Heir of Chaos: Blade of Death

Chapter 3 - Determining Aspects

The walk to school was extremely boring with this cold and expressionless young man refusing to answer any of his questions. That is until Rime gave up from asking any.

The world they were currently in was futuristic in the year, 2698 so basically one can see the sprawling technologies that have been installed in the entire world… for example, this is Nova city and Rime's walk to school hadn't really been that tiring all because at every section, one could see teleportation rings, both at the sidewalk and the highway… making it much easier and faster for people and vehicles to get to their destination.

There were skyscrapers everywhere and high tech buildings no longer make use of lifts or elevators, replacing them with teleportation beams.

Eventually the two reached Echelon high school and Rime stared at the massive building that towered six meters into the sky. Honestly, ever since the school has started to groom deities, Echelon high had lost its key peace that made it exceptional. In fact, the school was trailing away from normal school standards to a different one and it is because… the world was obviously changing so everyone will most likely have to adapt to its changes.

Staring at the strong edifice of the school, the guy turned towards Rime and said; "you see, Echelon high school was designed and structured for just one purpose…" 

He stared into Rime's eyes searching for a hint of curiosity and he smiled finding it.

"To prevent creatures from tearing it down… 2270, these mutated beasts had mysteriously started to appear on earth through some kind of gateway that connects to the other realm. A lot of lives were lost, not until we started to curb the situation little by little. Now if you have ever observed, there's energy barriers that surround Nova city so no form of mistake can happen and even if it does, this school will serve as an evacuation base. Now do you get it?"

Rime was stunned.

'Wow… so this is how it is.'

"How do humans awaken?"

Rime asked, not expecting him to answer because he had always been that way… but to his surprise he answered.

"We don't really know what triggers the phenomenon but… once light particles start to appear in the atmosphere, one or more humans is bound to awaken. Unfortunately, it isn't a constant recurrence which makes human awakening a very slow process that we have only a few of us training to protect the city."

The two walked into the massive building getting the attention of other students, awakened and humans. Whenever this particular guy walks with someone down this hall, then a new awakened has likely been born.

From afar, Anthony and Damien who had gone to grab a cup of coffee from the vending machine stared at the commotion and Anthony's eyes widened in excitement.

"Wait, wait… isn't that Me Me? Ah, it seems like I now understand why these sicknesses couldn't kill him."

Damien's expression turned dark.

"Sure… why not go for plan B… oh, he's our winning ticket to stopping any other human from awakening."

Damien immediately sneered.

"He was injected with the heart seeker. We know that his heart deteriorated. So how did he awaken even in such a situation? Didn't we study the awakening process? It requires a healthy body for the mutation to start, without it then a human can never awaken."

Anthony smiled darkly.

"We'll find out later. Me Me might be a bit special if you ask me, oh and… he's mine!"

***

Walking into a corridor with a dead end approaching, Rime turned to the guy and asked… "So what are we doing next? I have biology due this morning, I… I can't miss it."

They paused, causing Rime to wonder why he stopped. Then he turned to look into his eyes before saying.

"My name is Bruce… remember it." He turned to leave but stopped again. "Oh and… this marks the beginning of you skipping those classes. You will only have a minimum chance to go but with something on the ground as your awakening, it is very crucial if you ask me. So no more questions, let's go."

Rime didn't argue as they both reached the dead end. 

Standing at the edge of the wall, a beam descended upon them both which teleported them to the fifth floor in an instant.

When they materialized, Rime was taken aback… Principal Tade actually waited here for them. And how many of them were here to determine what aspect they awakened? 

Rime did a head count and they were nine of them in total plus him making them ten.

Sometimes once the phenomenon stops, it awakens more humans… and another time, it awakens less humans. This time around, it seemed like they had awakened more humans. 

The last time they had to gather here, it was just three humans.

Principal Tade walked towards Bruce and pulled him to a corner.

"Are you certain that he's awakened?" 

Bruce nodded before saying. "Have I ever been wrong?" He chuckled softly and walked away.

