Back in his small apartment, Moon glanced at the time with a firm but powerless gaze. To say that he wasn't overwhelmed by his failure to awaken would be a lie.
How could he not be? His dreams, his ambitions of becoming an Awakener had been nullified in the span of seconds. And what made everything worse was that the summoning was about to begin.
There were two ways a person could enter the First Sanctuary for the first time. The first was at midnight immediately following their awakening. The second was on the night after their eighteenth birthday, regardless of awakening status.
In mere hours, Moon would be thrust into the dangerous world of the First Sanctuary.
The First Sanctuary was no ordinary place. Even Awakeners struggled to survive there, especially in the beginning. The danger wasn't inherently fatal because new arrivals typically spawned inside bases controlled and maintained by other humans. Safety existed within those walls. It was only when you ventured outside, when you stayed too long hunting monsters beyond the perimeter, that the real threats emerged.
For someone like Moon, someone who hadn't awakened, the summoning served a different purpose. He'd be transported to the First Sanctuary, the world would scan him, recognize his lack of potential, and send him back through one of the established portals. A formality. A final confirmation of his status as a Null.
Humans who didn't awaken simply returned after their brief transportation. Many portals existed between both worlds, stable gateways that those who'd already visited could use freely. Awakeners traveled back and forth regularly, treating the First Sanctuary like a second home, a proving ground, a source of resources and power.
But those portals were selective. Attempting to enter without the First Sanctuary's recognition meant death. The portals themselves would reject an unrecognised body, tearing it apart at a molecular level. Moon had seen videos of the aftermath once, back when he'd still believed he'd awaken. A careless civilian had tried to follow an Awakener team through a portal as a prank.
They'd found him in pieces.
The summoning ritual solved that problem. When a person was naturally transported during their first summoning, something nobody could fully explain, the First Sanctuary acknowledged them. Scanned them. Gave them an identity within its system. After that, they could enter and exit through the portals however they liked, recognised as valid entities by whatever force governed that world.
Moon stared at his phone. 8:47 PM. The summoning would occur at midnight. Three hours and thirteen minutes.
His apartment felt smaller than usual. One room serving as a bedroom, living area, and kitchen. A bathroom barely large enough to turn around in. Cheap furniture he'd bought secondhand. It was all he could afford on his part-time wages, especially after his parents had passed two years ago in a rift breach.
He'd thought awakening would change everything. It would give him the power to ensure that he could avenge them and he could protect people he cared about and cared about him…or so he thought.. It would lift him out of this cramped existence into something better, something meaningful.
Instead, he was still here, powerless and in three hours, the world would confirm it officially.
Moon walked to his small window and looked out over the city. Lights stretched toward the horizon, thousands of people living their lives. Somewhere out there, Sarah was probably celebrating with Marcus and his party, planning their future and imagining the adventures they'd have.
He closed the blinds and his eyes.
♢♢♢♢
[You are being summoned to the First Sanctuary in one minute. Prepare accordingly.]
Moon opened his eyes as the ethereal voice entered his ears. The same voice that everyone his age and all newly awakened should be hearing at the same time, across the entire world. A phenomenon that defied explanation, understood by nobody but experienced by all.
He was still lying on his bed, fully clothed. He hadn't bothered changing. What was the point?
[5...]
"Let's just get this over and done with." He sighed, staring at the water-stained ceiling of his apartment.
[4...3...2...1...You are entering the First Sanctuary.]
The world dissolved.
It wasn't painful, but it wasn't comfortable either. Moon felt his body come apart and reform in the same instant, like being pulled through a space too small for him to fit and somehow making it through anyway. Colours bled together, then separated. Sound became texture, texture became light, and then everything snapped back into focus.
Moon stood in a stone courtyard.
He blinked, his vision adjusting. To his surprise, other people materialised around him in flashes of light, appearing in ones and twos. Some gasped in wonder. Others immediately looked around in fear; they were easy to identify, they were people who hadn't awakened their talents.
The sky above was different from that on Earth. Two moons hung in the darkness, one pale blue and one deep crimson, neither matching the moon from his world. Stars formed constellations he didn't recognise.
This was the First Sanctuary.
More and more people started materialising around him, until Moon felt like nearly a thousand people were next to him, summoned to the same courtyard. He didn't recognise anyone from his high school, nor did he want to.
Then, a spirit appeared in the air. She had a beautiful, curvaceous body and a smile that would topple planets rather than mere kingdoms.
Without speaking, she clicked her hand after taking a quick glance at the crowd, her eyes scanning every single person like a hawk.
Once her click registered in the ears of everyone present, tens of people started disappearing gradually, and Moon knew exactly what that was.
'The nulls are being transported back to Earth. I guess it's time, Moon thought with a bitter feeling, as he closed his eyes, no longer looking at the two Moons that he would never see again in his lifetime.
Within moments, twenty percent of the people present were sent back to earth.
[Welcome to the First Sanctuary.]
The voice returned, clearer now, resonating not through his ears but directly in his mind. All around the courtyard, the other students stopped moving, stopped talking, their attention drawn inward to the same ethereal presence.
[You are the chosen ones. Those deemed worthy by the world itself to walk between realities. Here, in the First Sanctuary, you will find both rewards beyond imagination and dangers that will test the very limits of your potential.]
Moon's confusion deepened with each word.
Chosen ones? Worthy? The voice was addressing all of them equally, making no distinction between those who had awakened and those who hadn't.
[Within these walls, you are safe. The bases scattered across the First Sanctuary serve as havens for your kind. Beyond them lie territories filled with creatures of increasing strength, resources of immense value, and mysteries waiting to be uncovered.]
Why was he still here?
[Your status panels will guide you. Your abilities will grow. Your choices will shape your path. Treat this world with the respect it demands, and it will reward you accordingly.]