The chamber door groans and shakes open for Lucien just like it did for the other four people in front of him.Time stretched, each second unraveling like thread pulled too thin,His breath came slow and deep, though his heart pounded like a war drum, the rhythm at odds with the world around him. He could see the tension in every muscle of the people nearby. Trying to shake the uneasy feeling, his wait was finally over.It was time for Lucien to prove to himself that all of the pain and suffering he endured,it was finally his turn to come out on top.Lucien trembles as he looks into the dark void,it was screaming at him, eating all the light and sound that tried to come near its mouth. The darkness pulled at Lucien, not with wind or gravity but a silent invitation to his soul, like an angler reeling in a fish to the beach, it called to him. The longer he stood at the door not moving the more the edges of his vision started to blur, the more the floor felt like it was tipping in the direction of the door. It wanted him, and it was going to have him whether he wanted it or not.

Without even knowing it, Lucien's feet started to move on their own. One after another he was getting closer and closer to the void. Parts of him screamed, his body going into flight or fight mode. His mind screamed to get out that this isn’t natural, his body fighting that feeling and without him even being aware there was a decision his body won over and Lucien was swallowed by the void that he was terrified of.

Lucien had all of his senses on full blast, he wasn’t sure what to expect but he would be ready for anything. All of those years of training with his father from sword, bows, to hand to hand he would be ready to fight, if that was what he needed to do.While lucien was going over all of the different scenarios in his head, he felt he blackness swallow him whole, and for a moment there was nothing, no sound, no sensation,or direction.Just an endless pressure pushing on him from all sides, weightless but suffocating. Within moments the pressure that he felt was gone just as fast as it appeared,in the place of the darkness was a sight of endless white. Vast and featureless flowing to a horizon that wasn’t there. Below where he stood was neither hard or soft; it was like walking on an idea of a surface. Lucien turned to see the door that he just walked through was no longer there. It was white all around him, and the more he just stood there the more the panic took over his body. It was like being trapped in a room filled with water and the higher the water the more he lost control of his mind.

All the training he went through went right out the window when faced with the reality of his situation, the raw, unfiltered moment where instinct drowned out discipline, and fear tangled with adrenaline in a way no lesson could have prepared him for. His fathers lessons screamed at him to calm down, if he wanted to come out of this better than what he was before Lucien needed to calm his mind and soul. A feat he believes next to impossible, Lucien can’t calm down, there is something wrong. An uneasy feeling looms over Lucien, subtle as first but ever growing.

“It's like the air feels still, and heavy, it’s like this world is holding its breath.” Lucien thought to himself.

Goosebumps covered his arms, the very hair on his body was standing straight up, his senses reaching their limit, searching for anything out of place.The space around Lucien is ever unchained but still felt wrong, it was like hearing a familiar song played on an out of tune instrument, your brain knows something is wrong but it's too subtle until it's very obvious.Trying to calm down Lucien felt like he had eyes on him, watching his every move, waiting for the right moment attack. His nerves were reaching their very limit, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last.

“There is no way this is normal, I feel like I’m not going to make it out of here. Something is wrong but I can't figure out what it is. There’s nothing here, has anyone ever died in the Chamber? Is this the test the gods want to put me through?”

Lucien thought everything over in his head but yet this wasn't something he thought would even be possible. He is being suffocated by an invisible force, a pressure he just wanted to end. When Lucien looked like he was going to tap out and call for help he grabbed his head in screaming pain, falling to the ground rolling back and forth praying for the pain to stop. A voice rang out in his head, striking his mind like a hammer on an anvil repeatedly shaping hot metal. The voice was not a whisper, it was not a suggestion, this voice was absolute, it was a declaration. Each word striking with such power and authority, it was unlike any voice he has ever heard.

“You have been deemed broken! You are unfit to be given any type of power! You will leave this place immediately!”

The weight of those words hit Lucien harder than anything ever in his life, Those words were a ruling, they squeezed the very life from him. Before he could even focus on the meaning of the words that were just spoken to him by the unknown entity, the Chamber felt like it was getting smaller. The air felt heavier in some way, the walls felt like they were closing in, in a way that made him feel insufficient, like a bug waiting to be squished by a boot. There was nothing he could do to make the feeling go away, he felt judged and declared unworthy.

