"Angelus! Donavin! if you don't get your butts up this instant, I swear to the gods above I'll send you to the ceremony in your underwear!"

Angelus immediately shot out of bed, the shout scaring him out of his blissful slumber. Though before he could get a look at who shouted at him, the door to his shared room was shut. He heard a groan to the right of him and looked to see a mop of hazel brown hair that was his friend, Donavin, slowly getting up from his straw mattress. He looked lost as he slowly got up from his bed, his eyes unfocused as he looked around before his brown eyes landed on Angelus.

"Morning Ugly." Angelus greeted, yawning as he started to get up from his straw mattress and stretched out.

"Good morning bastard," he mumbled back, and Anglus smiled slightly at the insult. Though some people got uncomfortable when they heard the two of them talk the way they did to each other, to them, it was just how they got along ever since they were young. "You excited for the ceremony today?"

"Of course, I am, idiot." The Ceremony of Awakening was a big deal for everyone in the city of Cyrius. It was the day that everyone who was sixteen would see if they would be gifted a class by one of the many gods and become blessed. To be gifted a class from the gods meant you were promised a life of fame and riches if you were willing to risk yourself for it. And for many teenagers, Angelus especially, that risk seemed worth it.

Throwing the thin blanket off, Angelus walked over to a set of clothes that he had set out the night before. To other people, the plain white tunic and the black pants wouldn't seem like much, but to Angelus, they were the best clothes that he had. And for the Ceremony of Awakening, he wanted to look his very best.

"Little bit rude today aren't we," Donavin said, tossing his blanket off and going to his own set of clothes, a brown tunic with black pants. “you expecting to get a class today? You know what your chances are of getting one right?"

"Yeah, I know what the chances are man," In Cyrius, the chances of someone getting a class from the ceremony are said to be at the very most ten percent. Though the chances of getting a class got better depending on your family, That was why noble families always got classes. For someone like Angelus, there was almost no chance for him to gain a class. But Angelus had faith. "And because I know, I know that my chances of getting one aren't zero." Angelus joked, and Donavin rolled his eyes.

"Ever the optimist." Chuckling, Donavin threw his tunic over his head and put his legs through his pants.

Angelus decided to get ready, took off his sleeping shirt, and admired his body. Though Angelus didn't have the tightly corded muscles that were expected of adventurers, there was a good amount of muscle to his body that he got from the two years of work he put into it. Not only that, but after many odd jobs and the occasional bet that he won, he was able to pay some adventurers to help train him in fighting. Though he could still be considered skinny and weak by any properly trained adventurer, Angelus felt he did well for himself considering what he had to work with. He put a lot of time and money into becoming an adventurer, and if he wasn't given a class today at the Ceremony, Angelus wasn't sure what he would do next. Shaking the doubts out of his head, he began to get ready.

After both of them got their clothes on, they walked to the corner of their room and looked at a cracked mirror and a washbasin in the corner. Angelus stared at himself for a minute with his brown eyes, looking at his tanned skin and deciding that he looked too dirty, he sunk his hands in the basin and began to vigorously scrub his face and his messy black hair. When he was done he used his discarded sleeping shirt to dry himself off. When he finished, he looked at the mirror and saw Donavin standing behind him.

"Looking beautiful princess."

"Jealous?" Donavin didn't answer, only gave Angelus a shove and washed his face and hair. Their door opened a minute later, they both looked at the door and saw two kids standing at their door, one boy and a girl. Both had long blonde hair and soft green eyes, along with clear white skin. they were a pair of elf twins, their pointed ears giving their heritage away. The girl was wearing a black overall dress with a white long sleeve under, the dress had small tears at the edges that exposed the black undershorts she wore. Her name was Lily, and she was the Orphanage’s pretend adventurer, she was unlike any elf that he had ever met. Instead of the prim and proper attitude that was usual of the race, she was always in the mood to run and get in trouble. And no matter what anyone told her, she would always come home with one brand new bruise.

The boy, on the other hand, Ren, was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt that looked too clean to belong to any orphan and a pair of black trousers, all of them as clean as the day it was made. he would have looked like he was on his way to classes at a fancy school if they weren't a few sizes too big. Thinking about it, Angelus wouldn't be surprised if Ren did make it into a good academy when he got older. Unlike his sister, who was always active and trying to find her next adventure, he was always trying to find his adventure in books. There was hardly ever a time when Ren didn't have a book in his hand. Sadly, he didn't have a lot of books to choose from with how the orphanage used its money for mostly clothes and food. That didn't stop his sister from pulling him with her when she wanted to play.

