The Last Process

He then began calling out the names, his gaze locking on each of us as he spoke.

"Elizabeth, primary elemental affinities: light and darkness. You will be assigned to the Allytharion family." He paused briefly, as if the surname held special significance. I stole a quick glance at King Augustus, sensing a peculiar connection between Leopold's words and the royal family's name itself. Augustus's satisfied smile left no room for doubt: the king knew exactly what was unfolding.

"Benjamin, primary elemental affinities: earth, fire, and water. You'll join the Magnum family."

"Carlos, primary elemental affinities: darkness and metal. You'll be placed with the Duskweld family."

"Midori, primary elemental affinity: water. You're assigned to the Cromwell family."

"Luca, primary elemental affinities: water, fire, plant, and wind. You'll join the Snaken family."

"Nicole, primary elemental affinity: fire. You'll go to the Phoenix family."

"Dalton, primary elemental affinities: earth, thunder, and wind. You'll be placed with the Dracknum family."

"Remember," Oswald continued, his tone softer but still firm, as though trying to ease the growing anxiety that was spreading through the group. "What I've listed are simply your perfect elemental affinities. The rest, you will uncover with time. There are many types of magic beyond what you've been told. Those of you with only one perfect affinity should not feel discouraged. Sometimes, a high-level affinity can surpass others in sheer power. You may even discover that your talents lie in special types of magic—matrix magic, alchemy, necromancy, curses, spatial manipulation, gravity magic, psychokinesis… It's far too early to know for sure, but each of you holds immense potential."

He swept his gaze across the group, his expression steady and encouraging, as though trying to ensure his words had the desired effect. The faces around me seemed less anxious now, though a heavy tension still hung in the air. Nobody looked entirely comfortable with what was about to happen, but there was a growing, if reluctant, trust in Oswald.

"Now, quickly. Step into the magical circles I'll indicate," Oswald instructed, his voice growing sharper, more urgent.

I was the last to be guided toward the circle. The others were already in position, their faces serious, their bodies visibly tense.

"We'll see each other in a few hours," Oswald said, stepping back quickly.

The space around me fell into silence, the echo of his words lingering faintly before fading away.

Suddenly, an intense light erupted from the circle, and before I could react, everything around me warped. A whirlwind of colors and shapes overwhelmed my vision, and I felt an unbearable pressure on my senses. The environment morphed into a blurry haze, leaving me momentarily unable to comprehend what was happening. The vertigo was overwhelming, and my muscles tensed involuntarily, as if my body instinctively resisted the unknown force pulling me in.

When clarity finally returned, I realized the light was gone, replaced by impenetrable darkness. I found myself in an unbearably confined space, suffocatingly claustrophobic. The air felt heavy, thick, as though I was trapped in a sarcophagus—or worse, a coffin. Panic began to creep in. The walls—if they could even be called walls—pressed tightly against me, compressing every inch of my body as if determined to crush me entirely.

"Wh... Wha...?" My voice came out muffled, but before I could finish speaking, a sharp, searing pain lanced through my consciousness. Something was piercing my skin—thin, needle-like objects stabbing with surgical precision. I tried to thrash, but my body was paralyzed, locked in place as though bound by invisible chains.

A cold, viscous sensation began to spread from the points where the needles had entered. The pain was excruciating, accompanied by an icy tingling that expanded rapidly, as if something foreign was being injected directly into my veins.

The agony intensified, becoming unbearable—a crushing weight on my mind. It felt as though my skin was being torn apart from the inside out, a visceral sensation so extreme it churned my stomach. My body began to tremble uncontrollably, my muscles contracting in desperate, futile resistance to the pain.

"....., ….. ,….."

I tried to scream, but no sound came. The suffocating stillness of my surroundings, coupled with the escalating torment, threatened to drive me insane. The distorted images around me started to converge into a single pulsating point of light, hammering at my mind like the rhythmic pounding of a drum.

And then, at the peak of my agony, something even more horrifying began to occur. The pain, already unbearable, escalated to unimaginable levels. I could feel my bones cracking, the sharp, unrelenting pain radiating throughout my body. It was as though every joint, every fragment of bone was being shattered and reassembled in an endless, tormenting cycle.

My muscles seized and stretched, snapping like taut wires on the verge of breaking, while my flesh tore and healed in rapid succession, as if an unseen force were relentlessly reshaping me. My eyes bulged in their sockets, every pulse of pain pounding in my head like a relentless storm, distorting my vision into a vortex of light and shadow.

My nails felt like they were ripping out of my fingers, grotesquely elongating as if being forcibly reshaped. My face, once familiar, now seemed to melt and reform—skin stretching and contracting as though it were wax under the heat of a flame. My teeth sank painfully into my lips, the force of my own jaw threatening to crush itself.

Every muscle in my body spasmed and slackened in a frenetic rhythm, as though molded by invisible hands intent on breaking and rebuilding me over and over again.

It was unnatural. Under normal circumstances, I should have lost consciousness long ago, but for some reason, I remained awake. The pain was so excruciating that, in any other situation, my body would have surrendered to unconsciousness. Yet something prevented it. It was as if I wasn't allowed to rest, forced instead to endure every detail of the agony, every fragment of torment unraveling within me.

I couldn't see a thing. The darkness surrounding me was absolute, but every sensation was amplified. The sound of my bones cracking reverberated in my mind, and I felt as if my body were a toy, disassembled and reassembled by hands that worked with deliberate, torturous slowness.

"This… this is part of the process," I tried to convince myself, though my mind was teetering on the edge of collapse. I repeated the words like a mantra, a desperate attempt to hold onto some semblance of sanity. I knew this wasn't merely pain—it was transformation. But understanding that didn't make the experience any less terrifying.

..................................................................

Time stretched into an eternity, but at last, the pressure began to relent. The pain receded—not entirely, but enough to grant a fleeting sense of relief. My breathing was labored, my chest rising and falling as if I'd run a marathon.

I tried to move, but at first, my body refused to respond. Every muscle felt stiff, as though frozen solid by the ordeal. With monumental effort, I managed to make my arms obey. Slowly, I lifted them, and my hands brushed against something solid and rough—a surface that felt like wood.

"Is… is this a coffin?" The thought sent a jolt of panic through me. My hands pressed against the wooden surface, applying as much strength as I could muster. The lid creaked under the pressure, the sound heavy and grating, and with one final push, I managed to force it open. The noise rang out like thunder, and the light that spilled in was almost blinding.

I slowly raised my torso, gasping for air as my mind struggled to process what was happening. The surroundings were strange and unsettling. The walls, made of smooth black stone, were etched with glowing runes that shimmered faintly, casting an eerie blue light across the chamber.

The air was cold and heavy, charged with an energy that sent shivers down my spine. I was in a relatively spacious room, but it felt alive, as if the very walls were aware of my presence.

Yet something wasn't right. Even after several minutes, a lingering sense of disorientation clung to me. The dizziness refused to fade completely, and my perception of the world felt… altered. That was when the realization struck me:

The world had changed.