Matias awoke to the grim smile of his father spinning across his vision as he tumbled from the bed his father just overturned.
"Get up son! you can't be late for the big day! Today is the day you will go out there and restore our family name. Go show the people my training paid off, you'll be the greatest warrior cultivator our town has seen in generations!" It seems he is in a rare state of sobriety since he was able to string those sentences together. Matias hopped up and started getting dressed. He put on his best set of clothes, which were more reminiscent of a tailored burlap sack than finery. He then followed his father downstairs, ate a piece of old bread that was left on the table from dinner last night, and scurried out the door towards the chapel.
There was already a crowd amassing around the dais of the church, trying to get the best seats to watch the results of the future of the village. He saw the sneer on Brads face as Brad saw Matias approaching, and how it was mirrored by Brad's father. No one seemed particularly happy that Matias was there, and many seemed to think he was disgracing their child's special day.
Matias did his best to ignore these looks and the whispered comments, instead strolling to his place at the side of the dais, confident that in mere moments all would see his results and look on in shock.
He had a good idea of how the ceremony would go since he has watched each one since he was seven. Each of them will approach Father Gustov, who will place his hand over their cultivation base and use a small amount of his essence to explore the meridian structure. He will use this and the cultivation rank to determine if they will be able to become part of the church and receive more intensive training in cultivation.
There were only a few people in front of Matias, Brad immediately so. He seem none too happy about this development, but his displeasure was washed away by aloof feelings of superiority and grandeur when he was found to have 8 Meridians, with one already open!
Matias had to beat Brad, he just had to! There is no way he can allow all Brad's snide remarks and insults to be seen as nothing but truth. Filled with apprehension he slowly approached Father Gustov. Gustov placed his hand on Matias' chest and an eternity passed in an instant. He had never felt the levels of fear, hope, and determination that he did right then. Father Gustov turned to the crown and spoke, and everyone was so shocked you could've heard a pin drop.
"Matias has zero meridians and a paltry F-4, we will not be proceeding with his training. This child is cursed by the gods and brings shame to the Holcrum name. Not that they aren't used to it." His disposition towards our family has always been less than hospitable.
Matias' heart stopped. Zero. Not a single meridian. That was so rare it was practically unheard of, he would never amount to anything as a cultivator. His enemies were right... he is pathetic and weak. And then across the crowd, he caught sight of the look on my fathers face. The rage, the betrayal, the scorn. His look promised retribution for the shame Matias made him feel.
Hopes and dreams crushed, he walked through the crowd towards the house with his eyes locked on the floor. He missed the looks he knew he would be receiving, but couldn't care enough to even be mad about it. He would be forever locked in this life of misery and was incapable of building the strength to free himself from it.
On his way through the kitchen he stopped and for the first time ever picked up one of his fathers liquor bottles. Popping the cork, he took a large swig on his way up the steps, not bothering to taste it as he wallowed in self pity and misery.
Later in the evening he heard the door banging open and the muffled voices of his parents arguing downstairs.
"That boy will bring prosperity to this family, if not as a cultivator than as the catalyst for our final ritual!"
"He is our son! And you don't know if that ritual will even work!"
"It'll work, it has to work. We did the one with the chickens from the same source and it really did increase our crop yield by 5 percent!"
"But what would we tell his sister?"
"Tell her that we are sacrificing this god forsaken abomination for the good of the family. Matter of fact, make her participate. She will need to learn to be responsible if she is to continue our bloodline."
That held Matias' attention momentarily, before he drifted back in alcohol induced oblivion.