Next Morning
"You didn't sleep again, did you, Aster?"
Niva's voice broke the silence of early morning. Aster stood at the same dead tree where he had seen the crows the night before. He traced the bark of the tree with his fingers while looking at the branches. His eyes were sunken with dark circles around them, breath was shallow, these things had taken a huge toll on him.
"I dreamt again," he said in a low voice.
"My mother was there. Same strange voices, but this time sad and full of pity. And these damn crows..."
"You should talk to Marn. He might give you herbs or some charm for better sleep."
"He already knows. Nothing works for me. I've tried all, from herbs to some god-knows-what solutions."
She stepped beside him. "Don't be scared. You are not alone here. These mercenaries are here. Don't forget that old master from the Academy. I have heard of him, he is very strong."
Aster nodded in understanding. He wanted to believe it, but he knew she was saying all this to comfort him, and he was very thankful for these people and their company. Without them, his journey would have been full of loneliness and horrors.
The moon was still above but paler as the sun started to show himself from the other side. He had stared at the moon all night. There was a tug in his chest whenever it was clearly visible, not covered by clouds.
The caravan moved with the first light of sun. Mist wrapped around the peaks of the mountains, flowing over the forest like water. The wagons creaked, and Aster's stomach twisted with every turn of the wheel. He had never travelled on these caravans for this long.
They passed beneath the ancient pines, with trunks so wide even three men couldn't wrap around them. The canopy turned the road to twilight, golden light filtering through trees. Somewhere far off, a stag bellowed, and birds scattered as they progressed. Aster's finger moved to the sword at his belt.
"It's strange here, too quiet," Aster said.
"Strangely quiet for this dense forest," Bren nodded while looking for any abnormality.
A snarl shattered the deadly silence. Aster's heart slammed against his chest, ready to jump out. A beast lunged from the underbrush. Aster looked at the beast in front of his wagon.
Its skin stretched thin and translucent, clinging to bone like wet paper. Ribs jutted out sharp beneath the surface, each breath making its chest shudder. Its jaws hung open too wide, drooling ropes of black saliva. Its eyes were full of savagery.
"What is this?" Aster muttered in fear.
"GRAVEHOUNDS!" someone shouted.
Steel rang against the claws of hounds. Spells flared here and there. Bren shouted something and flung a blast of wind that hurled one hound into the trees with a loud crunch, while Isla on the back raised a wand, creating a shimmering barrier, catching two hounds mid-leap as they slowly burst into fire.
Aster stumbled back, his knees locked, breath caught in his throat. Time slowed. Hounds moved like trained hunters from the shadows of trees and bushes. They jumped on the mercenaries, catching them off guard, but these mercenaries were experienced.
His vision narrowed to one hound coming towards him, with anger and hunger clearly visible on its face and drool dropping from its mouth. The next moment, the hound lunged at him. Marn jumped in front of him like a ghost, sword in hand, and cut clean through the hound's thick neck in one swing. Blood sprayed on Aster's face as the neck hit beside him with a thud.
Meanwhile, mercenaries were fighting the other members of the hounds' pack. Moments later, it was done. All the hounds' corpses lay side by side on the ground, while one mercenary was skinning one hound for its meat to prepare dinner.
The clash lasted only a few minutes, but for Aster, even those minutes felt like hours.
As they cleaned up and stored the carcasses of the monsters, talks turned grim about the losses they took in this journey.
The camp was made near a riverbank. Fire burned low, and the sun was setting behind the peaks.
"They're too close to trade routes," muttered one guard while sharpening his blade.
"Must be outed from their packs. They might be monsters, but they are somewhat civilized. Hahaha, unlike those Sins, those are mindless," responded another.
The oldest mercenary, captain of the team, turned to them. "Only low-tier. High-tier Sins, like Duke or above ranked, are cunning. Some even resemble humans."
On the other side of the fire, Aster's strange group sat making a circle.
Isla, with her usual smirk, leaned forward. "Did you hear about the prince Varthan?"
Aster blinked. "Who?"
"Youngest prince of our kingdom, Aster. He awakened last summer. Light affinity, and pure legendary-tier on top. Lucky. He awakened at night. I heard the light he emitted was like the sun at midnight. They're calling him Night Sun."
"Ugh, these cringe names. What comes next? Flying garbage?"
"That's perfect for you." one student shouted before bursting into laughter.
