Morning breaks the night as the second day in New Proxon shows itself. Zahn, having been used to waking up early in the mornings for harvesting work, begins to wake up to a strange sensation. He awakes to the overwhelming embrace of raw energy. He stands up and feels uneasy–not weak, but off. He can feel the energy flowing throughout the entire building. He can feel the energy flowing inside his body.
“I’m immortal!”, he screams out with excitement.
Almost immediately, the door swings open and 5 strange individuals dressed in lab coats walk in with a briefcase. The strangers stand before him in the living room of the massive apartment and begin to explain the next steps in the process.
Each of the strangers in the coats also have masks and strange coverings over their head and hair. Zahn notices that they each have similar builds, but he can not seem to tell anything about them. Their voices are even similar and slightly distorted.
“Good morning Mr. Novix, we are here to run a few tests to determine if you have truly awakened.”, one of the strangers said.
They open the case that they had and reveal what it contained. There were 3 objects inside. The first object was some kind of handle, but after they grabbed it they pressed a button which revealed it was a curious blade made of pure unrefined energy. They asked Zahn to place his hand towards them. They cut into his hand with the blade. Zahn was confused. He was able to see the cut and the blood, but there was almost no pain. The next item they retrieved from the case was a vial with a clear liquid inside of it. They extracted his blood into the liquid and began to shake the vial. The last item was some kind of machine. Once they let his blood settle inside the vial they took a strip of paper and dipped it inside the vial to absorb some of the blood. They placed the strip inside the device and pressed a few buttons.
The device alerted with many different sounds as it began to analyze the blood. Zahn looked down at his hand to see that the cut was beginning to heal. After a few more seconds the device stopped and a green light began flashing on the top of it. The strange individuals began to write down different things on their notepads and began to ask Zahn a few questions about how he was feeling.
“Mr. Novix, do you feel strange at all?”, asked one of the strangers.
“I can feel all of the energy in this building I think. It's overwhelming me. I can feel the energy inside your own body as well.”, Zahn replied.
“Mr. Novix, your cut has already healed. Did you feel any pain when we made that cut?”, asked another of the strangers.
“I could feel it, but it wasn't a terrible pain. It was very slight, almost like an insect bite.”, Zahn answered.
“Mr. Novix, Can we perform one more test just to make sure?”, asked the first stranger again.
“Sure, what do you want to test?”, Zahn responded.
One of the strangers began to walk into the kitchen and shuffle through some of the drawers and cabinets. After a few seconds he returned with a large knife in his hand.
“Mr. Novix, if you are truly awakened then this knife should be nearly impossible to cut you. Is it ok if we try that?”, the stranger asked.
“U-uhh, I guess that’s ok..”, Zahn said hesitantly.
The stranger then took the knife and stabbed straight down into Zahn’s hand. “SNAP!” The knife snapped in two upon hitting Zahn’s hand. The strangers began writing more notes down while Zahn looked at his hand in wonder.
“Mr. Novix, you are truly an Immortal. Welcome to your new life.”, replied the stranger.
As quickly as they arrived they also left. Zahn stood looking out at the city and began looking at his reflection in the window as he thought about how much good he could do for his town. He could finally stop all of the pain and torture they have had to endure for so long. He just needed to figure out how.
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The door behind him opens once more as he continues to stare out at the wondrous city of New Proxon. It was Ivy who had walked into the room.
“Mr. Novix.”, she said with a soft gentle smile. “Your ride is here to take you back home.”
He turned to her with a smile and uttered the most genuine words he had ever said,”Thank you, you have been such a bright star ever since I got here. I came from nothing, but you treated me like royalty. See you later Ms. Ivy.”
She smiled and bowed as he walked past her and into the elevator. Zahn knew his life was officially changing, but he would never know just how much that change would be.
Zahn reached the lobby of the building where he was met by Aiden and Lyam. He walked out of the elevator with much more confidence than when he had arrived. Aiden looked at him and started to smile while Lyam continued to just stare with the same blank and boring expression he always has.
“Congratulations! It is really awesome that you awakened! You are officially one of us!”, Aiden blurted out.
“Yes, well done, Mr. Novix. We will be escorting you back to your town. We must also explain a few things along the way.”, Lyam said.
“Yes sir.”, Zahn replied while trying to hide his excitement.
The three of them left the building and got into their car. Zahn continued to stare out at the city lights as they began to leave. They took a different route this time which allowed Zahn to really see more of the city.
