The slums were alive today with its usual hum of desperation bellowing throughout the streets. The sky was a muted gray, and the air was thick with dust. Cracked buildings and crooked alleyways marked the path through this forsaken part of the city. For most, the slums were a prison, a place where the hope of ever becoming something more was crushed before it could take root.
But today, there was a flicker of excitement in the air. Today was the Awakening Ceremony.
Sixteen years old. The day every child who has hopes to become a samurai dream about their entire lives. This is a day where they would either gain power or be cast aside forever. This was the only chance most from the slums had to erase the title of a Sunken from their family line. When people found out in the past that failing awakening increased the chances of their future offspring failing also many people started ostracizing those who failed the awakening creating this toxic social environment that is experienced today.
Jay a young boy stood at the edge of the crowd, staring at the towering platform where the ceremony is taking place. His heart pounded, but not with excitement. It was the same fear he'd carried with him all his life, the weight of knowing that he, like most children born in the slums, had a high chance of becoming a Sunken.
In the slums, everyone knew the exact meaning of the title Sunken, it was a title that most felt you could never escape. Sunken were the people who failed the Awakening—they were the ones who, when they placed their hand on the awakening stone, didn't receive a bloodline. The ones who didn't get their elemental powers, didn't get their weapons, and were cast away into the slums where they would remain for the rest of their lives to repeat the cycle and increase the strength of the cage that was placed on them.
Jay parents were both Sunken. It was a fact and curse he carried with him all his life and it was deeply rooted in his blood. Very few has ever been able to break free from the curse of the slums especially those who both parents were Sunken. Jay wasn't foolish enough to think he would be anything special the chances where against him in every way so hope never was something he held onto to begin with.
The crowd around him cheered as the first child was called up to the platform. One by one, the other children were tested, each one standing proudly before the elder, closing their eyes, and receiving their own soul weapon and elemental power. A few failed the awakening regretfully becoming a Sunken. Those who failed had already been escorted and put through the process of a failed awakening causing many gazes of disdain and disgust by others at the ceremony. Looking around the air crackled with energy more and more as each kid went up to awaken. The only moments of reprieve from the chaotic feeling in the air came when a Sunken was announced making Jay already low confidence to fall lower than it was previously. The flames of fire, the crackle of lightning, the flow of water—they were all proof that those born with a bloodline could ascend to greatness.
Jay clenched his fists, trying to quell the nausea rising in his stomach. This isn't a place for me, he thought. I know it. I'm not special. I'll just become another failure.
Finally, his name was called.
"Jay Vatar," the elder's voice rang out.
Jay's feet felt like lead as he stepped forward, his heart hammering in his chest. He tried to focus, tried to push the panic away, but the eyes of the crowd, the weight of their expectations, the fear of being cast aside—it all crashed down on him.
He climbed the steps to the platform. The elder stood waiting, his eyes filled with that familiar, judgmental gaze. Jay had seen it a thousand times—on the faces of his peers, on the faces of the people who lived in the slums. A mix of pity, disdain, and the quiet acknowledgment that someone like him didn't belong.
The elder nodded and motioned for him to place his hand on the stone. The moment his skin touched the cold surface, energy began to surge. He could feel it, a power he'd never experienced before. But instead of joy, all he felt was fear.
The stone lit up with an intense, blinding light, but when it faded, Jay didn't feel anything new. He didn't feel any elemental power coursing through him. There was no rush of energy, no sudden sense of control.
Instead, his hand remained empty, his heart sinking as he felt the familiar, hollow emptiness.
The elder looked at him with a mixture of disappointment and indifference, but as the silence stretched on, something unexpected happened.
A flicker of light appeared in the corner of his vision.
Jay blinked. What… was that?
He looked down at his hand, still resting on the stone. A strange sensation, almost like a whisper or an itch in his mind, urging him to focus. Then, another flash appeared—this time larger, clearer. He saw words, words that no one else could see. They hovered in his mind like a message he couldn't ignore.
Bloodline: Forbidden ???
Elemental Affinity: Fire (Initial)
System: Elemental Lord
Special Abilities: To be unlocked
Jay breath began to become caught in his throat. What… is this?
His heart raced as the system's description flickered in front of him. The staff that appeared in his hand—a weapon made of pure, radiant steel—seemed to hum with an ancient energy. It wasn't just any weapon. It felt… alive.
Fire. It was his awakened element. But the words on the screen didn't make any sense. [Forbidden ???] What was happening? Why did he have this strange bloodline when his chances of awakening is supposed to be close to nothing? Even with all the luck in the world the best Jay could ever look forward to was just a small weak affinity in his situation so currently Jay was extremely stumped?
The crowd around him remained silent, still unsure of what was going on. The elder stared, his eyes wide, unable to process what had just occurred. Jay didn't know what was worse—the confusion or the fear.
The staff in his hand flickered with an intense heat, burning bright with an inner flame. He felt the power of fire surge through him, but it wasn't just fire—he wasn't sure what but it felt like something more. Something a lot more deeper.
As the murmurs from the crowd began to grow, Jay realized something: his life was no longer going to be the same for better or worse. A type of system had chosen him, but for what purpose? And what did this bloodline mean? The question was endless, he knew the future may be far darker than anything he could have imagined, and if he had any luck left after awakening it may be brighter but he had a feeling that that may not be the situation.
And so began Jay's journey. The journey of a kid destined to be a Sunken who had awakened to something more—something that would change the world.