First awakening ceremony

Kael, Bella, and Emi walk down the street in front of the Siren's Call toward the southern part of town. The Siren's Call is located in the commercial part of Brenner. Inns, restaurants, and merchants meant to cater to visiting adventurers occupy the area.

They pass by various kinds of people. There are adventurers, hunters, and foragers geared up to head into the forest. The adventurers will generally delve deeper into the more dangerous parts of the forest while the other two groups of people will remain in the relatively safer outskirts.

Farmers from nearby villages come to sell their goods in the market. Craftsmen are heading towards their shops.

A few town guards also patrol the streets. They don leather armor and carry a short sword at their belts. Vigilance is absent and they are exceptionally relaxed as they patrol the streets. Few of the townspeople would ever commit crimes.

The only concern for them are the visiting adventurers, however, even if they were to cause trouble dealing with them would be beyond their paygrade. They would end up only reporting it to the captain to deal with as he was one of the few experts in the town.

Kael and Emi are in the lead as Bella trails behind them watching over them. Bella walks down the street swaying her hips, the hem of her summer dress swinging revealing to the public a glimpse of her white lace panties and her ass that can't be contained.

The men that pass by the three fixate on the mesmerizing sight before they end up tripping over themselves or getting scolded by their female companions.

"What affinity do you think you're going to get Emi?" Kael asks turning his head toward the lovely girl on his right.

"There's no point in thinking about that. We probably won't even awaken today."

"That's no fun. Nothing wrong with saying what you want. I hope I get water like Mother or something with a strong attacking power like lightning. What affinity did you awaken Auntie Bella?"

Bella bonks Kael on the head before emphasizing, "Big Sister Bella."

Kael rubs his head before acting pitiful and replying, "Sorry Big Sister Bella."

Bella smiles and answers Kael's previous question. "I awoke with the fire affinity at 15. I wasn't very talented and was too poor to afford any training materials. Right now I can only make a flame this large." She raises her finger up and gathers a ball of flame the size of her fist for demonstration.

"Wow", Kael gives Bella a round of applause. "You should still be able to get a good job with your affinity. I know craftsmen like the flame affinity. Why aren't you working as one of them?"

Bella pauses before giving Kael a sultry smile and narrowing her eyes before closing in next to his ear. She wraps her arms around his neck and whispers in a hot breath. "Simple. I. Like. Sex." She quickly separates quickly from him and resumes walking as if nothing happened.

Kael turns to Bella quizzically before asking, "What is s-" only to be immediately hushed by her hands as Emi looks over at the two. Bella realized she got a little carried away trying to tease Kael. Bella knew Melinda wouldn't be happy if she found out.

"You'll find out when you're older, alright?" A small bead of sweat glistened on the side of her forehead.

Kael's expression is confused before he decides to tease back, "Alright, Auntie Bella." He emits a yelp as Bella pulls on his ear.

The trio's destination is a chapel in the southern part of town. The buildings in the part of town they just entered were dilapidated and crowded together. The brick was worn and weathered and alleys in the district weaved together to form a maze. The chapel was placed in this district to provide closer assistance to the poorer residents and to reach out to those in need of faith.

After roughly three minutes of travel, the trio could see the chapel in the distance. It is built on a grassy hill surrounded by a small stone fence with no other buildings around it. The walls are composed of white stone and a black shingled roof rests on top. A tall and imposing bell tower near the entrance comes out from the roof. On the sides of the chapel are stained glass windows. White crystals emitting a bright light shine from behind the windows casting images of the sun on the grassy hill. The strange part is that only half of the windows are illuminated. The other half of the windows are adorned with pictures of the moon. In front of the chapel are two dials for telling time, but their designs are distinct from each other. One dial tells the time under the bright sun overhead. The other dial correctly cast its shadow only under the light of the moon.

This chapel is dedicated to the Goddess of the Sun and the Moon. Two different priests are in charge of the chapel during the day and the night. The priest in charge during the day is called an Ordained under the Sun, while the other priest is called an Ordained under the Moon. Together, they preach different aspects of the Goddess.

The three soon arrive in front of the chapel where several other children are waiting to undergo the awakening ceremony.

"Why don't you two go hang with the other kids while you wait?" Bella pushes the two to go join the children while she goes off to talk to some of the parents who brought their children.

Emi heads off to a group of three girls standing off the one side while Kael heads towards the group of three boys. The three of them are all taller and older than Kael. They have some heft to their arms and their legs as opposed to Kael's frail and thin ones.

As Kael approaches them, the largest of the three walks a step toward Kael and gives him a sneer. The other two follow a step behind him, the group giving off the appearance of a tall oppressing wall.

"Why it's 'little' Kael," the one in the lead pinches his fingers together to emphasize the word 'little'. "How's life in the whorehouse treating you?"

"Good morning Hodge, Perkins, Ross. I'm doing just fine thanks for asking." Kael gives them his calming gentle smile.

Hodge, the one in the lead, has brown hair and brown eyes, a square jaw, with only average looks. Hodge feels the vein near his eye twitch. He wears a grimace as Kael ignores his attempts to insult him.

The kid to Hodge's left, Perkins, is a little taller but lankier than Hodge. He has dirty blonde hair and green eyes. He continues the verbal attack on Kael. "I'm surprised you even showed up to the awakening. A weakling like you shouldn't even dream of awakening this early. You know, Hodge awakened with an earth affinity two weeks ago after his tenth birthday."

