“Fail. Next.”

  They were only words. Two to be exact. And yet they felt like daggers to Damon as they continued to reach his ears. The pair of words became more clear as his line continued to shrink. With every elimination, he became closer and closer to the platform that held his dream.

  Or his nightmare.

  “No. I have been waiting my entire life for this. I won’t fail. I can’t fail. I refuse to.” Damon muttered to himself in hopes of washing away the fear that was wreaking havoc on his mind.

  Damon remembered the boy from house Lyle who was the first to walk up to the platform. His entire being screamed of confidence that was obviously absent in his fidgety fellow awakeners.

  ‘Of course he would feel confident. He is a member of House Lyle. Descendants of one the most famous Elemental Lords in history. Of course he would awaken.’ Damon nodded to himself. Happy at his perfect excuse for any future comparisons he knew his mind would conjure up between himself and the noble boy.

  “FAIL. Next” The Lieutenant Governor once again yelled the fate of another kid who went down the platform with tears similar to those who came before him that left the platform with the same results.

  Lt. Governor Wilkens who oversaw the boy from House Lyle returned to Platform “D” where he was originally to officiate group ‘D’ . The smile he wore when he tested the noble born from a Great House has never resurfaced again after the multiple tests he has done have all resulted in failure. This caused most people that have yet to take the tests themselves feeling anxious and afraid.

  It has been an hour since the Ceremony began and there have been around forty plus that have taken the test in his group, including the six other groups with similar numbers, making it around three hundred people who failed to awaken.

  Scanning the remaining awakeners he realized that Rodrick was about to go on. There were only about six to seven people in front of him. Damon wondered if his friend knew he was close because his head was down and stayed that way until there were only two people in front of him. Rodrick finally lifted his head and turned to scan the rest of the groups while wringing his hands which was a sign he was nervous. As he observed his friend, he noticed his tense shoulders and his constant head swivels from being anxious.

  Damon smiled to himself as he recalled the conversation they had on the way to the stadium. The statistics and chances of awakening-if Damon remembered correctly-would stand to favor his best friend seeing as there was only one person who Awakened and it happened at the beginning of the ceremony. The next person to awaken should be soon. Damon hoped Rodrick would be the one to Awaken.

  “Kira West” The lady in charge of Platform “C” shouted out a name capturing the attention of everyone in the arena.

  “Has Awakened” Finishing her announcement with a smile, cheers filled the stadium. Of course most of the Awakeners didn’t join the cheers. Including Damon.

  Shock coursed through Damon as he recognized the familiar girl as the red-haired girl from the market. The girl wore an expression of disbelief even when her hand was raised in the air by the woman in charge of her awakening, showing the arena who the chosen person was. The red haired girl was soon escorted to the tent behind the platforms just below the balcony where the officials stayed.

  With her announcement of her new status, all the tests were put on pause for a moment to announce her Awakening and give the girl her moment. And now with her moment finished, the tests resumed.

  Damon set his sights back on his friend, only to find despair written all over his face. Rodrick, as if he felt the stare, happened to turn around and for the very first time since the Ceremony began both boys locked eyes with each other. Damon, seeing this, tried to reassure his friend by sending a smile that was accompanied by a thumbs up.

  Rodrick nodded to Damon with a small smile, grateful for the support before turning around as it was now his turn to step up.

  Damon’s eyes were glued on the back of the tall figure of his best friend, watching his shoulders rise and fall from the deep breaths he was taking to calm himself. The sight made Damon recall the many memories they shared.

  Skipping school to go hear stories told by traveling merchants in the market, sneaking out towards taverns to listen to stories from travelers from outside the city, coming back home to angry mothers, they bonded over it all. Especially the stories their mothers told of the Lords of Elements. The mighty heroes of the Republic who were responsible for making millions of kids in the Republic wish they were Elementals.

  Awakening was a dream for both of them when they were younger. Although Rodrick wasn’t as vocal as he was back then, especially over these last two years that silently chipped away his dream of awakening, Damon knew that his friend's urge to awaken was just as big as his.

  Damon hoped that his best friend who had grown up with him, fought with him and protected him would achieve his dream and Awaken. This was Rodricks last chance unlike him, so he prayed to the spirits that his best friend opportunity would come.

  “ Please, if you are listening, let him Awaken.” Clasping his hands together and with his eyes closed, Damon prayed to the Spirits.

  Rodrick being two years older than Damon meant that he was the first of the duo to attend the Awakening ceremony. Damon remembered the confidence his friend carried with him as he warned Damon that when he came back from the ceremony, the first thing he would do would be to use the Element of Water to shoot beams of water at him or use his Earth Element to shake the ground underneath him to wake him out of his daze.

  Damon remembered it all.

