EARTH 2465
“Remind me again why I can’t take any of my stuff with me?” Wren asked the man.
“You won’t need it where you’re going, they’ll give you everything you need.” Said the man.
Wren looked into the rear view mirror, the image of the old decrepit house grew smaller and smaller as they drove away. When he couldn’t see it anymore he turned to look out the window, saying his goodbyes to the streets in which he grew up.
“Will you miss it?” The man asked.
“Oh for sure, growing up and living in slums is the real dream. Please please don’t let them take me.” Wren said
“Alright, I was only asking.” The man mumbled.
Wren turned to look at the man. He was dressed in a cheap black suit, that didn’t fit quite right. It was too large around the shoulders and hung over slightly. Wren had never seen the man before today, he was just some government lackey they sent to take him to the awakening ceremony.
“What’s your name? Or is that classified? Do the government even let you have names? I bet its something stupid like Smith.” Wren said.
“It’s Mason.” He said.
“Is that a first name or a last name? Or both? Is your name Mason Mason? If so your mother must have not been very creative.”
“Will you just shut up and let me drive?” Mason said, losing his patience.
Wren huffed and turned to look back out the window as they passed the city park. He watched a group of kids, running around chasing after each other, waving their hands about pretending to be some famous elemental.
“Are you an elemental?” Wren asked.
“Does it look like I’m an elemental? Picking up your snot nosed runt ass from some back water slum? I wish I was that lucky.”
“I don’t get what’s so great about it.” Wren mumbled.
Mason stayed silent for the remainder of the journey, gripping the wheel tight in his hands. He wanted to tell Wren how great he would have it, going off on adventures, seeing incredible things the likes of no one had seen before, but he held his tongue. It was a dangerous universe and he was still just a kid, a snot nosed smarmy ass kid, but still a kid.
“We’re here.” Mason said.
They got out of the car and turned to look at the awakening centre. It stood out from the office buildings and high rise flats surrounding it. Cased in white marble, it resembled an ancient temple, the kinds of which Wren read about in old history books. Wren slowly walked up to the building. The two main pillars by the entrance of the awakening centre stood tall and imposing, towering over the main building. Both pillars had threads of colour running through them, seven rings of different colours wrapping around in rings, clashing with the stark white of the marble.
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“This is where I leave you.” Mason said. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah I’ll be fine.”
Mason turned and gave the boy a nod, he towered over him looking into the deep brown of his eyes.
“Good luck kid.”
Wren nodded, and watched the man get back in the car. His job was done and that was it, no long drawn out goodbye, just a good luck and be on your way.
He took a deep breath and turned away from the car, he was ready for what was coming, he had to be. He had no idea what was coming, but he knew he was ready for it. He took a step forward.
~
Inside the awakening centre Wren was directed to a stern looking man sat behind a large mahogany desk.
“Name?” the man asked.
“Wren Spectre.” He replied.
The man looked down at the device in front of him and searched for Wren’s name.
“Go past the guards, down the corridor and take the first door on the right, the ceremony in the awakening chamber begins in five minutes.” The man pointed behind him to the two blank faced men standing either side of the door. The guards wore blue combat gear, the colour of the military, with black boots. Their sleeves were rolled up to display their bands, both glowing red, offsetting the colour of their blue uniform.
“Gents.” Wren nodded to the guards as he moved past them down the corridor.
Stopping in the doorway of the awakening chamber, Wren investigated the large room. Around a hundred or so chairs were lined up, facing a stage with a podium and a pedestal with a large black crystal nestled on top. Each of the chairs was filled with people all around Wren’s age, all potential elementals. Although it was very rare for someone to have the gene capacity to be an elemental, around one in a thousand, considering the size of the city, Wren was surprised there weren’t more there.
He sat down in an empty chair in the back row and waited for the ceremony to begin. A couple more people filed into the room and when it was clear that all the seats had been filled, a man walked onto the stage and stood in front of the podium. He wore a uniform similar to the guards in the entrance hall but whereas their uniform had been stock blue, his was trimmed in red around the sleeves and collar, matching the glowing band on his forearm.
“My name is Hugh Lambert, I’m a Colonel in the United Allies Army, and I give you all a warm welcome on this very special day. As you all know, for the last two hundred years we have been fighting a war with the monsters and their progenitors the Enoi. It is the responsibility and duty of elementals to fight this war and bring peace to our universe and so today it is with great pride that we start you off on your journey in pursuit of that peace.”
The Colonel stepped over to the pedestal with the black crystal.
“In a moment each of you will come up on stage and place a hand on the crystal.”
The Colonel did so himself, turning the crystal from black to a bright glowing red, causing eyes to widen and murmurs from the would-be elementals to sweep through the room.
“The colour the crystal changes to will be an indication of your elemental alignment, so for me the crystal turns red as I am a fire elemental. After your elemental alignment is revealed you will be directed to a room and portaled to the right planet to begin your elemental training.”
The mention of a new planet stirred the audience. Many in the room had never left Earth, a privilege only reserved for elementals and the very wealthy. Wren watched as people twitched in their seats, excited or maybe nervous at the prospect of a new world. Wren himself looked on at the crystal, wondering what affinity it would give him, and what kind of world it would bring him to.