The office room was elaborately furnished to showcase the fact that a very wealthy person lived there. The floor alone was made of gold, sparkling in beauty. No one would enter without glancing at the well-decorated room. As beautiful as this room was, the table was a mess as different piles of paper lay on it. But right now, neither the Golden Floors nor the piles of papers on the table were of concern to the two people in the office.
"What?! Did you say he didn't awaken any element?" General Silas shouted in surprise, clearly flustered at the news he was hearing. There has never been news of someone failing to awaken anything. "Not even a glimpse of energy was released?" He questioned again, still trying to comprehend the situation.
"Calm down, sir" Miss Layla said, trying to ease General Silas' mood.
"C...calm down?! Are you seriously telling me to calm down in this situation?!" General Silas yelled in reply. As he yelled, the papers on the table started floating in the air, and the table itself started vibrating, reflecting General Silas' rage.
"Ah," Miss Layla gasped as her knees started feeling weak. All this effect just from General Silas releasing a little bit of his aura. "So this was the power of the general," She thought as she collapsed on one knee.
General Silas was a tier two advanced-level telekinesis user. He became a general due to his performance in the previous war with the beasts. He had single-handedly killed a tier two lesser demon, a creature that was supposed to be stronger than him by a large margin. Maybe the cruelty of the war was what made him into the hot-blooded, easily angered man he was now.
"G...g..general... I...I..." Miss Layla struggled to speak as she gasped for air. The pressure was just too enormous. A tier-one intermediate mage like herself couldn't withstand it.
"Where is this kid?" General Silas asked as he withdrew his aura. The papers finally followed the natural laws of gravity and fell on the table while others scattered away. Miss Layla, on the other hand still struggled to retain her composure.
"I...I... dispersed the students, since... he... isn't living in the... the... school dorms, he should be home now," She stuttered as she tried composing herself.
"Do you know where he lives?" General Silas asked, his tone turning cold.
"No," Layla replied.
"What about his name?" Silas asked again.
"His name is Rex, he's an orphan" Layla replied. She had no idea why General Silas was this worried, besides, she hadn't even stated the reason why she had come here "By the way, sir, I wanted to confirm if this awakening stone was working" She said as she dropped the stone on the table.
There were cases when the awakening stone failed, maybe after exhausting its energy, the students were always asked to try again with a new one and it was always successful.
"Was this the stone you used to awaken him?" Silas asked as he squinted his eyes to observe the stone.
Miss Layla only nodded her head, her eyes shifting uneasily between the stone and General Silas. "Yes, sir," she replied. "This is the very stone we used. It was fine with all the other students in the group. But when Rex touched it, there was no response at all."
General Silas sat up straight, his piercing gaze fixed on the stone. The stone, which was now lying harmlessly on the table, was a shiny black, with streaks of silver running through it. It appeared ordinary, even ordinary, but it was an object of great strength, an object that had never been used for its intended purpose.
He stretched out his hand and placed it over the stone, then shut his eyes. For a second, the atmosphere around him crackled with a subtle energy as he reached into the stone's energy. He looked at her for a few seconds and then opened his eyes and pulled his hand back, his face impassive.
"It's still active," General Silas said, almost to himself. "It should have worked," he said, and then paused, "unless… His voice faded off as he considered something that he didn't want to think about.
"Unless what, sir?" Layla asked, her voice shaking a little. She had never seen the general so disturbed.
General Silas did not reply at once. He started to walk around the room, and the sound of his boots echoed through the room, the sound bouncing off the golden walls. He was thinking hard about what had happened and what it meant. "There are only two possibilities," he said at last, his tone serious. "It is either the boy has no affinity for any element which is unheard of or there is something that is preventing him from being connected to the stone.
"'Blocking his connection?'" Layla said, frowning. "But how could that be? The stone is designed to penetrate all the barriers, to get to the very essence of a person's capabilities."
General Silas ceased his pacing and looked at her. "That's true," he said. "But there are old, prohibited techniques, which can seal a person's abilities, put them away in a box. Sorcery, jinxes, or even some powerful relics might hinder someone's awakening."
Layla shivered at the thought. But who would do such a thing to an orphan boy? And why?
