The CRA are an interesting anomaly, they appeared about 7000 years ago. Without warning they started enforcing their rules, any kingdom that failed to comply got burned to the ground, save for those three but … nevermind.

The biggest question people ask is, ‘Why?’, why are they so obsessed with keeping things fair, what is their purpose for making sure everyone could technically reach the 10th realm.

I have heard many theories about how the CRA knows more than they let on about this world, they say the CRA wants an army for some reason.

The thing I wonder most about is why they shared abilities with the world. It was their trump card during the 1-year war (or 1-sided slaughter, the more apt name) and yet not even a month after the war ended, they allowed anyone to awaken an ability.

It MAKES NO SENSE.

Excerpt from a Scholar of the Nameless.

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Time passed as I waited in line. Waiting for my ability made me realise that I had never once wondered what my family members could do with theirs. I knew my sisters’ elements, I was very aware of my parents’ strength but their abilities? Never thought about them.

I knew that most people didn’t talk about their abilities and I also knew that some of them became obsolete after cultivating far enough but … Meh, it didn’t matter, I could always ask them later.

When it was finally my turn I was brought into another room filled with people in CRA uniforms. “Can I also go through this process in private?” I asked the person in charge.

“Not a chance, sorry kid but getting your potential gauged is something way different from flooding your body with two repulsive energies. You wouldn’t be the first to literally explode. Since we’re assuming you like not being dead, we’re going to stay.”

“And what if I don’t care that I might die?”

“Let me explain it in simpler terms. It’s our stone, our stone, our rules. Is that understood?”

I nodded. Right at that moment, I learned why they didn’t want to be too far away. Screams filled the halls as the people in the room rushed outside. Crawling out of the door was … something.

I think it might’ve been a girl but I couldn’t be sure. While she crawled her skin was falling off in flakes, it must've itched like hell because even whilst she was crawling she was scratching her face to stop it. This didn’t help, her scratching combined with the lack of skin caused her scratching to leave small scratches all over what used to be her face.

After a while she couldn’t scratch anymore as her nails fell off and she started bleeding out. The last thing she did was beg for help as people from the CRA just stared like it was the most normal thing in the world. I even saw some of them smile with glee as if this was the most beautiful thing they’d ever seen. Others exchanged money, they’d bet on how the next person who couldn’t handle the process would die.

The man who was in charge of my awakening just mumbled something about how it would’ve been better if she’d just exploded, at least it’d have been quick. In a matter of minutes, her body was cleaned up and things went on as if it never happened.

I could see people in the line shivering in fear yet no one left.

I just stood there looking at the place her corpse had been and I felt … nothing. Thinking back, I should've realised why that was. I just genuinely didn’t give a shit, she was not my problem, I hadn’t forced her into awakening her ability, she had chosen to do so herself. Her mistake, her problem.

I reentered the awakening room. The supervisor looked at me in surprise.

“You sure you don’t need some time to process what just happened?”

“Not really, I didn’t know him or her and I don’t want to hold up the line.”

“Wouldn’t want to do that. Okay kid, here’s how this is going to work, you touch the stone, it does its thing and we'll all be on our merry way. Do no, IN ANY WAY, try to take more than what's being given. Do you understand?"

I nodded and approached the stone, it was a deep black, like thick ink but it had a golden and white sheen to it.

While approaching the stone, I started hearing whispers again growing louder and louder the closer I got.

'Touch it.'

'Claim your power.'

'Fear it.'

'Heed it.'

It felt like my head was going to burst.

I wanted to ask "Are the whispers normal?" but my voice wouldn't come out.

I wanted to turn around, something felt wrong but I couldn't control my body anymore.

My hand approached the stone and the moment they touched, the world went black.

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The moment the anomaly started approaching the stone, it was too late. All of us had lost the ability to move or talk.

I had experienced this once before and knew what was coming, sadly, it was already too late.

The stone has lost its power, the Veiled have found another for their power. May Shi'Gol protect us, especially from those blasted siblings of his.

Excerpt from the journal of awakening supervisor Shane.

Property of the CRA.

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I woke up in a hospital bed. The walls were white, unnaturally so, everything was.

The first thing I noticed after the whiteness were the whispers, they were still there, constantly tugging on my mind all pushing me to different things

The only spot of colour was Claire sitting next to the bed, reading a book of some kind. When I stirred she looked up.

"Good, you're awake, you gave Melissa quite a scare."

"What happened?"

"The Veiled intervened in your awakening, that's all the CRA would say and I don't know what they are. All I know is that you broke the stone somehow.

Oh, and you successfully awakened your ability, it's a cognitive one which means they don't really know what it does."

With that, she started reading again. In her eyes, everything that needed to be said had been so there was no use continuing the conversation.

I was overcome with fatigue and fell back into the arms of sleep. And I dreamed.

The dreams were … wrong. The whispers that I kept hearing weren't whispers, they were clear, well, as clear as tens of voices talking at the same time can be.

I could see forms beyond my imagination moving in the corner of my eyes. I could see a fractured world, like someone had taking different places and put them together without regard for balance.

One piece was a flaming mess that suddenly became a forest with massive trees, the next a barren and dead land. This went on and on, and as I took in more of my surroundings the voices started saying the same thing.

'Wake up'

'Wake up'

And before I knew it, I was up. I shot up, startling the person who was sitting next to the bed.

It was Melissa this time, I had been sleeping for a while. Before I knew it, I got a hug.

"Oli! I was so worried. I would have razed the CRA to the ground if something happened to you."

After that, she let go and looked at me with a serious face.

"Listen Oli, we're going to send you to the Royal Academy. If any other academy got their hands on you they'd never be able to keep you safe.There are many who would just love to experiment on someone who has been chosen by the Veiled."

I wasn't that surprised, I already knew I was going to go to the Royal Academy since it was the Alma Mater of my sisters and my father was a general.

I was surprised that Melissa seemed to know more about the Veiled though, there wasn't much that she knew that Claire didn't know about.

After a few days of careful observation, I was allowed to go home and prepared to leave for the Academy.