He was extremely surprised as a loading screen appeared before him and the memories slowly disappeared from his mind and made his head stop hurting.
Soon a loading completed massed appeared and his status promptly appeared.
=====
Name: Amadeus Hudson
True name (Hidden): Fantasia
Level: 1
Class: Summoner of Creation.
STR: –
DEF: –
AGI: –
INT: –
WIL: –
Skills:
Book of Stories (Sealed): All your creations and memories will be stored here (obs: It's sealed an only a few pages can be seen, level up to unlock new pages)
Summoning art: You can summon anything in your Book of Stories (obs: limited only to the unlocked pages or new creations)
=====
For a moment he didn't say a thing, just sunk into the ground as processed everything.
"I've Awakened" He said, realisation sinking in.
"It seems so"
He froze, then looked down to be met with sharp angry eyes.
Oh, yeah, his creations were now living beings.
"Are you going to keep staring or will you explain whatever is happening here?" The black haired man, Matthew Benediction, said with a not so friendly tone "Like, why were you about to hang yourself?"
Right, there's that too.
—
"Now, care to explain?"
They were now in the living room, both men standing on the coffee table and Amadeus was in front of them on the floor, trying to be more in eye level.
He hesitated, not sure how to proceed.
"What about starting with who you are?" Leonard suggested.
He nodded at that.
Yeah, introductions should be a good way to start.
"I'm Amadeus Hudson, I'm eighteen now and, well, an Awakened"
Although his voice carried some humor, he didn't smile.
Being an Awakened now wouldn't change a thing in the end.
"And for why I was hanging myself…"
The two men inclined in his way as he spoke, making him retreat a little.
"I was the only one not Awakened around" He said.
The tension that built up in the room was palpable, and he swore that he heard something snap.
"So you were going to hang yourself for not being an Awakened?" Matthew asked "Just like that?"
"Matt…" Leonard called, eying both Matthew and Amadeus.
"Let me guess! You had dreams of grandeur, of being the best Awakened in history like every kid had, but then you didn't Awakened and now you decided to give up?"
"Matt"
"Let me tell you, not awakening is not that big of a deal for you to throw your life-"
"Matthew Benediction!"
Matthew closed his mouth as his full name was called.
Leonard stood there, a serious look on his face while eying Amadeus again.
But he was not fazed.
"I did had big dreams when I was younger" He admitted "I always thought I would Awaken and become a hunter that could protect everyone"
Matthew opened his mouth to speak, but Amadeus cut him.
"But those dreams died fast, all I wanted was to just awaken, it didn't matter if I was a non-combatant, I just wanted to be an Awakened"
His eyes fell to the table, heavy and tired as he looked at his hands.
"I was the only one not Awakened around" He repeat "In a world where everyone is an Awakened, so it was hanging myself or letting myself be taken by institutions that wanted to test me and see if I was really unable to Awakening"
In this world he lived in, every single person was an Awakened at the age of ten at the latest, and even then it was rare.
They had classes, levels, skills and more, they could fly with the wind, they could fight with monsters, they could craft the impossible.
And there's Amadeus, who couldn't do anything other than write and draw, and even that was looked down upon even though his own story was well known.
He was just a human, a simple and frail human with no importance or rights in this society of power.
He had more than once been offered to move to institutions that proposed to find a way to Awaken him, but he saw their eyes, the eyes he always drew for villains, he saw their smiles, the ones he drew for scammers.
They weren't there to help, they just wanted answers, answers he couldn't give and answers they would find however they wanted.
So he chose a way they couldn't find these answers.
Dead men tell no tales, after all.
"The only non Awakened?"
He looked at his characters, both seeming stuned.
"How is that possible?" Matthew said.
"Back in our world there were plenty of non-Awakened" Leonard added "They were even the majority of the population"
"Because I designed it that way"
They both stopped on their tracks to look at him.
Amadeus avoided their eyes, too embarrassed.
"I… didn't like being the only one" He admitted "So I designed a world where I wasn't, a world I didn't need to worry being mistreated for just breathing the same air of the Awakened"
A dry laugh escaped his throat.
"A lot of people read my- your story" He said "Even some guys in my class, so I thought that they might change their minds if I wrote about my situation in this way"
A sad smile formed for a fraction of seconds, then died before it even became that apparent.
"People loved the dynamic" He said in a whisper "But nothing changed in real life, I was still the Waste of society"
He leaned against the couch behind him and sighed.
"So I decided to not be the Waste anymore and just end things here, better then being inconvenient"
"Don't you have anyone?" Leonard asked "Someone that will miss you?"
He stayed quiet for a moment, thinking.
His parents didn't care, that he knew, they only gave this place to him because they are forced by law to care for him until he's eighteen, but didn't want to look at his face.
They should be here by the morning to kick him out of this rented apartment.
He thought of his twin sister and her old smile flashed in his mind.
Then it greyed out nearly as soon as it came, replaced by cold eyes and a sharp tongue.
He had two younger brothers, eight and eleven this year, but… he never met them, having been living in this apartment since he was six, so there's no way they would miss Amadeus.
He doubted that most of the family even knew about his existence, much less the kids.
He ended up not answering, but the pair didn't need him to.
"God…" Leonard hissed.
"That bad, huh?" Matthew sighed.
He only shrugged in silence while sitting properly again.
"We should check my skills"
Matthew gave him a long stare.
"What skill are we talking about?"
"I want to check Book of Stories first" Amadeus explained "It has all my memories and ideas, it might have something able to fix this size problem since I did get new memories after awakening"
The two of them nodded, staring at him as he took a deep breath.
"Book of Stories" He called.
In front of his eyes, a tick and big book with a purple and gold cover appeared, only one thing was written in front.
[Fantasia]
He didn't recognize the language, but he understood the meaning with no problem.
He took the book effortlessly despite its size and gently put it on the table as the two characters jumped to his shoulders once more.
"It's bigger than I expected" He admitted "I don't think I have enough creations or memories to fill this thing up"
He opened the book and something came out.
A person, bigger than the characters, but smaller than Amadeus, their hair moved like flames and constantly changed colors like their skin, their eyes, the same ones he saw in his own reflection, showed a mischief and their smile was big, a bit too big.
"Heya kid!" The person said in a language he didn't know, but understood "Congratulations on surviving for eighteen years! Let me tell you, not all Personas do so!"
Persona? He?
Amadeus was so confused that he just stayed quiet as the person continued.
"I know you're confused, believe me, it's normal, but I'm here in this projection to clarify some things"
A projection, so there would be no way to ask questions.
He watched as the person's gleamed with what he could tell was a bit of madness as the smile became impossibly wider and they pointed at themselves with a thumb
"I am the Constellation of creation and creativity, Fantasia" The person said before pointing at Amadeus "And you, dear Persona, is my incarnation in the mortal world!"