Awakening in Adversity: The Ordeal of Vikram's Mutation

Two young men from the back row of students made their way towards the partially decorated stage. Only a portion of the stage's front was covered with flowery ornaments, while the rest remained a plain concrete block.

The school building appeared worn-out and neglected, with mossy walls and weeds growing from cracks. The untrimmed pathways seemed to have gone without cleaning for months. Everything that he couldn't notice with the cherry-tinted glasses before, he saw as he walked towards the stage.

'If I take away the grand buildings and machinas. The state of this Zone is worse than a third-world country in my past.' Vikram pondered if he was now very far from the main events in the novel.

He remembered the images of the markets which were poorly designed and everyone, including students and teachers around him, looked fatigued, indicating the challenging living conditions of this dystopian world.

**

"Please wait for a while. Your turn will be next." Ms. Victoria—head teacher of 12-C, spoke with a little excitement in her voice. Looking at the vibrations of the Meteor, it seemed more students of the 12-C class will get to awaken this year, and it was a great thing for her career.

On the side of the stage, Vikram was analyzing the faculty. Although, none except Mr. Pondicherry and the Principal that came before, could arouse his interest. He was sensing a weird presence around him, and suddenly his eyes fell on the girl from before.

Though subtle, he could sense a drastic change in her presence. His military instincts alerted him to a slight sense of danger emanating from the girl, now vastly different from the unawakened girl from before.

~ho! an interesting cub~

~What!?~The girl spoke telepathically to the tiger-cub spirit currently invisibly sitting on her shoulders. Then her attention was suddenly attracted by a sense that someone was peeking at her, and her eyes fell on Vikram few meters ahead of her.

~Cleave, can he see you?~ The girl was surprised beyond belief.

Even though she just awakened, but because of her rich background she was much more knowledgeable than even some of the teachers in the Icarus High. Even awakened have hard time sensing the presence of Spirits, that's why Spiritualist Shikas are one of the most troublesome opponent for any Shika.

~I don't think he can see me yet, but there is something strange about his [Atman]~ Cleave, the tiger-cub spirit talked in the girls brain.

**

"Huh?"

As their eyes met, curiosity arose in Vikram's mind again as he wondered if she had some connection to Avi, but the sudden noise on the stage alerted and diverted their attention.

~cheers! clap!!!

The crowd, including teachers and students, erupted into gossip about the boy on stage who awakened the "Frost" Mutation, a powerful Tatva type mutation of the Spell Caster class.

Amidst the commotion, Vikram relaxed, realizing that the burst of cold air had come from the newly awakened Shika and not a sudden enemy.

'I shouldn't be so sensitive, but for some reason my senses are warning me of dangers nearby. I don't know what is going on.'

**

[[ ... Avi from 12-C, please come forward.

Without hesitation, Vikram approached the meteor at the center of the stage. As he passed the boy who awakened Tatva—superior Elemental Gene—Mutation, the boy excitedly whispered a "Good luck!" in passing. His personality contradictory to the type of Mutation he awakened.

On the side of the meteor, sat the last-ranked girl from the 12-B, waiting for her awakening ceremony in gloom. She appeared nervous, like her chariot broken in the middle of nowhere.

Vikram unconsciously whispered to her in a plain voice as he took his place, "calm down, there's nothing to be worried about. It will be over in a jiffy.."

However, Vikram immediately felt a sense of discomfort as he uttered those words, realizing it was strange. 'Is it the influence of Avi's memory! This is troublesome' Vikram had a guess.

'Isn't there a episode in the later parts when a team of explorers gain a new Gene Pool from a ruin and their personality changed.'

The girl looked at Vikram, the top student of 12-C, and stared at him for a brief moment.

Despite the difference of negligible points between 12-B 30th rank and 12-C 1st rank, she felt insulted. Whispering back in a rocky voice, she responded, "I will! Thanks," trying to hide her offense at being treated by a 'nobody from lower class'.

**

~whizz!

As the girl placed her hand on the meteor to initiate the awakening process, Vikram sensed a familiar breath emanating from the stone and flowing towards her as it vibrated in slight tremors.

It wasn't clear to Vikram but he felt some familiarity with 'breath of the meteor' and he realized quickly that he was confusing this 'Mutation Energy' or 'Breath' for Prana he was familiar with.

'I can already use Prana in this world, albeit very little. Is the Prana from my previous world somehow related to the "Mutations" of this world?'

He observed the breath entering the girl's body, he likened it to a tug-of-war between her and the meteor fragment, with the breath composed of Prana-like energy. Vikram hypothesized that if the girl could claim a significant portion of the "breath," she would successfully awaken.

However, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she completely dominated the tug-of-war and took all the energy from the stone.

'Is this why the meteor looses its power and recharges after a year, because Shikas are pulling away this energy? But how does this energy/breath awaken the genes inside the creatures of this world?'

