Kaizen pressed a fist to his mouth and coughed, the sound rough in the quiet morning. "Why is the place so dusty?"
The first rays of sunlight crept across the floor, painting the walls in gold. Leon leaned against the doorframe, eyeing me with a worried look. "Kaizen, you look really tired. Were you up all night?"
"Yeah," I admitted, rubbing my eyes. "The dark really scares me. I always swear there's something out there."
"Hah, still scared of the dark?" Leon grinned. "Well, are you ready to awaken your soul power today? The festival's in a couple of hours."
"Yeah, I am. I hope I get something good, like an element—and maybe a soul animal and a soul weapon too. That would be cool."
Leon chuckled. "Soul animal, and soul weapon—that's pretty rare, but I hope you get one. That would be awesome."
My brother and I quickly got dressed. I chose to wear a nice, elegant suit, as I would call it; my brother thinks it looks weird, but he's into the more casual look.
"Is that what you're gonna wear? It doesn't match well with your black hair and thin body."
"Shut up, it looks great, you're just mad cause you can't wear it."
"Whatever you say."
Ignoring the comment Leon made, I pushed the door open and stepped into the brightening morning, my brother at my side. The street outside was already alive with the scents of roasting bread and the buzz of festival excitement. Colorful banners snapped overhead, and vendors hurried to finish their stalls for the coming-of-age festival, the day every thirteen-year-old waits for: the awakening of their soul power.
As Leon and I wove through the growing crowd, I caught many glimpses of cool attractions, devices to control soul powers, weapons, and even magic items.
"Leon, we should go to some of those stands," I called, staring at a bright red metal sword with some weird runes carved into it.
"No, not yet. We have to meet Dad and Mom before your awakening," Leon replied, steering me away.
"Fine," I said, reluctantly.
This festival was more than just a celebration. From ages six to thirteen, we went to school to learn about soul power, career paths, history, language—everything we needed to understand our world. But today was the day that set us apart from children, the first step toward adulthood. Officially, adulthood came at fifteen, but everyone knew you became a grown-up the moment you awakened your soul power.
I always wanted to be like my brother. At fifteen, Leon was about to leave for Soul Academy to train as a soul hero and clear the ancient ruins scattered across the land. His soul power was called Sun Halo—a power he kept secret, though I hoped one day he would share it with me.
Lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed we'd reached Mom and Dad until their familiar voices broke through the noise.
"Oh, there you guys are!"
"Kaizen, are you ready for your awakening?" Dad asked, his eyes bright with pride.
"Yes," I answered excitedly, knowing that this day could only get better.
A bell rung in the distance that meant it was officaly time to get started on the awakening ceremony. We dashed over to where it started and took our seats in the city hall, it was a huge stone building that resembeled a theatre were you would see a play.
"Are you ready, Kaizen?!" My brother said quietly, trying to mask his excitement
"Yes, I am!" I responded
The halls quickly filled up with people I recognized from school. We had gotten there relatively early, so we were able to get great seats.
"Welcome to the 156th awakening ceremony of Zephyaris. I am your host, Lucan Virelith."
"We will say a name, and that person will walk up and place their hand on the awakening rune, where we will read it out loud."
Zephyaris was a relatively popular city close to the capital city, Astralis, of our country, called Valdoria, because of this, they would bring teachers from the soul academy in the capitol for these awakenings. It was really cool.
"Alright, to get started, Julian Carter."
Everyone clapped, and a thin, brown curly curly-haired boy walked up on the stage.
"Hello, Julian, please place your hand on the rune," Lucan announced
Carter did as follows, and a bright light came from the rune,
"Carter, your power is Static Veil. This generates a field of static electricity, disrupting, stunning, and distracting people."
Everyone clapped, and he picked up the list and kept reading off names until,
"The next person is Kaizen Umbra."