Chapter 2- Life at the orphanage (original)

**Life at the orphanage** was the second chapter of Age I- Age of Darkness. This was the original version of the second chapter and it was created in April 8, 2020, finished in November 2020 and posted on August 5, 2020 on Tapas and Webtoon. It was later scrapped due to being not eligible for print and is currently being remade under an unknown name.

## Summary

The chapter begins with Frederick and Nigel getting ready to travel to the orphanage. Upon their arrival, the two are greeted by Miss Pilkings, the director of the orphanage, who invites the two to reach her in her office. The woman then proceeds to fill in a paper for the brothers' entrance and later introduces them to the rest of the kids. Each of the orphans introduces themselves to the two brothers and things seem to go in the right way for a while.

A few days later, however, a group of bullies known as 'The Sharks' starts beating up the other kids for fun and both Frederick and Nigel are dragged into the scuffle. Nigel gets violently slammed against a wall by one of the bullies, who is immediately called out by his leader: Travis. The latter starts threatening the other kids with a smile on his face, while Pais Gerish, leader of 'The Oppressed', starts expressing his concern for the situation. All of a sudden, an injured Frederick makes his appearance and begins taunting Travis, inviting him to a fight. Nigel starts screaming and begging his big brother to desist, but suddenly gets kicked in the face by the bully who had slammed him earlier. The leader of The Sharks accepts Frederick's offer, while Nigel slowly loses consciousness on the floor. The boy starts crying for being unable to stop his brother and for feeling powerless in such situation.

Travis opens up the fight by trying to punch Frederick, who quickly dodges the attack. He slides under his opponent's legs and jumps behind him, tightly grabbing his back with both hands. Once on top of him, Frederick blinds him by picking Travis' eyes with his fingers and bounces off of him shortly after. Enraged by the pain, Travis kicks Frederick and sends him flying against the wall, knocking him out on the spot. The leader of The Sharks slowly opens up his eyes and realizes Frederick is now out of the game. He laughs, thinking he has finally won, while Nigel, who had just regained consciousness, starts panicking for his brother's conditions. The Oppressed start sweating while the bullies laugh at their powerlessness. One of The Sharks starts poking Frederick with a stick to make sure he has passed out and makes fun of the brave kid. However, Frederick suddenly opens his eyes and gets up despite his wounds, causing Travis to get mad. The latter lashes out against Frederick, but is suddenly knocked out and falls to the ground, while blood starts gushing out of his nose.

Frederick is revealed to be fine and dandy and he even starts making fun of Travis in front of his own group. He threatens them by stating he's not done with them yet and that he's willing to brawl with them as well, to which The Sharks respond by fleeing the scene. Right after that, Pais explains how Frederick was able to defeat Travis by smashing a flowerpot on his head. Pais and his group proceed to thank Frederick for defending them from the bullies and offer their help in exchange. However, the young hero quickly declines and decides to change the subject instead, calling Nigel who had been hiding in the shadows. The young brother is relieved to see Frederick still standing and throws himself in his arms. Frederick politely asks The Oppressed to leave them alone and so they do.

While the two brothers are still hugging each other, Frederick suddenly hears the sound of footsteps coming towards their way and asks Nigel if he hears them as well. Nigel confirms his big brother's doubts and confesses him that he's scared, while the silhouette of a tall man towers over them. The individual emerges from the shadows and reveals himself to be the caretaker of the orphanage. He aggressively asks the brothers what happened, sending shivers down their spines. The caretaker repeats his question and, after receiving no answer whatsoever, he slaps Frederick and causes the boy to fall over.

Terrified of the man's behavior, Nigel runs away, while the caretaker chases him. In order to save his brother, Frederick gets back up and shouts the man to stop. The caretaker's chase abruptly comes to a halt, as Frederick bravely declares that he's the one responsible for knocking out Travis and deliberately asks to be punished. The man grabs Frederick by his collar and threatens him, swearing they won't have a pretty time in the orphanage. After that, he tugs Frederick by his arm and accompanies him upstairs. The two reach the last floor of the building, which used to be an old prison and the caretaker violently throws Frederick inside one of the cells. Frederick tries to get back up and shouts, begging the man to let him explain his version of the story. However, the young man is locked inside and the caretaker chooses to ignore Frederick's words, although seemingly moved by them. Having given up hope, Frederick decides to sit down and later sleep in the cell, waiting for the night to pass.

## Characters by appearance

* Frederick Kingstone
* Nigel Kingstone
* Miss Pilkings
* Travis
* Pais Gerish
* Sunwoods caretaker