The trio sat down their backs against the trunk of a big oak tree. This tree was situated in a forest behind the orphanage. This forest was rather a safe place as it didn't have soul beasts inside of it. The trio used to play here with the other orphans.
Keith remembered how happy the kids were when they played with each other in this beautiful forest. Their smiles, laughter and their cute little faces. He glanced at the tree and remembered when he climbed this tree with Kayla and Merlin. The first time they tried climbing this tree, they fell to the ground and got their clothes dirty.
Due to their clothes being dirty the caretaker reprimanded them for partaking in something that dangerous. Even though they were scolded the next day they climbed the tree again and again until there were able to reach the top. After finally reaching the top the three of them had decided to make into a base of some sort. They used to hide whatever they deemed as treasure.
They also taught the other orphans how to climb the tree and told them they could hide anything that they wanted in this tree. Those where good times. Keith noticed from his memories that his childhood in this life was far better than his old one. In his past life, he never really got a normal childhood. He tried to remember what made his old childhood so bad but couldn't quite remember.
He only saw fragmented pieces of information that didn't have start or end and they were all scrambled and disorganized. He guessed that it might take a long time for all his memories to be aligned properly and he would remember everything about his past life.
Keith glanced at the old oak tree once again and decided to climb it. He gripped the oak's rugged bark, fingers tracing grooves as he climbed. Leaves whispering secrets, acorns crunching beneath his feet. The branch creaked and he steadied himself, gazing up at the canopy.
He then sat on one wide branch and started looking for something that resembled a box. His hands rummaged through the leaves and he soon found the box he was looking for. The box was made from wood and it had a lock on it. Keith quickly climbed down the tree and landed on the ground gracefully. His friend glanced at him and saw the box he was holding in his hands.
Kayla and Merlin had both recognized that box. The box was their own personal treasure. It contained many things that reminded them of their childhood and their fellow orphans. Keith took out a red key from his pocket and inserted it into the key hole. He turned about five times to the right, he then removed key.
He handed the box to Merlin who took a black key from his pocket and put it inside the keyhole. He turned the key three times to the right and one time to the left. He handed the box over to Kayla. She took out a purple key from her pocket. She inserted the key and pulled it out ten times. The lock of key unlocked and the chest opened
In the chest there were various objects from jewelry, money and pictures. Keith took out some of old photos. There was a bit of dust on the pictures so Keith blew the dust off. Some of the dust went in his eyes. Keith just rubbed his eyes to remove the dust. He opened his eyes and looked at the pictures with an array of complicated emotions.
He showed his friends the photo of when they were kids. The clothes they wore in that picture were dirty, covered in mud and grass. Their faces were also covered in dirt.
"I remember this day. This was the day we climbed and fell in to that muddy puddle. Sister Amaya scolded us for trying to climb that tree. After that she gave us the punishment of washing our clothes with our bare hands and the worst part about it the clothes were white," Merlin said with a small chuckle, reminiscing on old times.
"Removing stains from white clothes whilst washing with your bare hands is really hard kind like fighting a final boss in a game," Kayla remarked in a playful tone.
"Sister Amaya did know how to punish us troublemakers," Keith muttered.
"Remember that time we almost created a bomb with the other orphans," Merlin said as he remembered another memory.
"Yeah, I remember. Out of all the creations that we have ever created as children, that one was by far the most dangerous. No wonder Sister Amaya spanked us that day," Kayla said, remembering the spanking they had received from Sister Amaya caused her to shudder in fear. She remembered it like it was yesterday.
"We lowkey deserved it though. We could've blown up the whole orphanage and killed ourselves in the process," he said, essentially agreeing that they deserved that punishment.
"I guess you are right," they both agreed with him and they chuckled a bit.
"The kids really looked up to us so we had to make sure that we were great role models. But since they looked up to us, they mirrored our every move and even mirrored our bad habits," Keith said.
"Yeah, they used to always wake up late trying to mirror Merlin's lazy behavior. They also inherited my trait of being boastful and prideful. And they inherited your bad habit of tinkering with already functional objects."
"In my defense, I was trying to see how different gadgets work and also see the parts that would be necessary for creating the lock on that chest," he protested. He looked at one more photo. This photo had all of the orphans in it. They were celebrating Keith's birthday. A pained smile appeared on his face as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "May your souls rest in peace and enjoy the pleasures of the afterlife."
"Guy let's make an oath," Keith suggested. Both of friends nodded in agreement.
"We will find the person who did this and when we find him, we'll kill him no… we rip him limb from limb and put him down like the animal he is," Keith said. "Now repeat after me," he said.
"I swear on my soul core."
"I swear on my soul core."
"I swear on my soul core."
As they made that vow, marks appeared on their hand resembling a crescent moon