A deep silence enveloped the entirety of the room as if to emphasize the gravity of the Walker's words.
Zik felt his focus heightened as he mentally prepared himself for what was about to drop.
The Walker, unaware of the effect of his words continued monotonously
"There're six known stages of being a walker but in reality there're seven..."
" The first known stage is the stage of resonance but in the actual reality it's the stage of Echoed"
"The process of becoming a walker is not a very complicated one, and since most of you would either end up dead or end up a walker I'll do you the favor of explaining it to you...."
"....every walker possess a soul and a core, the resonance of both is what makes a Walker a Walker...."
".....the soul and the core both remain dormant, not interacting with each other in any way and in order to make them interact and resonate with each other, they need a spark, a catalyst to set into motion the very first resonance....."
"....after the first resonance, a walker becomes attuned to the world or to put it explicitly, the echo realm....."
"The echo realm grants a concept to a Walker which is where their various abilities stem from...."
"..... there're a few ways to set this resonance into motion, but there's no better way to achieve this than through a pulse of Veyra which brings us to your reason for being in this room at this moment....."
"The seven stages of a Walker's evolution are the Echoed stage, the resonant stage, the bound stage, the harmonized stages, the transcendent stage, the deity stage and finally the ever distant primordials stage...."
"...to become Echoed is the first stage of being a Walker, your core frequently sends a spark of Veyra to your soul like a faint echo to keep it from collapsing under the weight of your concept...."
"Some of you might unlock concepts that are too heavy for your fragile souls and would strain it considerably. Your Veyra would burn out like candles in a storm and you'll have to achieve resonance as soon as possible or else your soul might collapse"
"Due to the nature and condition of your incoming trial, you all have to become initiates and unlock your concept before the trial..."
".....though your counterparts at the Walker's academy have enough time to get used to their concept, you lot don't have that luxury of time...."
"..so I'll be calling your names now and you step up onto this platform and place your hand on this orb..."
"Does anyone of you have any questions??" The Walker asked as he swept his gaze across. He noticed a boy timidly raising his hand
"Let's hear your question" he pointed to the boy
"Sire....does...does that mean we won't need a sarcophagus?" The boy stammered
The Walker clicked his tongue
"Of course, you'll use a sarcophagus, atleast that's until you reached the bound stage. While the sarcophagus doesn't play any part in helping a Walker advance, it serves as a gate to transport a Walker's consciousness to the echo realm so of course if you don't want your progress to stagnate at the Echoed stage you'll need the sarcophagus"
He paused slightly before adding
"But you'll have to survive the trial first before thinking about using a sarcophagus...."
"If there are no more questions, then I'll proceed to calling the names"
He pulled a device out of his pocket and turned it on as a holographic display popped out but Zik was too consumed by his thought to spare this any mind.
Zik's mind worked in overdrive as he tried to digest all the information he had just gained from the Walker. It was a foreign concept that rendered everything he had known about Walkers useless.
The public consensus was that to become a Walker, one must first step into a sarcophagus. And there was also the talks about souls and cores and the only use of a sarcophagus is just to serve as a simple gate.
Also the mention of the Echo realm wasn't anything he had heard before granted he knew the sarcophagus transports a person's consciousness to someplace but that was it. The whole concept of being attuned to the Echo realm and getting a concept was foreign to him.
Zik was curious though as he wondered which concept he would unlock which was why he turned his attention to the podium as the Walker called the first name on his list.
The first person to be called was a boy of average height with an average build and black hair. He looked frail and malnourished, a telltale signs of the kind of upbringing he had.
The boy stepped on the platform with shaky steps as his nervousness was clearly etched onto his face.
The Walker assessed him for a moment, Zik could see something within his gaze. Was that.....relation???
It somehow felt like the Walker could relate with the boy but that didn't deter him as he instructed the boy
"Place your hand on the orb" his voice came out sharp, strangling the boys anxiety. He moved forward and placed a shaky hand on the orb.
The reaction was immediate. The boy jolted and went down in a heap as he clutched his head. Within the span of a few seconds he was reduced to a heaping mass of spasms as he couldn't seemed to get a hold of himself.
The aspirants watched with bated breath as the boy grew still while the walker passively watched the process. About five minutes passed before the boy gasped and rose up from his position and went down the platform both of his hands clutching his head tightly as If he was fighting off a terrible headache.
The process went on as the Walker proceeded to call more names as they all had the same reaction.
All went down in a heap before scurrying off with pained looks and foggy eyes.
It wasn't until the Walker called the 51st person that something completely unprecedented occurred jolting the aspirants to the harsh reality of their current lives.