Silas frowned and shook his head in annoyance. "I don't know," he said. 'But we have to know this.' It might not be just that; it could be more than a quirk of fate If someone or something is actively keeping him from awakening, then it might be part of something bigger, something sinister.
Miss Layla looked deep into the eyes and felt the gravity of the situation as she gulped. "What do you want me to do, sir?" she asked.
"Watch him," Silas said. But do not let him see that you are observing him. If there is something else, we cannot allow him to know that we are aware of it. We have to know what we are up against.
'And if it is true that he has no potential at all?' Layla questioned softly.
"Well, we will cross that bridge when we get there," Silas said, his voice brooking no argument. 'But for now, let's assume that there is more to this than what we have seen so far We have to be ready for anything.'
Layla agreed, her determination growing. "Understood, General. "
Just as she was about to walk away, General Silas took the awakening stone and looked at it for a few seconds before he could finally let his thoughts process it. Rex. .. What are you hiding? Or what is being concealed from you? He could not dismiss the thought that this boy was more important than people thought and that whatever was going on, it could alter everything.
****
"I can't believe this!" Rex sighed in disappointment as he sat on the bed, clearly frustrated by the outcome of the awakening. "I just hope the awakening stone ran out of energy, but why did it have to be my turn!" He yelled as he pointed his index finger to the rusty ceilings.
"Maybe I could've been blasting fireballs by now" He whispered as he imagined fire coming out of his fingers but of course, it was only his imagination. "I'll just take a nap, I guess"
He tried to force himself to sleep but his mind kept on going through the events of the day. The other students had all awakened their powers, their auras glowing with the elements. They had found out what they were capable of, what they were to become – warriors – while he had been left with nothing but a void inside.
He asked himself a question that he never thought he would ask, "What if this is it?" 'What if I never awaken? What if I am just… normal?'
The thought was unbearable. Rex had always been aware that he was unique, that he was special in some manner, but today had destroyed that notion. The awakening stone had revealed nothing to him – no fire, no electricity, no power of any sort. It was as if the universe itself was telling him he didn't belong, that he was destined to be nothing more than an observer in a world of heroes and monsters.
He turned on his side, drawing the scanty blanket over him and tried to shut his mind off. But sleep wouldn't come. Each time he tried to shut his eyes, he could see the contemptuous glances of the other students, hear the rumors that began as soon as he left the stone. He was the first man in recorded history to fail the awakening, and the burden of that knowledge lay heavy upon him.
Rex's hand went to his pocket, where the small, smooth stone his parents had left him was. He pulled it out and held it up, trying to make out the details in the faint light that was coming in through the window. The stone was cold and smooth to the touch and had a worn look as if it had been in use for many years. It was the only thing he had left of his parents, the only thing that could remind him of the family he had lost.
'What would you do?' he whispered to the stone as if the stone could reply. 'Now what do I do?'
But the stone, like the awakening stone before it, did not speak.
Rex sighed again and then he closed his eyes and felt a great sense of hopelessness wash over him. He felt the sensation of tears welling up at the corner of his eyes but he quickly wiped them away. Crying wouldn't solve anything. He had to be strong, to find out what happened and how to correct it.
"Perhaps the stone did exhaust itself," he said to himself, clutching at the thin straw of hope that Layla had proposed. "Perhaps I will get another opportunity."
But even as he said the words, he knew that they were meaningless. The awakening stone was old and strong and the notion that it would let him down at the very time when he most needed it was too convenient, too much of a cop-out.
Nevertheless, what else did he have? He could not afford to quit, not when he had so much to lose. He had to go on, to seek the means to stir his strength, no matter what it was. For his parents, for himself.
"I'm not giving up," Rex said, his tone more assertive. "I will not be just another orphan, another nobody, I will get my power, one way or another."
With that determination, he tried to clear his thoughts and concentrate on the sound of his own heartbeat. Gradually, the stress left his muscles, and the tiredness overcame him, and he sank into the bed.
And as sleep at last overcame him, Rex's last waking thought was of the stone in his grasp, and the faint ember of defiance that still smoldered in his breast. He would not allow this failure to be his story. He would find his path, even if he had to carve one for himself