The awakening ceremony takes priority

“Thank you, Kase. I much appreciate your offer of putting the past behind us.” I say, resulting in Kase smiling again. No, it’s not quite a smile. It’s a smirk instead.

“But you’re coming at a bad time. The awakening ceremony is almost over and if I don’t make it, I will have to wait another 6 months. Let’s have that drink after my ceremony.”

Kase smirk starts to falter.

“Darx. Dude. Come on.” Kase replies. “There’s plenty of time for your awakening.”

“You know this is important to me, Kase.” I insist. “We’ll do it after the awakening.”

That’s when the smirk on Kase’s face disappears. He then takes a step closer and glares menacingly into my eyes.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve saying no to an S class, you know.”

I take a moment to look around and notice all of the people that were with Kase had surrounded us. Shit. Now that it's too late, I finally realize what is going on. Kase was never here to make up. He wanted to prevent my awakening and now Ryul and the cat-girl could have their awakening denied as well because of me. I need to find a way to get out of here. But with an S class in front of me and the surrounding people likely high-ranking adventurers, fighting is not an option. I’ll have to use my brains to get out of here and failing that, I may have to give in, just to let my 2 friends at least have their awakening. But what bothers me most is why Kase is trying to ‘convince’ me to go with him instead of forcing it outright. Then I think I have figured out why.

“Kase, answer me this question.” I say as I confidently cross my arms in front of my chest. “Why does an S class like you bother asking me to tag along with him? It should be little effort for you to **** me … unless you can’t.”

Kase then starts laughing.

“Are you for real? You think I’m afraid of you?” He asks, clearly amused.

“No, not of me.” I reply while I shake my head. “But of the royal guard.” I then say as I nod behind him, to the castle.

“As an S rank, i'm sure you are quite famous now. In fact, i believe those soldiers have already seen and identified you. If you now start beating up potential new adventurers, they will notice it right away. I’m not sure what the punishment for denying someone his awakening is, but it could be reasoned that every person is a potential A or S rank in hiding. Imagine your selfishness denies the kingdom a new S rank. I highly doubt the queen would look kindly on such behavior, or any of the rivalling guilds who might feel you have denied them a new A rank. Your whole reputation would be ruined. I’m sure you remember how something like that feels, right. I recall you having experienced something similar the last days you spend in my village.”

“You really think I’m afraid of them, you little shit?” Kase then says, letting his anger get to him. “I don’t even need you to come with me. All I need is to keep you here until the ceremony is over and then you can run back home to your mommy. Yeah, she’s not here to save you now, is she?”

I hate to admit it, but Kase is right. All he needs to do is play the waiting game. Time is on his side, not mine. Shit, I can’t get out of this.

“What’s going on here?” Someone behind us says.

We all turn around to see a woman dressed in black robes, along with a hood that covers most of her face. The only parts of her body that are exposed are her arms, some of her legs, her chin, black lips and some dirty-blonde hair which spills from her hood.

Kase quickly brings back his smile and says, “Just saying hello to some old friends, Kiara. It’s nothing major.”

Shit, Kase knows her. I doubt she’ll be of much help.

“Alright.” Kiara says. Then she turns to me and asks, “What about you? Is what Kase says correct?”

Before I can say anything, Kase interrupts me and says, “I told you, Kiara, it’s fine. You don’t need to hear it from him too.”

“I would still like to hear his opinion.” Kiara calmly replies.

“What? Don’t you believe me? You think i'm not honest with you?” Kase asks.

“Based on you trying your best to only have me hear your side, I do find it consecutively harder to believe you.”

Ok, so maybe Kase knows her because they have already clashed before. In that case, maybe she can help me out.

“Me and my friends are trying to get our awakening, but Kase is blocking us.” I say.

Since this Kiara has her eyes hidden by her hood, I can’t tell whether she is looking at me or Kase. I assume she now looks at Kase because she says, “You know it is considered a crime to block someone from his awakening, Kase. The law clearly states everyone is permitted his awakening. You should let them go before the Royal guard makes you.”

“Oh, please, Kiara. You’re not going to listen to this loser, are you?” Kase tells her.

Kiara then calmy says, “Please wait a moment.”

What Kiara did next, is something I will never forget again. She seemed to pull her own shadow from the ground, made it latch on to her back and shape it into two huge shadowy wings. She must be an adventurer. Someone of the mage class. She then flaps her wings and flies over us towards the castle gate. Once there, she addresses the closest of the royal guards to her. As she talks to him, she points at us and after a few seconds, several members of the royal guard are heading towards us.

“Shit.” I hear Kase curse.

He then turns to me and says, “Looks like you’re lucky again, loser.”

Then he and his companions leave.

I wait until he is out of earshot, then I sigh in relief.

When the guards arrive one of them asks, “Are you three here for an awakening?”

“Yes.” The cat-girl answers in my place.

“Come on then.” The guard says, “It’s almost over.”

As the guards lead us to the castle gates I look over at the beast-kind girl. She gives me glare. I can’t blame her. She nearly missed her awakening because of me.

But Ryul then tugs on my arm. “Dude, I didn’t know you knew Kase.”

“I don’t.” I reply. “One day he showed up at my village, my mom trained with him for a couple of days, and then he left again. Somewhere along the way he decided to have a grudge against me for no reason. I have honestly no idea why he targets me.”

