9 Vera

"I'm so tired, it's not even noon yet and I'm already pooped." Curtis complained to his father.

Jacob woke him up early to start lessons about monsters and his ancestors history.

"Language son, also, it's normal to wake up early to study, when you get to the academy you'll probably wake up even earlier, if you take up sword fighting." Jacob explained.

"I will never take up sword fighting, I just want to be a merchant like you." Curtis answered, trying to suck up to his father.

"Haha, now you never know." Jacob laughed, "Get up and read the 3rd and 4th pages of our history."

"Okay okay, no need to be so edgy."

"The first De Leon, Sir Alfred, rehabilitated the village, eventually turning it into a town, and later on, with the influx of refugees and growth of it's population was defined as a city that was later named Shesari."

"In the early days of the village, Alfred worked as a hunter, capturing and skinning animals for food in the wild. But then, through a weird phenomena called awakening, Alfred gained great power."

"I've already been through this dad. He gains power, marries, and then fights the monster." Curtis complained.

"And yet you still don't believe any of it." Jacob shot back.

"I mean, magic and monsters, be logical dad. If those existed, then where are they now?" He retorted.

Jacob fell silent, contemplating about where to tell Curtis about his eyes or not.

"You're special son, you just don't know it yet."

He was about to continue when they heard knocking from the door.

"Master Jacob, you have a letter from Cristas." Millie walked in carrying a parchment.

"Go down with Millie and check if lunch is ready son." Jacob instructed.

"All right." Curtis quickly answered, walking out of the study.

...

Making their way down the stairs, on the way to the dining room Curtis couldn't help but ask.

"Millie, who was that letter from?"

"I'm not sure, it only has a stamp from Cristas." Millie answered.

"Hmmmm, maybe it was from Mother's family." Curtis thought. "Now I wonder what's for lunch?"

Arriving at the dining room and seeing that lunch wasn't done yet, Curtis walked out into the courtyard on the way to the tree he liked to sleep under.

Passing by the garden he saw Esbern training with the rest of the guards.

"He's training hard. I guess he doesn't want to let Sherry down." Curtis thought.

Arriving by his favorite tree he laid down, he looked to the sky and saw the clouds, he imagined what those people that his father said in his stories looked like flying high in the clouds.

As he laid down, he slowly fell asleep.

...

Opening his eyes he saw himself in a white space, the same space he woke up to when he was a baby.

"Why am I here again?" Curtis' thoughts echoed.

"You are here because I want you here." A female voice suddenly said.

"Who said that? Show yourself!" Curtis shouted.

Curtis, curious of the voice, looked around only to find nothing around him, just the same blurry white space extending endlessly.

"I am Vera, one of the divine rulers of this world, and you Curtis, I brought you here because I have need of you." The voice echoed.

"What? You brought me here?" Curtis replied, "Wait, Did you kill me!"

"Of course not, you died because some people in your world saw you as an eyesore, you did things that caused them to lose profit, and so they ended your life." The voice answered. "But enough of that, I brought you here because you will help save this land."

"The bloodline you've been born in has a long line of Chosen, or as your people call it Awakened. Now, you are forbidden from talking to anyone about this meeting. I will now awaken your bloodline, as time is short, I need you to be ready for what is to come."

Curtis felt a sting in his eyes. His vision went blurry.

"Time is up my little champion, I'll see you next time." The voice said.

Curtis turned and tried to find the source of the voice. While moving forward the floor cracked, he recalled what happened last time and tried to move away, but he was too late. The crack grew bigger and bigger until it covered the whole space, it even climbed onto the non-existing walls, then onto the ceiling, and then the space crumbled like it imploded from the inside turning everything into black.

...

Curtis opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar face looking over him. It was a little girl, she had a round face, red colored hair that reached up to her chest, thin eyebrows, emerald like eyes, thin lips and freckles that completed her look.

"Who are you?" They both asked.