Waking Up

Usually, it took a day or two to awaken and by then all those undergoing the process would have completed it. The awakening control room was bustling with activity as they had just recorded an unprecedented number of successful awakeners in a single batch in Mospria's history. For context, a batch usually contained approximately ten thousand sixteen-year-olds. The batches were selected based on birth month. Casimir was in this year's fourth batch. Of the ten thousand however, only about one thousand manage to undergo awakening and from those that awaken, only sixty-five per cent manage to do so successfully. The fourth batch however had eighty-eight percent of its one thousand two hundred awaken. Casimir who was the last to awaken after 5 days, was the last entry of what they termed the "unicorn batch." The fifth batch had already begun awakenings and Casimir being born on the last day of the fourth month was obviously going to be a part of the last awakeners of his batch. He just didn't expect he'd be this late. The door popped open and through came a man in Cestane's military uniform.

"Welcome back to the land of the living boy, my name is Officer Dorlian, and I'll be in charge of you for the next few hours as you decide what next your future, for now, we need to fill in documents so pardon me but you must get up and follow me."

The world around Casimir seemed different, sounded louder and looked brighter than he remembered. He pushed himself off of the bed, and to his surprise, he did so with uncanny ease. Looking at his hands and where he had been sitting he wondered whether he was hallucinating. The officer smirked.

"You will find your senses and your strength have visibly improved now that you have awakened, I know you might be eager to explore by how much but now is not the time… please follow me."

As the man turned on his heels, Casimir dashed after him suspecting the door might just close and lock him in during its mechanical detox. He was wearing the gowns he'd been given just before he awakened. Before they left the large awakening room, he saw several other people entering.

'So, the other batch must have begun, am I the last of my batch? Also how long was I out for?'

"You happen to be the last one of your batch and you have been undergoing awakening for five days."

Casimir looked at the officer's back. He remembered how the fragment could hear his thoughts, and for the first time, he began to appreciate the confidentiality that thoughts provided. They walked through the hallways once again. Casimir doubted he could ever be able to find his way around here if he wasn't given a map.

"You don't have any questions?"

The officer asked, to which Casimir responded with a shake of the head.

"Okay then."

They continued towards their destination. It's not like Casimir didn't have questions, he just didn't know whether or not his questions were valid or telling of his lack of common knowledge of the inner workings of the awakened world. The officer could not tell whether he was an orphan or just an ordinary person of course so he wanted to keep it that way. He knew he might be disadvantaged if he knew of his status immediately. They entered the room they were looking for and it was not as lively as where they'd come from but it was still populated somewhat. The room had several stations where he saw youths interacting with people stationed at desks, perhaps taking in details of those that awakened. Officer Dorlian led Casimir towards an unoccupied desk. At the desk was a blond lady with a strange object that looked like a book but it was too thin to be a book.

'That must be the device they called a tablet?'

The lady in question plastered a professional smile on her face and began.

"Hello, Officer Dorlian is this the last of the unicorn batch?"

"Greetings Patricia, Yes he is the last one of them."

"Very well then let's close them out then shall we, you may take a seat young awakener."

The blond said that last part with her focus towards Casimir. He pulled the chair back and obliged. Officer Dorian took his leave, it seemed he didn't need to be around during the registration. Casimir turned toward the blond and assessed her. He could now tell awakened from those that were not now. He could feel the energy awakened possess, ether. Although his senses seemed somewhat simple, he attributed that to the fact that he was still in the first realm. She did not possess ether, but he could sense ether gathered around her as if trying to enter her body. Seeing his concentration and assuming what he might have been observing she interjected with a knowing smile on her face.

"I am an awakened, you might have sensed the ether within your peers but at your level, you must not be able to sense my ether or any of the environmental ether that messes with higher ranks' senses."

Contrary to what she said Casimir could sense the environmental ether however he did not say anything.

'So ether gathering towards her must mean she is awakened if I can't sense the ether within her, but how am I able to sense that at this level if what she said is true?'

"Let us begin then, once again congratulations, I'm sure your trail must have been difficult so now that you are awakened you must know our government here in Cestane is obligated to have basic information about you for national security reasons if they are to arise in future, your pre-awakening file here states you are an orphan so you will have the choice to return to your orphanage if you so wish after mandatory military training, however you can join the government's military program and be eligible for a scholarship to several academic institutions including Mospria University if you so chose or you may remain in the military, the other options include being offered private military training by one of the high houses however as you know they may add their clauses to certain agreements or simply being independent after your military training also note that if you chose to remain independent you have to apply for the appropriate documents to be able to undertake business in Cestane. Also, note that these documents are much easier to obtain if you do an extra year in the military before going independent or by enrolling at Mospria University. The rest I'll explain once we have gotten registration out of the way, any questions?"

"Is this information confidential? And do you know if someone is lying?"

"The chair you are sitting on relays your pulse to a room full of experts that can alert me when you lie, I will let you know we do not take deceit lightly, as for confidentiality yes your file will be restricted, anything else?"

'which means unless they are important enough they can't see my file, got it.'

He shook his head to which she asked.

"Good so let's start with your name, awakened as by your glyph what is your name."

"Okay, my name is Casimir… Casimir Nagid."