Rime stared at this floor, noticing the metal… if not titanium and vault vambraces used to protect the entire place. Rime had a guess… once their aspect is determined, they will have to show up here and be trained on how to use it and the more they train, the more their power becomes stronger.

Eventually, they will all become too strong for this floor to withstand so… they will be moved to the next floor to continue their training.

Bruce wasn't the one determining the aspects. He was in fact still young to be amongst these elite groups… if not because of his exceptional talent then maybe those oldies in their late twenties would have wanted him out of their team. So he didn't determine the aspects even when the principal begged him to. If at all, Bruce was more reliable and efficient than the rest.

Seeing that Bruce remained stubborn, principal Tade signaled someone else to continue.

Rime stared at the man who looked to be at least twenty eight or twenty seven… I mean, the maturity in his face was there and his voice alone could instill fear in anyone's heart for no reason at all.

"Good morning everyone. I am pretty sure everyone knows why they are here… we might have given you two probabilities when we met you which means that it is either you've awakened or you have not… if you have not, then none of you will make it to this hall because we would be able to tell one way or the other. So congratulations everyone for passing the first stage. You've all awakened."

Rime immediately noticed that everyone… apart from him was sighing in relief. Then he realized Bruce not responding to most of his questions was in one way or the other a decision communicated by their team… just in case they haven't truly awakened like they suspected, then they wouldn't have to let them go with a lot of information.

Rime turned towards Bruce, but the young man didn't even spare him a glance. It was like he no longer existed.

"Now for the next phase of your training… we will all have to determine what aspect you possess in your arsenal. Now I will call your name alphabetically and once you hear your name, you step out… Curt James."

The young guy stepped forward. 

There was what resembled a mirror that reflected who stood in front of it and the coordinator in charge of determining all their aspect abilities pulled the mirror to the center of the hall.

"Curt, stand before it and look at your reflection. What you see is what you'll mirror, and seeing it might trigger the ability without you doing anything at all. If you don't feel the energy before, you'll start to feel it course through your veins… now look and concentrate."

A split second later.

"Everyone back away!" 

That is before thick and terrifying vines shot out of the ground with incredible speed. 

Rime felt his back run cold with dread at the sight and the fact that one of these chilling vines targeted him. However before it could do anything, three gargantuan shields surrounded him… 

Rime wanted to wonder whether everyone got those special shields but surprisingly it was just him and that made him realize that only one person could have just brazenly decided to save him.

"Bruce… Why will you protect only one awakened? What about the others?"

Rime's head snapped to the source of the commotion and of course this sharp tongued lady who was way way older than Bruce seemed to reprimand him for no reason at all.

Bruce ignored her.

If this woman had matured, she would have decided to save the other awakeners, but unfortunately she wasn't.

"I am talking to you Bruce! I am older than you are so you will listen to me! Stop protecting that guy with the three shields. You could protect three persons with three shields and not surround a single person with three shields. That is injustice."

Principal Tade immediately hurried over so that the matter didn't escalate. "Stop it Suzan. The time you used to bother him, you would have rescued at least two or even three awakeners from those vines."

Suzan stared at Bruce with reluctance in her eyes but she listened to Principal Tade and unleashed her aspect… a few seconds later… four awakeners vanished from the clutches of some of the vines, appearing behind her. 

The other four were rescued while Rime remained in the midst of the vines, protected by three terrifyingly durable shields that refused to shake despite all of the vines attacking relentlessly.

Bruce also didn't care, walking to the other side of the hall to take a break.

After a measure of time, it seemed like Curt had exhausted his mana energy and stamina so his vines started to wane until it faded away into oblivion.

The hall was once again plunged in silence.

"Okay that was impressive…." 

Curt dazed with fatigue and dizziness stared at the man in front of him. 

"Go to the other end of the hall and wait for the next training section."

Curt nodded and walked away sluggishly.

"Fiona Jade step forward and look into the mirror…" 

By now… a safety protocol was taken to prevent any awakened from undergoing any harm… the first event must have taught everyone a great lesson.

The three shields did not stop surrounding Rime… and Bruce was nowhere to be found. 

Shocked. 

'Is that how much control he has over his aspect?? This is terrifying.'