Chereads / Ijin / Chapter 4 - Awakening.

Chapter 4 - Awakening.

Due to their excitement, the boys quickly got down and out and very soon they were in the white hallway that Mathilda had teleported to, to meet with Maria, but they didn't move forward like she did, instead they teleported to the sight of Maria already waiting for them, as she saw them she said to the visibly excited boys, "Follow me", and together with her they moved to the left wing of the hallway, there wasn't many doors on their way through the path, only a scant few of them but they knew the big interiors made up for it's little inadequacy. Soon they reached a door, evident that this was their destination, Maria placed her hand on a groove that looked like a handprint and immediately after the groove glowed a bright white beneath her palm and the door actually opened up, it was a different sight from the normal doors that didn't need to open to pass through, hence it was evident that this was an important place. A narrow was within their sight as the door opened, walking into and through it, they came upon another door, but this didn't need any waiting as they passed through immediately. Immediately they moved through they came into a spacious that was twice that of the boys room, it was circular in shape and adorning the walls throughout the room were a good amount of bookshelves, it almost felt like a conventional library if it wasn't for the fact that it felt more like a studio, Ijin could feel the usual atmosphere one would get in a sound-proofed room, every sound was heard better in here than outside. "Alright you three should take a seat in the center, take a lotus position and take deep breaths to clear your mind. It's time you go through your awakening ceremony, sorry its at an impromptu moment but we'll be reaching the Legion soon enough and I want you all to have awakened before then. It shouldn't be a problem, just do as I said and keep calm, you three are too excited at the moment.

Their guess came through, it was easy to expect since if they were back on Earth, they would have undergone the awakening ceremony like everyone else during a general awakening ceremony the school conducted for it's final year students, but due to the turn of events ever since, it wasn't until today that they would finally be able to do it. So they went forward and took their positions in the center, the lotus position was easily the best posture so they sat in a lotus position. "Remember, breathe in.., breathe out.., breathe in.., breathe out, imagine something that keeps you calm and clear all your thoughts in that state of mind…", "your bosom like heavenly peaches, your bra the container of holding, with my hands I aim to pluck but first I have to suck you…", as the one who speaks the least, he had the habit of listening for even the tiniest sound that he could pick up, naturally Damian heard Ayo's absurd mumbling and almost coughed out as he felt both laughter and bewilderment bubbling within him, his concentration broke but he had a lot of restraint hence he could control himself and tuned Ayo's words out of his ears but sadly he was the only one beside him who heard it as Ijin's level of focus when it came to things he put his mind to was outstandingly good, he was already as calm as possible and oblivious to his surroundings.

