(Lexo's Point of View)
I was curled up against Dad's side, the lingering warmth of the bonfire and his steady presence keeping the last traces of weakness away. 99.99%. "Critical Latency." It felt like a drop of water about to fall, like surface tension about to break. It wasn't painful, not even uncomfortable—just… expectant.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath of the cool forest air, and in that stillness, in the quiet acceptance of my incomplete state… it happened.
It was like an unseen lock deep inside me—a lock I hadn't even known existed; clicking open with a silent, resonant shift. And then, the universe within me tore apart. The energy trapped within my core, that dense, vibrant mass, burst outward with unimaginable force. It wasn't just Air, Light, Earth, or Fire—it was everything.
A blinding light erupted from me. A silent roar filled my head. Pressure burst outward in every direction.
But something held it back.
A warmth—familiar, powerful, desperate—Mom's Light—an invisible yet impossibly strong dome wrapped around me, absorbing and deflecting most of the primordial fury I'd just unleashed. And still, I felt the ground beneath me disintegrate, the earth giving way under the sheer force of it all.
Then, the sensation changed. The chaos stilled, shifting to a rising current. I felt weightless, floating at the heart of my own controlled destruction.
I opened my eyes.
I was suspended in midair, several meters above the ground, inside a radiant sphere of Mom's Light. Below me, a smoking crater marked the spot where I had been sitting just seconds ago. The endless, star-speckled night sky stretched above me.
"Congratulations, little detonator!" Eos's voice chimed in my mind, ever amused. "A Classic Awakening. Loud, dramatic… I'll give you points for that. Though, your mother just saved this lovely forest from being obliterated."
I floated there, caught in this strange limbo, the air around me humming with energy. Below, my parents and their friends stared up, faces frozen in pure shock. Time felt warped—stretched; I simply… existed.
"Oh, and don't worry about the elemental affinities," Eos added, as if reading my thoughts. "The Awakening is a clean slate. You've unlocked everything—but now you have to learn to walk in every room again. Everything resets, get it? A fresh canvas for a very… interesting future."
I called up my stats window, curious to see this so-called "fresh canvas."
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[Lexo]
Level: 1 (Awakened!) – Dark Core
Age: 1 year
HP: 30/30 (+5)
MP: 150/150 (!!!+115!!!)
STR: 5 (+1)
VIT: 5 (+1)
INT: 5 (Unlocked – Basic Level: Advanced Linguistic Comprehension, Basic Logical Reasoning)
WIS: 5 (Unlocked – Basic Level: Superior Environmental Observation, Intermediate Social Analysis)
DEX: 5 (+1)
MAG: 5 (+1)
Core: 100% Formed! (Primordial Core – Multielemental)
Abilities:
Rapid Learner (Passive) Lv.1]
[Chronos – Time Manipulation (Active/Passive) Lv.1 – Reset]
Elemental Affinities:
Air (Vestigial)
Light (Vestigial)
Earth (Vestigial)
Fire (Vestigial)
Darkness (Vestigial – Locked)
Status: Conscious Mind, Newly Awakened, Floating.
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Incredible! My base stats had all increased evenly! INT and WIS had unlocked, though only at a basic level. And the MP… insane, 150!
My core was complete—100% formed! Listed as "Primordial – Multielemental."
Just as Eos had said, all my affinities were at a vestigial level… but Darkness had appeared as well. Locked, for now.
The counterpart to Mom's Light.
Could that mean I might be able to use it someday? Exciting. …And a little terrifying.
As the first streaks of pink and gold touched the horizon, I felt the power holding me up gently subside. Slowly, weightlessly, I drifted down, landing like a feather at the crater's edge.
Mom's Light dome faded. Her face was pale, exhausted… but her eyes shimmered with wonder.
(Garen's Point of View)
I was half-asleep, Lexo's warmth a familiar comfort against my side, keeping the last traces of weakness away.
Then—the energy.
A surge so violent it ripped me from sleep and jolted me to my feet.
A burst of pure white light erupted from my son, so intense I had to shield my eyes. The air rumbled—not with sound, but with raw power.
"Elara!" I shouted, but she was already moving.
Her own Light surged—blinding, focused, absolute— forming a protective dome around Lexo just as his energy reached its peak. Outside the barrier, trees bent, the ground shook violently. Inside, my wife stood at the heart of it all, shielding our son while the earth beneath him… simply ceased to exist.
When the brightness faded, my heart stopped.
Lexo was floating.
Suspended in the air, bathed in Elara's glow, hovering above the smoking chasm his power had left behind.
The Four Greats—warriors of legend—stood frozen, mouths agape.
"By the beards of my ancestors…" Borin murmured.
"I've never seen… never even heard of an Awakening like this," Lyra whispered, wide-eyed.
"This…" Kael swallowed. "This changes everything, comrades."
We stood there, watching, waiting, barely breathing, as our son hovered in the night sky, supporting Elara with everything we had so she could keep that barrier intact.
What was this?
Awakenings were chaotic, yes. But this? An explosion that carved a crater? Floating for hours?
This wasn't in any story I'd ever heard.
Who was my son?
What had we brought into this world?
Terror warred with a bone-deep, primal pride in my chest.
This was something new.
"A prodigy" didn't even begin to cover it.
Perhaps… something more.
At dawn, Lexo descended, soft as a falling leaf.
Elara let go of her barrier, stumbling from sheer exhaustion.
I ran to him, scanning every inch of him frantically. He was unharmed. Just… a little dazed.
He looked up at me with those huge, impossibly bright blue eyes.
And smiled. Faint, but there.
I pulled him into my arms, feeling his small weight. So light. So at odds with the titanic power he had just unleashed.
I met Elara's gaze. Then Kael's. Then Lyra's and Borin's.
We all knew.
"We're going home," I said, my voice rough. "Now."
Elara nodded, leaning on Lyra for support.
"And we need to talk," Kael added grimly. "To someone who can actually understand what this means."
Elara's eyes hardened. "Valerius. My brother. Now."
Yes.
General Valerius.
We needed the Kingdom. We needed answers.
And more than anything—
We needed to protect Lexo.
The camping trip was over.
The real journey—raising something the world had never seen before—was just beginning.