Edin catches her breath as one final painful rush of New Blood rushes through her veins. Falling on her knees, she looks around to the others, and a dark reality sets in. Of the four children awakening their essence, Edin is the only one to survive. In her pain, she hadn't realised the villagers running and crying in panic as the children they had lived next to, befriended, and gave birth to, died in front of them before they were able to gain their full power. Now, the sole survivor of the Awakening, she looks toward the Elders. They look at her with a grin.
"Edin Kanterra, you have passed the first test and surpassed your peers." The Chief says, signaling to Jihan to set the stage down.
Jihan sets it down slowly, crawling from underneath the stage and looking at the bodies, and a lone Edin.
"Good job kid. I see a great future ahead of you, just like me." He smiles and gives a thumbs up.
Edin stands, feeling light headed and almost like she's in a different body.
"Don't worry, child. It will take a while, but I believe you will succeed at the Trial. The Awakening was the truly hard part." The Chief says, walking toward her. "Now, go East. Find a beast worthy of your Essence."
Edin leaves her home alone for the first time. Fortunately, she knows a den of Hundred Year beasts are located, thanks to her scouting with her father a few times. She heads off toward the direction, thinking not about the death of her peers, but to impress the village Elders. For all she cared, her bullies deserved death with what they've done to her. Their parents, however, she did have remorse for. She could only imagine losing her parents, and how they would react to losing her. She uses this determination as fuel to fight and kill the beast that lays ahead of her.
Edin reaches the den, but sees the rotting corpses of the entire den, laying across the clearing. Across from Edin is a large Dire Wolf. She estimates it to be 550 year, something intense for her. Just hearing it crunch the bones of its prey is enough to make Edin want to run, but remembering her anger and will to come back worthy, she charges the beast. Alearted by her heavy footed run, the beast turns around and howls at her, knocking her off her feet. The beast rushes in, jaws open as he goes to bite her. Before he can, she puts her hands out and forces the jaws open, struggling as the teeth start to dig into her. Finally, she sees her blood dripping down her arm. In a yip of pain, the beast backs away. Curious of its reaction, she looks down at her hands, revealing that the wound is boiling, and the blood is giving off a poisonous aroma that she's smelled before: The Blackroot Flower. She recognizes this because she's been told not to ever go near it, even though her father constantly experiments with its uses in his alchemy. Regaining her strength and the beast charging again, she dodges its lunge and spins in the air, kicking in shoulder, dislocating it and knocking it back. Smirking as she pulled it off precisely as her father taught her, Edin follows up with a dropkick, but this time, her foot is met with the jaws of the beast.
Edin screams as the beast chomps on her foot, but quickly regrets its decision as it recoils back in pain as it swallows the blood. Edin falls to the ground, holding her foot. It is not ripped apart, however, it seems as if it was just bitten by a small puppy. She looks back up at the beast, which is now trembling. Edin begins to stand up, but falls to the pain, not fully recovering from the pain of her Awakening. The beast begins to walk toward her, but slumps over, foaming at the mouth. Edin limps toward the beast, grazing its fur. As she touches the beast, its Essence is absorbed into her, healing her wounds, and imbuing her with more power. She notices a glow on her wrist. Looking at it, she sees a wolf chasing its own tail in a perfect circle: Her first ring. Her father taught her about these. Each time you kill an Essence Beast after your awakening, you gain a ring. The ring will heal your wounds from battle and also give you part of the Beast's strength. Her father said there were other ways to gain Essence Rings, but he would wait until she was older. Pleased with her victory, and anxious to see the Elders praise her once again, she heads off back to her village.