Horus' skin was alight with the gaze of the crowd. The Awakening hall spoke in hushed tones, but their voices stacked into a buzzing mass.
To a normal person, it was negligible, but Horus' [Perception] had been high since he was a child; packed spaces made him wince.
The hall was high and circular—two levels for people from two strata of society.
Humans, or more commonly called Mundanes, waved, trying to get Horus' attention. They sat at ground level in rows of different colors and faces. This was one of the most exciting times in Sierra Vista
The Awakening Hall was built in their city, much to the dissatisfaction of the higher class. But it gave them an even greater sense of belonging to their territory.
The Awakeners from Fort Thunder sat on the upper level, dressed in smooth simple garments often of one color—White, red, or yellow, to represent their family.
They did their best to pretend everything was normal, but their eyes were also on Horus.
The Twilight clan, Horus' family, wasn't fully in attendance. They sat separately as one of the three great houses.
But some of his siblings were there, mostly members of the Outer Orbit like Horus, whom he had grown up with.
However ominously enough, there was one member of the Inner Orbit lounging in his blue and purple regalia.
Ares Twilight, his older half-brother. They both had the same black hair with swirling blue and indigo eyes.
Ares had been born with [Perception] nearly as great as Horus. So they met eyes across the vast distance, and Ares offered his brother a smile.
Which Horus found strange since they both hated each other, and Ares had tried to kill him on multiple occasions.
He was on the ground floor, standing beside the steps to the stage close to the front of a long line of excited kids. The ceremony hadn't begun, so everyone was still chatting.
He rested against one of the soft velvet walls of the hall, glaring at his friends just some steps ahead.
"Just forget about them," Wally said beside him. The ginger-haired boy wore light armor over his grey robes. An assortment of daggers lined his waist, while two worn throwing axes stood out.
He continued, his grey eyes bright with excitement, "They weren't going to help either way. Let's focus on the bright side. We're about to leave the barrier."
Horus struggled to share Wally's enthusiasm. He had been outside before. The outside world was an apocalyptic waste stretching for miles, filled with monsters and dungeons.
Only Territories had semi-stable populations.
The only reason the cities of Fort Thunder and Sierra Vista—together called Bloodhaven—could live peacefully was the Lord Shield protecting them from the outside.
Someone joined him by the wall. It was John, one of his less traitorous friends, leaving the main to meet them.
His brown hair was buzzed down, perfect for the military academy; his eyes were a dark shade of red that drunkenly glanced between Horus and Wally.
"When the system teleports us," Horus began, "Are you going to face the trial wasted?"
John smiled absentmindedly, lightly punching Horus' chest. John must have been really high to play around with him like that. Horus couldn't remember the last time anyone touched him casually.
"I'm sorry, Wally," John said to the boy beside Horus, except he was looking right past him. John shook his head.
"For… uh, Ulrich and the others. I swear I got Ulrich to help—"
Wally patted the drunken boy. "Don't worry about it, champ. You're the only one that cares anyway."
John's eyes widened for a moment. He looked down, swallowing his spit quietly. Then he mumbled, "Yeah."
"I was ignored," Horus muttered to no one.
"Oh, yes, my sobriety." John snapped his fingers. "I have a Tonic. Shiv's mom made it for us. I'll take it after…"
John paused strangely, nervously glancing between them. "After the Awakening."
Horus glanced up at the stage where the awakening stone was set. It came from outer space, crashed into the Indian Ocean, just above Australia, five hundred years ago.
Its impact opened not only a permanent scar on the earth; a gateway into the abyss.
But the fragments of the stones also allowed people to awaken Classes.
It granted you a connection to the System and all its… resources.
For people newly awakened, like Horus and his friends, they would be transported to a nearby dungeon for their first quests.
"What if you forget and get teleported out there high?" Horus asked.
John shrugged. "We won't be teleported right into a fight… probably."
You would be teleported to a dungeon near the territory you were anchored in, so you could choose to ignore the first quest and just return home.
After years of awakenings, people had gotten extremely good at calculating where new Awakened would be sent. There were three possible locations for this year.
Before he could continue condemning John, their other friends gained enough courage to approach.
Shiv was the most confident. Her brown hair was braided for the trial, each strand pulled tightly from her face, where golden-brown eyes drooped carelessly.
She wore no armour, signalling that she wouldn't be braving the dungeon.
Beside her, Randall shared an awkward smile. The boy had never met a situation he couldn't talk his way out of. His charming blue eyes and combed-back blonde hair gave the malicious trickster a dignified look.
They both walked behind Ulrich, whom he could rely on.
Ulrich, like Horus, was from one of the three great families of Bloodhaven. His white hair fell over his shoulders in defiance of his parents, who always begged him to cut it. His grey eyes always had a detached and slightly off-putting tone to them.
Shiv forced a smile and stood next to him. "You can't say I didn't help at all."
"You can't give me an actual reason why you won't help," Horus retorted without looking at her.
She provided Horus, Wally and John with extensive research done on the monsters within the three dungeon locations, as well as a decent plan on which ones were the most expensive on the market right now.
But she wouldn't enter the dungeon with them.
"Didn't our parents say don't enter the dungeons?" Randall said. "Especially to do something we don't have to do today? We all just graduated and are about to awaken, i think we deserve one party."
But Horus caught the disdainful glance he sent at Wally. That was Randall's reason for now helping. At least when he wasn't lying to himself.
Wally was from a mundane family in Sierra Vista. While they were the high and mighty lords of Fort Thunder.
Helping a Mundane boy hunt monsters in a dungeon for money was a waste of their time. Even if Wally awakened today.
"I didn't know you cared what your parents had to say," Horus muttered, feeling his mounting anger. "I'm surprised you care about anything other than yourself."
Randall tried to laugh it off, but his fists balled up in his pockets.
Shiv came to the rescue as usual. She looked Horus in the eyes softly. "We don't mean any offence to you. We'd all like to help you. We're just… busy."
Her hand nervously inched towards his, but Horus raised his arms and folded them, turning away from her.
They'd all like to help him, but not Wally.
Ulrich, never one to speak unless things got serious, managed a word. "Enough."
They both shared a glance before Ulrich pointed at something behind Horus, prompting him to turn and find one of the Twilight servants at a stage door.
"I'll be right back," Horus murmured to Wally.
He walked over to the servant, who bowed carefully, and said in a monotone voice.
"Sir Horus, your father would like to speak to you."
He glanced back at the stage and thought of the Awakening coming. He already knew what his father would say…
Horus clenched, then turned to walk out of the hall with the servant.