The piercing winter winds of Auroealis howled, embracing the snowy mountains with its furious wrath. Here and there chunks of rocks from the mountain sundered, forming numerous avalanches that changed the landscapes of this mountainous area of the nation. Corpses of humans, mortals and abominations with their flesh torn apart from the wind were scattered on the barren lands, their remains frozen and rotting, filled with appalling necrosis. The uncanny thing about this sight is the fact that the bodies themselves appear to be assimilated with the land, almost as if Auroealis is consuming all of the corpses to become one with it, even if slowly. Perhaps Auroealis is a living entity? No one can say for certain.
Meanwhile in a specific mountain, inside a cavern, a mere mortal and an otherworldly being stood face to face, seemingly having an intense stare down.
The otherworldly being stared at the weakened mortal with amusement painted all over his face, and the mortal with his pathetic condition stared back at the otherworldly being with no hint of fear clear in his eyes— not even a sign of submission towards the being's clearly superior presence.
The being, after the momentary silence finally spoke.
"You are an interesting fellow Altair, you say you are only human? I suppose you really are, the way you are very adaptive in nature. I am honestly impressed, that's not even mentioning your indifference towards my presence, it is quite admirable to say the least."
Altair stared into Maxim, not saying even a single word to the being's praise.
"You say you want to live correct Altair?" Maxim added.
All Altair could do was nod his head weakly, his now deteriorating body does not allow for further expending of energy needlessly, that even talking becomes a chore for him at this point.
"From what I see, you are not awakened yet, unsurprising, and quite a waste truthfully. Well human awakening is quite literally one of the hardest to attain awakenment in this world, couple with your race's inability to naturally produce magic, and the only merit of all of you being quantity, difficult doesn't even begin to justify how hard it is actually for one to awaken, and when one does it is a phenomenal miracle."
Human awakening is quite complex, unlike the other races which thanks to their distinct innate traits had their paths to awakening become less of a phenomenon. The connectivity of the other races' magic, body and soul is more systematically intertwined and is much more pronounced in comparison to a human's mundane connection of their body and soul, magic is out of the question since only a handful of humans have connection to one, and even then the connection of the 3 components that are pivotal materials for awakening are rudimentary for humans, regardless of whether they have relations to magic or not.
Elves for example awaken by undergoing a series of ceremonies that purify the body, magic and soul, before having that ceremony performed however they undergo various amounts of tests to see if they are applicable for awakening or not, and most of the time they are. After all the confirmation tests, they perform the ceremony meticulously and carefully, because during the purification all 3 components are fragile as during it the body creates intangible weaves that establishes a basic connection towards the soul and their hidden magic within. If the purification proves to be successful, the awakening commences, and during the awakening process the synergy between the body, magic and soul creates a suitable set of traits, skills and a specific type of magic and element to be given to the awakened.
That is basically how every race awaken, by establishing a basic connection between the body, magic and soul, with different methods, each with their own merits and demerits.
As a mortal awakens, they receive guidance from the Voice.
The Voice is an entity that is present inside every awakened in this World, to put it simply it is something that keeps track of an awakened, their progress, the items that they have received, all of their innate traits that they have gained as they become stronger, their classifications and all that important things that an awakened needs to keep track of. In simpler terms, it is a system of some sort. And of course the version of the Voice varies from race to race.
Human awakening is difficult for the reason that it remains a mystery up to this day. Human awakening records are quite enigmatic and inexplainable, logic couldn't seem to uncover the truth behind each awakening as all of them were explained, or described to be something astronomical or a miracle. That is why awakened humans in this World are highly regarded as lucky individuals that were blessed by the hand of Midas. None of them were weak as well, in fact most of the awakened humans are respected and is quite strong, with powers that are very different to the norms of what an awakened is supposed to have most of the time.
Maxim who felt a bit disappointed fixed his posture, and adjusted his demeanor. Leaning closer towards Altair's scar-filled face he gently asked:
"By all means it is still not impossible, Altair, you said you wished to live correct?"
Altair who can only stare at Maxim finally spoke, even if weakly and barely.
"I... do."
Maxim then smiled from ear to ear, genuine happiness clear in his eyes. He then stood tall with his hands placed in his hips, and laughed in a bizarre rhythm.
"Good good, because I have been dying to have another human subject to test this on, and I have found a phenomenal one right here in front of me."
Filled with confusion, Altair was speechless, well mostly because his body told him not to talk, and he could only stare at the tall figure of the powerful being in front of him.
"Well, you see, I have this one theory of a method for awakening, and I am not certain if it will work because my past experiments have all been a bust, however during my dormant years that lasted for a million years, I have been able to refine it in theory, all it lacked now was the practical application, and a vessel that can survive even if it's only by a slim chance, and you Altair I believe is that very vessel that can pull it off, with your experience, your willpower, and your resolve to not die, I have high hopes that you might be able to succeed."
Maxim whose stare pierced the view above, turned to Altair.
"Well, you do not want to die right? Prove it to me, and live through this."
And as Altair heard those very words, not even a blink of eye later, he felt Maxim's hand piercing his heart.
Altair felt no physical pain, no, what he felt was something beyond comprehension, he could not quite tell how it feels, but it felt like his soul was numb, the sensation was bizarre because at the same time he felt his very heart and soul becoming one then separating and then becoming one again and so on, like his heart? or was it his soul? is constantly being restructured into a shape that connects the two indefinitely. However it just seemed to never happen, his heart and soul even after all the painful reshaping, never got restructured into the perfect shape, no, it was as if something was missing in the equation.
After all of the abhorrent pain that he have felt from both his heart and soul, Altair woke up in a dark and enigmatic place. The biting cold of Auroealis was no longer piercing his skin, and the view of the mountains were replaced with a vast expanse of emptiness and darkness, it felt like he was both in the middle of a spacious abyss, and at the same time caged in an enigmatic prison.
Every scar in his body was gone, he felt his energy being fully recouped, however his figure was still gaunt and malnourished.
Altair stood up, and felt a sensation in his feet that is not quite solid but not quite liquid as well, it was something in between.
"Where the fuck am I?"
As Altair said those words, a voice from nowhere spoke to him in a language that he do not understand.
ההתעוררות שלך החלה, הוכח את נחישותך, או תמות מוות כואב.
Your awakening has commenced, prove your resolve, or die a painful death.