Awakening

Ugh, my head. Again with these repeated shitty headaches.

Yet again, I felt my head assaulted by pain. Feeling around myself, I realized I was on the ground. In fact, it seemed I had actually face-planted to the ground, and my body felt pained. It felt like I had just collapsed from a marathon, and I felt overall just sluggish.

Slowly, I pushed myself up. I stood up lazily, as if I had just woken up, and rubbed my eyes to ease away my tiredness.

As I regained my vision, I could see an audience. My eyes met a hundred others, all with differing expressions. Overall, it was a mix of shock, a little jealousy and apprehension.

Wait, why is there...

Suddenly, I finally remembered where I was before going to that dreamlike bird cage, and felt a old raspy voice speak behind.

"Damian who has no family, kneel."

Shit.

"Yes, your holiness."

As quick as I could muster, I dropped back to my knees in front of the priest, who had returned to his original form. No blood pooling on the floor, no grotesque smell, nothing. In all honesty, I was more impressed than shocked.

It felt so real after all.

A part of me was scared to look up towards the priest, fearing I'd see the same grotesque being as before. But I oddly felt calm, as if that dream like state had calmed my nerves. Which was unusual, but I chalked it up to Charlotte's meddling.

The priest gave me a moment, and I could hear some murmuring from the crowd. I was a bit worried, as I would've had the same manifestation as Mary while I was out cold.

So what color did they exactly see? Hopefully I can trust Charlotte.

Suppressing the nervousness in my heart, I knelt there, waiting for the priest to continue the ceremony as planned.

Please don't be black.

I felt his presence standing over me, it felt like an executioners axe hanged above my neck, and he was the one holding it. Moments passed, but they might as well have been hours.

In this moment, I felt fortunate that I didn't sweat much, otherwise I'd be drenched from head to toe.

Finally, with an almost unnoticeably lighter tone, he spoke.

"Damian, who has no family. Awakener on the Path of the Unwritten. We welcome you into the fold under His watchful eye. Rise, servant of the One True God. Serve Him faithfully, and never falter."

Feeling as though god himself had granted me forgiveness, I felt all the tension in my body leave as I felt like collapsing. My heart, which felt like it could beat out of my chest, finally started to calm down and return to normal. 

Finally, I stood, this time with permission. I glanced towards the priest with my usual deadpan expression, but still could not see anything. It seemed as though the veil he wore kept him faceless, and the darkness could not be penetrated even by the candles to my left.

Ignoring the creepy priest, I started to walk off stage as the crowds murmuring seemed to get louder. Though I wasn't an eavesdropper, I could still hear some of the whispering and the key words they used. Such as, "An Awakener and a Veilwalker? And in such pathways, I fear this day may be the most exciting scene of my life." or "This news is going to spread across the whole Empire.". To my annoyance, I even heard the usual "A commoner with such abilities? Who's bastard is he?".

Finally returning to my seat, I felt as though I could fully rest. Even though a lot of eyes were still on me, at least the pressure of the moment had passed. Though, there was a pair of eyes on my back that from a certain blonde girl, who I wished would mind her own business.

No, I will not turn around. Don't even try your mind games on me.

With that thought in mind, I finally looked at my friend from across the table, who had the same pleasing face as usual, with his signature pretty boy smile. But from his eyes, I could tell he had experienced even more stress than I, but now it was replaced by extreme shock. Looking at me, he whispered in a hushed tone.

"Damian, I don't know how you managed to manifest such an affinity, but you did it. There's a lot we have to talk about later. I'm not going to lie to you my friend, I had prepared myself for the worst. I guess I should have believed you when you said you had a plan."

No no, you were completely right, unfortunately.

Arthur offered me an apologetic look, which I accepted, looking slightly disappointed in him while whispering back.

"Arthur, my dear friend. The wounds will take long to heal, but maybe I can find somewhere in my heart to forgive you, for a certain price." I gave a small smirk, and pinched my two fingers, rubbing them together.

Arthur, after rolling his eyes at my statement, than motioned me to pay attention to the stage. The Regent, who had remained a backdrop during my awakening, had moved center stage yet again. Still holding his loudspeaker device, he spoke, after hushing the attendees.

"Brothers and Sisters, need I say anything? Our city not only had the honor to view the birth of a Veilwalker of the Hallowed, the first since the Emperor himself, but we also got to see a commoner, with no lineage to trace from, become an Awakener of the Unwritten. We stand here in the middle of history, and no doubt this will be written down as one of the greatest witnesses of talents since the Empire's founding. Praise be to the Almighty, and blessed be the Emperor of Man."

After hearing many reciprocal praises and prayers from the crowd, the Regent continued to speak.

"After all the great blessings we have received today, I hope the next piece of news can be received well, despite its abruptness."

All the Nobles in the hall started to murmur again. For the hundredth time today, they gossiped about what the news could be. The Regent, seeing this, continued his speech.

"Comrades of our great city, it is today, as the General of Defense of our forces, that I must announce my retirement after 60 years."

The murmuring got even louder, after all, a lot of the Nobles here probably lived their whole lives with the Regent as their General. The men especially were rowdy, some seemed reluctant to accept the news, others seemed shocked. One thing was certain, the Regent was well respected amongst the Nobles, especially the military men, who made up a majority here.

"And it is today, that I announce my successor. He is someone who has only served by my side for 6 years, yet his talent can not be diminished. His mind for military tactics is both traditional yet modern, and his personal prowess can be matched by too few. He is, as you all know, the one who crushed the heretic uprising in the north. He has become a faithful servant to the Empire, under His watchful eye. Please come up, Arthur Solmere."

Unlike before, were everyone usually remained silent due to tradition and sacredness, everyone started clapping as Arthur got up from his seat. Some of the more younger men in the crowd even started whistling. It seemed Arthur was as popular as the Regent, and there very little people who didn't seem somewhat pleased with this decision.

As Arthur walked on to the podium, his smile was as big as ever, and still held its usual composure. His bright blonde hair was assented by the candlelight, only one left lit. But only I could tell, that his smile was actually being suppressed.

This bastard, hes enjoying every bit of this isn't he. God, I'm not gonna hear the end of it later.

Arthur, after shaking the hand of the Regent, attempted to bow to him, but the Regent pulled him back up, saying something that was unintelligible from where I sat. Arthur gave the Regent a nod of mutual respect, and finally took the podium, grabbing the device that the Regent had previously been using. Finally, he began to speak.

"Comrades of our great city, it is with great honor that I accept this role. The Regent has not just been our leader, but also our father. He has served the Empire in ways none of us could know, and..."

Spacing out, I started to stare at the paintings again. It hadn't been long since I had left my 'dream state', and I still had plenty of information to digest.

Why exactly was I in a cage? Did I 'imagine' that as well? Not to mention, why the hell was I tied up?

While in thought, I yet again felt the same gaze as before pierce my back. It was almost as if the person behind me was screaming, "Please turn around and look at me."

Can you piss off, there is no way I'm turning around so your creepy eyes can look at me. On the note of eyes, I guess we have something in common, we both have to hide ourselves. If the priest knew of either of us, we would be hunted to the face of the Earth.

There was a reason why I asked Charlotte if my eyes could be hidden. Because in this world, people who awakened Angel Eyes could only be called one thing.

Heretics.