Naturally with their level of strength they both heard it, with Kasali's face slightly red as he seemed to be holding back some laughter, then he spoke to Maria who had an amused look in her eyes, "this boy's a scoundrel I'll give him that, the legion will have those constantly infuriated by him, want me to fix him up?", smiling she replied "leave him be, they all have their individual characters and traits, forcing him to stop might not be that easy or necessarily the right way even, in time he will grow and adapt", and after saying that and noticing that the boys were all calm, she took out a small device and pressed a button on it, as she did that the lighting in the room dimmed a bit and something like a solemn chant began to echo within the spacious room, as time passed the chant became louder until it boomed within the boys head and they could only hear the chant, then as they began falling into a trance like state, a voice entered their heads, it was Maria's "let go and let your heart move to the rhythm of the chant, listen with all your heart and mind, the rest will happen naturally", having no need to hesitate, they tried to do like she said and soon enough they felt a connection between their hearts and minds, with the chant echoing in their heads, the connection became clearer and stronger until it was like their hearts and minds came together and became one, that was when things became different for them, looking from a perspective point of view, from two of them faint noises could be heard and from all three of them different colored sparks of light began to appear around them, seeing this Kasali couldn't help but crease his brows a little bit, having experienced this scene a few times he naturally knew what was happening, "he's a bloodless warrior, it's not too surprising but it's going to be harder for him than others, a few more times harder", Maria sharing the same thought replied "hmm that's through but surprisingly he has extreme affinity for the darkness, even Ayo with his bloodline doesn't seem to have such affinity for the flames and wind around him, but it's still not easy to say at this point…", then she looked over to her son, the sparks of light around him seemed to glow with a golden shine, it was as beautiful as it was mysterious and it even seemed to be causing conflict and disturbances with the sparks of light around Damian and Ayo, realizing the situation Maria waved her hand and a screen of light appeared around his body, it was until then that the sparks of light became calm once again, then she smiled and spoke again "as usual, it's effect is already showing subconsciously, a battle against him would be a draining one but I guess it depends on who decides to battle with him". Around him and within his mind, other than the chant that occupied his head, he began to hear another faint sound, it was a chant, but this one sounded different, it had a grander feel to it and also increased in it's volume, as a second chant could be heard from Ijin, red and white sparks could be seen around Ayo as a bestial roar could be heard from within him, if one listened closely it sounded like the roar was aiming to burn all things around it and then blow all the ashes into oblivion, it was an arrogant roar. "The flaming storm beast bloodline power is a very strong one, even though within the flame bloodline rankings, it's on the second level of power, with the essence of wind innately present within it, it can be said to contest for an overall top-level bloodline ranking, it matches his unruly and rascally character very well, it's a bloodline that can only be cowered by the bloodlines at the top of the top" Maria spoke again as an expression flashed within her eyes, then she look over to Damian whose awakening was void of any sound, it seemed lonely and sad, with the deep black sparks around him that almost flowed around him like a river, it only seemed to give off a desolate and mysterious vibe. Then after minutes of incessant roaring and sparks of light gathering, an apparition appeared behind Ayo that was although blurry, was clear enough to gain a vivid outline of it, it was a beast that seemed like one from those stories and lore, with a lion's head and a qillin's body on which two fiery wings grew on, it released a final roar to announce it's awakening and arrival, and as if on cue both Ayo and Damian opened their eyes feeling something different about themselves, the light sparks around them had receded into their bodies so they didn't immediately notice, but when they felt within themselves they notice something like a sphere inside them and Ayo felt a presence within his heart, he kind of instinctively knew what it was but he couldn't be sure, so he looked up to ask the two older ones who would have experiences in it, but noticed they were focused on something else, following their line of sight he saw Ijin wrapped in golden sparks of light, the density of the golden sparks was on the same level as the one around Damian, he couldn't make out the reason for their focus on him but he guessed what was happening was having a big effect on his close friend. "Isn't he also supposed to have completely awakened, what's going on?", Confused, Kasali couldn't help but ask, and like an answer to his question, the atmosphere around Ijin changed and faint sounds could be heard, it was very faint considering the sound of the other chants echoing around him but these two people could hear it clearly, suddenly the expression on Maria's face changed as she made a guess, 'could it be…', answering her thoughts, white light began to spread out from her son's head, spreading out and covering his entire body too, albeit faintly, then those faint chant grew louder and clearer. "He's awakening two…". The golden light around him had already reached a point of saturation, and like Ayo, a golden silhouette began to form behind his back also, and as it became clearer it took the shape of a human being, but the eyes of the being was completely golden, the