Ethan began to walk again with purposeful steps, weaving through the crowd with a predator's grace that belied his small frame.
The temple of awakening was not what Ethan had expected. He'd pictured spires that gleamed and light-filled halls. Instead, it was a vast, somber hall of grey stone, barely any light seeping through, with the large array on the floor and floating dark red flames.
He stood in line with dozens of fourteen-year-olds, a sea of nervous energy and cheap, formal clothing. In contrast to them, he was basically unbothered but had a cold, calculating tension in him as he took in his environment.
One by one, the children were called forward to stand in the center of a complex circular array glowing with white light that looked almost flowing.
A woman with her long red hair tied in a bun, her eyes glowing with the sharp focus of an Attuned Rank Ascendant, stood holding a list, calling the kids forward one by one to stand in the center of the array. She would activate the array, which in turn would release energy into the kid within the array, and in a second, a manifestation of their affinity would appear above them. A spark of flame, an orb of water, an orb of wind, tendrils of lightning...
Their reactions were a study in human drama. Ethan, who was still far behind in the queue, was getting bored as he was interested in seeing the first few flames or water, but no one had ascended anything new. At this point, everything was a repetition.
Just as he was about to yawn in boredom, he focused intensely as he looked at a new manifestation of a dark-haired kid, and he saw what looked like shimmers.
He was interested, but he mistakenly looked around and saw that no one else was interested, as if this affinity didn't matter.
He was just about to continue his train of thought when he heard the woman call out.
"Illusion affinity." Next, Henry Bane .....
'Hmmnnnn... what was that just now? It looks like the illusion affinity isn't worth much in this world.'
'But isn't that all I have to rely on... didn't Leo say illusion was his domain?'
'No, that can't be, something is wrong here.....'
Refusing to accept this observation as the truth. Because value could be calculated in a million ways, and he would accept it till he tried the limits of this affinity himself.
He raised his brow as a new manifestation affinity was showing itself in a kid called Neo Vesper.
And when he looked at the faces of the kids present, he saw looks of disgust all over.
He listened for the affinity name.
And there he heard it....
The lady's voice dropped an octave as she called it out.
"Death affinity." Next...
Closing his eyes for a moment, he nodded his head as if understanding the reason an affinity like that would be frowned upon.
The next few kids after that were the usual basic elements, and he finally figured out the lady's affinity, as he saw another individual manifest the lightning affinity and observed the energy she used to activate the array each time.
It was almost his turn as the young girl in front of him was called.
"Alice Moraves..."
For the first time since he got to this temple, the entire place went silent. The only sound that could be heard was his shoes hitting the grey-stoned ground as he walked to the middle of the array.
The Attuned Rank official with the tablet quickly activated the array as she had done several times today.
The manifestation started slowly as a sliver of mercurial energy that kept shifting in form, started gathering as it grew to the size of a football and stopped growing, but its form was never constant...
Ethan, who had a first-class seat to this event, stood confused as he heard the name of a new affinity that hadn't been called this whole time.
"Creation affinity." Next, Ethan Alerion...
Forgetting that he was next for a moment, Ethan stood thinking about the affinity he just heard....
'NEXT ETHAN ALERION!'
Recalling himself, he moved steadily and quickly into the array.
He could swear he heard a rumbling in her voice as she called his name for the second time....
The array flared to life around his feet as thin lines of silver light started seeping into his body from his feet.
He felt a probing force around his soul....
He could understand that it was his soul being touched because he was just a soul body a while ago.
He still knew the feeling.
Above his head, the air began to shimmer... as the colors of the shimmer bled into one another, forming a mirage-like haze...
The Attuned Rank official nodded as she was already making a note of the element as she called out, "Illusion affinity."
Nex..
It happened in the space between two heartbeats.
The array, having identified the illusion affinity, should have shut down. But a trickle of its probing energy brushed against the barrier of Leo's essence.
And in that same moment, it brushed against the one thing Leo had missed; the soul's original affinity was touched by the ascension energy.
A flash of golden light blinded the hall for a moment as Ethan felt his seal instantly shield itself from that probing energy, and that shield extended to his second affinity; he ascended.
The flash of golden light made the Attuned Rank official frown as she sent her energy into the array, first checking it thoroughly for issues.
Seeing that it had no problems, she looked at Ethan, still standing within the array with a little grin on his face.
"Why is he so happy with his measly illusion element?"
Still curious about what the light was, she spoke to Ethan.
"Come here, boy."
Without missing a beat, Ethan lost his grin and stepped towards her, adopting a look a 14-year-old should have. She placed a hand on his back, sending her energy through his body, examining it.
"Hmnnnnn... he looks like a noble, but how does he have so many bruises on his body.... besides the bruises, though, he's not been properly fed, but there's nothing special about him to cause a reaction from the array."
"Maybe it was just an error.... this array has been here for at least 20 years; a malfunction should be normal."
"No harm checking twice."
Retracting her energy, she looked at Ethan with a raised eyebrow.
Something about this kid was ticking her off....
"Step back into the array," she spoke to Ethan, returning her poker face.
Ethan's face twitched in that moment as he thought.
"Now this is a woman who trusts her guts, or maybe she just loves her job."
Stepping back into the array as she activated it again. Ethan felt the probing. This time, the seal was prepared as its defensive state had not gone down. The energy detected nothing except his illusion affinity manifesting once again above his head as he heard the words.
"Array error.... illusion affinity, next.."
Stepping out of the array, he moved towards where the other kids were standing while taking deep breaths from the tension he just survived....