18 year old David Wirt woke up on awakening day to the smell of his mother cooking breakfast and his father stomping to get his boots on. He was anxious because today is the day he awakens and gets his class. David thought to himself “ I hope I don’t become a farmer like dad.” David’s father is the highest level farmer in the village, a high honor in a small village like the one David and his family lived in. But just because it was an honor to feed the village doesn’t mean David wanted to do it.
The village David lived in was called Creek’s end. Everyone said they got the name from the creek that used to run by the town but David had never seen the creek since it was damned off before he was born. The village mostly produced lumber that got shipped to bigger cities, but they were also known for the maple syrup that the town produced.
David finally got out of bed, brushed his teeth, and went downstairs to meet his parents. David’s father Patrick was at the dining table. His mom, Amanda was in the kitchen making breakfast humming to herself. It was a song David recognized, it was the song she would always hum while she was putting David to sleep as a child. She turned around and in her hands she had a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, David's favorite.
She hands him the plate and says “Sit down and eat your breakfast David, it’s a big day for you.” David takes the plate, sits down, and tries to not let his anxiety show on his face. He must fail because his mom looks at him and says “there isn’t anything to worry about David, it’s just awakening day. It happens every year.” His father says “ it’s nothing special, you’ll probably get the farmer class like me and you’ll be working the fields first thing tomorrow.” Amanda gives her husband a dirty look but he pretends not to notice but David does. They have had the discussion multiple times in the past about him not wanting to be a farmer but it always ends the same way, in an argument.
“It’s not like being a farmer is necessarily a bad thing” David thinks to himself. I just don't want to do it. David wanted to get out of Creeks end, he wanted to see the world and explore like an adventurer. He grew up hearing stories of adventurers from traveling bards. Stories of dragon slaying, princess slaying, and parades honoring the heroes. He wanted that. He wanted stories of his adventures. David wanted more than anything to be a hero.
Amanda tells her son “ go get washed up and ready for your awakening, the ceremony is at noon.” David goes and gets changed into his best clothes. A nice deep blue shirt, a black pair of pants, and a deer skin vest that had been embroidered. It was a Birthday present from his mom and dad when he turned 18.
Awakening day always happened on the last day of the year. It was the day that everyone who had turned 18 that year got their class. Anyone could become anything, A noble could become a farmer or a peasant could become a knight at least that is what David had heard. He never heard of a noble becoming a farmer, it was said that the noble houses had a way to guarantee certain classes to their children so that they don’t get a “peasant’s class”.
As David walked out of his house with his mom and dad he heard a voice shouting his name. He turned around just in time to see a head of brown hair right before a human shaped missile slammed into his midsection. Said human shaped missile was his Cassidy Wright. She has been David's best friend for as long as he could remember. They did everything together, they played together as children, they ran around town as early teenagers, and just last week they had gotten in trouble for stealing apples from old man Stevens’ orchard. She was about five foot six to David’s six foot two frame, he liked to make her mad by making remarks about her height.
“Damn Cass, have you grown since I last saw you?’ Davis says to her. Her face goes beet red and she exclaims “David Wirt you know full well I haven't gotten any taller since last night!” David can see his mom holding in her laughter but her father falls and lets out a gut busting laugh. His mom tells him to “leave that poor girl alone” and she whispers something to his father that shuts him up immediately.
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Amanda asks Cassidy if she would like to walk with them to the ceremony and she replies with a big “yes!”. As they make their way to the village center they see more and more people gathering in the square. When they finally arrive David sees that a large stage has been set up in front of the Awakening crystal. The awakening crystal is a crystal that is pitch black and it's about 25 feet tall and it takes about 10 full grown men to reach all the way around it. On the stage he can hear and see mayor Austin talking in his great booming voice talking to the crowd.
“I need everyone who has turned 18 this year to gather together in front of the stage” he yells. David looks to his mother and father who have large smiles on their faces and he can see his mom mouth “go”. Him and Cass walk through the crowd who part to let them through to the rest of the group that is gathering before the stage. He sees people he has played with his whole childhood. He sees Chris the blacksmith’s son who is already larger than David’s already large for his age fraim with a big bushy beard like his dad’s, “he will definitely be a blacksmith like his dad with those muscles” David thinks to himself.
He also sees some children from the local orphanage, they are dressed in threadbare hand me down clothes and have dirt smudged on their faces. David feels no small amount of pity for those people, he couldn’t imagine what he would do without his mom and dad. The orphanage got a semi large influx of children about 5 years ago due to a sickness that swept through the village. David himself got sick but he was one of the lucky ones because he got better. Many weren't as lucky as himself.
Once everyone was gathered the mayor started to speak again. “ Welcome everyone to this year's awakening ceremony, it is a wonder as always to see the teenagers of our village growing into adults. When I call your name please step forward.’ Then Mayor Austin yells the first name, “ Anthony Pierce!” A young man shorter than David walks out of the group and walks up the platform steps. When he gets to the top Mayor Austin tells him “place your hands on the stone and you will be awakened.”
Anthony steps forward slowly and places his palms on the stone. As soon as he does, David can see all of his muscles lock up at once. No one acts surprised because they see this every year. After about 10 seconds Anthony relaxes and turns around, on his face he has a large smile. The mayor asks him what class he had awakened to and Anthony yells out “Warrior”. The whole crowd starts yelling in excitement. While not a rare class, a warrior is something not everyone in a small village would get. They usually get one or two warriors, maybe a few rogues and the rest would usually be farmers or crafting classes like blacksmiths or tanners. After that the flood gates were broken and more and more people went up to get awakened. As predicted there weren’t anymore warriors but there was a rogue and even a hunter, Chris the blacksmith’s son even got the blacksmith class which no one was surprised about. Some people believed that the experiences you have before your 18th birthday shaped what class you got. Chris had been working with his father since he was old enough to swing a hammer so if that is true he was destined to be a blacksmith. David hoped that wasn’t the case though because he had helped his father in the fields on more than one occasion.
Mayor Austin calls the next name and David feels his anxiety get worse, “Cassidy Wright!” Cassidy walks up the stage smiling so hard it must hurt. As she gets to the top of the stairs she shoots David a thumbs up. She then walks up to the crystal and puts her palms against it. David watches in anticipation as his best friend gets her class. After what feels like an eternity she finally turns around and shouts out “KNIGHT!” The whole crowd of people goes quiet, then a wave of sound strikes David. It’s like nothing he has ever heard before. Everyone is hugging and crying and he can understand. Knight is a rare class and for someone in their village to get one is a miracle. A knight is a class that has all the makings of a warrior but a knight also gets heavier armor that they use to protect the people in their adventuring party. For Cassidy to get it means that she will always be in demand and is basically guaranteed to become an adventurer.
After Cass comes down off the platform she gives David a huge hug that feels even stronger than usual but that’s normal. Now that she has access to the system it is boosting her stats to something more than human. Then David hears his name and it’s like he is in a dream. He doesn’t even remember walking, the next thing he knows he is in front of the crystal and Mayor Austin tells him to put his hands on the crystal and relax. David whispers to himself “not a farmer, anything but a farmer. Then he puts his hands on the crystal and everything goes dark.