skin on it was like transparent jade and haze of golden light was covering it from head to toe, on it's head was what seemed to be an emperor's crown, with a serene and profound look in it's golden globes for eyes, it's mouth kept on moving as a chant was heard, then beside it, struggling to appear was a white silhouette, the white color it had gave off a pure and saintly feeling almost like platinum , but as the silhouette began to appear, like it had sentience the crowned being already behind Ijin turned to look at it and a frown expression crossed it's face, following the frown the golden haze around it's body immediately brighter and spread out around Ijin actually aiming to suppress the white light, then the white in it's retaliation also began struggling. "As expected, it would be hard for him to wield the two of them, they are both supreme bloodlines and seek the top, too bad it felt like he had a chance", Kasali spoke up after witnessing the white light struggle to form while Maria didn't reply, a certain passed through her eyes, it wasn't sure what she was thinking. As if to prove Kasali's words, the white silhouette that was trying to form stopped the struggle and began to fade away, the white light surrounding Ijin also began to disperse, but not all of it dispersed, a small amount of it remained and followed the golden light as it moved through the pores on his skin and moved to the region between his heart and stomach, the golden light ignored the tiny amount of white light within it's midst as it followed the coercion of the first and second chant and started swiveling as it reached the exact center between the heart and stomach, like as if there was another space entirely within his body, the golden and little amount of white light circled and circled around eventually becoming smaller and smaller as it became more condensed until eventually a core was formed, a golden core with streaks of white here and there. -The core was basically the essence of one's path, it declared your attribute, it housed your bloodline spirit, as of this initial stage, when a warrior's bloodline had awakened and synergized with the corresponding elemental attribute in the atmosphere, the core would naturally be formed and it will be in it's initial stage of development, many other things will be attributed to it later as it grows, if and only if the growth reaches that particular stage-. This was how a text in the scroll Ijin read explained the core, the definition was fragmented and only this little explanation was present, it didn't explain further, he wondered why it was so, but as of now he couldn't be bothered with it as he realized that with the awakening and the synergizing, he felt like a different person altogether, he could see the core within himself, yes see not feel, the infinite chant was the chant that was played and stirred the bloodlines and attributes within them, hence leading to the awakening, it also strengthened the various connections within a warrior's body, all in all it was a mysterious and unfathomable chant, in the text he read, it was said that when the ascension of Earth happened and it was exposed to the cosmic energy in the vast space, a kind of resonation occurred and as the earth was said to awaken, the infinite chant was first heard coming from Earth itself, every plant, every leaf, every tree, every grain of sand, even the seven oceans and vast seas, anything connected to nature on Earth seem to gain sentience and sounded out the chant, it was engraved in the mind of every human being on Earth at that point and was even subconsciously passed on to the later generation. The first step to cultivation was awakening with the words of the chant that seemed to contain a kind of mysterious law. On completely awakening, every warrior and warlock would gain what was called clear insight, it made the senses of the cultivator to be far beyond what could be called normal, at a preliminary level like the one he was in now, it only allowed for total view and sight into his body and an acute sense of warning to any threat, of course to a warrior above his level, such level of senses is painfully little to allow a fair fight. He looked within and saw a core that was nothing short of beautiful, golden with streaks of platinum white, dazzling to the eyes, Ijin couldn't be more fascinated. As beautiful as it was, Ijin could clearly see it was no larger than a Ping-Pong ball, in the higher stages with every new star added, it increases, it maintained the position of the sun in the middle of the revolving stars… "Ijin…you are one hell of a freak…", then while he was lost in his thoughts and admiring his beautiful core, a bewildered voice snapped him out of his thoughts, then he looked at the person and saw Ayo looking at him with an expression with a mix of admiration and bewilderment, even a tinge of longing. Worrying about Ayo's sexual orientation he looked up and noticed a similar look on Damian, and one of astonishment and joy on Kasali and his mother, at this point he was confused and uncomfortable so he spoke up, "what's going on?"

"…!?!?"

Everyone present on the ship at the moment were gathered at the command center, looking forward at the approaching scenery, what they were there for rapidly became obvious as the image of a magnificent utopia stretching across a large came into sight, at this point the boys became dumbfounded with blank looks while Kasali and Mathilda had looks of reminiscence and joy in their eyes, the majesty of the place hadn't degraded a single bit and even seemed to have increased. It was reminiscent of a floating in the sky, only that this was floating in space and would easily and totally eclipse the Earth, putting it into thorough darkness, it was a mix between technological innovation and magical nature-filled sights, there wasn't any sun or natural satellite nearby to cast some light onto it yet it shone with the beauty of a hundred moons put together.

"Welcome home boys"

This was the legion's headquarters.