Evan headed to the washbasin, splashing cold water on his face. As the droplets trickled down his skin, he felt a newfound clarity settle into his mind. It was as if the veil of everyday mundanity had lifted, and he could now sense the world around him more acutely. He looked at himself in the small mirror hanging on the wall. The same face stared back, but the eyes seemed to hold a different kind of light.
Mara, meanwhile, was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. She made a simple but hearty meal of scrambled eggs, toasted bread, and fresh fruit. The aroma filled the small house, providing a comforting backdrop to the morning's earlier events.
"Evan, breakfast is ready!" Mara called out.
Evan joined his mother at the small dining table. "It smells great, Mom."
"Thank you, dear. Eat up; you have a big day ahead."
They ate mostly in silence, the unspoken thoughts and worries still lingering in the air but temporarily set aside. After finishing his breakfast, Evan stood up. "Thanks, Mom. I'll take care of the dishes later."
"Don't worry about that. You focus on your day," Mara said, giving him an encouraging smile.
Evan nodded and headed to his room, closing the door behind him. He sat on the edge of his bed, taking a deep breath. He wanted to explore this new sensation, this 'difference' he felt within himself. Concentrating, he closed his eyes and turned his focus inward.
He felt as if he were plunging into an ocean, diving deeper into himself than he ever had before. What he found startled him; it was as if his entire body were teeming with an invisible energy, like a web of pulsing light. Evan's focus shifted to his fingertips and he could sense the latent power there, a power that seemed to be waiting for the right moment to manifest.
Curiosity piqued, Evan opened his eyes and looked at the ring on his finger. He wondered if the mysterious artifact was the catalyst for this change, or if it was something that had always been within him, now awakened.
His attention moved from his fingertips upward, tracing the flow of energy as it seemed to spiral towards his head. As he focused on the center of his brain, he discovered something astonishing. It was as if a tiny ball of whitish light resided there, a radiant orb that pulsed with a soft glow. He felt as if this light was the source of the newfound energy coursing through his veins, the epicenter of some deeper transformation.
"What is this?" he wondered, fascinated. The light seemed almost sentient, as if it was aware of his attention. For a moment, Evan felt overwhelmed by the potential implications. Was this the formation of a Qi pool, as the village elders often spoke of, or was it something else entirely?
A knock on the door interrupted his contemplation. "Evan, are you alright in there? You've been awfully quiet," Mara's voice filtered through the wooden door.
Evan shook his head as if to clear it, grounding himself back in the physical world. "I'm fine, Mom. Just gathering my thoughts for the day. I'll be out in a minute."
"Alright, take your time," she responded, and he could hear her footsteps retreating down the hall.
Evan looked once more at his reflection in the mirror hanging on his wall. The same face stared back, but the eyes held a flicker of the light he'd just discovered, a silent testament to the untapped potential within him.
With a sense of awe, Evan shifted his focus back to the luminous ball at the center of his mind. It was as if the act of observing it somehow triggered a flow of information into his consciousness. He didn't just "know"—he understood. The ball of light was his soul, and he had activated it, unlocking a layer of abilities that seemed to sit between the material world and something much more... ethereal.
The abilities that came with this soul activation were listed almost like bullet points in his mind: enhanced senses, limited precognition, a sort of short-radius clairvoyance, and even a basic form of telekinesis.
Testing the first ability, Evan closed his eyes and immediately noticed how his other senses seemed to magnify in intensity. The ambient sounds of the house became clearer—the murmur of Mara in another room, the chirping of birds outside. The scent of breakfast still lingering in the air became more vivid.
Eager to test the next ability, Evan focused on the space around him. Even with his eyes closed, he could "sense" the environment within a one-meter radius. It was as if a mental image formed, mapping out his immediate surroundings. He knew where the table was, the chair, and even the small trinket on his dresser.
The ability to predict simple situations seemed harder to validate in the quiet of his room, but Evan had a feeling it would come in handy in complex, fast-moving scenarios—like hunting in the forest, perhaps.
As for telekinesis, he focused on a small piece of paper lying on the table across the room. With a deep sense of concentration, he visualized it rising. To his amazement, the paper quivered for a moment and then lifted, floating about an inch off the table before gently descending.
Evan opened his eyes, the weight of what he had just discovered settling in. He felt like a novice standing at the edge of a vast, unexplored territory. And yet, there was also a sense of rightness to it, as if he had always been destined to step into this expanded version of reality.
His mother's voice rang out again, this time a little more urgent. "Evan, are you sure you're okay? You've been in there a long time."
Breaking away from his thoughts, Evan replied, "I'm more than okay, Mom. I feel like... like something important has happened. I can't wait to share it with you. But first, I have something to do."
And with that newfound sense of purpose, Evan stood up, his soul's light flickering like a miniature sun within him, ready to face the day's challenges.
Evan laced up his boots, the soles heavy with the promise of the day's work. He checked his belongings meticulously. His hunting bow and a quiver of arrows rested beside him; he added to it a compact chopping tool designed to cut through dense foliage and even small branches of trees. Sacks for carrying back any harvested Ironbark or hunted game completed his preparation. His hands brushed lightly over the tools, a strange sensation tingling through his fingers, as if his newfound abilities were resonating with the very objects he planned to use.
As he stepped out into the early morning light, the village was already coming alive. People moved about, talking animatedly with their neighbors. However, the conversations today were different—tinged with an undercurrent of urgency that Evan hadn't noticed before.
As he made his way towards the village entrance where he would meet Benny, Cara, and Old Thomas, fragments of conversation floated into his ears. Enhanced by his activated soul, his sense of hearing picked up even faint discussions from farther away.
"...been practicing physical training every morning, trying to strengthen my Mortal Seedling. The Village Head says we all need to focus more on it."
"...yeah, heard the same. It's about forming a Qi Pool, they say. If more of us can reach that stage, the village will be safer."
"...the cultivation techniques from the old scrolls, you think they'd help? I heard some elders are dusting them off..."
The words "Mortal Seedling," "Qi Pool," and "cultivation techniques" buzzed around him like never before. Normally, such conversations were held in more hushed tones, relegated to those who walked the path of cultivation. Now, it seemed everyone was discussing it openly. It was apparent that the elders' meeting had resulted in a new direction for the whole community.
His heart pounded a little faster as he arrived at the village entrance, the wooden arch bearing the name "Eiralia." Named for an ancient tale that most had forgotten—a story of harmony between earth and sky—the village seemed to carry its weighty mythos in a more tangible form today. Eiralia was waking up to something older, something deeper.
Evan saw Benny, Cara, and Old Thomas huddled in conversation, their faces turning towards him as he approached. Given what he had just experienced himself, and the atmosphere of the village today, Evan had the distinct feeling that this was not going to be an ordinary gathering of Ironbark.
He took a deep breath, his activated soul seeming to pulse in rhythm with the world around him, and joined his friends. Today, they weren't just hunting or harvesting; they were stepping into a larger story that involved their entire community—and perhaps, Evan thought, whatever had left that colossal footprint in the forest.