Walking in the middle of a long hallway that seemed like it could fit thousands of people, was a young boy. His skin was tan, looking like he had just come home from the south and matched perfectly with his golden hair. August could feel the heavy gazes of the men in armor lined up on the sides of the hallway.
Wearing his extravagant golden armor with his dark green cape hanging from his shoulders, made him stand out. His blue eyes which many would describe as beautiful, glanced over his shoulder and onto his older brother walking behind him.
Luca was with the same features as August. The tan skin, golden hair and light blue eyes. That was also where the similarities stopped. Where August was only about 1,8 meters tall and still more on the skinny side Luca was closer to 2 meters and his muscles looked defined in his dark green uniform. As Luca was 4 years older than August he had already joined the Visconti knight order and lead his own division of blessed. As could be seen on his uniform with the golden details on his shoulders.
"To think that the first thing I had to sacrifice would be my breakfast" August mumbled jokingly.
Behind him Luca chuckled and answered in a sarcastic tone "Are you nervous little brother?"
August glanced back in front of him while taking in the sights of the dark green banners, with a golden lion in the middle hanging down from the high, arched roof with a meters distance in between and scoffed "Nervous? Who?… me? I was just reminiscing over my lost breakfast. You know that's the most important meal of the day, right?"
Luca chuckled again before answering jokingly "Yeah, yeah whatever you say, but it's for the best, you know father would have had you flayed if you puked in front of all the vassals".
"Yeah, that sounds like father" August mumbled under his breath. Their father had always been a cold man, caring more about the honor of House Visconti than the relationship with his family.
August thought to himself father would probably rather see his sons dead than allow them to do anything to dishonor the oh so great House Visconti.
Continuing to walk down the hallway August turned his thoughts over to what would be happening today. As he had just become 16 years old, August would take his first step into the world of blessed.
When "God" died many centuries ago, he bestowed a great power to the humans. He had given them the power to become something more, to become immortal, and to become gods. According to the information the Great House Visconti had gathered throughout the years, approximately 1 in 10 000 had the right to awaken these powers. This included commoners, royalty and nobles.
Because of this, the world transformed. The people who had once been suppressed, now had the opportunity to change their fate. As such, a great rebellion broke out, and many noble and royal families fell, whole bloodlines were lost and the commonfolk were slaughtered. At the end, 10 countries had turned to 4, countless new noble families were established and the Great Houses came to power in one of the new countries, Mudenze.
As lucky as August was, he was born into one of the great houses of Mudenze. The great house Visconti.
As blessed were important for the great houses to stay in power. They, alongside the royal families of the 3 other countries had figured out a way for their descendants to become a blessed no matter what. This had caused them to continue to stay in power until this day.
And today was August´s day.
Stopping at the end of the hallway, August stood in front of a huge wooden door. The door had the same sigil as the banners had, which represented house Visconti.
Slowly the door opened inwards, revealing a large hall. The hall had dark marble floors with large columns in the same dark marble stretching to the ceiling. In the ceiling a large painting depicting a golden lion fighting a man with golden armor and a green cape hanging from his shoulders. In the man's hand was a large sword which looked like it could split the world in two.
"August Visconti of great house Visconti, second born son of Alexander Visconti, patriarch of great house Visconti!" A man called out as August took his first steps into the huge hall.
Walking into the hall August glanced around at the surrounding people who had gathered there to witness his awakening. All the vassal families were there representing their respect for the great house. Their sigils displayed on banners hanging from the roof on each side of the hall.
Pulling back his gaze August set his eyes on the large stone altar at the end of the hall. The stone altar looked like it had stood there for centuries, which it probably had. On top of the stone altar there was a large cup of gold with dark green depictions of lions around the cup.
August continued walking through the pressure of all the eyes fixed on him.
This was what he was born for.
Stopping a step in front of the altar August looked up at the throne at the end of the room. Lifted above everyone else, was a throne made completely out of gold, asserting the dominance of the person sitting on it. And the one sitting on it was none other than his father.
The man on top of the throne sat there calmly while staring deep into August´s eyes. He had golden hair, with a crown made of gold and deep green diamonds sat on top of his head. His face was handsome with a beard made of the same golden color and tan skin. His eyes were light blue like the sky on a sunny day, but at the same time seemed like they were as deep as the sea. He sat there wearing an extravagant golden robe with a dark green lion in the middle of his torso.
His father raised his eyes to look out over the crowd before raising his hand, signaling for everyone to sit down.
"August Visconti of great house Visconti, my second son. Today will mark the day you become a blessed. Today you will follow in the footsteps of your ancestor and make your first sacrifice."
August knelt down to knee, closed his right fist, and knocked it to his chest before saying "Yes, my lord. I will follow in the footsteps of my ancestor and bring honor and pride to great house Visconti and all the people under our protection."