"Ren? Lily? What are you two doing?" Donavin questioned, turning back to the cracked mirror and fixing his hair.

"Olivia said that if you two don't hurry, she's going to give the food she made for you to us," Ren answered, both of the men's eyes widened at those words. Oliva Draken was the caregiver at the orphanage, and when she said she would do something, that meant that she was going to do it. Angelus remembered the time that Oliva threatened that if Angelus didn't start picking up after himself when he was done eating, she would make him eat the scraps off of everyone's plate. Angelus being only twelve didn't believe her and got stuck only eating the vegetables that everyone didn't want to eat. So with Olivia's threat clear, the men started to hurry. Donavin finished before him and stood, Angelus, made to follow him before he suddenly stopped.

"Hey! What are you two brats doing?" Angelus yelped when two pairs of arms suddenly wrapped around him. Both Ren and Lily had jumped on him and were holding on tightly. Angelus still stood, but with the two ten-year-olds wrapped around his neck, he felt unbalanced as he made his way to the door.

"Slowing you down," Lily said, now throwing her legs back and forth to try and topple him.

"Why are you trying to slow me down?!"

"So we can get your breakfast," Ren answered this time, mimicking his sister and trying to hold him back.

"Ren, how could you, I'd expect this from Lily," Lily squawked indignantly, "but not from you. What did Lily bribe you with this time?" Angelus asked, already knowing that Ren wouldn't go along with this if his sister didn't offer him.

"She promised me half your breakfast and to not bother me for today and tomorrow." He shrugged.

"Understandable." Angelus nodded, another squawk and a kick to the thigh had Ren and Angelus laughing. "But if you two wanted my breakfast, you should have never told us in the first place." Though Angelus did not doubt that they truly did want to have his breakfast, he also knew that this was just them having fun. Though he didn't always have the time, Angelus would always try to hang around the kids of the small orphanage as much as he could.

"Maybe we wanted to make you work for it," Lily said, still trying to topple him as Angelus walked through his door. The orphanage that they all lived in was called the Myrefall Orphanage, named after the owner, Claudia Myrefall. Claudia was an adventurer who also grew up an orphan, but when she went to the Ceremony of Awakening, against all the odds, she was given the rare healer class. She used her class to save as many people as she could and with the money she made had two buildings built, a clinic that she ran to make money, and an orphanage built so kids would have a place to stay. Claudia's clinic, while not cheap, was great and would always help anyone in need, no matter class or race. And because of that, She was well respected and the kids looked up to her.

As Angelus made his way through the halls of his home, carrying the two kids on his back. The halls had multiple doors that lead to other empty rooms. Although Mryefall was built in a big city, there were few orphans in their part of the city, the crafter's district. The rooms that did have occupants were obvious, the door covered with charcoal drawings and what few toys they had strewn across the floors. Angelus passed the rooms and made his way to a set of stairs and climbed down them, finally deciding that he had enough of his living necklace. He put his arms around their legs and carried them the rest of the way down the stairs, and to the dining room.

The room was probably the biggest in the building, with a large brown table that was big enough to seat ten people and mismatched chairs surrounding it. Surrounding the table were Olivia, Donavin, and the three remaining kids, Annie, Sylvia, and Juno.

Olivia was a dark-skinned woman with long black hair and brown eyes. In one hand, she held plates, in the other, she held a wooden spatula that she was waving around threateningly like it was daring the next child not to listen.

"Everyone, sit down or no breakfast for any of you." She threatened, flicking her spatula to the seats surrounding the table. No one made a fuss as they made their way to their seats, fearing their breakfast may be taken from them. Oliva looked up and smiled mischief at Angelus and the twins. "I see you got held up Angelus." She said, her accent coming out now that she wasn't shouting.

"Yeah, two someones wanted to get extra breakfast and I was the easier target."

Olivia didn't say anything, just pointed to a seat and shook her head. Angelus dropped the twins and went to his seat at the table across from Donavin. After making sure that everyone was seated, she put down plates for everyone and went to the kitchen for the food she made. As they waited, conversations about the ceremony began, the younger ones asking Angelus and Donavin about what they thought.