Kael gives Hodge a brilliant smile and exclaims, "Well that's great Hodge. Congratulations."

Hodge puts on a smug smile. "Well of course only someone as talented as I could achieve such a great result. I'm afraid it will be years before you awaken. You know, if you help me out with Emi, I'll let you bask under my greatness."

Internally Kael winces a bit at Hodge's narcissism. Kael shrugs before casually replying, "It's not my business if Emi or the other girls don't want to hang out with you three."

Ross, the boy to Hodge's right, is quite a deal pudgier than the other two. There is a lot of force behind his movements due to his weight. He pokes Kael's chest with visible anger on his face. "All you have is a pretty face. You're too weak to handle anything. Eventually, those girls will know what a useless piece of shit you are."

The three boys had been bullying Kael since they were young. They were jealous of the attention Kael's attractive face drew from the opposite sex.

"Thanks, I also happen to think I'm pretty handsome."

Kael's deflection drew scowls on the three's faces.

"Let's go. We'll look forward to watching you fail later." Hodge leads the group away from Kael leaving him standing alone in front of the chapel. A wind brushes past Kael as he closes his eyes and enjoys the peace and quiet.

A minute after they leave Emi walks over to Kael.

"You need to start standing up for yourself," Emi scolds Kael with a frown on her face.

"It's all just playful banter. No need to fret over it."

"They're just going to keep rolling over you if you let them. I wish you would start acting more like a man!" Emi walks away in a huff at the indifference Kael shows.

Kael has a knowing but helpless smile on his face before he sees the three girls Emi was talking to earlier looking over at him. He shows off his pearly whites drawing bashful gazes from them before they turn away to chat in hushed tones.

The twin chapel doors open and an old man in white robes with a gold embroidered sun on his chest walks out the entrance. Despite his age, he still stands tall and holds a golden staff in his right hand.

"Would everyone here for their awakening please come in?" the priest asks in an imposing voice.

Kael, Emi, Perkins, Ross, and one of the three girls enter the chapel.

Pews line the sides of the aisle. At the end of the aisle is a podium that the priest gives his sermon from. Set up in front of the podium is a large round weathered orb atop a stone plinth.

"Welcome children to the house of the Goddess. Let the sun watch over you. You may all call me pastor Brian. Please raise your hands if this is your first awakening ceremony," the priest requests in a much softer voice than when he was outside. This is likely the voice he uses to coax children.

Kael, Emi, and the girl raise their hands. The priest slightly nods his head before continuing. "Then I will briefly explain the ceremony. Rest assured there is nothing to fear. In front of you is the awakening orb. It is an orb made of a material that conducts mana well with inert shards of mana crystals of various affinities. When a person injects mana into the orb, it will glow certain colors based on the mana affinities you possess."

"Since you all do not yet possess mana of your own, I will take a fragment of a pure mana crystal without any affinity and inject its energy into you. The energy will react naturally with your body and act as a spark that will be converted into your respective mana affinities. Following that, you will be able to sense the mana in the environment and begin growing your mana core."

"Do not worry if you do not awaken today. All of you are still growing and your mana affinities may still be developing. You can come back each year to test until you are 16. By then you will have finished growing. Are there any further questions?"

Kael raises his hand. When the priest calls on him he asks, "Are there any other ways to awaken? Mother tells me people's affinities can change over the course of their lives."

"There are several known ways to awaken. After all, simply coming into contact with a pure mana source will awaken you. The main reason people conduct the ceremony here is that it is very expensive to obtain such a source, so the church provides one for each town it protects."

"Another natural method is in times of great stress, a person's latent potential can also awaken their affinity. It is also possible to artificially give someone a mana affinity by exposing them to a concentrated amount of it. There is a large chance of backlash and permanently ruining your body though."

"Are there any other questions?" The children shake their heads and the priest begins to call the children up one by one to stand in front of the orb.

Ross is called up first. Sweat can be seen dripping down his pudgy face. He places a palm on the orb as the priest holds a small white crystal in his palm before placing it atop Ross's head.

A few moments pass but nothing happens. "It looks like you are not ready yet. Come back again next year."

Ross walks away with his shoulders slumped disappointed.

The girl is called up next. A few moments after the ceremony begins, the orb lights up a verdant green. "Well done. You have awoken the nature affinity."

The girl walks away with visible excitement on her face. Emi congratulates her with a beaming smile.

Perkins tenses up as he walks up to the orb next. The orb emits a warm dark brown for him and the priest's words, "Well done. You have awoken the earth affinity," cause him to visibly relax.

As Perkins passes by Kael, he whispers in his ear, "Let's see what you can do pretty boy."

Kael walks up with a somber expression across his face. Inside he is abuzz with anticipation. If he could awaken right now, his chances of finding his birth parents in the future would go up a significant amount.

He places his hand on the orb and closes his eyes. It feels cold, so terribly cold. The warmth he felt when he saw it light up earlier seems to have only been an illusion.

He feels the priest's hand atop his head and warm energy passes through Kael seemingly disappearing into an abyss. The silence seems to stretch on and Kael finds himself hoping for something to happen.

The priest's words dash his hopes. "You are still young. Come back next year."

Perkins gives him a sneer as if this outcome was to be expected. While Kael is disappointed, he does not let it get to him. He walks away and Emi replaces him next to the plinth.

Like Kael before her, Emi too does not awaken. She walks towards Kael, an aloof expression on her face. Their first awakening ceremony ends in disappointment for the two.