Chapter 1

Luc was sitting on his favorite tree, in a self-made tree house. Around him lay some paper full of notes and school books. He was reading in a big one, with the title "Mathematics for the Finals." Small sweat drops were roiling over his forehead. His gray eyes were looking at the text in front of him. He turned the page and looked at the torn side.

He sighed, so in the end they got the book. He flipped through the last chapters, but most of it was ruined. Devastated, he put the book away. Damn, he was so careful about this one. He has it most of the time on his body, trying never to let it out of his eyes. James and Gabriel will never give him money for a new one; instead, they will probably give him one of their lectures, saying that everything is to be earned through hard work and that he should be careful with his belongings. Maybe this time they make an exception? He was shortly before his final exams and spent the last of his money on this book, which could convince them. Weren't they always telling him how important these grades will be for his future? So maybe this will outweigh their normal education?

Luc tried to remember the last few days and think of a moment when he left the book unattended. Just during the sports lessons, did he leave it in his locker, and weren't Colin and his crew throwing some suspicious-looking paper balls at some other guys in the cabin? He remembered a spiteful smile on Colin's face. Damn, you can never be careful enough, he whispered to himself as he lay down on the old planks. Over his head, he sees the green canopy, the leaves swaying in the wind, and the birds singing their summerly concert. It was peaceful. Different from the rest of his days, it's not that his life is especially hard; he wasn't the only one who got bullied by Colin and his goons, and his adoptive parents were just worried about his future and tried to have a hard hand.

But here in nature, he was just filled with the beauty of the moment. Here he could forget about his sorrows, his doubts about the future, and the unfairness he felt from his adoptive parents. They had taken him from the orphanage when he was five years old. James and Gabriel Wash had two older sons already and thought they had lost the possibility of getting pregnant again. And when the second son, Gorge, turned 18 and decided to leave the house, they adopted him. The first year was lovely, but a miracle happened, and Gabriel became pregnant against all odds. A year later, his younger sister Dana was born. It was not like he was forgotten, but the focus of his foster parents was full of their little miracle, and he turned more and more into the background.

The last few years started to be stressful for their relationship. He knows they want to give him good chances in life, but he is not very excited about their vision of his future, and when Dana hits puberty, things escalate further.

After that, he shut down and began to withdraw further and further into worlds of magic and adventure instead of learning for the school. Instead, he dreamed of traveling to mystic places and seeing magical creatures. His parents scolded him; he has his head in the clouds. So he found this forest, his safe space, his place to be; here it was silent from all the modern noises, and there was nobody to criticize him.

Luc, laying on the soft wood, closed his eyes and breathed in the forest air. The smell of wood, earth, and life filled the air. He was just there, enjoying the moment when his nose was hit by a small raindrop.

Reluctantly, he opens his eyes, tries to peek through the dense canopy, and sees the dark cloud cluster in the distance. Time to go, he thinks. With fast hands, he put his notes together, closed the books, and threw them into his backpack. He needs to go some distance to arrive at home, and summer storms hit hard at this time. As he climbs down the tree, more raindrops start to fall. The small, rhythmic sounds of them bursting against the forest can be heard. If he runs, he can make it in 15 minutes, he thinks. So there is no time to waste. With these, he started to run.

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Over him, the sky gets darker and darker, and the soft rain begins to become heavy, making the sandy road soggy. Luc's short legs are drumming against the ground, and breathing becomes difficult. He never was a great sportsman; his body, as long as he remembers on the weaker side, was one of the reasons Colin found in him such a good victim. As an airhead and of weak nature, he had not too many ways to fight back. As he runs through the rain, his head cycles. Thoughts about the future, his family, and his nonexistent friends are running wild. His legs started to slow; maybe it's not so good to go back; maybe he should just. A brilliant light banishes the black of the clouds for a second; the world seems to pause, and 20 meters from him, a white lance of thunder hit the top of the tree. In the next moment, the world screams, and thunder rolls over Luc. The sound and the flash of lightning make him lose his orientation. Luc screams, and he falls to the ground, his backpack opening and spilling his books and materials all over the ground. From the tree, a smaller arc of lightning jumped in his direction. His eyes went wide for shock and then for pain as it hit his arm.

The next moment, he twitched over the muddy floor, his insides were twisting, and some copper taste filled his mouth. Heat started to flow through his body; at first, it felt painful, but then it started to change. He put all his mind into not losing consciousness; he gritted his teeth. I go not down here, he thought. And as if waiting for a comment, the lightning turned into a few small pieces of energy. The same energies that made his body scream in pain some seconds ago now turned his whole insides into a warm, comfortable heat. He gasped for air and sucked the breath through his shaking lips. What happened? Was he alive? Was he hurt?

Now was not the time to think about that. His arms and legs shaking and hurting, he stands up, puts his now wet books back in the rucksack, and starts to run again. He was shaken; never in his life did he hear and see a lightning strike this close, and of course, he never gotten hit by one. That could be his end, his final death; he was scared, nervous, but, most of all, excited. That was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his entire life. The white crackling arc of pure power left him in awe, and even while his ears and eyes hurt and his body was still twitching a bit, a smile crept onto his face.

Twenty minutes later, Luc was at home. His foster parents were not thrilled about his wet and dirty clothes, but the storm outside was running wild, so they scolded him just a bit for hanging out in the forest. Later this evening, he was in bed, getting tired. That was a stressful day, and it had started so peacefully, but even then the thought of the thunder brought his smile back as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, Luc woke up. A tremor went through the house. The walls seemed to shake, and he sat up and tried to stand up as his room exploded in chaos. The walls burst and the roof split open, and he screamed. lights so bright they looked like sunrays were shooting above the sky. Thunder was dancing, and lightning was forming a net in the sky. He thought he saw shadows running over the heavens, throwing spikes of power, like two armies clashing, and when they hit each other, the sky seemed to split. Overall this chaos, the silhouette of a giant face appeared. His long hair flowed wild around his face, and his eyes looked like two supernovas scanning the world below with the coldness of a natural disaster. He opens his mouth and lets out a scream that shakes space itself. As the shock wave hit Luc's house, he lost consciousness.

With a gasp, he recovered his senses; he doesn't know how much time had passed. He looks around. He was hovering in a white space with nothing in it. Just the sky above his head was different; it looked like a typical night sky, just more clear, like on a new moon far outside of any civilization. The stars were shining with such brilliance that he just stood there for minutes and looked at the space above. It was beautiful and frightening: giant star constellations were rotating around each other; some stars were swallowed by something pitch black moving around in this space; or were the planets moving in this black part? After some time, he ripped his attention away. "It's time," he thought. I need to find out where I am. But there was nothing inside this white space. He tried to move inside this space. First, he tried to walk, but hovering in the air made him walk on the spot; at least it felt like that. Next, he tried swimming motions; this was more successful; he was moving around, but inside of an empty white space, there was no telling if he successfully moved.

But then a female mechanical voice disrupted the silence of this place, and letters appeared before his eyes

*WELCOME TO THE 'AWAKENING' INHABITANTS OF PLANET EARTH!*

Forceful 'Awakening' initiated.

All inhabitants are scanned.

Bestow the title: [Integrated].

'DING!' You have earned the title [Integrated]

Upgrade discovered. Title [Integrated] becomes Title [Self explorer].

'DING!' Title [Self explorer] gained.

Starting Basic Awakening.