So, about the kidnapping incident.

I actually wasn’t awake when we were found and rescued. In fact, Kormic was the only one who could give a good accounting of what had actually happened. And even he was extremely confused by what he had seen.

Apparently, no one else saw the person who had come to our aid either enter or leave the building—Which ended up being Varner’s mansion near the center of the city.

We were all rushed to a hospital, since they weren’t sure if anything else had happened to us without our realization. I had traded in my blood-soaked white cotton dress for a hospital gown, and the jury was out for which one felt breezier.

Needless to say, Varner and his family were detained after this incident. The family was released after it was found that they had no idea that Varner was kidnapping five members of high-society. And no one could find out what Varner had been thinking when he initiated such a plan, since he’s well and truly mad now. Something about Kormic’s shadowy figure had snapped him, plunging his psyche all the way into insanity. Now, he’s just a blubbering mess of tears and snot.

I don’t really know or care what about what happened to him after the incident, but I do know that he disappeared from the public eye. He was also expelled from school, naturally.

Personally, I think that he was already a little insane before this whole incident. After all, who else thinks that he can just up and kidnap five kids of influential families, and completely get away with it?

Anyway, the kidnapping incident closed fairly quickly, and things returned to normal after that. Or mostly normal. Sabrina and Godard have seemed on edge since then, and I think that this whole thing may have affected them more than they’re letting on. I don’t hold it against them, since getting kidnapped isn’t something most people have to go through.

Though, I think everyone is a little baffled at the fact that I’m unfazed. After all, I was the one in the most danger during this situation, and thus should be the one who’s the most mentally scarred, no? But that’s not the case. As soon as we were released from the hospital, I started going to school again. Everything slid back into normalcy for me, and that confuses the hell out of everyone else. They think I should be scared, or lost, or maybe even angry. I didn’t get hurt though, so I’m fine? Oh well—That’s the way I’m taking it. It’s a sort of ‘all’s well that ends well’ approach to the whole situation.

I was far more concerned about the future. And unfortunately, the two weeks I had left passed by all too quickly.

I stepped off the train platform, gazing at the massive spherical building in front of me. All Awakening ceremonies are held in the city hall, since only they have the iridium-lined rooms commonly used in the process.

I’m wearing my school uniform, though most other people dress up really fancily for the occasion. I mean, it’s a pretty big deal to most people, with pictures, parties, and celebrations involved. Especially since the Awakening ceremony tends to double as a coming-of-age for those involved. In some places, you aren’t seen as an adult if you aren’t awakened, no matter how old you actually are.

As for the city hall, it’s the perfect venue for such an occasion. Large, majestic, and imposing, the whole structure’s built as a massive dome. Set into the side of this blindingly white dome was a rectangular entrance. The doors were flanked by fluted columns of marble. I walked up the set of stairs that lead to the entrance, blinded by the building.

What the hell were the designers thinking, making the whole thing as white as snow? Even in the low light environment of this world, the whole thing causes me to squint my eyes nearly shut. Such a damn pain.

Thankfully, the glare was gone as soon as I entered the building.

There’s a reception area right inside the entrance, with a row of desks on the far end to direct people to their various destinations inside city hall. I walked up to one of the desks, since I didn’t know where the Awakening area was.

“Yes? How may I help you, young lady?” Asked the receptionist behind the desk as I stopped in front of her.

“Awakening for Revian Snow?” I asked plainly, crossing my fingers and hoping that the receptionist will understand what I’m asking.

She looked a bit taken aback, and told me to wait one moment, while she checks her records for my appointment.

“Ah, here it is! You’ll want to take that hallway over there, on the left. You see it? Go all the way to the end, and then turn right. That’ll take you straight to Awakening chamber four.”

I nodded, and left. The receptionist’s directions led me to the right place, if the sign with Awakening Chamber 4 was anything to go by. I opened the door into the room, and was greeted by a group of men and woman in lab coats monitoring another Awakening going on at the moment. It looks like I got here a little early, since there’s also a group of well-dressed individuals waiting off to the side, watching the spectacle.

Likely, they're the relatives and friends of the kid going through Awakening right now, who you could see on a screen due to cameras placed inside the chamber itself. It was a boy, who looked about twelve or thirteen years old. His latent talent must have been rated very well to have his Awakening happen now. Ah, look at that—he just shifted for the first time. I think his Awakened form is a fox beast-kin of some type? Not bad.

The relatives clapped in celebration as the kid walked out of the chamber, his face lit up in a wide smile, and his new tail waving playfully in the air behind him. The scientists and doctors came over, and ran a battery of tests on the kid to determine his starting divide, race, affinities, etc. It turns out that he started out right at the 7th divide, giving him a really good chance of breaking through to higher levels when he’s older.

After that, their group filtered out of the room, presumably leaving to go celebrate elsewhere. As soon as they were gone, the technicians noticed me for the first time.

