Once the moderator called the name, it rang like a spell in the air, causing bearers to bend to each other in murmurs.
"Lazy Man?"
"That's someone's name?"
Some of those who noticed Laz was yet to go for his awakening looked to his side, but he didn't give them the attention they wanted. He, however, decided never to climb that stage if his name was not called in the right way.
"Lazy Man!" Lady Hiss thundered again across the crowd, as if the bearer was wasting her time, and yet, there was no sign of any last Bearer coming up.
Then, she lowered her head and looked at the thick, huge book which floated in the air before her, and laughed.
"Sorry, I mean to call, Laz Mann!" she corrected herself. "Please, come up to the stage. There's no time to check the time."
Once his name was called in the correct manner, the noise that had emanated from the hall dwindled. Laz's eyes widened as well.
'Let's go test some luck, boy.'
He stood slowly from his seat, and walked up to the stage before the podium. Then, as supposed, dipped his hand into it and pulled out his own card, a blue card.
Once he pulled it out, lightning struck outside the hall, its illumination pierced through the transparent ceiling and enveloped Laz with an oval light.
As this happened, Laz, whose eyes were shut from the shock of the lightning, opened them to find he was in a strange place.
***
The whole environment was filled with fog here and there. To find a solid platform was close to impossible, but somehow, Laz managed to be standing on one.
He looked around him with surprise, wondering what had happened and how he had gotten himself in this environment.
'Is this what others faced?'
What answered his thoughts was a fierce wind, which whipped his hair and the cloak he adorned backwards, and from the heavy blow of the air, a female voice, like that of Lady Hiss, began to speak.
"By standing upon the Pedestal of Threefold Awakenings, you have accepted the inheritance of your predecessors."
Laz looked around for the direction of the voice, but he seemed to be searching to no avail. So, he decided to keep mute and just listen.
"The world of Ellipse is in chaos. And Chaos is imbalance."
"BRING BALANCE TO THIS WORLD!!!" an echo of voices sounded.
Then, back was the solo voice that looked like that of Lady Hiss.
"May the elements within you rise, and let the shadows chained to your soul be exorcised."
'Exorcised?'
Immediately, Laz's stomach churned, his head hurt, and his body twisted in a circular motion until Laz was out of this vast total fog, but not out of the illusion.
He found himself walking on a long, stretched platform, covered in blue cloud, and surrounded by white-smoke fumes.
As he walked on the platform, he began to hear narrative voices.
"This world was created from shadows. Peace was a given, Chaos was unwritten. Not until the first humans became our inhabitants.
At arrival, the shadow that roamed for peace was disintegrated into two equal energies: the Good and the Bad.
The Good are the unprotected, their lives were always bare, prone to torture and maltreatment. And there were the Bad, loved by all, always feeling safe.
But none of these energies contributed to the stabilization of the peaceful world they inhabited.
The Good were shunned from doing the Right things, often not because they lacked the will, but because no appreciation of any sort was received.
Gradually, the wills of the Good became sour. Truth turned bitter. Kindness turned to weakness. Compassion was seen as foolishness.
The Good were totally denied of their purpose to discern the Right things..."
Laz continued walking the endless path of the platform, quietly and strangely, listening to the narrative voice.
"...the Bad, however, became the heroes of the day and the guardians of the night.
Their errors were termed Strategy.
Their deceit is termed Intelligence.
Their cruelty was Necessary.
And their performances were always applauded, and most of them became role models.
Thus, the greatest shadow was born and was disseminated across the whole universe.
The shadow that spread confused clarity.
The shadow that protected the undutiful.
It created suspicion, and its solution was out of bad will.
Promises were its product, but failure begets betrayal.
The shadow plunged the world into total chaos.
Right became powerless, and Wrong was necessary — this was the Shadow of Sin."
***
As soon as the voice faded, Laz felt the platform on which he walked begin to rise. When he looked down, on his right side, he saw the result.
A river, flowing with ripples.
And when he looked to his left, he saw the blue flame, sparkling into wildness.
Then, the mark on his wrist shimmered and glowed with a soft light.
At that instant, a silvery streak of spirit rose from the river, slithering like a smoke with water wisdom.
At the same time, a crystalline steam erupted from the flame into the air.
Both spirits met each other, circling above Laz in swift spirals, then collided in a burst of radiant white light that could blind the eyes.
Laz shielded his eyes, and he seemed to have suddenly stopped moving. He was still.
When he opened his eyes, he understood he was no longer on the platform.
He stood barefoot on the massive head of a dragon snake, its body as long as a mountain range, its scales shining with a color blend of the river and blue flame.
Then, without command, it flew through the air, its short wings flapping consecutively, until it arrived at a certain object of infinite height.
The object, even though circular, was colossal. It had a curved shape that looked like a flattened circle, more of an oval appearance. Repeatedly, it rotated on a long pole, intersecting its circumference.
It looked exactly like the glowing mark on his wrist, except for the difference in the intersection.
Without another warning, the dragon snake moved and curled its body around the long pole, slowly, majestically, until Laz was brought directly before the object.
There was a brief silence, with Laz's eyes closed.
And when he opened them again, he began to speak, with a voice that sounded more celestial.
"I am the Right and Wrong."
He seemed to pause, allowing the echo from his words to settle along this vast world, and continued.
"I am who I am, for I dare to see both sides, yet not devoured by either.
In a world where deception is the key and the truth is behind the scene, where our emotions become our transitions, and where the good pray for survival while the bad eats success like pride...
The Wrong shall soon become the path, and the Right, the abode."
A roar of thunder followed the end of his unknowing, short speech.
When he got himself, his body lazily crumbled on the floor, and his vision blurred to the sight of a beautiful lady rushing over to where he lay.
"Laz Mann?"