"Do you guys think you'll get a class today?" Annie asked, pushing her red hair out of her freckled face. She was the second oldest at fourteen, but there were times she could think she was the oldest and try to boss the others around. Most of the time everyone would just listen to her, most things she said were like it was coming out of Olivia's mouth. Other times, it annoyed Angelus as it was like she just wanted to feel in charge, but he left her be.

"I don't think so," replied Donavin, some of the younger kids seemed to deflate at that. Angelus shot him a look that Donavin only shrugged at, he wasn't expecting this to affect them that much.

"Speak for yourself Donavin," Angelus piped up, getting the kids' attention as he said that. "I think that I will get a class today, and I think it will be a great fighting class." The kids seemed to look at Angelus in awe as he said this, Donavin rolled his eyes, and Annie smirked at him

"Do you really think that Angelus?" Another voice asked, it was quiet and meek like a mouse. Angelus turned and saw that it was Sylvia that asked this time. Angelus, along with everyone else, was shocked when she spoke. Sylvia and Juno Willow were half-elf sisters and they were the newest arrivals in their home, only being there for about a year. They came to them after their parents had been attacked by bandits on their way to Cyris to make a new life for themselves. When they arrived, they were what Claudia called traumatized and asked the kids to take their time with them and to let them adjust to their surroundings. Because of that, both Sylvia and Juno never talked much and stuck to each other like glue. Angelus shook the shock off and tried to play off the pause.

"Of course, why, I feel that the gods have been saving all my luck for just this moment, where they just might give me a class." Angelus made to continue, but Olivia interrupted.

"If I get my way, you both will get a special crafting class and never see the sight of the battle." She intervened, putting a small bowl of wheat soup and a slice of bread. There was salt and celery in the soup, something Oliva did for the ceremony every year.

"Do you think that a champion will finally be born this year Angelus?" Lily asked excitedly, nearly jumping in her seat like she did every year the ceremony came.

While the orphanage didn't have a lot of books, one of the books that they did have was called 'The Tales of the Hurricane'. It was a book that told the story of Zepher Ward, The champion of the winds. it was a popular book among the masses as it told how Zepher received his Champion class, Wind master, and how he was set to fight a great beast that was out to destroy the land. It talked about every battle he had, all challenges he faces, the friends he lost, and how he finally beat the Beast. It was one of Angelus's favorite books to read, even now he found himself going back to it from time to time, just to feel the goosebumps that he would get reading the fights.

Angelus made to open his mouth and answer Lily, but it was her brother that answered her.

"Of course not," Ren said after swallowing a chunk of bread. "Champion classes aren't just given out on a whim, I heard that they were only given out at times of need by the gods."

"Oh yeah and who did you hear that from?" Lily challenged, nearly getting in her bother's face. Ren scooted closer to Donavin, thinking that it would protect him. But knowing Lily, she would rather jump over Donavin and fight than back down from a challenge. Annie looked like she was going to say something but the sharp slap of wood on wood got everyone's attention. Olivia stood at her end of the table with her trusty wooden spatula at her side. She glared at Lily, making her calm down and pout at not being able to prove her point.

"Nobody will be getting any classes if you all don't finish your food and clean up this table." She warned, nobody challenged her and just got straight to eating. they were all going with Angelus and Donavin to the temple of the gods and they didn't want to be late because of such a reason as not cleaning up.

With silence for the rest of the meal, they quickly ate and set everything in the washbasin in the kitchen. When that was done, everyone got their shoes and boots on and quickly made their way to the front door. When they all gathered, they noticed that one person was missing.

"Where's Claudia?" Donavin asked, with that mentioned, everyone started to look for her.

"She said that she would go down to the clinic and finish up a few things before she would meet us at the temple," Oliva explained, checking herself one last time before nodding to herself. "Okay is everyone ready to go?"

Everyone said yes to her and Donavin was the first out the door, everyone else followed after. Angelus stayed inside for a moment, taking deep breaths and trying to calm his racing heart.

"Angelus, what are you doing?" Looking up, up he saw everybody looking at him, waiting for him to follow after.

"I thought I just forgot something." He answered, and made to follow them. When he stepped out, everyone set off in the direction of the temple where Angelus would hopefully get his class.

Hopefully…