“Eh? What are you doing here?” One of them asked.

“Name is Revian Snow. Awakening.” I said.

One of them went, and confirmed that I would be going through the Awakening in about an hour. Yeah, I arrived just a little bit early. There was paperwork that had to be done though, so I started on that after being handed the necessary forms for the procedure.

There were simple questions and fields I had to fill in, with things such as name, age, family, place of residence and the like. There were many other fields that I left blank, the most important of which was the spot where I was supposed to put my parent’s information down. I handed the mostly completed paperwork back to the technicians. They quickly read through it, and looked at me with eyes of pity, much to my embarrassment. I had also outlined my little speech disability under the ‘extra concerns’ section, so they knew about that as well.

There were still thirty minutes to go, and the room had lapsed into a comfortable silence. Well, comfortable for me. I’m sure the technicians running this thing felt a little awkward with it.

Soon though, company arrived in the form of my friends, who had come without me even asking them to. They expressed their happiness about my impending Awakening, and wished me luck. I didn’t say anything back. Time passed by quickly for me, and only five minutes were left. Everyone had solemn looks on their faces, probably picking up on my morose and mourning atmosphere.

Four minutes left. The technicians started powering up the chamber, preparing for the moment when mana would be flooded into the room, and I would be forced to Awaken.

Three minutes. I began thinking back on the past few years. I wanted to cry a little when thinking about it, but had already found that I couldn't anymore.

Only two more minutes. I thought about the future. I know they’ll be watching this Awakening, and will know that something’s not quite right with it. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I certainly can’t be allowed to live my everyday normal life anymore.

At one minute, I got up in order to enter the chamber. The doors to the waiting and monitoring room opened again, and a young teenage boy entered the room with a haughty expression on his face, and a powerful aura surrounding him. I hurried into the chamber, not wanting to look at him any longer than I had to.

The chamber itself was almost completely lined with iridium to isolate it from any sort of outside interference. The metal made the room a stark white, with a single chair in the center of it. I sat down in it, crossing my legs. Closing my eyes, I hoped that nobody saw the little tear that ended up escaping down my cheek.

I heard a countdown over a speaker somewhere, letting me know just how long I have left. It reached zero.

Pure Mana flooded the room, and I resigned myself to my fate.

Most of the people in the monitoring room missed the fact that Revy entered the chamber, since they were too busy watching as Joel Al’Verath entered, his atmosphere entirely dispelling the somber air that had been in the room. Everyone was curious about this newcomer, since nobody had seen him before that point.

Well, at least not in person. Sabrina recognized him for who he truly was, and was absolutely stunned.

‘Why is a rising star from the Al’Verath family here? Revy shouldn’t be that important, right?’ she thought, fiercely pondering the implications of his presence.

Joel, for his part, simply ignored everyone else in the room, and avidly watched the screen as Revy sat down inside the Awakening chamber. He wanted to be sure that he wouldn’t miss even the smallest of anomalies in Revy’s Awakening, and that he could accurately report whatever happened to his parents.

He had come in with a fair bit of distain for the event, but had then seen a brief glimpse of the girl’s face as she caught eye contact with him. Worry, terror, fear—These were the primary emotions he saw there, emotions not found in a normal Awakening ceremony. He was now mildly curious about the proceedings.

The technicians saw that Revy was ready, and started the countdown.

When zero was reached, a lever was thrown and the chamber was flooded with the purest Mana currently possible. Everyone glued their eyes to the monitor, watching as a miniature mana storm was created inside the chamber itself. The room’s iridium walls are there to protect those outside, just as much as to prevent outside interference. Though, the flip side is that Revy is unable to manipulate anything outside of the chamber, since the iridium would stop any attempts.

So, everyone could clearly see that something was off about the whole procedure.

“What the…These readings?” mumbled one of the technicians in confusion.

“What is it? What’s going on with Revy?” Asked Godard, who had heard the man speak, and now looked at him with great concern and fear. He didn’t want anything bad happening to Revy.

“Nothing—all these readings….It’s like she’s not even inside the chamber at all. The mana’s ignoring her.”

“Eh? I’ve heard about that before. Doesn’t that happen when you stick someone who’s already Awakened into one of the chambers?”

“Go ahead and bring her out.” Commanded Joel. His presence made it so that nobody argued against it.

The door to the Awakening chamber hissed open, and Revy was asked to come out. Everyone who saw her thought that she had a despondent look on her face, like she wasn’t looking forward to what was about to happen at all.

“Miss Snow,” Asked one of the technicians, “Can you tell us if you’ve already been Awakened?”

She nodded, her face looking pale, and a little sickly.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Not official. Didn’t happen.” She said, confusing many of the people in the room.

Eventually, another one of the technicians spoke up.

“Could you please shift into your Awakened form, Miss Snow? We’d like to take some measurements.”

