It was the final day. The ship would be arriving only a few hours after he woke up, at 11:00 A.M., meaning that he didn’t have anything to do; no training with his sword, or learning about how to handle his soul, since they didn’t have time to do anything significant. Instead, Leo was told to remain in his room throughout the entire duration by Erich.
Obviously, this was not normal. Leo knew something must have happened, but the two awakened guards standing outside his room refused to even acknowledge his questions.
Leo’s entire body was tense as he fiddled with the awatch he’d received a few days ago- it was how he’d been able to search the internet and find the Kolnir Fachtbuch. A tiny thread of his soul touched it, allowing him to manipulate the device as though it was built into his brain.
The screen flashed between several dozen different articles, maps and news stations as Leo tried to spend his remaining time efficiently. He wanted to have a decent grasp on what was going on in the capital planet of the Ander Empire, since it was where he was going to be primarily staying for the rest of his life.
Awakened tended to learn faster than most, but that didn’t apply when they weren’t putting their all into learning; while his soul had engrained his lessons in swordsmanship into itself, it didn’t do anything of the sort with his attempts to learn about Ander II because he wasn’t very passionate about it.
And so, at the moment, Leo was barely retaining any of what he was trying to figure out. In each article, there was mentions of places, people, acts and laws that he didn’t have a clue about, sending him on what was oftentimes a wild goose chase, to the point that he often forgot what he was even reading to begin with.
Eventually, Leo simply gave up and returned to watching a show about awakened fighting awakened beasts. It was a show he’d never even remotely had access to, and rightfully so, because it was rather violent. There was blood, death and frequent funerals, because the show went out of its way to emphasize the horrible lives that many awakened lived.
If he’d watched it before now, though, he’d have a better understanding of awakened and souls, because it was also quite educational- which made sense, since its description said that it was a show meant for teenage awakened, to help them understand what their lives would likely be like if they tried to pursue cultivation.
Leo had a very mixed opinion on it, like he did with most things since his soul had awakened. Part of him- the more childish part- hated it. There was so much destruction, death, and violence. It had made him cry a few times, even.
The other side of him- the side that the visions of Verin had fundamentally changed- enjoyed it. To this side, the show helped him to understand many things- awakened terminology, primarily, but also a few details of the soul and how to fight awakened beasts. More than that, though, the side acknowledged the greater quality of the show, compared to what he had previously consumed. The characters were more relatable, and their frequent deaths were tragic. The fights were brilliantly choreographed, and the monsters were truly intimidating and scary.
With every passing day, Leo was feeling less and less like a single human, and more like he was Leo and Verin stuffed into the same body. It was disturbing, especially since Leo had only seen two visions of Verin, and he had a feeling that there would be more in the future.
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Leo suddenly slapped himself on the forehead. ‘It’s because I keep rewatching the vision of Verin fighting,’ he thought. The visions had a heavy influence on him, but it likely didn’t help that he was continuously reliving them- and one so violent, at that.
When he thought about the second vision of Verin he’d had, Verin seemed drastically different. His heart was full of joy, love and interest, whereas in the first, Verin’s heart had been heavy with tiredness, boredom and annoyance.
Leo frowned. He didn’t like that Verin was overtaking his personality and life so much, but he couldn’t tell whether it would be better to entirely detox from reliving Verin’s visions, or to try to counteract the hundreds of times he’d watched the first one by watching the second.
Just then, his soul vibrated, and Leo hurriedly made the alarm of his awatch shut off. The sensation was unbelievably uncomfortable, and he regretted deciding to use the awatch’s alarm system for once. From now on, even if it was slower, Leo would definitely be using the other, unfortunately mundane, alarm on his wrist, just below his awatch.
The alarm’s shock made it so Leo took a few seconds to even remember what the alarm was for; it meant that, in thirty minutes, the ship would land on Ander II and Maxwell or Erich would come fetch him.
Leo shut the show off and began getting ready. Erich had emphasized that it was likely best for Leo to dress well today, although still casually.
Leo’s hair was getting a bit long by now, the pale, sand-colored hair falling just a bit above his shoulders. He had learned the hard way to never cut his hair on his own, though, and so he left it be; instead, whenever he was doing anything physical, he simply tied it back so that it’d stay out of his eyes.
Many awakened weren’t a fan of how much faster hair grew once their soul awakened, but Leo didn’t particularly mind, because it was a side-effect of healing at an accelerated rate.
Regardless, Leo needed to do something with it, and so he eventually gave up and just tied it back and tried to figure out what to wear. Again, he eventually gave up and just decided to wear a white button-up shirt, jeans and a baby-blue, light jacket.
Leo had a hard time getting over his appearance. When he looked in the mirror, he hardly even recognized himself, and the feeling of wishing he’d never awakened returned.
His face didn’t look like that of a child’s at all; it was sharp and strong, and his rapidly-growing body was covered in muscle. Despite having only awakened two weeks ago, Leo was two inches taller than he had been, and according to Erich, he hadn’t even hit his growth spurt. Already, though, his legs were constantly aching with growing pains.
And that was with the medical technology that suppressed the effects of awakening on his body. Without it, Leo would have died, because his body was simply too weak as it was.
‘Will my family even recognize me in a couple of weeks?’ Leo wondered. After the first few days, where he hadn’t been allowed to call his family, Leo had called them every day, but it wasn’t the same- not even remotely. Moreover, it had truly hurt when Leo’s mother pointed out how much older and ‘exotic’ he looked.
Leo shook his head. Erich had told him not to get too caught-up in these thoughts. Instead, he kept himself busy by finishing getting ready; putting on shoes and a necklace with a single, star-shaped bead on it. It signified that he was a tier-one awakened.
Finally, the door swung open and Erich stepped inside. Shockingly, Maxwell followed closely behind. Ever since Maxwell had been hospitalized, he’d been kept far from Leo and surrounded by awakened guards.
“Maxwell’s released?” Leo asked, and Erich nodded with a smile.
“Yes. The woman that was, apparently, messing with Maxwell’s mind got caught when we passed Ander II’s inspection area. Unsurprisingly, she was also messing with the minds of a lot of other people, but it’s all alright now.” Erich explained, and Leo was surprised at how easily everything went away.
“Let’s get going,” Maxwell suggested hurriedly, impossibly interested in changing the subject. Leo nodded and grabbed the bag, which was packed full of everything he owned, and followed the two out the door. The two awakened guards that had been standing by his door all day followed from behind, and Leo suddenly almost felt like a prisoner.