1 The Hall of Calling Forth

The school day was over and the few students left behind have hurriedly parsed themselves into small groups going the general direction of their homes and dormitories. Tonight was a special night and everyone was preparing to head to the sacred ritual.

The sunset is glowing its usual pink and violet. Truly a sight to behold except if you live here. Here, this is a usual occurrence. No one bats an eye at how the giant rolling cumulus clouds seem to slowly traipse across the ombré sky. How the light seems to hit just at the right angle to give everything a luminescent glow. A gentle breeze carries some wayward leaves across the field while not too far way people are slowly congregating towards the Hall of Calling Forth.

This is Kauven, an idyllic little city at the edge of the Derth Kingdom. It started out as a fishing village centuries ago. Now, it is a rare hybrid of technology and nature. Among the modern silhouette of buildings, factories, and homes are the sprawling greenery that have been there since recorded memory. The balance of progress and nature have evolved humans in this world. Sometime during childhood, the ability to control specific elements manifests. From then on you were called "blessed." It is merely a fancy name for people that have evolved to become capable of harnessing the mana that is collected in their systems. It is a short hand for elementally blessed.

When people of this world come of age, one is granted a synthetic mana crystal that is made using quantum technology. It increases one's ability to collect ambient mana. This mana can be converted into power that allows one to do incredible feats. Once you receive the mana crystal, you are called a "grant." Implying that you have been granted the crystal that allows your powers to magnify and grow. Unfortunately, the crystals are rare and reacts to the natural ability of the person it is granted to. Thus, the growth and evolution of one's powers are highly determined by their blessing.

Tonight is a big night. Those who have come of age will finally receive their crystals in a ceremony called the Ritual of Granting. Most kids receive their elemental powers early on allowing them to intimately learn of the nature of their own blessing. As the kids grow, so does their control over their power. Now that they are 17, society has deemed them responsible enough to wield the amplified powers that the crystals can give. After tonight, they are adults and most of them will travel the world as adventurers.

Family and friends murmur restlessly as the coordinators of the ritual pace about finalizing last minute instructions. Soon enough, the Ritual of Granting will begin. The lights in the hall slowly dim into darkness revealing a column of blue light that is emanating from a cylindrical metal podium in the middle of the stage. The head druid wearing the ceremonial white robe with silver lining comes into view and gives a short welcome. He utters the sacred text from memory. Thus, begins the ritual by calling forth mana to the sacred hall. Those present close their eyes and soft glimmers of light begin to glow everywhere and pool together on top the podium, which has now turned the blue fire into an iridescent ball of mana. Twenty-three teenagers sitting in the first row look more nervous now than ever before.

Beside the head druid, a priest calls for the first name on his list, a boy with red hair. He stood up and timidly walked up the stairs of the stage almost missing the last step as he grinned towards the expectant crowd. With the litheness of someone who is in athletic shape, he recovered quickly and played it off as if something comedic. The crowd chuckles but it dies down quickly as the other druid priests direct him to his place in front of the podium, his hand inserted into a cylindrical hole called the embedding chamber which was found in the metal podium. Without a word, everyone raises their hand and the multi-colored ball of pure life energy turns blinding red. The boy now takes his hand out of the chamber, a crystal is now embedded into his dominant hand. Fiery streaks sporadically run through his body as he is guided to left of the stage.

Next, a girl was granted a crystal which gave her a green glow of Wind element. The ritual went fairly uneventfully until a girl with silver hair received a two-toned crystal. She was fairly known for being a prodigious Water-blessed. The disbelieving crowd was shocked at the granting of two gifts: Water (which is considered a basic form) and Ice (which is considered an advanced variant form of Water). This means that her granting has somehow increased her power to the point of receiving an evolved form. Truly, she is a gem that all of Kauven could be proud of. Such bestowals are rare, maybe once in a thousand grants. An even rarer grant is to receive two separate elements which happens one in 50,000 grants. The next person was a boy with an Earth element grant. Since those are the most common of all, the hubbub quickly died down.