…east of the Desolation Rift lies the Great One, Yhaag-itru. Deep in the pits of Grenkah, it sleeps. Acedia is the greatest sin in the eyes of the gods, the lack of dedication to your faith is unforgivable. Yhaag-itru is the exception. The sloth god slumbers, awaiting the failed worshipers of it’s brethren. The sleeping god converts the lost and faithless from their dreams. A place the slothful can be put to work.

Excerpt: Awakened

By HPL

The train door opened and the students slowly made their way out onto the platform. Gideon got his first look at Rime Proper and its Market District. What he once thought of as a market was reduced to a small collection of street stalls and hawkers, all in that single glance. Primrose looked in his direction as she spoke. “It looks like Magitek is highly present in the upper portions of the city.” She looked around the surrounding area and her mood shifted to a dark and somber one. “I can’t say I agree with isolating the sectors of the city in the way that it appears. I understand the design of the city from a logistic and military standpoint. But why would they hold back the poor district? Why would they do this to their people?” she asked them, tears had appeared on her face. “My father would not approve of this. If he knew, I may not have ever come here, he would have found somewhere else for me to go.” She continued to cry, the sadness on her face told a deeper tale, one that they likely wouldn’t learn today.

Gideon put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay Prim,” he said. “Until this very moment I didn’t feel like I was missing much. I saw the city from below and wondered, but I was never left wanting. Not in the ways you are thinking. The only thing I was ever sad about was not having a life path. The mystery behind the walls was always there, but I lived a full life. Then my power awakened a few weeks ago and a world opened up. We didn’t…”

Primrose looked up at him, the tears had stopped. “What! What does that mean?” she asked, cutting him off abruptly. “What do you mean a few weeks ago? How many awakened abilities do you have?” The look that she gave the others earlier was now focused on him, he was like an insect. He was her personal experiment to poke and prod. She stared at him with no attempt to hide it.

“Oh, did I not mention that? I just have the one, but I was voidless until a few weeks ago. My parents gave me up to the streets as a toddler when I didn’t awaken. A guard captain in the lower district sort of adopted the scamps on the streets. He helped us survive, provided us with jobs.” Gideon told the astonished group. He showed no emotion to them, because he had none to share. These were just the facts of his life, not sad or happy, just what was.

“I’m so sorry, I was worried about myself, and what my time at the Academy was going to be like. The circumstances of why I’m here were all I considered. It never occurred to me what everyone else's path to get here was like. I’m so selfish,” Primrose said in apology.

“Why yes, yes you are,” Riley interrupted. “You’re just a little princess, but I guess you’re our princess,” he continued as he jabbed her with an elbow in the ribs. “Now before Princess Primrose cut in, you were saying that you awakened a few weeks ago? That is crazy man. I’ve never heard of a voidless awakening so late in life before.”

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Gideon latched onto Riley’s words. He didn’t call me a scamp like everyone else. Maybe they are called something else where he is from, he wondered? Gideon didn’t want his new friends to view him like a scamp; weak and helpless. It was nice to know that one person didn’t think of him that way, regardless of the reason. I need to grow strong enough so nobody will view of me that way again. I have to become someone the captain is proud of, he thought.

“No way. I heard stories on the streets about you. I didn’t believe a word. Are you serious, you just awakened?” Hank asked from behind the other three students. He looked around the market. “It’s been a long time since I came up here. Things have changed a lot over the years.” Gideon followed his eyes and took in the full view as well. Many of the buildings were made of a white marble. Dark iron posts were at the corners of the ornate cobblestone roads, a magitek artifact on top of each post. Were they some sort of light he thought? He’d have to come back at night to see them. A raised platform followed along the roads, tracks traced along the route, winding through the city

“Look, the train isn’t just to travel up the mountain, there is one that travels through the walled city as well,” Gideon said in awe. He looked at all the people, it was such a vast amount that he was a little shocked, excited, and terrified at the same time. “So many people,” he said. Their clothes were well made and clean. They were well groomed, each seemed to be wearing various types of jewelry as well. I bet everyone has a spacial ring up here, he thought.

“Yes, Rime is one of the most populated cities on this continent,” Riley said. “The train is very impressive. I’d never heard they have one that looped through the city as well.” He looked around at all the sights. “This is what I came for. The magitek. This is all I wanted to see, the inventions of Professor Taggart. I was fearful that people had embellished his prowess after seeing the lower district, but now I am starting to understand the excitement behind his work. ” Gideon notice a light in the boys eyes.

Gideon originally thought the lower districts were large, but he had a new perspective now. He now realized that the portion of the city he had called home all his life was minuscule. He and his friends were little more than an afterthought to the true citizens of Rime. He wondered why any of them ever came down to his home. People like Blake that probably desired to feel powerful? Or was it a fondness for their old home they had escaped from? Gideon thought that perhaps he had Blake all wrong. In Blake’s world he may be weak, a target to be bullied by the powerful. Maybe he came to the lower districts to escape the predators. It didn’t really matter why he was in the lower districts, he chose to be a bully when he got there, it was unforgivable. What the boy did when he had power is what truly matters.

Gideon started walking into the city and looked to see the shops nearby. He saw signs hanging above the many thresholds around the market. Void Artifacts, Bakery, Smithy, and General Store were the ones nearby. Prim approached Gideon. “I have some shopping to do. Do you guys want to meet back up here at the sixth bell? We could ride together for the rest of the trip if everyone agrees?”

“That sounds like a good idea to me,” Hank said. “Prim, do you mind if I shop with you. I might need a guide on what I should buy. “I think I may need a few more sets of clothes and a few other odds and ends. I’m hopeless when it comes to that sort of thing.”

“Sure Hank. Does anyone else want to shop with us?” she asked.

Riley didn’t hesitate as he headed in a different direction. “No thanks, I want to look around and examine as much TEK as I can in the time we have. See you all soon,” he said as he waved .

“What about you Gideon,” she asked.

“No thank you, I think I would like to experience the walled city for the first time alone. You know, take it all in at my own pace,” Gideon said, hinting back to Prim’s travels to Rime. His thoughts drifted to his coin, or the lack of it. I’d also like to hide how poor I am. I’m sure they would understand, but I don’t want their sympathy or charity, he thought as he straightened and stood tall. He hated the thought of hiding something from his new friends, but he didn’t feel he had a choice this time.