‘Isaac, remember Mum and Dad would always love---’
“NO! NO! NO! I AM NOT GOING TO LEAVE. NEVERRRRR!!!” a frail looking kid around the age of fifteen woke up from his sleep in fright, he was sweating buckets at the moment and his face was filled with tears and snout.
He always had the same nightmare for the past half year.
He would remember the last words his mother said to him before leaving to join in on the battle that faithful day.
What annoyed him the most was that he could never remember all that she had said even after all this months had passed.
That was the last time he saw his parents.
He couldn’t let it go, he remembered that he wanted to rush back and stand by his parent’s side and fight together with them to the death.
The last thing he remembered was his father telling him to behave in a stern tone before ruthlessly knocking him out.
By the time he woke up, he was at the emergency shelter for the displaced.
He couldn’t sleep a wink after that incident for a whole week. He got much more frail and looked like a corpse because of lack of nutrition.
After he finally had a chance to fall asleep, he woke up from that nightmare everyday afterwards for more than a month.
He always had this same nightmare whenever something important was going to happen, most especially when there was going to be a huge change in his life.
Which coincides with tomorrow, he and the other displaced children that were of age were going for their awakening.
Which would mark a huge change in their life if they were to awaken a powerful magic element and had the talent to practice it.
From then on their lives would change for the better, they would even enroll in an institution where they would get to live in campuses to learn magic, the people close to them would get accommodations and move out of the emergency center.
“Oh Gosh, that kid has started again! Hey you are not the only one who lost family members, could you please let others sleep, we have a busy day tomorrow!!” A stern voice was heard scolding Isaac.
“Sam keep your voice down, you know he has it worse than all of us”
“poor kid, he was sickly to begin with, so the chances of him having that much talent was very slim, now that disaster had struck, the shade of the big tree he was covered in had been ruthlessly uprooted” a sigh was heard coming from the corner.
“if you care about him that much, why not take him under your wing when you pass your awakening?” Sam said with a sneer.
“I was only pitying him, why should I take some unnecessary weakling with me? What help could he possibly offer me with that body of his?”
“Then shut up and go back to sleep, tomorrow will be a very busy day!” Sam said with in authoritative tone.
Isaac bunched up in a fetal position and started weeping.
He held onto an object around his neck.
He soon fell asleep, by the time he woke up it was already morning, all the people around him were already gone from the room, they were so excited to get the day going already.
He stood up and stretched his body, at some point the thing tied to a string on his neck was out in the open.
When he made his way outside, the necklace on him could clearly be seen
The black dragon necklace curled sinuously on his chest, its scales glinting in the morning sunlight. Unlike a traditional necklace, this one wasn't a letter; it was a magnificent dragon itself, crafted in intricate detail. The creature's wings hugged its body, and its mouth was slightly ajar, as if ready to reveal a secret. A faint scent of lavender lingered – a ghostly echo of a past owner. Isaac brushed his fingertip across the cool metal dragon.
He immediately tucked it into his shirt, this was all he had to remember his parents with.
Before he was knocked out, his mother put the chain around his neck with tears in her eyes telling that it was their family’s heirloom and that he should keep it safe, his father looked as stoic as always, but he could clearly see the reluctance to part in his father’s clear eyes.
When he arrived at the square the place was already filled to the brim with children around the age of fifteen, and more were on the way.
They each stood according to where their housing was located.
There were five rows in total, which signified, north, south, east, west and center.
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He was from the eastern side and that side had twenty blocks with each block housing ten rooms.
Each room packed a total of twenty residents in it, some rooms might be below that number but it would never be more than that.
They all stood uniformly according to their temporary residence.
At the forefront, there were a total of five stands and there were instructors standing around what seemed to be a orb of sorts.
The one that was to attend to their line was a middle aged man with a stern face.
All the kids that arrived were anxious to get into line.
At the moment no one has stepped forward to interact with the instructors.
A middle aged man with a cleft chin and a round belly came from behind the stage with a wide grin on his face.
Whenever he looked at the five instructors there was a look of respect on his face.
He went up and greeted the five instructors respectfully and then faced the crowd of kids.
