Well, as pretty much anyone would expect, they didn't let in the orphans. They thought about it but rejected them when the kids adamantly refused to leave each other. Again, as anyone would expect, the reason was because of the elf and the vampire baby whom I now believe to be a dhampir.

After that, we went over to an abandoned warehouse I found.

'Now, it's just me, the silence and the children sleeping against me...'

I was laying down on my side while the 6 of them laid against my fur, no smiles of nice dreams nor happy memories were present. They all had frowns and were scrunched up. It was pitiful. Something caught my eye then. The elf kid was still awake.

'He's crying.'

The tears were falling down as he held the Dhampir baby. What he was crying about, I didn't know. So, I wrapped my tail around the kids, making sure they were warm. The elf looked over at me with teary eyes and did something I didn't expect.

"Thank you."

I stopped and watched as he went to sleep. I sighed.

'Seriously, what are these kids doing, sleeping in the presence of an apex predator.'

The memory of me dying flashed by once more. I grimaced. Yet, without me realizing it. My grimace softened to a vague smile.

'It's been a long time since I've been trusted, even if it's just a child's innocent trust.'

I leaned my head down and let myself fall asleep for one time. In the comfort of beings who I could trust and reciprocated that.

I don't know how long it had been but I woke up at one point and saw the children still there. I smiled and used my tail to lift them onto my back slowly, so as to not disturb their sleep, then began walking once more. Since I was awake, it was easier to tell time. It had been three hours before the elf kid woke up.

The first thing they did was look around. I mean, there wasn't much to look at in the storm but hey, it's nice even with the storm. The gales had turned into breezes, the pelting rain and hail into heavy drizzles and light pattering. The smell of humid air and earthy feel to it made the walk even nicer. It turned from an annoying experience to an enjoyable stroll overall. I could see the same sentiments reflected in the child's eyes.

I kept walking and the others woke up soon, they all spoke to each other about the rain. There wasn't much that happened really, a few encounters with rare flora but nothing much. It was truly uneventful for a long time. Nothing but walk, eat plants, sleep repeat. We eventually reached a sign saying: "Ottawa in ten kilometers." Which surprised me, after all, we had walked for maybe one or two days, it shouldn't have been this fast.

'Unless my inner clock is wrong. That's, highly likely. I had lived for centuries as this huge being without care if it was day or night, it definitely messed with my sense of time.'

I sighed and kept walking, 'No point in waiting around.'

I was more surprised about something else though. I hadn't felt like I was resisting the 'thing' that caused me to lose consciousness, more like it wasn't there at all. It scared me. There were two possibilities, one is that it's really gone and it won't affect me anymore. The other, is that I can't feel the 'thing'. That means it could be affecting me and I wouldn't even realize it.

That, that was problematic.

Presumably, evolving would allow me to confirm whether the 'thing' is really gone or just hiding as Evolution increases all resistances and getting a new seal, if you don't already have one, is also a valid option. Mostly because your body is purified and strengthened by the element of your seal when you evolve, this also means you can't take seals of opposing elements or concepts. But there are rare occasions when these opposing elements fuse into a new seal, not getting rid of the one before but a sort of compromise where the one before fuses power with the new one in order to keep the body from breaking down.

Say there was a being with a Fire Seal and they get an Ice Seal. Usually, they would die. But on that rare occasion, the ice seal would mutate into a Frozen Fire Variant of the Fire Seal. With an Ice Seal being the first and getting a Fire Seal could give you Burning Ice Variant of the Ice Seal.

That said, there was one occasion where a being obtained a complete fusion. They were permanently unable to get the 9th seal because of it though. The Seal was called Blue Fire. Not to be mistaken with a fire so hot that it's blue, no. This fire was chilling to the bone and burning with the strength of magma.

It was a fearsome seal.

That said, the strongest seal discovered so far was the Divine Seal, gained when you evolve and gain your ninth seal. It's not the ninth seal but a seal that confirms you are extremely strong and gives you a passive boost, making you stronger.

'It didn't even make a difference in the end though. I was killed instantly.'

I sighed and walked listlessly, only coming out of the stupor when my fur was tugged on. I stopped and turned my head to look at them, they no longer flinched at me.

"Can you understand us?"

I nodded, the direction this was going was familiar to me.

"What's your name? Mine is Se Ka'er, it's the name I got when I transformed. The kids behind me are Iraes, Fin, Quola, Peppermint and the little one is Mi-sol'er."

He pointed to himself, then in order: A boy with messy brown hair, sharp brown eyes a little smaller than him; A girl only bigger than the baby with blue doe eyes and blond hair; A girl taller than him boasting heterochromia with a combo of red and black alongside dirty blonde hair; A freckled girl with wavy green hair and brown eyes; The baby, a child with silvery-gray hair and curios red eyes staring at me.

Se was about to continue when he stopped and pointed forward.

In front of us was a wooden cabin alongside a road with a sign saying 5km to Ottawa. Outside the wooden cabin, on a rocking chair and staring at us was an old woman. Wrinkles and gray hair but a kind look and a gentle feel. She smiled at us and I felt her gaze lingered on me for some reason.

Then, she spoke, "Come over, you must be tired and hungry."

It was suspicious but my instincts, in the rare occasion it did so, didn't ring an alarm. Not a peep. It was as if this woman was harmless even though she looked mighty suspicious...

So I decided to stay a while.