The Awakening Ceremony

The morning sun bathed the small town in a golden glow, illuminating the narrow streets bustling with activity. Vendors shouted cheerfully, hawking everything from fresh produce to colorful trinkets. The aroma of freshly baked bread mingled with the scent of blooming flowers, creating a vibrant yet tranquil start to the day.

Inside the school, the classroom buzzed with an excited chatter. 

"What do you think Teacher Larry is going to announce today?" Cedric, one of the students who always hovered around Kian to gain his favour, prodded him.

Kian was already aware of the news as almost all major decisions and happenings went through the Knight's mansion and he had an insider view of them.

Everyone turned towards Kian hoping to get the answer. Even though Arthur didn't look towards him, he focused his hearing towards the discussion as he was quite eager to learn the news as well.

"It is related to the Awakening Ceremony." Kian said nonchalantly.

"Awakening Ceremony? Is it the ceremony where we get to awaken our element?" Cedric asked again.

"Let me not spoil everything for Teacher Larry. You will soon learn all the details." Kian replied with an air of mysticism.

After the brief response from Kian, the classroom soon engaged in hushed chatter, each one of them contributing to what they knew about the Awakening ceremony.

Teacher Larry soon entered the class with a brimming smile. 

"There is good news to be shared. The Awakening Ceremony will be conducted a month from now. This is your chance to rise from the ordinary to the extraordinary world of elements" 

The students burst into cheers as they heard the news.

"Teacher, can you tell us more about the Awakening ceremony? Arthur asked enthusiastically.

"Of course. The Awakening ceremony is conducted to awaken the elements within the individuals. Since it requires the use of a special Awakening stone which our small town can't afford to keep, we invite honoured guests from the Skywind Academy to bring the Awakening stones and help the students awaken their elements."

"There will be four Awakening stones, one for each of the elements. You will have to …" Teacher Larry went into the details of the process. 

"Finally, there is a hidden benefit in the ceremony that you can grasp if you are lucky. If you can awaken your element through meditation before the ceremony, you can use the ceremony to absorb the energies from the Awakening stone and further your progress in your elemental journey."

"But it is not important to talk more about it now when none of you have awakened it. If you awaken an element before the ceremony, come visit me and I will guide you on how to benefit the most from it."

After finishing with all the questions, Teacher Larry declared. "The school will remain closed during this time. I will be available in case any students have any concerns or queries."

The Awakening ceremony was not just an academic event, but it was a celebration for the whole town. The more awakened elementalistis the town produced, the more status they would have. And with young master Kian participating this year, they were very optimistic about producing a great talent even among the awakened ones. The scale of the event would be especially grand this year.

Arthur focused seriously on his meditation for the rest of the month. He could meditate for up to five hours at a time without losing his focus. From the discussions he had heard, this was significantly larger than his peers who could meditate for upto three hours without a break. Longer meditation times was said to facilitate a higher chance of perceiving an element.

Every time one meditated and tried to feel the elemental energies, it would drain their mind. Once completely exhausted, they would have to rest for a period of time before they could meditate again. If they continued stubbornly, they wouldn't get any results.

So, every day he was able to get about two hours of additional meditation time with longer sessions as compared to his peers.

But the bad news was that he hadn't got any results yet. 

He had visited the school a few times to get some pointers from Teacher Larry. He would sometimes observe a couple of his classmates chatter excitedly about their progress. Cedric spoke about feeling a faint cooling sensation, another talked about feeling as is a heavy weight had been placed on their body during their meditation. Arthur bit his lip and turned away from their conversations. Their progress only deepened his frustration.

"Maybe my elemental affinity isn't very high for any element, so I don't perceive anything. Even Teacher Larry said that most of the individuals who awaken an element, do so during the ceremony. Only a rare few with exceptional elemental affinity can awaken before the ceremony." he reasoned to himself, though the thought brought little comfort.

As the day of the Awakening ceremony came closer, he became more anxious. If he wanted his mom and himself to have a better life, he had to awaken.

After not getting any results for a few weeks, finally he felt something just before the day of the awakening.

But it wasn't anything like he was taught in the school. When he closed his eyes and focused his mind to perceive the elemental energies, he felt he was looking at a void. It wasn't an empty void but an endless expanse that seemed alive in its nothingness. As he tried to concentrate more, he went deeper and deeper but there was no end to it. He felt as though the endless void was pulling at the edges of his very soul, an infinite darkness full of nothingness, until panic overtook him. 

The panic took him out of the meditative state and he opened his eyes. He was sweating profusely, and his heart beat like hammer strikes.

"What was that?" Arthur was visibly scared from the experience. He immediately rushed to ask Teacher Larry about it.

Teacher Larry was also confused hearing about Arthur's experience. He had never heard anything of the sort. "May be you were too tired and that led to such an experience. All sorts of weird things happen when one's mind is drained. I would advise you to get proper rest before tomorrow for the best results."

Chalking up the weird experience to his tired condition, Arthur returned home to rest for the night.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day. And he needed to be at his best condition for it.