Although Vikram had read the novel, not everything was clearly mentioned about the superpowers of the world. The Diaspora Trilogy was a book with soft magic system. It never dwelled into the intricacies of the "Mutations" and "Gene Pools".

From the author's perspective, the story was more important and Vikram also liked the Diaspora Trilogy for its rich socio-economic settings and the well-crafted dance of politics between different groups. He wasn't a great fanboy of magic as that was childish to the Great General of the Empire.

**

During the girl's awakening process, as her mutation started to manifest, she began to lose control of it. Being a martial expert in his last life, Vikram could easily sense the problem in her breathing and the agitation in the meteor's breath.

Suddenly, the link connecting the girl to the meteor snapped. Meteor's energy moved erratically and started to harm the very host it was meant to inhabit. Vikram sensed all of this, but the nearby teacher remained oblivious as if they were blind to the tentacle-like energy whips around the meteor.

"Teacher, something is wrong," Vikram alerted the nearby faculty.

Interrupted mid-sentence while guiding the girl, the teacher noticed something was amiss and quickly glanced at the Dais watch on his wrist.

He shouted urgently, "Get away from her right now!"

Vikram, already aware that something bad was about to happen, had begun to move away.

However, a tentacle-like translucent whip made of energy grabbed hold of his right leg before he could escape. He cried out in intense pain as the force of the whip crushed his bones.

Reacting swiftly, Mr Pondicherry aka Cherry, who was seated in the front row, leapt from his seat and landed in front of the meteor fragment. Drawing his sword from its scabbard, he swiftly slashed at the empty air surrounding the stone.

To the uninitiated, it appeared as if he were performing a strange dance. However, Vikram, who could "see" the energy tentacles, understood that Mr Cherry was cutting them off.

Within seconds, the situation was back under control, but Vikram continued to mumble in pain. He could still see one tentacle attached to his right leg, frantically absorbing his life force.

"What are you doing? Help me!" Vikram exclaimed in agony, startling Mr Cherry who thought the situation was already under control.

"Boy, what the hell did you say?" Mr Cherry wasn't one to be disrespected, he was a bonafide C-rank Shika in Zone Y and there were only a few existence worth his time in the whole of Zone Y.

However, upon closer inspection, he realized something was wrong with Vikram. The boy continued to express pain, clutching his legs with both hands. Perplexed, Mr Cherry asked, "What's happening? Why are you shouting?"

"Can't you see the tentacle attached to my leg?" Vikram exclaimed.

Confused, Mr Cherry responded, "What tentacle? I don't see nothing."

It was then that Vikram realized none of the teachers could perceive the energies, not even Mr Cherry. As Vikram endured excruciating pain, the entire student body was already paralyzed with fear.

The question "What happened?" echoed in everyone's minds.

"Get me a knife! Right now! Or I'll die!" Vikram shouted, tears welling up in his eyes. His face turned red with blue-green veins as if they were about to burst like Diwali crackers.

~Venna, help him, otherwise we will all die.~ The Spiritualist girl heard the tiger-cub speaking in her mind and she was awoken from the momentary shock.

"That's Meteor Poisoning! Oh my god, he's going to turn into a devil! Kill him! Kill him right now!" someone else from the front row suddenly exclaimed, triggering panic amongst the crowd.

Before Mr Cherry could make a decision, Venna threw a knife at Vikram from the distance. She trusted her spirit more than the so-called faculty of a backward Zone.

As Cherry attempted to intercept the knife, he realized it wasn't aimed at Vikram. The girl shouted, "Use this!" as the knife landed a few inches away from Vikram. Without hesitation, Vikram swiftly grabbed the knife and stabbed his own leg with it.

~gasp. Vikram was too much in pain to care about the grotesqueness of the scene and care about the sensibilities of the crowd.

The knife lodged itself a couple of centimeters below Vikram's leg, eliciting a cry of pain from him.

He focused his attention and channeled Prana, infusing the knife's blade. Slowly, he maneuvered the knife within his calf muscle, targeting the area where the energy tentacle had taken hold.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mr Cherry exclaimed, but Vikram didn't listen a single word.

Another cry of pain escaped Vikram's lips as he continued the delicate process.

When the knife reached a sufficient depth, he sliced out a large chunk of his calf and forcefully pulled it free from his leg. Drained of energy, Vikram mustered his remaining strength to lodge the knife, now infused with Prana, back into the chunk of flesh lying on the ground. Finally, he succumbed to his exhaustion and lost consciousness.

Amidst his fading awareness, Vikram heard a series of notifications:

[Ding Ding Ding!]

[Detected a core fragment]

[Awakening will be initiated]

[Akashvani reveals itself]

[Mutation successful]

As his consciousness slipped away, he caught sight of a navy blue box materializing before him, while everything faded into nothingness.