“Dude, an S rank targeting you? You better get a high rank yourself or find yourself a strong guild to keep you safe.”

Ryul is right. I doubt this is going the be the last time Kase tried to interfere with my life.

After the three of us get past the castle gates we look to our right. There in the courtyard we see a lot of people. They are all talking and conversating with each other. In the distance we see someone leave the castle. He is heading towards the group of people on the right and they start asking about his results. I’m guessing those are the recruiters. According to Amelia’s last letter, she should be among them. But that is for after the awakening.

After entering the castle, we find ourselves in a big hall. White walls and decorations were everywhere. Paintings, statues, wall tapestries, … all of it very impressive. It reminds me of the entrance hall to Mr Enzo’s mansion, except far grander. Ryul is totally in awe of what he is seeing. The cat-girl that is with us seems to lose herself in the beauty of all this wealth as well.

Another thing I notice is there seem to be quite a bit of soldiers. I guess the royal guard is here to make certain nobody goes into the wrong room. Either accidental or by intent. This is the home of the queen and the princess, after all.

"Damn, now what am I going to do?" I hear someone mumble as he passes us on his way to the exit. "I-I don't want to go back to my village. Not after this. I told everyone I would have a high rank. If I go back now, I’ll be the laughing stock."

Looks like he didn’t get the rank he wanted. I was already nervous, but now I’m getting extra nervous.

Eventually we take a left turn. There we see a table with behind it, three women in white robes. Behind them are some people that appear sitting on benches waiting for something.

“Good afternoon.” One of the women said as we approached. “Ready to become adventurers?”

Each of us three responded with an agreement in our own way.

“Very well. In order to take the adventurer test, you only need to fill out this form and make a payment of a silver coin.” The receptionist says.

“A SILVER COIN!?” Ryul says loud. “Isn’t that a bit expensive?”

“I’m sorry, sir. But these are the rules.” The receptionist replies.

Ryul then reaches into his pouch and reaches for a silver coin. As he is doing so, I see his face grow pale. I reach into my pouch too. I have the silver coins I had been saving up, a few my mother gave me before leaving, as well as the golden coin I got thanks to Mia. Who’d have thought that her action from 6 months ago would keep me calm now. She’s such an amazing girlfriend.

By the time I had paid and started filling out the form, the cat-girl that was with us had already finished and joined the others waiting on the benches. After Ryul and I finished our forms we each receive a number and are told to wait with the others.

“I only had 3 silver coins.” Ryul tells me as we are waiting. "I had to pay 50 bronze to get here, another 50 to get into the city. I only got 1 silver left now. I know I said I didn’t mind getting E rank, but after spending this much money so quickly I will be disappointed if I get anything less than C.”

“I know.” I reply. “I’m nervous too.”

The door behind, where the ceremony is being performed opens and a receptionist together with a girl come out. It is easy to see on the girl’s face that she is disappointed with what she got.

One by one, the people before us are called in and come back out. Eventually it is just us three last ones. The receptionist calls a number and the cat-girl heads inside. She disappears behind the large door and we wait some time, expecting her to come out. Instead, when the door opened, it was just the receptionist. The number she calls is Ryul’s number and he goes in now.

A few minutes later the same happens. The door opens and the receptionist calls my number, but there is no sign of Ryul. Could he have been so nervous he fainted?

I go inside and see neither Ryul nor the cat-girl. Instead, I see a tall man with long black hair, a monocle and dressed in fancy clothes.

"Welcome! You must be the last one. It was a long day..." The man with glasses says. "My name is Harold and I am the Queen's Counselor, as well as being in charge of the ritual for new adventurers. What is your name?"

“Hi, my name is …” I start, but a sudden change in Harold’s expression worries me enough that I stop talking.

Harold then gets up real close to me and stares into my eyes.

"Your eyes ... Red? H-how …? Who are you? Where you come from?"

"Uhm? M-My name is Darx. I come from a little village called Merton."

"Does anyone else in your family have this same eye color?"

"No... My father died long ago, but his eyes were brown from what my mother told me, and she has black eyes."

"How strange, very strange. I'm sorry, red eyes are just incredibly rare. I would like to talk more with you about them, but let's leave it until after the ritual. After all, there isn't much time left." Harold said. "Let me explain what you have to do."

Harold then tells me that the ritual is not actually performed in this room, but the next one. I will find a large statue to the goddess there, with in front of it a magic circle and next to it a pedestal. I am to leave my adventurer card on that pedestal, then step into the magic circle and ask the goddess for my new powers.

After that explanation, two guards open the doors and I walk inside. Inside is a round white room. There are no windows or decorations. Just a golden statue three times my size with above it a glass roof in the shape of a dome. The goddess Imris, illuminated by the light of the sun. To the statue's left is a pedestal, the one where I need to place my card, and in front of it is a marking in the shape of a circle. Clearly magical, as it glows with a golden light.

I walk up to the old golden statue and place my card on the pedestal. I take a deep breath, then I step inside the magic circle.

“Goddess Imris, hear my prayer.” I say after closing my eyes. “It is my desire to become an adventurer and help this world become a safer place. Please awaken the powers dormant inside me and reveal to me my true self.”