The Oasis System

Chapter Seven

The walk back home was a little quiet and full of self-reflection as Jace thought back to his old world. Looking back, he felt bad; he shouldn't have given up on life and himself that easily. The death of his sister was what destroyed his will to live though.

Shaking his head, Jace refused to let his thoughts meddle with his new life; he had a new family now and he was going to make sure they were protected.

On earth, he was a helpless kid, but here, he was an Awakened and he was going to make it count.

The sight of the oddly familiar neighborhood brought a surreal feeling to Jace's mind; he was now an Awakened, and if he made it through to Thereon Academy, just the fact that he was a student alone would be enough to grant him the ability to influence matters in the town. He thought of Mrs Vinta and her boy, of the friends he had in the neighborhood...the thought of being able to finally help them live a better and comfortable life improved his mood even further.

"Jace?".

He was just climbing the short flight of stairs leading up to his house when the familiar voice called him. Quickly running through his inherited memories, he knew who the voice belonged to. It was one of Jace's close friends; Dorian.

"Yo, Jace. I went up to your place earlier and your mom said you went somewhere. She was being very vague though which is unlike her. Where did you go?", the brown haired youth asked as he quickly jumped the short flight of stairs and overtook Jace, clearly being used to it. Jace was something akin to a loner in his past life, and as such, he didn't have friends. However, confronted by Dorian's friendly curiosity, he had no choice but to socialize.

"I went to the Testing Center", Jace decided to tell him the truth as there was no use hiding it after all. He would participate in the Academy Recruitment Exercise anyway and the whole town would be there to watch.

"Damn, really?. You had always mentioned trying your luck to see if you had the talent, but I didn't know you would actually go for it. Anyway, don't be too hard on yourself okay?, Kael and I found a weird looking cave earlier today. We suspect it might be an undiscovered mine; that was the reason I came here earlier. We can go check it out tonight and if it's really a mana mine, then why feel down because we don't have the magical talent?, we are of legal age now so we can mine for stones and be very wealthy", Dorian rattled off. Jace's expression wasn't really that of excitement,  so Dorian automatically assumed Jace didn't have the talent. Besides, they had really discovered a cave earlier and it was an opportunity for them to finally become successful, something they had always dreamed of.

Smiling, Jace was about to tell his friend he was now an Awakened when the door swung open, a pouting Sephora standing in the doorway.

"What were you guys discussing?, I could only hear muffled noises", Sephora grumpily said, clearly displeased at her failed attempt at eavesdropping.

"Well, you're still too young to be listening in when old people are discussing", Dorian taunted.

Rolling her eyes, Sephora shook her hear at her brother's annoying friend as she responded, "I'm not too young, and you guys aren't old either. I'm 16 and you guys are just 18, that's not exactly 'adult' ".

Seeing his friend open his mouth again, Jace didn't need to go through his new memories to know that those two didn't go along well.

"Where's mom?", Jace asked as he motioned to his friend to calm down, who in response harrumphed and looked away.

"Come inside , the whole neighborhood is looking at you guys", a sweet, but firm voice said, as Jace's mom walked towards the door, drying her hands on a small piece of cloth; she must have being in the kitchen.

"How was it?", Jace's mom asked after the three kids were all settled inside. She looked calm, but Jace knew she was worried and anxious.

"Ahem, I awakened the Lightning Elemental Attribute" Jace said, his tone cool and level.

Silence. Silence so deafening, Jace could swear he could hear Dorian's heartbeat.

"What did you say?", Sephora was the first to break the silence, her eyes opened widely in disbelief.

"What?!", Dorian was next, as he stood up in shock and grabbed Jace's shirt by the collar, shaking him vigorously.

Absent minded, Sephora also joined in as she grabbed her brother's right arm, shrieking in excitement.

Esmeralda stood at a distance, watching Jace yell at his two assailants to calm down as a tear rolled down her right cheek.

She had heard him, and she was stunned. He had actually done it, her son was now an Awakened. She wanted to go to him and hug him, to cry and tell him she was proud of him; but she hesitated. She knew it wasn't really her son, but why was she so overwhelmed with pride and joy?.

Finally able to wrestle out of the grip of his over zealous friend and sister, Jace walked towards his mom, each step making his throat tightening as he tried to fight the tears.

However, seeing the single tear on his mom's face, he couldn't help it anymore as he broke down in tears too, hugging her tightly.

The mother and son duo held each other like that and shed silent tears for a few more seconds, as Jace finally accepted this was his new reality and his mother, and on the other end, Esmeralda accepted the fact that this was her son.