The man on the throne nodded faintly and said "You may begin"
Raising to his feet, August took the final step to the altar. A man in a dark green robe walked slowly to August´s side before handing him a dagger. He then humbly lowered his upper body into a 90-degree angle before slowly retreating back to where he came from.
Now holding the dagger in his hand, August lowered his gaze and took in the sight of the weapon. The dagger had a golden handle which formed into a lion at the top of the handle, while the blade itself was of iron. The feeling of the cold metal in his hands made his chest tighten a little and swallowing became a little harder.
If August had been completely honest when Luca asked him if he was nervous, he would have said that he very much was. It was not the thought of blood or the pain when he made the sacrifice that made him nervous. It was what would invade his mind when he was done.
As the powers of blessed were parts of the god who had once lived, when one made a sacrifice one would get part of the gods memories. This could make one go crazy, and many blessed had suffered the fate of killing themselves because of it. That was also the reason why blessed had to wait until they became 16 to awaken, or else their mind wouldn't be able to handle it.
As August stood there inspecting the dagger in his own thoughts, he could feel the cold gaze of his father urging him to get it over with. He would not tolerate for August to show any weakness in front all the vassals.
August quickly came out of his thoughts and lifted his left hand over the golden cup. Feeling his heartbeat quicken and his palms turning moist from the sweat, he slowly made the dagger close in on his wrist. The cold metal of the blade now touching his wrist. August took a deep breath and put pressure into the dagger before drawing it over his wrist. Sharp pain quickly entered his body. The cut was not very deep, but blood quickly starter flowing out as he turned his hand, so the wound faced the cup. Standing there, August watched as his dark red blood dripped down, before he slowly closed his eyes waiting for it to end.
The time seemed like it was at a standstill while his blood slowly dripped into the cup. He felt the gazes of everyone around him, silently waiting to see whether this child would go crazy from the memories that would be entering his mind or if he would survive.
August silently thought to himself I thought I should have felt something about now, I mean, it must have been about 5 minutes or something, right? Luca dropped to his knees in agony, screaming, just a few seconds after his blood entered the cup.
Sitting on the front row together with the most important vassals and blessed was Luca also wondering the same.
Everyone in the room sat there in puzzlement about how this young boy had not let out a single noise, not even moved since his blood hit the cup. They had all witnessed countless blessed awakenings and they all had the same outcome. Luca´s reaction was even considered quite small, so how did this child not even react.
"That's enough" a voice rung out. Alexander Visconti was sitting on the throne with his hand raised.
"It seems like we are all sitting here waiting for something that is not going to happen… I hereby declare August Visconti of great house Visconti, my second son, an angel. Congratulations on your awakening." His father then slowly lowered his hand.
August opened his eyes in puzzlement and raised his head to look at his father. He then withdrew the hand which he had cut before also laying down the dagger on the altar. The man in the green robe who had given him the dagger quickly came to his side before giving him a white cloth made of silk, which August then wrapped around his wrist. The servant then lifted the dagger from the altar, bowed as he had before and returned to where he had come from.
August then went down on one knee and knocked on his chest again, before saying "Thank you, my lord. I will make sure to bring honor to Visconti."
Hearing the applause start, August quickly got to his feet before turning around and walking to the door with his head lifted high. Amidst the applause August could see the faces of many of the vassals. They all had the same look. The look of astonishment. They had just seen a young boy take in the memories of a god without even batting an eye. They felt astonishment, but also respect. This was the young master of the great house they were following.
…
Sitting by the desk in his room, August was debating whether he should tell his father that he had not received any memories of any sort. He quickly came to the conclusion that he would tell him. This was because August felt like there was something wrong with what happened.
Raising to his feet he went over to his mirror before taking in the sight. The mirror reflected a medium tall man. He was rather skinny, but the hours of swordsmanship training from when he was young had still made his body look rather toned, with a six pack even honing his stomach area. His golden-blonde hair was of medium length and was split in the middle giving him a rather noble look. His light blue eyes made one want to stare into them for an eternity, complementing his otherwise hard and sharp features.
HA! I look pretty good if I can say so myself. Looking at himself, August suddenly felt the urge to flex and study his body, but he quickly got rid of the thought out of embarrassment.
He then went to his chair where he had hung his noble robes and put them on. He had decided to tell his father about what had happened today. Or about what didn't happen. August jokingly thought to himself as he walked towards the door.
"Now why do you want to get rid of me when you just got me."
August paused.
He turned around, studying his bedroom. Glancing over the large room decorated in white, gold and dark green. The large bed, his desk where he would sit reading, the mirror where he would study himself. But there was no one.
No one but him.
But August hadn't talked.
He had heard a voice.
A voice that was not his.
Yet it was in his head.