Echo of the Awakening (1)

Pain was the only thing Kaeleen could feel. It was as if thousands of burning needles pierced his skin from the inside, running through every nerve in his body. He screamed, but his voice was trapped in his throat, suffocated by the agony consuming him. The world around him was nothing but darkness and endless suffering that seemed to have no end.

"Stay awake…" The king's words echoed in his mind like a distant warning, growing more terrifying with each passing moment. "If you pass out, you will die."

Kaeleen fought to keep his eyes open, but the pain was like a poison dragging him into the abyss. "I can't take it anymore!" he thought, his mind on the verge of breaking. The metal capsules they had been placed in were filled with horrifying sounds—the agonized screams of other summoned people filled the air, a grim reminder that many wouldn't survive this. Would he be one of them?

His body convulsed in involuntary spasms, and for a moment, Kaeleen felt his consciousness fading. "No… I can't…" His body trembled, his muscles tensed to their breaking point. Every cell in his body screamed in pain, as if he was being disintegrated from the inside. Mana coursed through his veins like an uncontrollable fire, burning everything in its path.

"I'm going to die!"

Terror completely overwhelmed him. He tried to fight, but every second felt like his strength was draining away more and more. "I don't want to die…" he thought, desperate. "Not like this… not now…" The king's words kept hammering in his mind, pounding at his senses. "Stay awake…" But the pain was unbearable. The world around Kaeleen began to blur into hazy shadows, as if everything was slipping away.

Just as he felt the abyss would consume him, something changed.

A warm hand touched his shoulder, soft, comforting. Immediately, the pain vanished, as if it had never been there. Kaeleen felt overwhelming relief wrap around him completely. The sensation of comfort was so intense that he could barely think of anything else. His mind, once filled with suffering, was now at peace.

Slowly, Kaeleen opened his eyes.

The capsule around him was silent. The pain was completely gone, though his body still trembled slightly. He felt numb, as if he had been pulled out of a nightmare he could barely remember. He looked around, confused. The process had already ended.

Kaeleen tried to move, and with strange effort, pushed open the capsule door to step out. As he did, a nauseating smell hit him with almost physical force. He looked inside the capsule and realized it was filled with a thick, black liquid that reeked of death and rot, as if it were the very essence of decay.

"What is this…?" he muttered, covering his mouth and nose to avoid vomiting.

He quickly stepped away from the capsule, barely processing what had happened, when he heard footsteps in the distance. He saw other summoned people being escorted by guards to another room. But something was wrong. Kaeleen immediately noticed what had changed: there were far fewer people than before.

"Where is everyone?" he thought, his heart racing. He remembered seeing thousands of people at the beginning, but now, there were only a few hundred left. Lost in thought, trying to make sense of the situation, a guard passed by him, throwing him a disgusted look.

"What's wrong with you, kid?" the guard said, wrinkling his nose. "You stink like you've rolled around in shit. Move, you need to shower before everyone passes out from your stench."

Kaeleen, still disoriented, touched his body and felt the sticky layer of black fluid that covered him. The smell was nauseating, but until that moment, he hadn't been fully aware of it. "This… this was in the capsule…" he muttered to himself, still stunned by the experience. The guard didn't pay attention to him, only shoved him to keep moving.

As Kaeleen walked toward the rest of the group, he heard a voice to his right.

"Damn machines!" a guard grumbled loudly, cursing. "Another capsule broke down. Now the poor bastard inside is all torn up, and I have to clean it. I don't know why the hell we're doing this for these useless people." His tone was filled with contempt, the same disdain Kaeleen had noticed from other guards.

Kaeleen felt the ground collapse beneath him. Had a capsule killed someone? His body froze entirely at the guard's words. "Do they see us as garbage?" he wondered, feeling a mix of panic and rage. He could barely process what he was hearing when something else caught his attention.

In front of the showers, a woman was crying desperately. She was kneeling in front of another guard, clutching his leg, begging through her tears.

"Please, I can't find my brother! He was with me when we arrived!" the woman cried, her voice broken with desperation.

The guard, visibly annoyed, tried to kick her off. "He's probably dead already. He was probably just a weakling. Only one in ten survives the process, so chances are he ended up like the rest."

Kaeleen's heart stopped for a second. "One in ten?" The woman let out a heart-wrenching scream, her words drowned in grief, while the other guards laughed mockingly at her misfortune.

"They lied to us! They said we'd be okay!" the woman shouted, but her voice was cut off when the guard motioned to two others. "Take her away," he ordered indifferently. Two soldiers grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out of the room as she continued screaming and struggling.

Kaeleen stood frozen, watching the scene in disbelief. "Was this all a trap?" His thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning. The kingdom… the protection… was it all a lie?

Before he could process more, a knight gently pushed him by the shoulder. "Come on, keep moving. Don't just stand there. There's work to be done." The tone was impersonal, almost irritated.

Kaeleen, his mind still clouded, weakly nodded and kept walking. The world he thought he had seen was crumbling around him. The dream of a new opportunity, of a better life, was collapsing before his eyes. Barely aware of himself, he entered the showers where they were treated impersonally and coldly, as if they were animals.

"Strip down and wash yourselves," another guard yelled, pointing to the communal showers.

Kaeleen, feeling stripped of all dignity, obeyed in silence. As the cold water fell over his body, he brought a hand to his face and felt the tears start to flow, mixing with the water. He didn't want anyone to see him cry, didn't want to appear weak, but the weight of everything he had just experienced was too much. He cried silently, without making a sound, trying to process what he had just witnessed.

Suddenly, he felt a strong hand slap him on the chest.

"Don't worry, kid," said a deep, kind voice. "Everything will be alright."

Kaeleen looked up and saw a burly man with a thick mustache and a wide smile. "Wipe that face," the man said, giving him another pat on the shoulder. "If they see you crying, you could get into trouble. These bastards have no mercy."

Kaeleen quickly wiped his face, following the advice. The man was much older than him, broad-shouldered and hairy-chested, but his presence was comforting. "Thank you," Kaeleen muttered.

The man winked at him and smiled. "No problem, kid. This is all a mess, but we'll survive. You'll see."