Without a second thought, Ivan jumped out of bed and dashed toward the door before swinging it open as fast as he could but he found no one. A few meters away was a path of stairs that led to the bottom floor, Ivan quickly ran toward it and descended the flight of stairs in a rush.
Ivan soon arrived at what seemed to be an enormous living room but he did not bother stopping to admire it as his gaze was attracted to a dining room where a few people were sitting, amongst which was the little girl who Ivan had seen before. As for the other three, he wasn't able to see their faces because they were blurred for some reason.
"Oh, Ivan. You're here already. Are you so excited that it's your birthday and you didn't bother to change? Come, Mom baked a nice cake personally for you" the voice of a woman entered Ivan's ears, causing a type of shock to run through his body.
He looked at the figure that was the only one that resembled a mature woman, the others were a young teenage boy who seemed to be around the same age as the girl, the figure of a grown man, and finally the girl who was the only one Ivan could see her face; the others had their faces blurred.
Seeing that Ivan was still standing in place, the woman approached him and grabbed his hand before pulling him towards the dining table.
"What are you still standing there for, come and cut the cake!" She said, her voice radiating with a kind of warmth and love that Ivan wasn't used to. After all, he had lived all his life alone and never interacted with anyone in such a manner.
He did not know what to respond with and could only follow the woman in silence to the dining table.
Ivan was offered a seat while the woman stood behind him with a hand on his shoulder, unsure of what to do or say, he could only allow her to do what she wanted.
In front of Ivan was a lovely-looking cake with the number "19" written on its surface with blue icing and two small candles burning gently on both sides of the number.
"Happy birthday to you" ×4
All four of them began to sing a birthday song for him, including the woman behind him. Ivan saw the little girl smiling cheerfully at him, as for the others…he wasn't able to read their expressions since he could not see their faces but he could somehow tell that they were all wearing happy faces as they sang for him.
Immediately after they stopped singing, Ivan was asked to make a wish and blow the candles.
Ivan, new to such treatment, sat there in a daze for a good couple of minutes without doing anything. All he could do was stare at the cake like it was a strange and new sight.
Well, it was a new sight to him.
"What's wrong honey, why won't you blow out the candles and make a wish?" The woman moved her blurry face to Ivan's side as if looking at his expression while she asked in a worried tone.
"Why don't we give him his present first? Maybe it will help him calm down"
For the first time, the figure of the man spoke up as a small present appeared in his hand which he passed over to the woman standing beside Ivan.
Ivan looked at the figure of the man as a question rang in his mind.
'Calm down? Calm down from what?'
"Here honey, we got you this for your nineteenth birthday" The woman placed the present in front of Ivan while the little girl pulled the cake to create space.
"Open it, big brother, let's see what it is!" The figure of the teenage boy spoke up, excitement was evident in his tone.
Ivan took one more look at all of them before reaching for the present and tearing off the wrapper on it. What was revealed was a small box that was only as big as a perfume box with a small lock on its side.
Ivan flipped the lock open and moved the top of the box to reveal what was inside.
The moment Ivan's eyes landed on the object that was inside the box, his eyes widened and his pupils shook. He lost control of his fingers for a few moments, causing the small box to fall from his grasp to the table, causing a low thud sound.
Ivan had been shocked beyond measure when he saw the item inside the small box and that was because he had recognized the item, this was the second time he was seeing it…it was the same item that had served as his ability in the strange dream he had a few days ago.
Inside the small box was actually a card, a card like any normal game card with only a few differences.
These differences were the intricate designs on it, the blue cover with golden edges that covered almost to its center, and seven planet-like diagrams that were arranged on it. Adding to this was the constantly blue smoke-like substance that kept swirling beneath the blue cover and would leak out occasionally.
Ivan turned his gaze away from the card and the box on the table and looked towards the others in hopes of getting an explanation but his words got stuck down his throat when he realized that the little girl along with the teenage boy had disappeared, leaving him with the man and the woman who was still beside him.
Before he could speak, everything except for the two of them and the box that contained the card disappeared as well. All three of them along with the box now floated in a dark space.
Ivan looked around himself with wide-open eyes and fingers trembling, his attention was pulled back by the man and the woman who suddenly spoke in unison.
"Be careful what you wish for!"
"Be careful what you wish for!"
Their voices were serious and stern like they were talking to a stranger, their words sent a shiver down Ivan's spine because this was also not his first time hearing those words as well.
The instant after they finished saying those words, both of them vanished. Leaving only Ivan and the box containing the card floating in the black space.
Ivan, now alone, was suddenly hit by a wave of sadness that he had never felt in his many years of living without a family. He felt the sadness of being alone.
Suddenly, text began to appear in front of him.
CONGRATULATION, NEXULYTE!
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY AWAKENED YOUR TALENT AND CAN NOW TREAD ON THE PATH OF YOUR ANCESTORS.
NAME: IVAN VON CHARLES TALENT GROUP: PRIMAL
TALENT TYPE: WISHER TALENT: WISH CARD
TALENT LV: SS A/P: 0% RANK: NULL.
Ivan stared at the words in front of him with a startled face which soon turned to one of conviction and determination. All his life he had only known that his name was Ivan, this was the first time seeing other names which he assumed was his family name. As for the other things, Ivan paid them no attention because he did not know what they truly meant aside from the fact that he had awakened.
Ivan's hands clenched into tight fists. He once hated Nexulytes and wished for all of them to die but he had now become one himself, along with realizing a few other things.
Ivan immediately set a goal for himself right at that moment, since he had been given the opportunity to grow stronger, he was going to gather enough strength and look for his family…if they were still alive and also look for that little girl; he wanted answers to a lot of questions that he did not get the chance to ask.
Without him noticing, the small box had floated in front of him. Ivan stared at it for a while, accepting that this card in the box was now his talent, his strength, his way to find answers to all the questions that were buried deep in his mind.
Ivan stretched his hand and picked up the card from inside the box, he wanted to see what was on the other side. He turned it after picking it up but the other side of the card was empty except for a single line of words which Ivan was now more familiar with than his own name.
"Be careful what you wish for!"
The next thing was a wave of dizziness which did not even give Ivan a chance to blink before passing out.
When he woke up, he was inside the pod.
He used the few seconds it took for the lid of the pod to open to calm himself and go through everything that had happened in his mind, a determined expression still laced on his face even as he sat upright after the pod opened.
Ivan saw a large group of people with Glen in their midst, staring at him with shocked eyes; except Glen, the boy was just looking at him with a neutral expression on his face.
Ivan saw that Ralph was also up but had yet to leave his pod, similarly, Ralph was also staring at him with a surprised look in his eyes.
In the next instance, the large group of people swarmed toward the two of them like a horde of hungry beasts, completely ignoring Glen who now has a dumbfounded look on his face.