Age: 11
February 11th, 1259 KE
Finally, it's my awakening day. What the last twelve years of hard work, especially the last six, have been working towards. It's still early in the morning, 7:12 AM, but I just can't go back to sleep. A mix of anxiety and excitement overpowers any feeling of needing to rest any longer.
What will I get? Will I be a useless mage and martial arts student? Will all this hard work be worth it?
I can't let these thoughts control my mind. I need to do something to clear my mind. What if I just go train? Yeah, that'll work, it's not like we are having it today since I'm awakening.
Stealthily, I head out to the training yard I've worked at every day for the past 6 years. So much sweat spilled it could flood the city. So much food eaten Cedric and I would starve a small village.
I do a quick thirty lap run for a warm up before diving into my martial arts. I've done tens of thousands of punches and kicks and their variations over these years since I've started on this path. Broken bones, skin, teeth, and whatever else I've injured, have all been healed by my mother.
By the time I'm done I've broken a sweat and it's 9:30 AM, I quickly head inside and clean myself before going to the dining room where my family has started eating breakfast.
My parents still haven't changed much over these twelve years except become more experienced. My father remains muscular, my mother, still beautiful. It's probably due to their core progressions slowing aging, fathers at the Crystalline stage while my mother is at the refined stage. I myself now stand at five foot eight, tall for my age but slightly shorter than Cedric, I'm 150 pounds of lean muscle, tan, and have developed a well-proportioned body from my martial arts training.
"Kade, how do you feel about your awakening today?" My mother is the first to break the silence as I dive into my breakfast.
"Oh I could barely sleep last night. I'm just too excited and a little anxious for today."
"Well, there's nothing to be anxious about. If it goes bad then you can just leech off us the rest of your life." Yeah, not really helping father, but at least I know I have a safety net.
"Well father, I don't plan on being ordinary or average. I want to become the best in everything I can."
"Well dear, somebody will always be better, never underestimate an opponent."
"Well somebody has to be the best right? So it might as well be me." Yeah, that was cool.
"Hahaha, that's the way to be, son! If you keep that mindset you'll go far, farther than I did at least. Just do remember not to underestimate an opponent like your mother told you. It's how I myself was injured during a dungeon clearance."
"Be ready for the ceremony at 10:30 PM tonight. You'll wait until everyone is seated and ready and when the clock strikes twelve, walk down the steps and touch the crystal. Simple really, don't worry." Thank you mother, but it's not the process that brings me anxiety, it's what I'll get and the pain from the mana channels carving themselves throughout my nervous system.
[Twelve hours later: 9:48 PM]
I've finally managed to put on my formal attire for tonight, though it is a bit uncomfortable. A dark blue jacket with gold trimmings and buttons, black under shirt, navy blue trousers, and stylish shoes. Slowly I walk out of my room and through the halls to where a carriage awaits me. I step inside and am surprised to see Cedric. He smiles and extends his arm to pull me into the carriage.
"What's up, Kade, your parents let me ride to the venue with you since they said you were a little nervous. Anyways it'll be fine, you'll awaken a good element, affinity rank, and a powerful trait. You'll fly through the ranks so quickly the mage academies won't know what hit them." Yea, I needed to talk to someone that'll bring me away from the anxiety.
After a fifteen minute carriage ride we arrive at the venue, the Rosh slow down and finally comes to a rest. Stepping out of the carriage I see various important figures at this event. High ranking adventurers, other nobles that just live in the city or visiting, even the Sunrest Academy headmaster, Kayla Ceridge is here. Putting on a confident posture I walk through the back doors to reach the upper level where I'll walk down. Footsteps and murmurs fill the large space, dozens of high level individuals and families are here, just for my awakening. Though, the venue will have more than enough space, easily double the size of what the Knight's son, Christoph, was, the enriching smell of cinnamon incense floats through the air of the giant domed shaped building.
Rows of elevated seats surround the stage that I must walk down to when the clock strikes 12:00 AM. It's currently 10:17 PM and I have a little over an hour and a half to get my thoughts in check.
Anxiety now overcomes even the excitement of magic the awakening will bring. My soul fills with dread at the potential outcomes. What if I get Nullborn? I'll be useless, not even my family would want me. I'll be cast out, no longer welcome in my home. What if Cedric doesn't want to be friends anymore because of it? That's even worse than my parents leaving me. My only friend forever these past twelve years, gone, just because I awaken a shit affinity rank. It's ov—what the hell am I thinking? Stupid emotions taking control of me. Nobody will leave me no matter what I get in this ceremony, maybe I'll be the next greatest, maybe I'll just be another name of a random noble house. But I won't just give up on the ones who care for me.
But what if yo—no, I'm done with that, I will not be controlled by some mere feeling like anxiety. I won't be taken over and lead myself into my own demise through self doubt. I WILL become the best, no matter what I awaken, it's my fate.
Finally, I compose myself, and over the next hour and thirty minutes my parents, Cedric and his parents come and talk to me before going down at 11:55 PM. I count the three hundred seconds in my mind as I wait for the bells.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Those beautiful bells have rung, the sound of destiny calling me down the steps.