God Of Gluttony: Runestones Give Me Unlimited Abilities

4 The Awakening

It was finally the day of the Awakening. All of the 15-year-olds in the kingdom were gathered at the town square.

There were different emotions on all of their faces. Some were excited, and some were nervous, but none of them were more on edge than the children from the orphanage.

This was the moment that would define the rest of their lives. A lot of them were already too old for adoption and if they didn't get any ability from the runestone then they would return to the orphanage to live a miserable life till they turned 18 and would be released into the world after which they would probably go on to commit a heinous crime and either end up in jail or dead.

This was their last shot at having a decent life.

Alex, most of all, clasped his runestone firmly in his hands.

In the few days before the Awakening, Flash and his gang had not bothered Alex so much. Everyone had been so excited about the ceremony that he had suddenly become insignificant to them — like an old toy that had been outgrown.

He was grateful for the break. It allowed him to collect his thoughts and know what his next course of action would be.

He did not have high hopes for his runestone. Every other person's runestone looked colourful and warm, while his own was black and cold. He knew that it definitely wasn't a Black Magic ability runestone because he had seen one earlier. One of the kids present had one — that one gave off a dark glow.

His own looked like a regular black stone.

However, something was still off about the stone. He could feel it, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

However, he concluded within himself that even if he did not gain any magic abilities from the runestone, he wouldn't return to the orphanage. Magic ability or not, he was getting rid of the orphanage from his life for good.

Soon, the preliminaries to the Awakening ceremony began in full swing.

The people of the town who came to see the new magic users cheered from the stands, the guild representatives who came to recruit the latest magic users watched with interest, the priests and paladins who organised the ceremony moved from one child to the other offering instructions, and finally, the king and his cabinet were unveiled — the entire party was present.

It was time for the proper awakening ceremony to begin.

The children were all bundled together and encircled by a chain of priests and paladins with their magic auras at full display and a smoking calabash. Inside the calabash was an incense that enhanced magical potency.

The children were all ordered to crush their runestones when the trumpets blew.

There was complete pin-drop silence as everyone waited for the trumpets to sound. The only sound that could be heard from the villagers around was a crying baby that was being hushed by its mother.

Alex looked around him. Even though everyone was quiet and trying to look brave, he could swear that he could hear their heartbeats thundering behind their chests.

Soon enough, there was the sound of the trumpets, and everyone crushed their runestones.

Suddenly, there were multiple flashes of light and cries from the children.

When the light died down, it was as if a lot of the children had changed physically. The Awakening changed their appearance — some looked bigger, some had different hair colour, some had different skin colour while some did not experience any change at all. Those who did not experience any change at all were the unlucky ones — the ones who could not get any magic ability from a runestone.

Suddenly, the air was filled with cries of celebration and cries of lamentation.

Some jumped and punched their fists in the air while others fell to the ground and cried.

As all of this happened, two children were standing calmly and quietly — almost as if they were not a part of the entire ceremony.

The first one was the boy whom Alex had seen with a Black runestone earlier. Apparently, he had awakened a Black magic ability. His hair was darker, his clothes were black, and it was as if there was darkness slithering around him. No matter how much light was around, it just seemed like the light never reached him.

Black magic ability was one of the rarest magic abilities in the world, so it was only a matter of time before the guilds started rushing after him.

The other child who was standing calmly away from all the noise and celebrations was Alex.

He had a shocked expression on his face. He had not expected to gain a magic ability from his runestone.

He could feel the obvious changes in his body. His hair had turned grey, his skin had turned pale, and the entire area around him seemed to have been drained of its colour. It was as if Alex and his immediate surroundings were in black and white.

As rare as Black was in the magic world, Grey magic ability was even rarer, and people knew very little about it. As a result of that, no guild approached Alex immediately. Rather, they looked at him like he was a creep who had just fallen out of the sky.

Alex was not offended, though. He knew that human beings were very shallow-minded creatures. They have always been afraid of things that they did not understand.

On the other hand, he was pleasantly surprised at his magic ability. It seemed so interesting to him, but he knew next to nothing about it. However, he needed to figure out how to switch off the Black and white aura that he was giving. It was making him stand out unnecessarily.

Just as he was worrying about that, the air was suddenly pierced by multiple explosions accompanied by screams of pain and panic.