The first rays of the morning sun filtered softly through the Valen household's modest curtains, brushing across the pale stone walls of Ael's bedroom. The room smelled faintly of the herbs Lira had left to dry by the window the night before, and the lingering warmth of the hearth below added a comforting weight to the air. Yet, comfort was not what Ael felt. His mind was already racing, his senses alive with the strange energy that pulsed beneath his skin — Ether.
He sat up slowly, eyes wide, staring at the faint shimmer that seemed to radiate from his chest. It was different from anything he had ever felt. Not warmth, not pressure, not even the faint, flowing rhythm described in the academy's texts about mana. This was… larger. Vast. Almost Divine. Every heartbeat seemed to echo the pulse of something much greater than his own body.
Instinctively, he stretched out his hands. Tiny streams of silvery light coiled above his palms, twisting and curling as if testing their boundaries. Ael's breath caught. He had no control yet — these flares of energy danced according to their own whims — but their presence alone was intoxicating. They hummed faintly, vibrating in resonance with the pulse inside him.
He tried to focus, to make the tendrils of energy respond to his thoughts, but they resisted. One flicker dissipated before his eyes, another formed into a wisp and curled around his fingers. Each attempt was clumsy, but every spark gave him a thrill unlike any other. His mind flickered back to the translucent screen that had appeared last night.
He called out, "Screen. Holo Screen. Stats..", nothing happened.
He thought about those novels and games and mumbled, "Status", finally a translucent screen manifested.
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STATUS SCREEN
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Name: Elyrion Vaelora
Race: ???
Ether Core Level: 1 (0/100)
Title: The Vessel
Class: Ether Paragon (Unique)
Class Skill: Ether Manipulation
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Stats:
Strength : 20
Agility : 20
Vitality : 20 [HP: 200 / 200]
Stamina : 20
Intelligence : 20 [Ether: 200 / 200]
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Skills:
(None)
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He opened and closed the status repeatedly, as if the act could somehow reveal the secrets he could not yet understand. Every number burned into his mind — twenty across the board. Even the Vitality and Intelligence, which correlated to the life force he now knew as Ether, far exceeded what any first-time awakener could achieve.
"Impossible," he whispered, voice barely audible over the hum that seemed to flow through him. "No one starts like this. No one…"
A soft knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Ael? Are you awake?" Isla's voice was light, tinged with concern. He recognized it immediately, warm and familiar, a tether to the ordinary world outside his chest's surging pulse.
He scrambled to hide the faint sparks curling above his palms, but a small wisp escaped, hovering in the air for a heartbeat before dissipating. Isla's eyes widened slightly.
"You… what's that?" she asked, stepping inside. Her black hair caught the morning light, and her blue eyes shone with both curiosity and caution.
"It's… the element I awakened," Ael said quickly, waving a hand as if to dismiss it. His voice held a forced casualness. "It's just… I don't understand it yet."
Isla tilted her head, sensing that he was hiding something, and she pressed on. "You are acting… strange. Are you sure you're okay?"
Ael hesitated, then allowed a small stream of Ether to flicker between his hands again. This time, he let it form a wisp long enough for her to see it clearly. It glimmered faintly, a fluid, shimmering silver-blue light.
"I… don't know what it is yet," he admitted softly. "It's not like the mana they teach us about at the academy. It's… different. Something else."
Isla's eyes widened. "Different how?"
"I… can feel it. I can move it a little, but I don't know how it works. I don't know what element it is. I just… feel it." He let the tendrils curl and rise above his palms, hovering for a few moments before dissipating again.
Isla's lips parted slightly. "It's… beautiful."
Before he could respond, the sound of soft footsteps approached — Kara, moving down the hall. Ael quickly extinguished the Ether glow and let the wisp fade entirely. Isla gave him a small, knowing glance before moving to the window.
…
The clatter of the breakfast table below reminded them both of the mundane morning, pulling Ael back from the strange, intoxicating potential that thrummed through him.
Breakfast passed in relative quiet, save for the occasional chatter from Kara and Isla. The Valens discussed the upcoming awakening ceremony, teasing each other lightly about who would be most impressive, and what kinds of skills they might display. Ael ate slowly, his mind elsewhere, experimenting subtly with flickers of Ether under the table — long enough for him to feel it coil and spiral in his chest, but never enough to alert his family.
"Nervous?" Isla asked, looking at him sideways.
