to Myers' words an orphanage for metahumans.

What was my particularity? Nothing at all. Absolutely Nothing. I was the exception to the rule. The only child here qualifying as "ordinary". When I pointed it out to Myers and Leslie they just said, “You are exceptional Jesse. You just don't realize it yet ”.

               

                      ) ++++++++ (

 At dinner time, I munched on a duck leg without appetite, ignoring the sparks exhaled by my neighbor at the table to my right. The words heard in my dream echoed in my head.

 I turned my head to Myers and Leslie who were sitting at the end of the table and words that had been burning my throat for hours accidentally left my mouth.

 "Who was my mother?"

A leaden silence settled in the room. It was an unwritten rule to avoid parents here, some children having been rejected or even mistreated by their own because of their powers. Myers exchanged a look with Leslie before starting to speak slowly:

 "Look, Jesse, we've talked about this before..."

 

"No, we never really talked about it, you were content to drown the fish in one of those moralizing speeches of which you have the secret."

 

"Jesse, I'm sorry but we can't tell you something we don't know anything about. A man brought you here asking us to take care of you when you were just a baby." Leslie intervened. But he vanished as quickly as a ghost without warning or even telling us his name. He only

gave us yours."

 "Oh really? I suppose that also him who told you to lock me up here and to forbid me all contact with the outside world? I know you sometimes take kids to have fun downstairs Leslie."

 "It's for your safety, as for the children they need it, Jesse...

 

"What do you think ? That I didn't need it? Why? Because I'm not special enough for you? That I'm just a foil for you?"

Anger was burning in my throat and the only one that stopped me from saying more was the tears I saw falling from Leslie's eyes. Without looking back I left the room ignoring Myers'voice asking me to come back before I found my room to drop on my bed. 

I stayed like that for hours, the full moon was now high in the sky.The more time passed, the more the anger gave way to guilt. I had gone too far. I made Leslie cry. She and Myers had taken good care of me throughout my life. In a way, they were my family. I got out of my room and walked over to Leslie's room hoping to apologize when ...

BOOOOM !!!!

An explosion to be heard as shocks shook the castle.

I dropped to one knee to keep my balance, then when the shaking subsided I rushed to the nearest window that looked out onto the inner courtyard. The trees and half of the lawn were on fire. And above this terrible spectacle were floating in the sky dark humanoid figures.

 They were far too big to belong to humans, and where their eyes were, a worrying scarlet glow burned. But the most terrifying was this sentence they kept repeating.

 

 "NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS!"


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