  Including the time he wanted to buy his friend a cake after the ceremony finished to congratulate him, not noticing the unsure and worried looks his parents were exchanging with each other as they followed him to buy a cake. Standing outside the house with a cake waiting for his friend to come back, Damon imagined Rodrick splashing him with water or shaking the ground he stood on causing the cake in hand to fall. The image in his head pulled the corners of Damon’s mouth into a smile of amusement.

  A smile that slowly faded as time went by and his friends' absence was felt. Damon recalled the sinking feeling inside of him that seemed to coincide with the sun as they both started to fall. His parents finally made the decision to come outside of the house and bring their son back inside, instead of staring at their eldest from the window discussing what to do or say. Both of them carried tightlipped smiles as they told their son that Rodrick and his parents were maybe celebrating and forgot the time. Damon nodded his head in understanding before asking if they could visit. Before they could answer, uncle Kaden appeared around the corner of a building with slouched shoulders that were burdened with carrying the bad news- Rodrick did not Awaken. Damon, still holding the cake, offered it to uncle Kayden in hopes of lifting his friend's spirits. Uncle Kaden accepted it with a grateful smile.

  The year after was the same result in both the Awakening and Rodricks reaction of immediately going to bed and not leaving his house too ashamed to see his friend. The only difference was that the cake wasn’t delivered by Uncle Kayden but by Damon himself who had to climb the window of his friend’s house after climbing out of his own in secret. The memory of his smiling friend with tear stains across his cheeks was something he could never forget. The sadness and shame his friend had hid behind a smile was too painful to watch especially since he didn’t know what to do at the time. Damon could only offer a cake which they both silently ate looking at the stars pretending there weren’t tears falling down their faces.

  The heartbreaking memory brought a sad smile to Damon’s face and a plea to his heart as he prayed to the spirits once more.

  “Please. Let him Awaken. Open his eyes to the world he has always wanted to see” He repeated the prayer again and again. Hoping they would answer. Hoping they would show favor to his friend. ‘Please, please let him Awaken…’ The prayer cycled through his head again and again until he heard it.

  “Another one”

  “He’s awakened”

  "Spirits. He got lucky."

  Hearing the murmurs around him Damon slowly raised his head to see who it was.

  And there he stood attracting everyones’ eyes on him with his hand raised.

  “Rodrick Margrave”

  “ Has Awakened”

  Damon’s face broke into a full blown smile as he joined the cheers screaming and shouting for his friend who walked off the platform with a big smile and worry free shoulders to the tent that the red-haired girl from earlier entered.

  Feeling relieved that his friend finally awakened, Damon felt his earlier nerves ease up a bit. This feeling lasted only for a few moments before realization came crashing down on him as he tuned into the murmurs and whispers surrounding him.

  “That’s it, isn’t it?” A boy in the group beside Damon said.

  “Has the quota already been reached?” A girl not that far in front of him said with regret evident in her tone.

  “We’re only halfway in. How could this be?” Damon heard the boy in front of him muttering to himself with despair.

  The multiple conversations happening all around were all saying the same thing.

  The average amount of awakenings happening in a city as small as Sparking City are usually around two to three a year. The chances of another awakener appearing would be miniscule.

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  ‘No, I can still awaken. If it happened before why can’t it happen aga-”

  “Miles Briggs”

  “Has awakened”

  The announcement felt like a dagger to the heart as Damon stood frozen. Shock filled Damons’ core before a few seconds later despair replaced it. Damon knew that although the chances of awakening as the fourth person was extremely low, he still had a chance. Now however with a fourth already found, it was a different story.

  The Day of Awakening has been an event Damon has been waiting all his life for. He has studied every bit and even tried to talk to those who had family members that did awaken to find out what they did to awaken. What did they eat? What did they do to prepare? Who did they meet the night before? Damon studied everything he could about the Awakening ceremony.

  So Damon knew what the current situation meant. He knew that he would most likely not awaken this year. Nor will he join his best friend on his journey. Because although there have been cases of four awakeners throughout the years there have never been a case of five Awakeners in the entire three hundred year history of Sparking city since its rebuild.

  ‘Awakened? Someone else Awakened? But how? Why?’ Damon only felt despair as he tuned out the world and only heard his own thoughts.

  Should I have gotten here earlier? Was it because I stepped on that crack on the way here?. D-Did I do something wrong?’ Damon sighed with regret and tears in his eyes.

  Looking around, he found everybody else appeared to be in the same boat as him. Damon hated the fact that he felt comforted at not being alone in failure.

  ‘Whatever. I still have next year. I also have the year after that. This year doesn’t matter’ Damon attempted to comfort himself as the tears were threatening to spill out as he was left alone in his thoughts.

  “Are you ok?” A voice faintly entered Damons ears but was ignored.

