Unable to sleep

It was already past midnight yet Alex was finding it difficult to sleep, he kept turning back and forth under his bedsheets. His young heart felt restless as a lot of thoughts flooded his mind, he was thinking about the kid he met yesterday and the awakening ceremony that would be happening later today.

Yesterday, when Alex and the village head ran into a kid with hair and eye color similar to Alex's at the entrance of the registration building.

"I'm Vee, what's your name?" The kid said to Alex with wide eyes, studying Alex's face.

The kid looked to be fourteen or fifteen so he was Alex's peer, only that he was a head taller than Alex and looked healthier than the scrawny Alex. He was dressed in a plain blue top, long black pants, and a pair of worn-out shoes.

His appearance showed that he was of the middle-class level.

"Hi, I'm Alex" Alex waved back after a few seconds of hesitation, remembering to be cautious of who he interacted with and how.

"Why are you here by yourself, kiddo? Where are your parents?" The village head asked the kid who addressed himself as Vee.

'Another person with the name Vee' he thought inwardly.

"Ehmm, about that. I don't have parents so I'm here by myself" Vee responded with an embarrassed smile while scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, sorry about that" The village head quickly realized that he might have asked an inappropriate and sensitive question and quickly apologized which the kid named Vee waved off, saying it was fine.

"Then you should get going in, don't keep the people here waiting or they will become dissatisfied with you," the village head said to Vee and patted the kid on the shoulder before proceeding to walk past him.

"Umm," Vee nodded before turning to Alex "Hey, you already received your tag right? That means I'm next after you, let's be friends in the academy, alright?" Vee said to Alex with his hand stretched out for a handshake while flashing a wide smile.

"O-kay?" Alex replied in an unsure tone but still took the hand of the kid as they both exchanged a handshake before Vee ran off to go register and Alex quickly caught up to his guardian.

Presently….

Alex turned once more on his bed, the side he turned to happened to be the side of the room where the bed of the village head was placed. They had booked a room for two as their temporary resident for the past three days, the room had two beds, one reading table, and a chair, as well as an empty wardrobe.

The village head gave Alex the bed that was located near the window which gave the kid an easy view of the street while he took the other bed.

Currently, Alex saw that the village head appeared to be asleep and was facing the wall while his back faced Alex. Not sure if he should talk to the seemingly sleeping old man, Alex pushed his hand under his pillow and brought out his registration tag which was a token with his registration number written on it.

On the tag was written "15,707" indicating Alex's number.

"Number fifteen thousand seven hundred and seven, huh? The number of people who came to join the academy sure isn't small" Alex muttered to himself with a strange expression on his face, the number kept ringing in his mind. He found it unbelievable that over fifteen thousand kids had registered before him, were the number of seedlings so many? Then why were mages rare in some places?

"Can't sleep?" An aged voice suddenly sounded, startling Alex so that he almost dropped his tag. He looked up and saw the village head turning around to face him.

"Yeah," Alex replied softly after calming his heart.

"Listen, Alex. Today is a big day for you as well as a lot of other kids out there so I won't want to keep you up by talking too much. Don't get pressured, those numbers are not all going to succeed later today. Some might not awaken sooner and will have to try again while others are just not destined to wield the elements. But you are different, you are already a seedling and nothing can go wrong.

So get yourself some sleep, you have just a few hours left before dawn. You will be alright Alex, have faith in yourself" the old mage said to Alex before turning to face the other side, leaving Alex to himself.

'Yes, he's right! I'm already a seedling, what am I nervous about? I'll definitely succeed later' Alex tightly gripped his tag and closed his eyes in an attempt to get some sleep.

...

7 a.m.

Staring at the white ceiling of their room with red eyes and an exhausted face, Alex let out a yawn.

"I'm doomed" Alex laughed a self-mocking laugh as he could feel his body drained of strength, he had never felt so sluggish in his life.

After the short words of advice from the village head last night, Alex had tried to force himself to bed with confidence blazing in his heart.

But guess what? The dude found himself staring at the white ceiling all through the freakin night!

"Hahaha! You look like you had a nightmare, couldn't sleep?" The village head laughed at Alex without reservation upon seeing Alex's face.

...

9 a.m.

Alex found himself standing in front of the gates of Royal Magic Academy once again, with the village head by his side of course. Everyone who passed by the two would not be able to stop themselves from turning to look at Alex's lifeless face, he looked like he would fall at any moment.

"Come on, let's go" The village head took Alex's hand before pulling him forward as they mixed into the crowd that was passing the gate.

Unlike the time when people came for registration during the month and were all aiming for the registration building, causing the place to be crowded. Today was different, they were not aiming for the registration building today so anyone could stand anywhere; at least before the awakening commenced.

And such being the case, the academy ground was able to easily fit in all the twenty thousand plus people who had come today. That does not include the students and teachers who were already in the academy.

While the sea of people was getting noisy, twenty people suddenly appeared in the air above them.