“Mr. Novix, there are a few things you must know now that you are an Immortal. Life is not going to be the same as it was. Normal humans will fear you, look up to you, and some may even worship you. The same can not be said about other Immortals. There are good ones and bad ones alike. New Proxon tries to keep a tab on all of them, but more and more awaken each day. Some are undocumented and some go off the grid once they awaken. We are the bureau that tries to track them down and deal with them however is required. This city is made up of many different territories that are run by the strongest Immortals around. Some of them are too strong for us to deal with so we work out deals with them.”, Lyam utters out.
“Long story short, sorry sir, but you are giving him a history lesson right now. The short story to this is that you need to be careful. Other Immortals may see you as a threat or may try to recruit you. That’s where we come in. We keep tabs on the ones that should be turning of age soon, go after them, test and see if they awaken, and then try to recruit them first. Less Immortals on the streets and less problems.” Aiden says.
Zahn started to see the details that they were talking about as he looked out into the city. There were less beautiful city lights and instead more and more beaten people on the street. Paint sprayed on the walls, and people looking around with eyes of torment and anger.
“Zahn, we don’t expect you to answer right now, but we hope you will consider it. You’re not able to join us just yet anyway; you have to go to the academy.”, Aiden responds with a smile.
“What’s the academy?”, Zahn answers back.
He remembers some things he has heard about an academy for the Immortals, but that is the extent of his knowledge.
“The academy is the place where we send all Immortals. Right now you have no mastery over your powers. You don’t even know what your innate power is. Every Immortal has an innate power. We briefly talked about this on the ride to New Proxon. Aiden can read emotions that others are feeling. I myself can manipulate sound. For example-”, Lyam says as he holds up his hand.
Immediately Zahn could no longer hear anything. It was just nothing. No white noise, static, or even ringing. He could not even feel the vibrations. He was confused and beginning to feel sick.
“That’s my innate power. I can do much more than that, but that was all I could do when I first discovered it. The academy will help you develop your power to a higher version of itself and then you will have to continue to grow it from there.”, Lyam continued.
Zahn thought about this really hard during the journey back to his house. He was excited to get to go to an academy, but would he really want to join up with the police? Would that help him get his town out of the torture they have been enduring?
“You don’t have to answer the recruitment question right now; however, you will need to get some new clothes for the academy. Lucky for you, we have your welcome package. We give these to all new Immortals that are enrolled into the academy.”, Aiden says to Zahn as they arrive at Grith.
Zahn opens the case that they gave him and finds 3 items inside. He first pulls up an ID card that has all of his information on it. It reads: Zahn Novix, Immortal, Rank: New Awakened, Age: 18, Height: 6’ 0”, Weight: 150 lbs.. The card also shows a picture of him and with a holographic text displayed across it saying “Temporary”. The next item is another card except this one is much more sleek and solid black in color. The last item laying next to it was a note that read:
“Welcome to your new life! Thank you for enrolling into our Immortal Academy! As a thank you and also a welcome gift for becoming newly awakened we have given you a couple of things. The first one that you most likely noticed was your new ID card! This card is to show that you are an Immortal; however it is only temporary. Immortals have their cards updated every year just in case their information has changed such as: Rank, Height, and Weight. Your official ID card will be given to you during your time in the academy once your Rank can be determined. The next mysterious item is a bank card. If you have never seen one of these, it is a card that used to be used a while back before everything went fully virtual. We felt having a physical card would have a better appeal; however, you will also have your new virtual account set up soon. This card comes with a temporary account that contains 25,000 Xen for you to use. This money can be used for whatever your heart desires with no limits. Welcome aboard!”
Zahn was shocked upon reading the note. He did not know how to react to the news and more importantly the money.
“Welcome to your new life, Zahn.”, Aiden said.
It was late at night when they arrived at Zahn's house. They said their goodbyes and the two informed Zahn he would have 3 days to get everything he needed and then they would be back to take him to the academy. Zahn was living in bliss. He had no idea that this was the life an Immortal had. The money was the real crazy part. Xen (*) is the currency only Immortals have. The rest of the world uses standard dollars ($) as the main currency; however, Xen has an exchange rate of 1 to 5. The *25,000 he received is really equal to $125,000. This is life changing for him and the town! He can finally make a difference.
The time was late and Zahn felt nice to be home again. The couch in New Proxon was nice, but not nearly as nice as his own bed. He started to laugh when he began to realize he never got to sleep on the bed in his room when he was gone. The laugher began to fade as he was drifting to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a good day!