  “ Hello? Are you ok?” The soft voice, now much louder, pulled Damon out of his thoughts for a moment and allowed Damon to know the voice belonged to a girl.

  “ Um yea, yea, I’m fine” Damon cleared his voice before answering the person behind him, not bothering to turn around. A quick glance at the line, he noted around a dozen more people in front of him.

  ‘ What now? Is this it?’Clenching his fists tightly as he felt the anxiety growing inside of him the closer he got to the platform.

  “Fail. Next” The two words were becoming louder and more clear.

  ‘Four people have already awakened. What’s the use of continuing this.’ Negative thoughts continued to plague Damon as announcements of failure and dreams being shattered proceeded to echo throughout the arena as time went on.

  “On average, a city like ours, only awakens around two to three people a year. But we got four this year.”The same soft voice came from behind Damon and made its way to his ears once again. This time Damon didn’t brush it off. Fishing for even a minuscule chance of hope, he turned around to give the girl his full attention. Except she was not on the same page as he was if Damon was to go off the fact that the top of her head was the one to greet him instead of her eyes that found the ground to be more appealing.

  “Hello?” Damon had a look of confusion plastered on his face as he greeted the girl.

  “What were you saying?” Damon scanned the girl with long dark hair the color of midnight, that popped out from her pale skin covered by a short sleeved navy blue dress that reached her ankles. Damon bent to the side to find out who he was talking to. The investigation led to the girl to quickly turn head in the opposite direction. Although the movement was quick, Damon was still able to catch a glimpse of her face.

  “Hi Amelia.” Damon chuckled as he remembered the shy and kind noble girl from school. Amelia was one of the nobles in the city that didn’t mind talking to commoners. This could be further proven by the fact she was in group “D” instead of Group “A” where most of the nobles stood.

  “Hello.” Amelia returned the greeting.

  “What were you saying earlier? I wasn’t really paying attention.” As they both took a few steps forward as the line shrank once again.

  “Amelia?” Damon called out to her as he turned back around to her hoping the conversation could distract him.

  “Forget it, I was just talking to myself” Amelia quickly changed her mind of talking to him as she shook her head.

  “No, no it’s fine. C’mon tell me.” Damon reassured the girl.

  “I-I just think we have to think positive.” Amelia whispered under her breath.

  “And how do we do that?” The suggestion brought a frown to Damon’s face as he sent the question backwards. Damon did not find the suggestion to be very helpful as his voice took on a more unfriendly tone.

  “ Well, like I said before, cities like us get around two to three Awakeners a year. Anything more would be considered a miracle right?” Damon nodded his head in agreement.

  “And if we ever had such a year it would be a long time before we get another right? And yet…”

  “We had another” Damon filled in her pause. “Last year we had four awakeners.”

  “And this year we got four again. That’s two miracles in a row. Why can’t there be a third?” Amelia smiled as she finally lifted her head to meet Damons’ brown eyes that had a sparkle in them that went missing after the fourth Awakening.

  “A third?” Damon raised his brows in question.

  “Yes. A fifth Awakener.” Although hesitant at the possibility, a possibility is still a possibility. Damon saw a glimpse of reasonable hope and that was all he needed.

  “Thank you” Damon sent a big smile to the girl who once again found the sand to be interesting before turning around.

  ‘That’s right. Why can’t I awaken?’ Damon clenched his fists tightly as he questioned himself.

  ‘Although there are already four Awakeners, what’s stopping a fifth from appearing. Like the saying goes "there is always a first." Why can’t that first be me?’Damons’ eyes began to regain their former spark with the realization.

  “Fail. Next” Damon lifted his head after hearing the Lt. Governor once again announce the sad fate of yet another Awakener within his group, leading there to be only three people now in front of him.

  “I can do this, I can do this, I can do this” Damon said under his breath with his head lowered. After lowering his head he remembered the necklace gifted to him by his mother and reached under his shirt to pull it out.

  Clasping the necklace his mother gifted him tightly for support as he still had not found his family in the huge crowd. With his family on his mind, Damon wondered what their reaction would be if he failed.

  ‘ Would mother hug me and tell me that the spirits probably didn’t think this would be the year? Would father give me his signature look of a small smile and simple pat on my shoulder? Should I have taken my Sparky when he was offered? No.’ Shaking his head in hopes of clearing the negative thoughts that plagued him.

  ‘I have been waiting for this day, I won’t fail.’ Damon let go of his necklace and turned to the crowd. As if it was fated, he finally spotted his family in the crowd by the bright yellow stuffed dragon toy being flung around by his little sister who sat on his fathers shoulders. His mother stood beside them with a smile similar to his fathers.

  Feeling a smile spreading across his face, he waved at his sister who happily waved back with both hands causing her best friend Sparky to flop around as he was still in her hand. Damon shook his head as he laughed softly at the sight. Feeling his family’s support he nodded to himself.