“Hello everyone, the day that you all have been anticipating for has arrived, so I am not going to waste anymore of your time with my talks, just be orderly and walk up to the instructor when it’s your turn and hope for the best, I wish you all to be future beacons of hope for humanity”
“Instructors do you have anything to add?” the man looked at the instructors.
“Once it’s your turn, just place your hand on the awakening stone, then close your eyes and let the awakening stone guide you to your element” said the instructor in the middle sternly.
The manager looked at the eager kids and said “Let’s begin”
As soon as his words ended the kids at the head of the row walked up the steps and stood nervously in front of the instructors.
There was suddenly a bloom of colors from the orbs like a festival of colors.
Green, Red, Brown, Gold, Blue, Gray, Purple, White, Black.
These color signify different types of elements that one could awaken.
Without saying anything, the instructors removed the children’s hands from the orb and wiped it clean then stood back with their hands behind their backs.
The middle aged man looked a little down casted and shouted “NEXT!!!”
Different colors ranging from these nine colors bloomed one after the other from the kids being awakened.
Some were like a flicker of a lighter and some were like the light of a torch.
Frequently there would be kids who awakened and then immediately faint on the stage, when the instructors see something like this, they would sigh a little and then shake their heads.
Even though the kid had successfully awakened, they awakened with the worst possible potential that there could be.
In order for their spirits not to shatter they need to sleep in order to regain their spirits to its full.
The instructors mechanically continued cleaning the orbs after each child was done.
Soon it reached Isaac’s room.
The first to go up was Sam, as soon as his hand was placed on the orb the faces of all the instructors for the very first time showed a trace of emotion, they finally had a small smile on their faces.
The orb under his hand was shining with a purple light and it looked like lightning was going to strike the platform from the sky.
The middle aged man who was the manager at this camp was also grinning from ear to ear.
He guffawed and said, “Sam right? I always had high hopes for you, you looked very healthy, I knew you had good talent”
All the kids who heard the manager’s praises felt envious especially those who had already taken the test.
The way they looked at Sam changed, they had already regarded him as someone who should be befriended and not someone who should be made into an enemy.
He had just awakened one of the strongest elements that is, and his potential was clearly good too, making an enemy out of him would be utter foolishness.
Unlike the others who had stepped to the back of the queue, Sam was asked to move to the other side of the podium and stand there.
The instructors continued with the test, there were some other kids whose orb shined just as brightly as Sam’s irrespective of the color, they were all asked to stay on the podium together with Sam.
Then it was Isaac’s turn to be tested, he walked up to the stage.
As soon as the instructor saw how sickly he looked he scrunched up his nose a little and then he put on a poker face.
For the first time since arriving here, he spoke “Who is this kid? You know it is against the rule to awaken a kid below fourteen right?”
“He is almost fifteen, he had always looked sickly since from young and he had not been in good condition, that is why he looks even paler than usual” the manager explained.
“Are you not taking good care of the residents?” the instructor asked in a questioning tone.
“No no no!!! It is not like that, if you look at the rest of the kids they are well taken care of and catered for” the manager shook his hand exaggeratedly.
“He was sent here from that district” the manager told the instructor.
There was a look of dread on the instructor’s face.
They had been whispering to each other so even Isaac who was close by did not hear what they were saying.
The instructor looked at Isaac and motioned for him to come forward.
Isaac obediently stepped forward.
Isaac then placed his hand gently on the orb, but no matter how long they waited nothing happened.
Isaac lifted his hand over and over again on the orb, he even opened his eyes to look, but nothing changed.
Since he was the first in the group to step forward eagerly, the rest of the kids that were supposed to come on stage with him were a step late, so had gotten a head start ahead of them.
At this moment they arrived, they looked at the kid who was acting like a crazy person and pressing his hand over and over again on the orb.
Their instructors asked them to put their hands on the orb and they did.
At this point Isaac was close to putting his hand inside the orb, because of how hard he was pressing it.
If not for the fact that it was solid, his hand would have already passed through it by now.
This was a first time the instructor was seeing something like this.
“Hey look, there is not even a slight reactio---” he wanted to call the attention of the other instructors when suddenly something unexpected happened.