— Aster - Graduation Awakening—

Waking up.... was not pleasant.

I feel a little odd when I say this, as it does not begin to describe what waking up after being killed was like. That is what they did to us, they killed us. Sure, dying wasn't that bad, quite pleasant actually, but waking up was another story.

The dreams faded and I found myself floating, in a pool of water. My lungs began to burn or...I think they may have already been burning, but I quickly began to panic as I couldn't quite open my eyes, or move. All my muscles felt cramped, stiff, and weak. I couldn't move or breathe.

I'm not sure I could have breathed if I wanted to. My whole body was floating in a pool of cold water and my body was on fire. All my nerves felt exposed, my lungs burned from lack of oxygen, my world was hell for what felt like an eternity, and then suddenly almost all at once I inhaled. With that inhale a torrent of relief washed through me as the liquid entered my lungs. All the burning was gone, my muscles still felt stiff but I could still move. My eyes opened wide as I desperately moved towards the surface.

But now you might be wondering why I was rushing towards the surface when everything felt fine. Well here's the thing I did I felt a lot better, but if you have never had a lung full of liquid meant to help you to breathe, then you don’t know that it still causes an extremely wrong feeling. So I tried to get out as fast as possible. As I broke the surface I started to hear the others wrenching as I tried to inhale and reach the edge of the pool. Once I made it to the edge I immediately vomited everything in my lungs and stomach. Everything still hurt but it felt more like a rigorous workout rather than burning alive.

Suddenly a warm light pulsed through me leaving me feeling much better but I was still shaking and jumped at the touch. It was like all my nerves and muscles were new, never used. I was sensitive everywhere, and trying to move was almost impossible without pain. I felt the remnants of the fire inside me until I looked up to see Madam Cyclam, one of our teachers, looking down on me with a pitying face.

"Come with me Aster," she said leaning over and soothing the fire inside with her healing.

I didn't know what was going on. The pain had made my mind fuzzy on what was going on. So I followed. It was right around the time when I rejoined my class taking my seat that I started to remember. As soon as I did I tried to run. Only to find I was locked into the seat. Panic set in without being able to move, I focused on my own breathing.

After just a few moments of sitting there, we saw Naome come in. My heart sped up even faster, it was hard to breathe. My killer was right in front of me and I couldn’t move.

Naome looked sad as he began "What you all just experienced. Was death." Many people jumped or tried to, I think most didn't want to believe it and kept telling themselves it was something else, but with Naome’s words, there was no more rationalizing it away. Some actually sighed in relief not sure what that was about though.

Naome looked at us hard "This was our final lesson, the feeling of death is something everyone goes through. Like us, many areas use it as part of their graduation as it is the only way to integrate your SEED. Others do it once at the entrance to the academy and once on the way out. Others...." he shuddered "Well…let’s say it’s more."

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A few people started to look faint at this new knowledge.

"Now again. This time it's real Congratulations take a look at your Screen."

Calming myself trying to hold onto the reason I opened my leaf and the screen appeared in front of me showing the level of one and the class of trainee. These were the only two things it showed.

"You are all level one and have the class of trainee" this caused a little commotion as one person yelled "But I wanted to be a mage!" with many agreeing at this. I was surprised someone had a rational thought instead of being paralyzed with fear.

"Don't worry once you become a trainee you can then join the guild you wish. There you will become an apprentice after you finish their training you will become your chosen class, warrior, mage, cleric, or whatever guild you join, maybe even a Rogue."

There were a few uncertain glances at the last one "Just remember classes aren't really defined by your guild. They more or less give you guidelines at first then as you become more skilled or by the way you live your class will evolve and change. This will become clear when you finish your training."

He then took out a big box and opened it. When I call your name you will be released from your magical restraints. Once you are free you can come to me and take a map, a bag, and a canteen from me. This map will guide you to the city you wish for the classes you want. Please once you reach the city do some research and find the guild that suits you as every guild is different even if they are the same kind."

“Now enough educating, let's begin. Jill Newlan" Suddenly a girl on the other side of the room jumped from the sudden release of her bonds. Tentatively she approached Naome grabbing the bag from him.

"Oh!" Naome exclaimed causing the whole room to jump "Try to make plans to meet with each other after training, good groups are so hard to create through the adventures guilds. So once you receive your bag stand over there." He pointed to the other side of the room. "Once all the names have been called you are all free to group up." Jill grabbed the bag and rushed to the other side. Naome continued calling names. A few people were still a little skittish when grabbing the bags. A few were proud, and just a few, as soon as they were released, charged Naome to beat him down for what they did, but he just handed them their stuff and pushed them to the other side. When they attempted to retaliate they hit an invisible wall. After a few minutes, everyone was called and we received our bags. I quickly found James, who was with Rowan, Bay, and Violet. Everyone was looking a little battered but overall fine.

"So where are we all going, I was thinking of somewhere fun," I said.

"Well, that’s not surprising," Violet said as she rolled her eyes.

"That’s what we were discussing?" James said pointing at his map. "Look if you touch the city it shows which guilds are in it so we can pick one."

"So what’s the problem?" I asked

"Well…" James began

"The problem is we're looking for one with all our guilds" Violet added

"Oh. So what is everyone planning?"

“Everyone is being a little secretive. All they are saying is whether or not the guild is there.” Bay commented.

This kind of surprised me as everyone wanted to surprise the others. Then we saw the city of ‘An la Nôtre’

"Holy shit!" James started "they have everything!"

I took a look at the list and they did and one more guild "A Shadow guild"

"I thought that was a myth." Violet chimed in

"Apparently not," James added

I had never really given thought to the Rogues guild because even after all this I still thought it was a myth. Just a way for cutpurses to band together to claim legitimacy. But what Naome said "That stealing is only a very small part of what they really do. Every kingdom needs them and they do a very important job."

"Well, Shadow guild aside. I think this is where we need to go."

We all nodded our heads and agreed. "Ok once we get there we'll decide on a meeting place for after training."

"Sounds good." With that, we all grabbed our bags and headed towards the station. Off to An la Nôtre.