  “Fail. Next”

  Turning his head back to the platform, he noticed it was now his turn to go up and find out his fate. Looking up, he met the eyes of the Lt. Governor and thought.

  ‘Those words will not be uttered in front of me’

  Receiving a nod from the Lt. Governor set Damon in motion. And up the stairs he went. Damon felt like his feet weighed a ton. Step by step, one trembling foot after another. A breath was taken and released for each step taken until he finally reached the top of the staircase.

  Damon let out a sigh once both feet were planted on the platform. Remembering Draven from the legendary House Lyle that he only read in books made him grit his teeth in frustration as he compared his shaky, unstable and hesitant walk up the stairs to the elegant, confident, and calm strut of the young noble boy in his head.

  Damon shook his head to clear the useless thoughts swirling in his head and focus on the task at hand. With his feet moving towards the Lt. Governor, his built up confidence he received from Amelia was being left behind bit by bit the closer he got.

  By the time he stood in front of the Lt. Governor, he could not hear anything. All the surrounding noises seemed to disappear. The nervous murmurs, resigned comments, and sobs of broken dreams no longer entered his ears.

  All Damon could hear was his heart pounding in his chest on the verge of bursting. In front of Damon was the Lt. Governor and in front of the Lt. Governor was a table carrying a sphere the size of an adult human head.

  Damon had only seen Awakening Crystals in books and never got the chance to see it in person. His excitement at seeing such a legendary object up in person allowed him to forget his prior emotions as he took his time scanning the object in awe.

  Within the crystal sphere were white clouds that if closely examined, could be spotted moving slightly. Damon felt like the white clouds were similar to hands clasped together. As if they were trying to protect something.

  Or hide something.

  “Are you ready?” The question pulled Damon out of his reverie. Glancing up at the Lt. Governor in embarrassment, he realized he ignored the first half of what the man said.

  “Just put your hand on the sphere and concentrate on the clouds.” The Lt. Governor must have also realized this as he rolled his eyes before instructing him.

  Nodding his head in understanding, Damon took a deep breath to prepare himself of what was to come- success or failure.

  ‘No, failure won’t be my end result.’ Damon placed his hand on the sphere and stared into the sphere that held his fate.

  After a moment of staring into the clouds, he noticed the color of the clouds darkening into a color but before he could determine the color, the clouds split as if they were pulled back exposing the darkness hidden behind the clouds.

  Within that darkness was a speck of red that was growing bigger by the second. Widening his eyes at the sight, a smile soon broke out on his face.

  “Red? Does that mean I have awoken the Fire Element?”.Excitement masked his face before it quickly morphed into horror as the entire sphere was transforming from darkness to a familiar crimson red before shattering the sphere and out shooting out a giant ball of flames.

  Damon flinched and shielded himself from the flames with his arms before letting out a scream of terror as the flames engulfed him. Only the pain of burning was absent.

  After a few moments of silence, Damon gained the courage to open his eyes and begin lowering his arms to find only darkness and no signs of the ball of flames. No matter where he turned, all he saw was darkness. Looking down at himself he realized he could see himself. With this discovery he did a thorough check on his body. No burns, scars or scratches met his gaze. With everything fine, he took in his surroundings, which wasn’t much as Damon only saw darkness. The Lt. Governor, the other Awakeners, Rodrick, Riley, mom and dad. Everyone was gone.

  “HELLO?” Damon shouted out to the darkness hoping to find someone. “IS ANYONE HERE?” His thumping heart was the only answer he received. Silence surrounded him for the next few minutes leaving Damon sitting down with his head hung low, scared and desperate.

  “Please, somebody.” The whispered pleas continued to echo through the eerie silent darkness.

  “Argh” A groan shattered the silence that Damon now missed.

  With his body frozen in fear, Damon chose to force himself to turn around and find out what made that noise. Slowly turning around, he was met with a familiar yet unfamiliar scene.

  In front of Damon stood the same mountain from his dream. The familiar mountain of corpses of different creatures invaded his head once again only this time all the corpses eyes were wide open staring right at him.

  Damon could only close his eyes tightly and hope to wake up from the nightmare before him. With his head in his arms and knees brought to his chest, he rocked back and fourth whispering pleas to the Spirits, his mother, his father. Anybody to come and save him.

  All of a sudden a voice entered his ears interrupting his desperate pleas.

  “Congratulations” On each side of his ears a woman and a man congratulated him

  “Damon Beaumont” Both saying his name only this time the woman's voice was fading. Damon did not know why but he felt an overwhelming amount of sadness wash over him after hearing her voice fading.

  Feeling that he would regret not seeing who the woman was, he opened his eyes only to see Lt. Governor standing in front of him with a smile on his face before opening his mouth to announce the news.

  “Has Awakened”