The Rubicon has guided humanity through its darkest hours, preventing us from losing our essence over the centuries. It contains a set of prohibited acts that should never be done, no matter the situation. It is a code that all humans stand by, and upon breaking it, one becomes the equivalent of an enemy of mankind. It is the point of no return, the point of giving up on our species. It has five prohibited acts that no man should ever come close to breaking: the Act of Fractured Unity, the Act of Forced Awakening, the Act of Desecration, the Act of Enslavement, the Act of…
Ren interrupted her. "Wait—the Act of Desecration! Tell me about it?"
With her eyes closed, she took a deep breath. "The Act of Desecration: to consume human flesh, whether alive or dead. The punishment is death, with the remains left to rot, depriving them of a proper burial."
Ren remained quiet, overwhelmed by memories. She opened her eyes and saw him. "So you have witnessed it."
Ren replied calmly, "Not directly."
She nodded and grabbed his hand. "I am sorry. Was it your mother?"
Ren smiled, then brushed it off. "No, it was some people I knew." He wiped his face as if washing the emotions away. "Please continue."
She closed her eyes, and the light shone back through the darkness, reshaping the memory again.
"He said there was a way to save him, and it was only through breaking a certain law. I asked him what it was, and there was nothing I wouldn't do at that point. He said it quietly, 'The Rubicon,' and held my shoulder. He said the Act of Forced Awakening. I instantly refused, as the act doesn't grant its value back."
She got cut short by Ren again. "Can you explain that part?"
She sighed. "The Act of Forced Awakening: to force awakening on children before the coming of age or before the age of thirteen."
Then she stopped, making Ren impatient. "And?"
She opened her eyes again. "What do you mean, 'and'?" Darkness spread once more. "Every Akrion user knows why. I don't understand why you don't know any of this."
She leaned back awkwardly, hunched. "You've awakened, right?"
Ren got frustrated. "No, because I don't have Akrion. And I don't know what you guys are talking about all the time—Akrion this, Akrion that." He stood, facing the other direction. "It's all new to me, and I need answers before looking for more."
She stood up. "But that's impossible?" She patted his back. "All humans have Akrion, even if they couldn't use it."
Ren stepped away from her hand. "Maybe I'm not human. Maybe I'm just a monster."
He walked back and sat, leaving her standing. Her hands pressed flat against the center of her chest, fingers splayed and tense, the air around her heavy with a sudden, crushing stillness. Disappointed and sad because of her own words, she sat back.
"Humans are born with what we call a dormant core. It's a raw amount of Akrion that surrounds the heart. People think it protects children from diseases and physical malformation, so they rarely get ill while growing up. Humans awaken Akrion through the forced channeling of that dormant core, and it can only be done externally by another source. It doesn't require much, but the flow must be delicate. It looks harmless, but when done on children, it affects their growth—specifically the nervous system. People think that's why it was prohibited, but the nervous system was never meant to be exposed to Akrion that early, so it malforms, causing serious issues with the child."
She went silent momentarily and hesitated. "Among those issues are psychological illnesses. Children become violent, unstable. Sometimes they develop multiple personalities, seizures, blackouts, memory loss, hallucinations, and detachment from reality. To most people, they become evil."
She waited, anticipating questions from Ren, but found him spacing out, eyes heavy, almost asleep. She slapped him. "I'm talking here, so listen," she said angrily, grinding her teeth.
Ren woke up and straightened. "What do you want me to do? You're speaking unknown words—'malformation,' 'nervous system.' Why is it nervous? It's not like he's the one in a dream, repeating the day over and over."
She yelled, "Fine! It was my fault expecting this from you. Since you didn't have an awakening ceremony, it makes sense you were never educated."
She snapped her fingers. The entire space around them lit up. Ren found himself sitting at a smaller table with paper and a pen. Speechless and stunned, he kept his eyes wide open, just staring.
She changed her outfit from a simple dress to a scholar's gown. "Since you are dreaming, it's probably the best time to learn things instead of wasting it." She pointed at him with a ruler, then to a blackboard that appeared out of thin air behind her.
Time passed quickly. The session began with her yelling at Ren while pointing at alphabetical letters on the board, to Ren scratching his head in frustration while writing and looking at the board with the nervous system drawn on it, to his eyes wide open, captivated by the continent map drawn there. Seeing it in detail made him realize how much bigger the world was than he had ever thought. The continent map was surrounded by fog in a perfect circle, while she pointed out that the world map might be bigger due to insufficient information. Then they moved on to studying Akrion, which made him focus more than before.
Time passed differently during their session because neither of them looked tired or disappointed—rather, excited. For him, it was a time to get some answers without asking questions. He realized why his companions didn't like answering his questions: maybe it reminded them of this, or maybe they had seen too much of the world and realized that this knowledge didn't matter in life-or-death situations. But it was a very pleasant experience.
As for her, she was excited to teach, just as she had always imagined—her children sitting at a table, eager to learn, like Ren was now. But remembering both of her sons dampened that excitement a little—not enough to kill it, as she was still smiling at Ren.
Light turned to darkness once more, with a wooden table and chairs appearing along with the candle that shone faintly. Both rested in their chairs, gasping for air, exhausted yet laughing.
"Haha, let's continue then. Where were we?"
As both realized it was not the real world, their memories resurfaced, and the emotions drifted away slowly. Reality struck. It wasn't a time for smiles and fun. Ren remembered the days he was trapped here. She realized that her husband and sons were gone. They sat silently for moments, but then she gathered her remaining strength to at least finish her story.
"I hated it," she paused, then continued. "I hated the choices I had to make. It was the Act of Forced Awakening, but if it stopped the suffering of my son, then be it. That scholar explained to me that what most people knew was myth and reality was different. He assured me that his awakening would cure him and might allow him to grow stronger earlier than others. He said there was a big chance of him awakening as an Aspect, which made me happy—that my son would awaken as an Aspect like me, his mother, his failure of a mother. It made me really happy. But happiness is the fool's dream.
"The scholar was a Vessel, which was the only way to awaken someone. He gathered a small amount of Akrion on his palm and put his hand on my child. The Akrion flowed into him. My son opened his eyes instantly. His pupils shone crimson red for a second, hinting that the Akrion had settled in his head. His body got enveloped in red aura, which made him float. He screamed and cried, but the scholar said it was the Aspect awakening—his body was changing, and we should watch him carefully for the appearance of his Manifest.
"Moments were hours to me as he kept weeping and screaming. It made me anxious, but the Akrion enveloping his body started to fade away from his head. As soon as it went away completely, his pupils glowed red, and without us knowing, we were both on the ground, unconscious. It was my son crying that woke us. The scholar left immediately, shaking, with subtle fear on his face. I didn't focus on him, but on my child—who used to breath heavily and was pale from fever—is now smiling. At that moment, that's all I could think of."