The Ultimate Awakener

Pain And Grief

Elion stared at Muzan and Muzan stared back. He was trying his possible best to contain himself, and when he did, he smiled gently at the boy before suddenly frowning. “Sorry kid, we can’t accept you into the Hunters Academy. If you had awakened your core and as well have an attribute, then you would have had the chance of partaking in the process of becoming a Hunter.”

Elion’s eyes widened in disbelief after hearing this. He was more terrified compared to the devil being he just saw. The bird mark on his chest didn’t fade out, thus it didn’t make any difference. If the spell didn’t kill him at thirteen when he was supposed to, then what makes it become something that will kill him now that he’s sixteen?

Elion leaned forward, his eyes welling up in tears as he tried to speak. “Please sir, this has always been my dream. I want to become a Hunter. I want to help fight those monsters that have been the cause of my father’s death and as well protect the city.”

Tears dropped down from Elion’s eyes as he spoke.

“How are you expecting to do that without an attribute? You will be nothing less than goods for those monsters. For your own good, I will advise you to go home.” Muzan spoke with a sigh, shaking his head in disappointment.

Elion froze. He was still trying to understand what was going on. He had thought that this opportunity his mother had given to him would be a way where he could provide for the family and finally pull them out from the wrath of his stepfather, but here he was facing failure in the most brutal way ever.

Ideally, after awakening and being able to bond with an attribute, he or she would be paid for accepting to be a Hunter and enrolling into the Vanguard Force. But in the aspect of Elion, where failure was the only thing presented to him, he won’t be given a dime.

“Sorry boy, there is nothing I can do. This is solely for your own good, so it’s advisable you don’t give yourself to fit into what you are not meant to become,” Muzan added, dropping his hands firmly on the desk before him.

Muzan couldn’t fade off the fact that what had just happened was indeed not ordinary and was never common to begin with. He sees Elion as something different, perhaps something unique, but before making a final decision to make sure of knowing what the boy is, he needed time—and that time is to, for now, let the boy go.

Elion was about to protest for another chance but was immediately cut short by Muzan’s voice. “As I had said before, there is nothing I can do.”

After these words thundered from Muzan’s mouth, the door suddenly opened and the woman who had brought Elion in stepped in.

“I’m done with the boy. It seems we have nothing to do with him, and it’s advisable we let him go.” Muzan spoke in a ringing voice as he stared at the woman.

She looked down on Elion, who was still seated on the chair with weary expressions and blank eyes, then she spoke. “Kid, it’s time for you to go home. It’s already late.”

Elion was escorted outside by the woman. He got in one of the cabs and instructed the cab man to take him to the hospital where his mother was. Thus, Elion had forgotten that he had spent approximately five days inside the incubation dream chamber. He had thought that it was just hours he had spent and had just left the hospital.

Soon later, the car stopped and Elion dropped down from it. Outside was dark; it was about 8 PM, and the clouds were dark, about to rain.

He ran straight to the hospital. All that was inside his mind was to relate to his mother what had happened, though he doesn’t know how to do it. One way or the other, he will do it.

Getting to the room door where his mother was, the door pushed opened and a doctor stepped out from the room. Elion peeped over the doctor’s shoulders but couldn’t see anyone inside the room. He didn’t see his mother, neither Flara, his sister. This worried him.

“Who are you looking for?” The doctor who had just come out from the room asked.

Elion looked up. “I’m looking for my mum. She is supposed to be in this room; she is sick and under medication.”

Elion had thought that the reason his mother must be missing from the room was because she couldn’t afford to pay the hospital bills she was supposed to pay, and with that, she might be withdrawn from medication.

After the doctor heard what Elion said, he immediately recalled the boy’s face and remembered the woman who had been inside the room, but that remembrance held sad news.

“Maybe he didn’t know what had happened,” the doctor thought inwardly as he stared at the desperate boy.

He then took a deep breath before breaking the news to him. “The woman that was inside this room died three days ago.”

The word “died” hit Elion so hard that it felt like his heart was pierced by a sharp needle, his breath hitching, his eyes widening as though light had disappeared from them.

He still didn’t believe what the doctor had said, so he dashed into the room by kicking the door. After touching the bed and finding out that he was indeed not hallucinating, he fell on his knees.

“This can’t be possible. I hope I’m dreaming.” The words sounded in a deep mumble from Elion’s lips. His hands pressed on the hard floor as he grimaced.

Tears dropped down his eyes uncontrollably like a river flanking down a rock, his fist clenched. The doctor came inside the room, standing behind Elion to console him, but in that instant Elion’s head twitched toward the doctor. “What about my sister? Where is she?”

The doctor could only know one thing, which is the woman who had been in the room. Besides the day she died, he can’t tell or know anything about the daughter or where she is.

The doctor shook his head dismissively. “Sorry, I know nothing of that. But for the woman in this room, she had been buried the day she died.”

Elion stood up and was now on his feet. He had one thing on his mind, which was going to his sister. He was worried about her and how she will contain the pain of losing their mother; he knew she can’t be left alone.

In those moments of thought, a single one was fished out and struck into Elion’s mind, stating that his sister could be nowhere else than his stepfather’s house.

Realizing this, Elion stormed out of the hospital.