A man with nothing but skin and bones sat on the grass in an abandoned park. His eyes often change directions, as if looking for something interesting to watch. Eyes full of boredom became filled with nothing as the man looked down at his own hands.
He chuckled and pressed his nose bridge. He found something frustratingly interesting.
Night's eyes gleamed in the darkness as he stared at the thousand lights moving back and forth, then circular in the form of his whole arm. His body was filled with mana.
"This is driving me crazy."
He whispered to himself and slumped on his knees. He sighed, but minutes still hadn't passed before he started laughing to himself like a madman.
"I guess I have no choice but to do it."
Night's whisper was carried by the wind. Standing up on his two fragile legs, he made his way to the building just across the street. Unlike the dark and abandoned park he was in, the building was bright, with white walls filled with light.
Standing at the open door, Night could see two men, each drinking their own cup of coffee, staring at space, and clearly having nothing better to do. Night knocked on the glass door and caught the two men's attention.
"What are you doing in here, kid?"
Frowning at Night, the man, who looked like his navy blue uniform's button was about to burst, stood and sauntered in Night's direction. Using his undoubtedly huge body, he looked down at Night, squinting his judging eyes at him. He might have looked intimidating to someone else, but Night showed no distinct changes in his facial expression.
Because Night could not see it. The thousand colors that depicted mana in the officer's body
'I guess he's just an ordinary human.'
Night thought and raised his hands. His actions made not only the officer standing in front of him raise his eyebrow but also the other officer sitting on a chair that was clearly too small for him to stand up.
"I'm surrendering myself as a suspect of being an Awakened."
Both of the officers' faces were distorted just by the mention of two words. It was understandable that these two men would be terrified of Night, even though they could probably overpower him right now.
Awakened Ones. They were people who were chosen by the Sage to obtain strength and power, and of course, the power went along with authority. However, that power was born with a catch. And that is to survive.
If an awakened person did not know how to control the power vested in him, he would die. If an awakened person took too much confidence in his power, he would die. If an awakened person did not know how to survive, death would always be a second away.
"Did you show any symptoms of becoming awakened? And if so, how long has it been?"
The other officer walked closer. Caution was written all over his face.
Night tilted his head to the side and looked at the ceiling. He hummed as he blinked a few times. That short moment of action made the two officers become covered in sweat.
"Well..."
Night put down his right arm and looked at it before turning to the officers with a smile on his face.
"I can see thousands of colors moving in me, and there have been cases of me hearing something ring inside of my head, and I could still hear things even when I'm asleep."
Night paused and studied the horrified look on the officers' faces. He tried his best not to widen his smile, as that would freak the officers out.
"I could go on, but those are enough, right?"
The officers snapped out of themselves and immediately did what they were supposed to do. There was no need for Night to tell them how long had passed since the symptoms appeared. Hearing a ring inside his head meant that the Sage would soon call him.
The one who tried to intimidate Night earlier scurried to the desk and grabbed the phone before dialing a number, while the other officer took a pair of metal bracelets from the cabinet far back in the room.
"Give me your hands."
The officer ordered, and Night did what he was told, like an obedient dog. Without wasting a second, the officer put on the metal bracelets on Night's wrists, and they weigh so much that as soon as the officer let go of them, Night's wrists almost broke off of his arms.
"Call the Head Officer of District 8. Tell him that we've caught an Awakened."
In the distance, Night could hear the officer's voice talking to somebody over the telephone. He often fumbled, and beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead.
Night groaned inwardly as he frowned at the weight of the metal bracelets. He looked up at the officer who put it on him.
"Is this really necessary?"
Night asked, removing the frown from his face and reverting it back to his stoic expression, thinking that it might make the officer less wary of him. However, it created the opposite reaction from what he intended.
"Yes! Those metal bracelets are needed to seal your inner mana from going berserk."
The officer explained rather calmly. Night would have been convinced, if not for the officer's lips trembling ever so slightly.
'Well, it's not like I don't know why. After all, I might croak and turn into an eight-legged tentacled monster. Now, that would be a nightmare for them, that is.'
Night kept his thoughts to himself and shrugged. The officer then stared at Night with a complicated look on his face before pointing towards a corner of a room. Night's eyes followed where his finger was pointing, and his face instantly hardened.
"I'll keep my hands to myself and behave, but I'm never going in there."
Night stated, his voice as firm as the officer's uniform's buttons. He was willing to do anything but go inside a cell that stinks more than the slums he lived in for seventeen years. Of course, Night had no intention of actually saying those things to the officer.
'I don't know what they'll make me do if I tell them that.'
Night thought and looked at the other officer in the room just in time as he put down the phone. The officer sighed and glanced in his colleague's direction, but flinched when his eyes met Night's instead.
"Why are you still out here?"
The officer blurted, but soon regretted his actions after seeing the glare directed straight at him through his peripheral vision. His colleague had warned him with his gaze and realized what was going on.
"I guess it's fine as long as you don't do anything."
The officer did not dare to finish his sentence and cleared his throat.
"Ahem. The head officer is on his way here. He will be with Sir Louis; I presume you know who he is. After filling up a form for your identification, Sir Louis will bring you to the Awakened Academy back with him."
The officer explained and looked away from Night, pretending to busy himself by tidying the papers on his desk.
Night looked around and found himself a corner to sit in. He had no intention of getting along with these people. Instead, he thought about the person the officer had mentioned.
Liam Louis was known for being a Rank Hero Grade 2 Legion and for his affiliation with the Awakened Academy. He was popular with everyone, especially the girls.
A frown appeared on Night's forehead. Just thinking about Liam's name made him irritated. It was because of the obvious reason why he was popular.
'Pretending as a kind Legion with a pretty face. Definitely annoying.'
Night breathed a sigh and removed the frown from his face. His eyes flew around the room to distract himself from thinking about nonsensical things, but he failed to do so as he found nothing interesting.
Closing his eyes out of boredom made him find something much more worth it for him to do. With his sense of sight closed, Night's other senses were enhanced. The silent ticking of the wall clock, the careful sipping of coffee, the stink from the cell a few meters away from him, and the flow of mana in his body
Night could feel his head getting clearer as he followed the flow of his inner mana from his head to the tips of his fingers. And without realizing it, all of his other senses were blocked, making him not realize that the Head Officer of District 8 along with Liam had arrived.
"Where is the Awakened?"
A man with strands of gray hair sticking out of his coffee brown hair and a mustache groomed well asked the officers in the room as soon as he stepped inside.
"Uhmm, he's right there."
The officer who put the metal bracelets on Night pointed at him, sitting on the corner.
"What is he doing there?"
The head officer stopped in the middle of his sentence. Liam, who had already laid his eyes upon Night the moment he entered the room, raised his hand to stop the head officer from talking.
"Nobody shall enter this room without my permission."
Liam's eyes focused on Night with a mixture of genuine surprise and amusement.
"And that includes every single one of you, officers."
"But shouldn't we bring him to the academy this instant?"
The head officer, confused by Liam's decision, asked
"That man right there," Liam said, nodding his head in Night's direction. "Is already undergoing his energy core building." With narrowed eyes, Liam watched the flow of Night's mana as it formed three energy cores.
'Something is wrong.'
Liam thought.