When Lucien was trying to understand everything that was happening in this room, he felt a searing, blinding agony across the top of his hand.His vision blurred at the edges,the heat dug deeper, carving its mark into him, not just on his skin, but into something deeper, something fundamental. This was no mere wound. This was a declaration, a branding of identity. This was not on his list of things that would happen when he first entered the chamber, the confusion that was hitting him kept him from noticing that he was being dragged out by an unseen force. His feet remained unmoving but his body was being dragged out, he heard the door to the chamber open and the unknown force that was dragging him out, lifted Lucien off of his feet and tossed him outside of the Chamber.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Lucien, dazed and confused, took a moment to collect himself, and being completely unaware of his surroundings had no idea that he was being stared at by hundreds of people that came to the awakening.

With his mind still inside of the Chamber, only one thing brought him back to reality, that was the crying and yelling that came from his mother.

“What is going on? Where am I? Wait, am I back outside of the chamber? Mom, are you crying?”

Lucien looked to his mother to see tears running down her face, His father left speechless, his mouth left agape, with no words or sound making an escape. Lucien looked to his brothers in hope that they would give him a clue of what was going on, but they were looking at their father trying to ask what was happening. Lucien looked down at the top of his hand, still feeling the searing pain the brand brought him.

“What in the hell is on my hand? Why does it still burn? Was the voice the reason that I got this tattoo?”

Too many questions were going through Lucien's mind, He was now outside of the Chamber when the last thing he remembered was being inside getting judged. Now no one is talking and he can only hear the crying from his mother. After what felt like a lifetime Lord Morchant spoke up and said,

“Young man, please come to me right this moment! Guards bring him to me now!”

With the orders given, the guards surrounded Lucien, picked him up and brought him to the feet of the council member.

“Boy, let me see your hand right now!” Morchant demanded.

Lucien was pushed to a kneeling position at the feet of the Council member,he presented his hand to Morchant but kept his eyes to the ground. Morchant wasn’t royalty but he demanded respect and Lucien believed he was in trouble. So like a dog with his ears down and tail tucked, Lucien sat unmoving waiting to be punished.

Morchant said in a uneasy tone.

“We need the council to meet now! You there guard! Report to the king right now! Inform him that someone has come out of the Chamber broken!”

With those words hanging in the air, the crowd started to talk, whispers spreading.wildfire in a dry forest. Some voices were barely audible, some were whispering behind cupped hands, while others didn’t try to hide the fact that this was a bad situation.Lucien could see all the eyes darting around, others trying to gauge everyones reactions, feeding the fire of uncertainty. Lucien listened as the rumors started to grow, like a snowball pushed down a hill, at a certain point nothing was going to stop it, it was only going to get bigger and bigger and spread through the city faster then he wanted it to.

Lucien still had his head in the ground terrified to look up into the crowd and even worse take a glance at his family. With tears running down his face, Lucien felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. As he lifted his head he heard his father say to him,

“No don’t, keep your head down. Things are going to get bad from here, just know I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. I do not know what the king will decide but I refuse to let him take your life!”

That last sentence hung on to Lucien like a weighted jacket.

“What do you mean take my life?” Lucien whispered.

“This has only ever happened five times since the creation of these lands. For some reason each kingdom has had one person that has been broken.The last king took the life of that poor soul. It is said that “where the broken walks, ruin follows”, so that makes the kings nervous of those people. King Fredrick I heard banished his citizen to the surface, where im sure his life headed quickly.”

“Dad, I don’t want to die, I want to live, I want to make you and mom proud of me.”

I'm sorry my son but we are past that point, now my job is to keep you alive by any means necessary.”

While Lucien’s father was talking with him, Morchant rushed to get all the onlookers back and ready for the king to arrive. As morchant was pushing people away from the market, a thunderous voice came from the sky, words so heavy to Lucien it felt like he was in the chamber again.The air cracked like shattering glass and for a fraction of a second, the marketplace froze,merchants mid-barter, beggars mid-plea, travelers mid-step,all caught in the unnatural stillness that followed. Then, from nowhere and everywhere at once, he appeared.A sudden gust rippled through the square, kicking up dust and loose silk as the space where nothing had stood was now filled. The King. Cloaked in shimmering regalia, his presence pulsed with an authority that defied distance, time, or understanding. The very air around him hummed, as if the world itself strained to accommodate his arrival.

“Everyone! I heard of what happened and I am here to find a solution to a rather serious situation.Boy, Stand and look at me.”

It took every ounce of power Lucien had in his body to stand and look at the king. With trembling knees, shaking hands, and sweat and tears falling down his face, Lucien looked at the king with the fear that the king was going to take his life right then and there.Stumbling and stuttering, Lucien was finally able to get out the words,

“Yes my king, what can I do for you?”