Joel eagerly paid attention to her. All this certainly counted as abnormal, and he was sure his parents would agree. It was looking like he would end up having to take Revy back with him.

Everyone was paying rapt attention to Revy, actually. All this was too abnormal—someone going back for a second Awakening at seventeen years old, since the first one ‘never happened’. So, they were all watching as she took a deep breath, and went into Awakened form.

Her left eye turned blue.

“Is…is that it?!” thought Joel. He felt massively led on. He still stayed in the room though, not willing to let that be all.

Revy was lead over to a series of measuring equipment, for the same reason that the boy before her had been.

Joel felt worse and worse as the tests went on.

She had no potential. No strength. All the readings were indicating that she was weak, and non-important. A base strength at the 1st divide. Highest maximum potential at the 3rd. She had no rare affinities, no special qualities besides the fact that she had already Awakened.

Joel was cursing loudly in his mind as he left the room. Outside, he dialed up his parents to tell them what had happened.

“Hello. I’m reporting about that girl’s Awakening.” He began, “In short, she’s trash. There’s no way she’s special or important.”

“What do you mean?” Asked his mother over the phone.

“She’s at the 1st divide! Her Awakened form is apparently human, but only her left eye changed. Even worse, she was already awakened, and didn't progress at all.”

Joel heard a gasp from the other end of the phone.

“What did you just say?!”

“She’s trash?”

“No, no, about already being Awakened!?”

“Ah, right. She didn’t Awaken during this ceremony, since she had apparently gone through it before. Do you think that her family…?”

“Shut up! Go get her, bring her to me! This shouldn't be possible—Her first Awakening should have been a failure!”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘Huh?’ me—Get her onto the yacht, and bring her back with you! You have no idea how important this is!” Said Adrianna Al’Verath as she hung up. He could hear her excited yelling in the background before that though.

He turned back around, and reentered the monitoring room.

It was oddly silent in there. Everyone was looking at Revy again, but with confusion and shock.

“Say that again please? I think I misheard you…” Asked Haven of Revy, who stood in the center of the room, watching as Joel reentered.

“He’s taking me to Earth.” She said again, pointing at Joel—who now has a very complicated look on his face.

“How did you know…? You know what, never mind. Yes, I’m taking you to Earth with me.”

“What? But why? The High-Families should have no reason to be interested in Revy—You saw the measurements!” yelled Sabrina. Everyone else went into shock a little, upon realizing that Joel was representing a High-Family.

“I don’t know.” Said Joel, shrugging at Sabrina. “I was told to bring her back with me. You would have to ask either my parents, or your friend here.” He pointed at Revy.

All eyes turned back to her for an explanation.

She shook her head.

“Why can’t you tell us?!” Cried out Godard.

“My problem. Have to solve.” She said.

“But we can help you, right? You just have to tell us what’s going on first.” said Kormic evenly.

Revy shook her head again.

“Against High-Family? No good.” She said, quashing their offer.

The room descended into silence for a moment.

“Do you have to go?” Asked Ussen quietly.

Revy nodded.

“After problem fixed, come back.” —she promised them.

Revy left Jor peacefully, boarding the Al’Verath yacht after saying her goodbyes, and packing up all she owned. Which wasn’t much—she fit everything into two suitcases, including her computers and VR set.

Joel thought something was wrong. This Revy girl, who was so weak and vulnerable, didn’t seem particularly scared or sad now that she was on the yacht. She seemed…determined, even if there was a little bit of melancholy in her eyes. He couldn’t help but feel like she wanted this for some reason.

He had gotten the impression that nothing good was awaiting this tragic girl on Earth, especially since his mother wanted Revy so badly. But, for some reason, he gets chills down his back when he looks at Revy, like there was something terrifying about the girl.

He quickly dismissed those thoughts though. There can’t be anything special about her. She’s only at the 1st divide, after all.

Revy, for her part, was facing the future with her head held high. She felt like she’d been hiding too long, and needed to come out into the open in order to be able to go back to the normal life she loved so much. She was also trying to ignore Joel as much as possible. Unfortunately, they’re stuck on a relatively small ship together for two weeks. She ran into him constantly.

He had plenty of questions for her, as he was trying to figure out what made her special. Some of which she actually answered, either by speaking a few words, or writing down her response.

One such question: “Why does only your left eye turn blue in Awakened form? Why not both?”

She didn’t even have to answer that one. Instead, she reached up to her eye.

All Joel saw, was that her hand briefly covered her right eye. When she took it away, her eye was closed, and she held something up. She mimed tossing it at him, and he ran away, freaked out by her glass eye. He didn’t bring it up again.

He did, however, get some of his answers when his mother intercepted their yacht a little more than halfway through the voyage, bringing with her a few other ships for security.

The meeting between his mother and Revy was extremly enlightening and shocking for Joel.

For one, they already knew each other.