"Mild?" Bren gasped. "It's storm!"
"You're just jealous, Mild Wind." Isla countered.
"Still legendary-tier. It's a once-in-a-century chance, Bren. I think he might attend the Academy with us. I'm sure he will fall for my beauty," Isla said, grinning as if she had something planned.
Another voice came from an Academy student. "A girl I know awakened mid-battle in a tournament and froze the lungs of her competitor. Poor lad fell like a rug."
Listening to these interesting stories lifted Aster's spirit, and for a moment he forgot about his worries. He really wanted to be one of them, to be strong and have ability like that.
A merchant's son added, "Baron Luke's son awakened mid-coronation. His hair burst into lightning and almost killed his younger brother."
Aster blinked. "Is that... normal?"
Bren shrugged. "Abilities don't wait for ceremony. They just awaken, and sometimes badly."
Aster's hand curled around his cloak in anticipation.
Aster mustered his courage. "How common are people like you out there?"
Bren thought for a moment. "Out here? In the countryside, very rare. In big cities, towns, especially the capital, every third person can summon sparks if you annoy them. But nobles are mostly awakened because of their bloodline. We are chosen ones. Don't take it seriously, Aster, but even in the Academy, commoners are rare."
Isla nodded. "Awakened are rare in the countryside, but there are some. That's why Academies, Towers, and Courts scout even outer provinces for teens like us. But in cities, the scene is different. They train from birth."
Aster was shocked. "Training? Towers? From birth?"
"Yeah, especially big clans and noble families. Once you're able to walk, you're sent to train. If you show mage talent and survive the training, you might get apprenticeship under the city legion or Towers."
Isla added, "And once you're of age, you can join the Academy and learn from the best Awakened. Nowadays, they teach everyone from princes to bureaucrats so you form connections, gain recognition, and become strong fast."
Bren grinned. "That's why we're going there. The world needs strong people like me. I'm sure I'll prove myself, and they may draft me to the frontline."
Isla retorted, "You are sixteen, dumbass. You aren't going near the frontlines, and Aster, as he said, if you're talented and the Court recruits you, they may send you to war fronts. There is always a need for warcasters, battle seers. You see, the world isn't at peace. It's bleeding, slowly, and peace is just established recently."
Everyone nodded grimly, agreeing with her.
Aster looked down. "We never saw mages in our village. Just sheep and lambs. Sometimes a priest comes for healing or baptism, but I never saw him..."
"You aren't supposed to. These lands are deep and too far from gates and ravines and somewhat safer. That's why there is no need of awakeners here. Unawakened mercenaries or adventurers are enough to kill these beasts here."
There was a pause, then Aster looked up and asked, "What about Blessed?"
The word thudded like a huge stone on ground.
Marn took a deep breath and answered low, "They are different. They aren't Awakened like us. They vanish out of thin air sometimes sleeping, while talking, or even when you're pissing in a bush. Very few return and all of them are broken."
Aster processed this huge information before asking, "So they can choose anyone? I mean, the Trial if it exists, doesn't care who you are?"
Marn nodded. "As I said yesterday not chosen, it take and throws you in unknown places. According to what I've heard in our circle and in inns, they throw you into godforsaken lands where laws don't work, Sins rule, and truth walks bare. These places are hell. They throw each one in a different one like it's a game. Don't know who made the Trial spell, but he must be a demon or even a higher Sin."
Bren jumped in. "Aster, don't give attention to these things. They're just myths made by drunk fools."
The owner of the caravan, Mr radon Kumberlin, an old man with a scar on his forehead, a monocle over one eye, and a bulked-up body, was eating stew nearby when he looked at Bren and set his bowl down.
"Noble brat, you're saying this because you've never been to the Inner Circle; you just came out oof your cradle you know nothing. They don't tell major things to avoid chaos. Once you enter the Academy, you will see the real deal."
Bren shot him a look of suspicion, but the caravan owner ignored him as if Bren is just a spoiled child.
"I've delivered crates to the palace kitchen, been to the frontlines, don't remember how many times," the caravan owner said.
"And let me tell you brat .." Owner is going to said something but his maid Niva put hand on his shoulder clearly indicating to stop revealing things.
"Don't worry kid, they are going to the academy. They will get to know this there so nothing change if I told them now."