Ael grinned and said, "It's me we are talking about, what can go wrong?"
Isla laughed softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Kara rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with Ael's bravado, but smiled faintly nonetheless.
After breakfast, the three of them walked toward the academy. The streets of Sahara City were alive with students and families, the air buzzing with the excitement of another ceremonial day. Merchants called out their wares, street musicians played bright, lively tunes, and the scent of fresh bread and herbs lingered in the breeze.
Ael's mind drifted to the status screen again. The numbers. The Ether. The title. He fidgeted with the idea of skills, imagining what might happen if he could channel this energy deliberately, when he could finally grasp control rather than letting it flicker and dance on its own.
…
By the time they reached the awakening grounds, the air thrummed with anticipation. Rows of students stood at attention, their awakenings about to be scanned and recorded by the academy's devices. Teachers moved along the line, calibrating their instruments, speaking quietly into wrist communicators, scanning each student's potential.
When Ael's turn arrived, the scanners swept over him with quiet beeps. The instructors exchanged glances as the device read his stats.
Twenty across the board. Each number glowing brighter than expected. Whispers broke out among the instructors, murmurs of disbelief. "How…? This is impossible…" "It's far beyond anything we've seen in a first-time awakening…"
They reached for the core and elemental scanner next. The machines hummed, sensors flaring, waiting for the familiar pulse of mana. Nothing. No core detected.
Confusion rippled across the faces of the instructors. Several teachers leaned in, checking calibrations. The readings were accurate — no mana core and no elemental affinity.
"Ael, our sensors detect your stats are at an awakened level, however… We cannot detect your core or elemental affinity, can you perhaps show us what you gained upon awakening? " an instructor's voice, tinged with cautious authority, asked.
Swallowing his fear, Ael extended his hands. The same faint, silvery glow of Ether shimmered between his palms, pulsing rhythmically. The instructors leaned closer, inspecting the anomaly.
"This… is not mana," one muttered. "But it is… energy. It gives me the chills as if my mana is submitting to it if left unmanaged…"
"Can he focus it?" another instructor asked, curiosity tinged with disbelief.
Ael nodded slightly, letting the Ether ripple above his palms. He guided it into a simple, spiraling motion that shimmered briefly before fading, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared — a clear sign that he could not yet control it fully. The instructors exchanged murmurs, some skeptical, some fascinated. While this awakening was unlike anything they had recorded, it could not be ignored. The potential radiating from him was undeniable.
"Grant him the status of an awakener," the Chief Instructor said firmly, voice carrying over the hushed murmurs. "He will have to learn to master whatever element — or energy — he has awakened. Unfortunately we cannot determine his affinity so perhaps he will have trouble getting into a guild, but thats for him to figure out."
Ael stepped forward as an assistant presented him with a small, polished badge. The metal gleamed faintly in the morning light, engraved with his name and his rank — E, the standard for all first-time awakeners. The badge was more than a symbol; it contained the awakener's credits, the official currency for the people on Aqua, now fully recognized by the government and society.
He took the badge in his hands, feeling its weight. It was light, yet carried the gravity of responsibility. For every awakener, this was the first tangible mark of recognition — a confirmation that the world now acknowledged him. And though the numbers on the scanners, the missing mana core, and the strange pulse of Ether made him different, the badge placed him firmly among his peers.
Before Ael could turn around and leave, the instructor spoke with a solemn but kind tone, "Ael, it is important for you to report any findings you learn about your current predicament, although we have not seen this before, we have only known about mana for ten years, so we are still infants so to speak when talking about knowledge in relation to mana. Anything you learn and let us know may help future awakeners that have your same problem."
Ael nodded and turned around, the ceremony moved on, but Ael's mind was consumed with thought. This energy — Ether — was his alone based on what the system said, so he knew that this would not happen again. Its origin, its purpose, and its future use remained a mystery. The status screen, the numbers, the title "The Vessel" — all remained hidden within him, a secret even from his closest family.
Isla fell into step beside him as they left the scanning area, her curiosity barely contained. "You… you really are different," she said softly.
Ael gave her a faint smile. "Yeah. Different, but not… done. I need to figure this out. I need to understand it before anyone else can."
The day stretched ahead with promise and tension. Each step through the academy grounds reminded him of the extraordinary path he now walked. And somewhere deep within, the pulse of Ether resonated — constant, infinite, and waiting.