A frail young man sat under a lone tree in a open field, with the suns heat blazing down onto him. The tan boy was frail, dirty, wore rags that had holes and tears throughout it, and in his hands was a crude wooden cup holding very murky water within it. His eyes landed on it with complete greed.

He looked at the liquid like it was the last cup of water on earth— and gulped it down greedily.

His face immediately grimaced after drinking the water. It was basically like mud — it slowly going down his throat in a rough manner. He even coughed some of it up while swallowing it.

"Ugh this never gets easier to drink… but god it is refreshing."

He looked down at his drink with the same intensity as before, licking down any drops of liquid he might have left. He sat there for minutes lickings up any water left before finally letting the cup down and placing it beside him. He felt the suns warmth against his tan skin, the wind blowing through his dirty brown hair, along with a smile that somehow creeping onto his face. The water was gonna be the only highlight of his day.

"Well I guess today is the day… the day where I die."

He held the cup close to him and grimaced looking into it. He wasted all his days worth of water, even though that soon wouldn't matter soon. He slowly stood from under the tree and looked ahead to the lively village ahead of him. His grip of the cup got alittle tighter as he walked down the dirt road towards it. He held the cup close to his chest — the cup being the only to control his immense nervousness.

The boy was frail and skiny even for his age, and his clothes were rags that hung limply to his skin. The towns people there weren't rich exactly but their living situation was far better compared to him. They also immediately recognized the boy and gave effort to seperate themselves from him.

Inside the town, a guard walked up to him with one hand on the hilt of sword.

"Excuse me but what's your business here?"

Daun struggled to speak — slowly letting the words leave his lips. His grip now tightened even more into the cup, his legs shaking in fear.

"I believe to be one of the Blessed…"

The guard's expression of curiosity immediately changed and hardened. He looked the young man up and down with his grip on his sword tightening.

"Are you sure your one of the Blessed? When did you start to show signs?"

Daun then held his palm out to see a cut he gained from gripping on the crude, and very poorly made cup.

The cut though, healed rapidly.

"When did you start showing symptoms of this?"

Daun went back to holding his cup nervously.

"I think… three days ago maybe?"

The guard was shocked.

He fully pulled his sword out his sheath and pointed it towards the boy. The onlookers now backed up even more — whispers beginning to fill the air.

The guard then pulled out a small red gem from his pocket, and crushed it in his hand quickly. It flashed red.

"Attention! All towns people needs to leave the vicinity! I repeat, ALL TOWNS PEOPLE NEED TO LEAVE THE VICINITY!"

***

The Blessed appeared right after the world went through a peace treaty. That peace treaty basically solving most resource and regional issues.

Millions of people had suddenly began to show signs of increased healing, strength, endurance, and stamina. That however didn't last long as just after the first few days — the people with those abilities started to turn.

Those people transformed into horrifying beast that defied all forms of logic. It took all of humanity to try and hold them off, but even with such effort the beasts were starting to win. And just when humanity was beginning to loose the war — the first truly Blessed person came to be.

Those that truly awakened manifested their abilities completely, using those such abilities to fight the tide of monsters back into a controllable crowd. That managed to return the world back into some semblance of peace — with the treaty before the attack suddenly becoming void cause of the losses endured.

Of course, that had nothing todo with Daun originally, but now since he shown signs of becoming one…

Daun had little to no chance with surving the process of becoming Blessed and he had no combat experience as well. It was required of all people to have some experience with it, but since of his current situation he was too poor todo anything.

He had no chance of surviving anything or doing anything to stop his awakening. So that was why today would be the day that Daun would perish.

***

A couple hours later, Daun was inside the designated area for Blessed awakening. They had led him to the nearby forest, then after a couple of minutes they opened the door of an abandoned cabin. Unlike the rest of the poor looking village and the outside of the cabin— the inside of it was made of complete metal plating, with even a metal chair inside.

Once he sat down, several guards chained him onto the chair. They wrapped chains all over him, securing them onto the metal chair to make sure he had little room to move. The room had no windows and no lights aswell.

The several guards left for alittle, then another guard walked inside the room. She was an older lady with a streak of gray going through her black hair, with it being tired back into a pony tail aswell. She had wrinkles on her face and a scar over her right eye aswell. She first, checked to make sure he was restrained properly before she continued.

She then pulled a crystal out of her pocket, and placed it on the ground between them, lighting the entire room completely.

"I'm required to be here as the head of the village guard so let's end this quick." She pulled out a small leather book with a quill before continuing.

"Please state your name, age, and occupation."

Daun tried to shift into a more comfortable position but eventually gave up.

"My name is Daun… I'm 16… and I have no job…"

She looked up and chuckled some.

"You're 16? I've never seen a 16 year old as skinny as you before."

Daun rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I haven't been fed in a few days, as you can imagine I have no one able to feed me"

She sighed hearing that response.

"Well that anwsers if you have any family…"

She wrote something else down before continuing.

"Well then let's get to the real stuff, yea? What do you know about being cursed with being Blessed?"

The lady's face was dead serious when she asked the question.

"I know the basics the same as anyone else. The heroic history of the first Blessed and how he fought back the monster wave…"

Daun was wondering starting to wonder why the lady was asking all these questions. His nervousness wasn't helping him any either.

"Listen that's just the sh*t they tell you about to make becoming blessed sound heroic. The truth of it is this — the test is one of the many reasons why many fail and turn into monsters. The reason is that you have to traverse your very own soul. Many people depending on their soul can't even survive breathing there."

She said this with the upmost seriousness and stared deep into Daun's eyes.

"How do you know all this?"

"Well since I'm the village head, I have to know this. Sadly I'm not one of the Blessed though, so wait until the nearest one can reach us okay?"

"Mhm…"

"Well I think I did all that I can for you kid. Try to survive so there won't be any casualties, and if you don't well… we'll try to make your death quick."

She stood up going to leave.

"Wait! Can you hand me my cup?"

She shook her head before a smile crept onto her lips.

"Sure kid."

She opened the sheds door and whispered to the men outside. After a couple a minutes, the door reopened and one of the guards gave the cup to her. She placed it onto his lap since his hands were restrained

"Wish you luck."

Then with that as her final goodbye, the lady walked out of the cabin and closed the door behind her. The crystal she had was taken with her — leaving Daun once again alone plunged into darkness.

"Well how do I know when I'm being tested… I know it's close since it's been a couple days but still…"

Daun was fidgeting around trying to get in a comfortable position, all while moving his cup to the very center of his lap.

He never really thought about the glorious test that all Blessed went through when awakening. He knew that it wasn't really glorious though, and that it was a death trap that made so many dreadful creatures he knows of today.

What he didn't know was what traversing the soul truly was.

And just then, Daun felt a sudden pain coming from within him.

"R-really, is now is t-the time for stomach pain?"

He grunted through the pain but it only grew more. His hands tensed around the chains, his arms contorting trying to escape them.

"This isn't normal pain is it…"

Then with those being his final words, he passed out.