The man continued. "At these places, you hear things, see things that seem impossible but are real. There are records of feats and names that are never shown on war documents or even in newspapers. Trial-born are as real as Awakened and Sins. They are in plain sight, not just in the palace, but also in fields, in markets, heck you may find one or two in your classroom."
The atmosphere suddenly became chilly. Aster looked around at the people. Some of them were shocked, some were silent.
Isla, who had been silently listening till now, spoke. "Even the Church doesn't write much about this. I have heard about this from father."
The owner said, "Girl, they're big players these clans, temples, churches, or cults. If they are real, then the royal court might have many of this kind in its service. From what I know, this is a different breed of Sin-bound, untamed, and wild. Awakened can be trained. But these bunches… are ruthless and broken mostly by the things they saw."
Aster looked at the fire. His fingers curled, his knuckles white from the turmoil in his heart. He didn't want to be that boy Marn spoke of yesterday.
"What happens to those that don't return from Trials?" Aster asked in a stressed tone.
A caravan owner replied, voice quiet but heavier, "Forgotten. Or erased. Whatever you say. Not even their bones return. The world is cruel. Gods, if alive, are more cruel, boy."
The flames before him flickered like eyes, and the memory of his mother's voice tightened around his throat. He didn't want to vanish. He didn't want to return wrong. But something in him already felt different — as if the change had started, and there was no stopping now.
"No one knows for sure if they exist," Bren said with confidence, still asserting his views.
"No," Marn said. "And maybe that's the most frightening part."
The full moon burned brighter, haloed in frost. The sun had completely set — now it was night. In the forest, only their firelight could be seen like a bastion.
Most of the caravan members returned to their own talks while Bren started sharing his good experiences with other students, while Marn, along with a few other mercenaries, kept night watch. But Aster was thinking what would happen to him. He was too powerless, alone, and weak in this world. Bren had his noble house as backing, Isla was also from a wealthy family of priests, but he had no one.
While he was lamenting about his situation, an owl hooted from deep within the forests. Fire crackled. The full moon revealed itself, unhidden by any cloud, showering the clearing with its silver light.
Aster felt the pressure rise in his bones. His heart started thumping as if it's a drum. A dry, coarse whisper slid into his skull, waking every hair on his body.
The river reflected the moon with perfect stillness.
His eyes opened wide, and blood veins appeared in them like river paths. His face shimmered in the light of moon, highlighting his features, and his eyes shone brightly. Gradually, his vision blurred and white light covered his vision.
A wave of pressure spread wide across the forest, and with that, every sound vanished. Even crickets stopped. The wind froze, the sound of the flowing river vanished as if it had stopped flowing. This time not only for Aster but also for others stopped .
As if the whole ancient forest paused and held its breath. Others noticed the change in the forest gradually. Experienced mercenaries took their swords, and even the instructor from the Academy came out of his tent, fully armored, with a large sword in his hand, ready to slice through anything that dared to attack them.
Everyone was focused, too focused, ready to face anything. But what came next was something they never expected or even imagined.
The sky cracked open with a thunderous sound, as if a mirror just broke. A long, jagged crack appeared in the sky, splitting the moon in two parts.
Aster stood slowly but stumbled forward. A muffled scream escaped from his mouth, and his whole body erupted in blue fire. Instinctively, all stepped backward from the heat of the fire and sudden burst.
His eyes now shone more brightly like the sun. He arched backward, screaming in unimaginable pain of burning alive. Crows cawed from nowhere, their caws echoing in the whole forest.
Another pulse of pressure spread, freezing everyone. Even the fire and river stopped.
Then a pale blue light beam from the crack in the sky struck him. His burning body floated above, slowly a few feet above the ground. An invisible pressure descended on the camp, and all the common folks became unconscious. While younger mercenaries fell on their knees, older ones are doing somewhat better, but it took all their will to just keep standing.
Isla took one step toward Aster.
"Back out, Isla!" Bren shouted, reaching his hand for her.
"Aste..." Isla shouted through gritted teeth.
Too late.
Marn shouted something, but it was too late.
And then Aster vanished. Evaporated in front of all of them like erased in real time. The beam of energy stopped. The sky returned to its previous condition.
The wind returned. The river started flowing again. And the campfire surged like a beast. All seemed like everything returned to normal, like it was a few minutes before.
But...
He was gone in front of everyone.
They remained standing there, shocked, with mouths wide open.
Marn's sword fell from his hand.
thud..