Adrian's Awakening: Wake up in the magical world

6

Adrian looked around him with nerves on edge, gripping every part of his body. 

Onexus was a place that seemed designed to break anyone who dared to enter it. 

The undulating walls, the air charged with an energy that could almost be felt, and the constant sensation of being watched made him feel tiny and helpless.

Suddenly, the ground trembled beneath his feet.

In front of him, the walls began to open, giving way to a gigantic figure emerging from the gloom. It was a colossus of dark stone, with eyes that glowed like burning coals. His step echoed like thunder, and every movement shed fragments of his body, revealing flashes of light at specific points.

“The Shadow Colossus!” said Roxanne's voice, echoing through the air. Watch, Adrian. Every enemy has a weak spot. Find it before it finds you, that will be the key to its defeat.

The giant advanced, raising a huge arm that slammed into the ground, sending a shockwave that threw Adrian backwards. He struggled to his feet, his hands were shaking, and his mind was foggy. He knew he had to move and fast, that he had to look for those flashes of light on the giant's body, but his legs were unresponsive. 

Fear had paralyzed him.

“Focus!” exclaimed Roxanne's voice, but her words seemed far away, as if coming from another world.

Adrian tried to calm himself. 

He closed his eyes and tried to feel something, anything inside him, some hint of power. 

But there was nothing. 

His mind was blocked, as if an invisible wall prevented him from accessing what he knew he had inside and what he had to prove he had.

The Shadow Colossus was getting closer, and the sound of its footsteps echoed in Adrian's ears. Do something, he shouted to himself, but his body did not respond to his calls as he wanted it to.

Suddenly, the walls began to change shape, transforming into a maze that stretched as far as the eye could see to make the challenge that much more difficult. 

Adrian found himself alone, surrounded by constantly moving corridors. 

Before he could get his bearings, he heard a roar behind him. 

An ethereal figure, a giant composed of shadows, was chasing him. 

He ran through the corridors, dodging traps that activated with every step: energy arrows that shot out of the walls and dark pools that tried to trap him.

“Think, Adrian,” Roxanne's voice said, ”You can't win if you just run away.

But what could he do? His mind was still blank, unwilling to answer his true intentions.

The creature's roar urged him to keep running, aimlessly, getting more lost in the changing maze.

Finally, the maze disappeared, and Adrian found himself in a new arena. 

In front of him, a chained giant was flailing furiously. 

His shackles were covered with glowing runes that seemed to weaken them with each movement of the colossus. 

Roxanne's voice echoed again.

“It is not always necessary to fight. Watch, think, find another solution.”

Adrian studied the giant and the chains. The runes flickered irregularly. Perhaps there was a way to reinforce the chains. He looked around, but found nothing that could help. His frustration grew, and his mind, instead of clearing, filled with doubt and fear.

“I can't do it,” the boy muttered painfully, feeling tears begin to gather in his eyes. ”I don't have powers. I'm not like them.

Even though that wasn't so, Adrian simply wanted to think that his powers were asleep, they had barely awakened, and they had already been very helpful and, perhaps, he wanted to keep in mind that maybe because of that misuse of his powers, these now at the moment he needed them most, had gone completely dormant.

The giant's chains broke, and the colossus advanced towards him, but before he could reach him, everything disappeared. Adrian fell to his knees, panting, his heart pounding.

Roxanne's office formed around him again, and the headmistress watched him from her desk with an expression that mixed curiosity and seriousness, and at the same time, anger.

“You blocked yourself,” she said, with no trace of mockery in her voice, ”But that doesn't mean you don't have potential. On the contrary, it's proof that your power is there, waiting for the right moment to awaken.

Adrian said nothing. He was still trembling, unable to look up. Roxanne stood up, walked over to him, and leaned down to look him in the eyes.

“This academy is not made for those who have it all figured out. It is made for those who have to face their fears and grow. You, Adrian, don't yet know your true power. But you will. And when that happens, you will change more than one world.”

Roxanne offered him a hand, helping him up. Adrian took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. Maybe she was right. Maybe there was something inside him waiting to wake up. But at that moment, he knew only one thing: he couldn't give up. Despite the fear, despite the doubts, he would continue.

“And then... What will happen to me, director?” he asked, stopping his tears from continuing with the intention of spilling over in a sea of uncontrollable weeping.

Principal Roxanne sighed, looking at him with eyes of guilt and pity. 

“I'm sorry, kiddo. But as I told you before, rules are rules, and unfortunately, there are no exceptions for anyone. I have to abide by them with you, and for now, while your powers awaken, you will have to work at the academy as a janitor, you have no other choice, here you have no one to take care of you while you manage to reveal the identity of your powers with agility when a dangerous situation faces towards you,” she replied without pity.

Adrian sighed, and held back the urge to duck his gaze to the floor resignedly.

“Yes, ma'am. I understand. I promise you that while I'm on that job, I will manage to get my powers awakened and enter as a student at the academy. Not only that, but I won't let you down,” he said, looked at the headmistress decisively.

Far from smiling, the director looked at him with pride, for a moment, she felt a maternal weakness for the boy, one she had never felt for any of her other students in all the time she had been director of the Darkside Academy of Specialists. She didn't know what that feeling was, since she had no children, but neither could she show it in front of the boy until she was sure that between the two of them they would earn his trust necessary to be as such.

“All right, that being so. Come on, come with me. I'm going to take you to your room, and I'll give you the uniform and your janitorial belongings, your work start time is at 5:00 in the morning and your departure time will be for when you have finished all your duties. At 12:00 noon, you will have your lunch break with the teachers and the rest of the staff, and with me. Then you will have a 10-minute break in the morning and a 10-minute break in the afternoon. Please try not to cause any trouble with the students, some of them can be very cruel, and I don't want any complaints from you,” said Principal Roxanne.