Chaos erupted through the entire hall in an instant, both students and audience members flooded to the doors on the far side of the hall, guards started to run toward the distressed glowing child, and I... just stood there... on the stage, unaffected.

I never liked mass hysteria, I saw it as the purest form of irrational thinking, because instead of just one person being affected, it was pretty much everyone.

I looked around me to see a few people calmy standing on the stage, still in line for the ceremony. They seemed like they were nervous or panicking a little on the inside but their outward composure was very impressive. I then realized that Ozawa was still standing behind me, and out of everyone he seemed the most calm on the inside.

"Do you know what's happening at the current moment, Pite?" Asked Ozawa.

"Not a clue, I didn't even know a child could have that much power."

Sometimes when someone experiences a very overwhelming emotion and they don't know how do deal with it a natural coping mechanism is activated which envelops them in their true name. This basically means they get possessed by their own ability and become a slave to fate, only carrying out actions that line up with their true name. The most defining feature however, is the aura that is emitted from those who are taken over by their true name, this aura is different for each person but you'll now what it is once you see it, the unmistakable unnatural color enveloping a person and turning them into nothing more than a slave to fate. I was worried that the tendrils that came off of my body was that such aura, but I felt perfectly in control, there's still many things I wish I understood at the moment. I think it's time I test to see if I really will come back after dying, I'm willing to wager my life on it!

Hopefully my intuition is correct...

I took a deep breath in, and then sprinted towards the glowing child. At this point there were armed guards surrounding the child and telling them to leave. The young boy stopped walking and was standing on the debris of the broken wall hugging his teddy bear and muttering to himself. The guards seemed very conflicted at the moment, probably because the monster of fate in front of them was actually in fact a child.

I slowly starting walking toward the child, making it past the guards who kept their distance for a good reason, fear. That's what it is. I lack one of the most primal feelings, fear. And if my save points work how I speculate than it would be pretty far-fetched to say that I'm scared. Quite the opposite in fact, I'm hopeful!

I lightly tapped the kid on the head to get his attention, although his aura was immense I could still see his real mind in tact, that's why he didn't go rampaging through the hall, he has self control right now, maybe not much, but it's a miracle he does. The kid turned his head up to look at me, his face was red and he had tears streaming down his face. At this point the guards around the kid had become perplexed as to who I was and why I dared coming so close, but, they didn't want to take any risks so they just stayed where they were.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Can you tell me what happened?" I crouched to make sure we were eye level, doing this with kids shows that you respect them enough to lower yourself to their level.

The kid took a jittery breath in, "M-my friend left for school far away and n-now I'm by myself again!" The kid started crying again, "I-I just want him to come back!" he fell to the floor hugging his teddy bear. I wanted to try to talk to him more but it seems like that resource had already been exhausted, and I didn't want to make the kid mad at this point so I took a step back and let him lay there. I turned to look at the guards and the head leader gave me a nod. "You heard the kid, he misses his friend. not much I can do." I started to walk away toward the exit, at this point pretty much everyone had evacuated except for a few people who seemed quite adamant on the ceremony continuing, one of them including Ozawa.

A flash a light erupted from behind me and I quickly swiveled to see what happened. To my shock all the guards around the boy were on the floor bleeding out and the boy stood starring at me with cold eyes that were devoid of all good emotion, the aura emanating from him was far larger than before and I knew that this would probably be the point I'd lose. He lost control, to my dismay he wasn't strong enough...

Strength...

Suddenly running past me, Ozawa charged ahead toward the kid and with surprisingly little hesitation punched the him in the face. The punch connected, but instead of sending the kid flying he was perfectly grounded and unmoving. The kid placed a hand on Ozawa's chest and with a white flash sent him flying into the ground next to me.

"That punch hurt, but not that much, my name is Sorrow, how about yours?"

The kid's voice sounded way different now. No, they weren't a kid anymore, they became something else entirely. Wait... did he just reveal his true name to us? I think I did hear that someone fully taken over becomes the entire embodiment of their true name making their name basically them, so maybe it just becomes as easy as saying your fake name.

My thinking was cut short when an invisible force slammed me against the floor. The sudden shock made me cough up blood. To think someone like this just had to come ruin a perfect day like this for me! I stood up, my body shaking, I wasn't going to be some weak guard in my future, I was going to strain myself! I ran toward the boy and and dropkicked him in the chest sending him flying.

"Don't think I'll go down that easily, Sorrow!"

He reached a hand out, locking eyes with me.

And then...

My world spun and a bone-shattering pain splintered through my head, I yelled out in agony as the pain intensified and my perception become blurred and nauseating, it felt like my head was about to explode, the pressure and pain rose higher and higher until-

...

A sharp pain bounced though my whole body in an instant, I looked around to see that I was back in my seat for the ceremony, the host spoke in the same volume and importance.

"Welcome everyone to the grand selection ceremony that is held every year for all students who have reached the passing age of 17. With all formalities aside we will have all students step up on stage for the ceremony to begin..."