Time has flown by quickly. I'm now six, but I look like a nine-year-old human boy. Even other orcs told us both, Zala and I, that we were quite tall for our age.
It's spring. Last winter was harsher than the previous one, but we coped much better.
A lot has happened in the last five years.
Another orphan joined us before winter. Sadly, he was too weak and died alongside another orphan.
At that time, we were still considered children who couldn't do much, but we could now go outside. We improved our orcish by speaking to everyone we met. Vaela was really proud of us. I was proud of my acting skills, though. No one suspected me. Well, some still considered me to be a bit crazy.
Then summer arrived, but it wasn't as peaceful this time. Duluk was really stressed and tense. It was an important year for him. As he was turning 14, he had to take part in a sacred ceremony.
The ceremony marked the transition of young orcs into adulthood and was a chance for them to prove themselves to the tribe. However, it was not without its dangers. It was not unusual for one-third of the new adults to die. Only one of the Egghead residents had survived in the last ten years.
On that day, Duluk looked as though he had been sentenced to death. The trial usually lasted two weeks. However, Duluk didn't return after the two weeks were up, nor after any of the following weeks...
The end of the year passed quickly, as the others didn't deem us very useful. We continued to fool around. Nothing significant happened apart from the tribe receiving another tribe and having a big feast. It's a pity I wasn't old enough to participate.
As I had a lot of free time, I pondered on what I wanted to do and what my goals were. I first decided that my first priority was to survive the trial. To do that, I need to become strong. Then my second goal is to improve the lives of orphans.
Later, two others joined us as well, but only one survived the winter.
The following year was far more interesting. I went out far more. That's how I learned more things about Orcs. The first thing is that every man and a half of the women had a tattoo of the head of a wolf. What was interesting was the differences between their tattoos. There were a total of seven different colours, with different levels of complexity making them. I guess it was a symbol to show they were part of the tribe, and their rank in it.
I also observed that Orcs would sometimes stop what they were doing and have a veiled gaze, as if they were looking at something that only they could see.
Luckily, I knew someone who could answer my questions. Vaela was always enthusiastic about satisfying our curiosity.
So she proudly started to teach us the story of Nuyam:
-" It was a long time ago. At that time, Orcs were at war with other races. The elves despised us because we loved fighting, the dwarves wanted our mountains, humans wanted our power, dragons loved our flesh, vampires our blood... All these species had their own different reasons, but the most important reason was that we still hadn't produced any transcendent warriors who achieved the mythical Titan rank. A Titan is an individual who succeeded in exceeding our mortal limits. They transcended and attained immortality and gained extraordinary powers. Other races already had at least one Titan, who had greatly empowered their race. So, we orcs were seen as an easy target. However, we are a proud and strong race, made of warriors. We reproduce and grow faster than most, so we fought like never before. Thousands of legendary orcs rose, but tens of thousands fell as well. It was a glorious time when each orc became stronger day after day. Irretrievably, we attracted more and more attention, and that's when the Gurvish decided to join. The Gurvish, who lived really deep in the earth, like the dwarves, coveted the riches our mountains held. They were our nemesis. They would trap us with special magic. So, with their help, our enemies started to decimate us. Nuyam of the Berserk clan, one of the last more powerful clans, sacrificed his and his people's lives to repel the Gurvish. They all used their clan power and became berserk. They ran to the tallest mountain, rushed to the top and then jumped so high that they nearly touched the moon. Then they fell. Using all their might, they moved faster and faster till :
BOOOM
They smashed the mountain hard, flattening it and killing hundreds of thousands of Gurvish. They all died, but Nuyam's soul remained, growing thanks to some mysterious energy, and then transcended. However, this process took years, and the losing war resumed. One day, an adventurous young orc found Nuyam's favourite weapon. Nuyam saw him from where he was and granted him a system he made for his race. That's what we were lacking! The young orc then shared the news with the others. They then preyed on Nuyam and were granted the system as well. After that, they quickly gained power and were able to push the other races back.
However, not everyone can get the system. You have to be worthy of it. That's why we organised this trial. It helps us to keep being strong and improving ourselves."
I was really impressed by the story of Orcs, even though I wasn't stupid enough to believe it all. Although the tale answered some of my questions, it didn't answer everything, and created even more questions. Unfortunately, Vaela couldn't answer them. It will have to wait.
On the other hand, I was really excited to discover this system and what it could do.
When I turned four, the others seemed to listen to me a little more. I taught Zala mathematics and other useful things from my past life to help her mind to develop. She kind of liked my way of teaching. When I introduced her to chess, she started to challenge me daily. She also tried with the others, but they couldn't understand anything and deemed it useless. It reinforced their view of me as a crazy Orc. Now, you might be wondering how I made the chest plate. It's simple: I didn't. I used things around me, like bones or stones, to represent pieces, and used the soil to play.
A two-year-old boy named Noa joined us. His parents died during a hunt. His name is Rulim, and as winter was coming, I knew he would not survive it, so I acted with Zala and Ushha. Zala and I tried to cover the holes in the hut with whatever we could find while I instructed Ushha to gather as much wood as possible to make a fire. They never did it before because they didn't know how to make fire, but I knew. Thus, Rulim survived winter and became quite attached to us.
When spring came this time, Zala and I were considered old enough to work. And so we did. We had to cut meat or run different errands. It was Ushha who gave us our missions. Most of the time, we were rewarded with five to seven kg of meat. I also started to train my body by doing several exercises from my past life.
The other kids wondered what I was doing when I told them it was to prepare myself for the trial. Half of them were convinced and started to do the same.
Unfortunately, it didn't prevent another one from dying during the trial.
In the following two years, a girl came of age to pass the trial. To my surprise, she didn't have to. Girls, unlike boys, could choose to marry instead of going through it. It isn't without drawbacks, as not only will she not receive the system, but she'll not get any tattoos. This rule was made to ensure the population of Orcs stayed high, but also because some didn't want to be warriors.