’I failed?’
The silence was deafening to Noctis, his heart pounding louder and louder in his ears, until even that frantic rhythm was drowned out by what came next from all around him.
Instead of clapping, or even the tense silence from before, there was mocking laughter, low, toned-down giggles that quickly grew louder, erupting wildly into the air.
He turned before him, noticing the Elder’s murmurs.
Some wore expressions of disbelief, others stared blankly, but all shared the same disappointment in their eyes.
A Failed Awakening wasn’t impossible in this world.
They were indeed people who just had no elemental attunement at all, doomed to be nothing but weak mortals until their death.
But they were a clan of Awakeners, with Awakening blood flowing through them.
A Failed Awakening ought to be an impossibility, but when it does occur, it wasn’t just a failure; it was a stain to their clan’s Image.
But even with a failed awakening, Noctis did not waste a second more.
He gave one deep bow to the Elders, like the rest of the students before him had done, before quietly stepping off the stage.
Returning to his seat, he noticed Allysa turning to look at him, and he smiled quietly, but his heart flinched by what he saw.
She held no comforting smile or any of that.
Her face was blank, with no emotion, only a quiet conviction in the depth of her eyes that Noctis couldn’t lay his hands on.
"What’s wrong?" He asked, and she replied.
"You Failed."
She said, and the heartbeat Noctis tried to keep at bay, spiraled out of control.
He tried to keep it at bay, replying,
"I am not afraid, and... I’m sure you know why."
He said, and that was when he finally noticed it.
The knitted eyebrows and frown on Allysa’s face.
"You have no Future, Noctis...not in this world, and neither in the clan."
"You will be banished away from it, even if you survived the First Nightscape."
"And I just awakened a C-grade Light Affinity. I’m sure you know what that means, not just for me...but for the clan."
She explained quietly.
Silence reigned for a while, as students continued to rise to the altar, the ceremony continuing.
Did she really need to explain more?
A failed awakening did guarantee him a failure, and in a clan that branded themselves Awakeners, he had no identity.
His fate was to be banished.
But still, he remembered vividly the promise they had both made.
Turning to look at her quietly, he could see it.
Golden hairs still shining from the awakening, the powerful aura that lingered around her, and her equally cold face.
It was all he needed to know that she never planned on following through on her promise.
He would have normally taken this in with a silence or a smile like he normally does, but this time...he failed.
"I would have protected you..."
He whispered, looking right at her.
"In the clan, or banished to the world outside, I would have been there at your side...regardless."
His words made Alyssa’s cold expression falter for a second.
Those words...they were true.
She could feel them in her soul, but...to what use were they?
"The last student, Thorne Lowell!"
The announcement echoed in the background, and after Allysa’s words echoed in Noctis’s ear.
"I’m not you..."
FLICKER!
An incredibly bright light flickered out in the next moment, and an uproar burst through the hall.
"A Grade B Talent!?"
"That’s Impossible!"
But to the murmurs and gasps of shock, Noctis paid none of it any attention.
He felt himself slowly cracking apart, something he could not understand as he sat well balanced on his seat.
The Elders gave a speech, but he couldn’t hear them.
What he felt was some of the students rising and walking forward, including Allysa, and he raised his head.
He could see, right on the stage, about 5 of them, but the one who caught his attention was the one standing in the middle.
He found a young man with flaming red hair, the air around him cackling as if sent on flames.
He knew him well, Thorne Lowell.
His bully, who could never seem to get any true advantage on him.
And he noticed, right beside him, Allyssa.
"A Grade C Light Talent, and a Grade B Fire Talent..."
An Elder grandly announced, and in that moment, Noctis saw it clearly.
Allysa and Throne, the skin of their hands pressing together as they remained side-by-side and then quietly interwove together, both of their own conscious wills.
"To The Prosperity of the Clan!"
The Elder grandly announced, in that moment, all of the students raised their hands, including Alyssa, who had her interlocked hand with Thorne, raising it high.
"To The Prosperity of the Clan."
In that moment, see her piercing golden gaze looking at him as she held up Throne’s hand.
Her message was finalized.
Thorne had a mocking grin spread widely across his face, as he also looked at Noctis, studying his expression, unable to wait for that pretentious mature expression to finally crack.
For tears and screams of injustice, but he was disappointed.
Noctis’ expression did not falter.
Quietly, he rose from his seat and turned his back, straight to the hall’s large doors.
Even though he said no words, Allysa’s heart thumped crazier than anything.
She could almost hear it in her soul:
’It’s Over.’
A sensation of Loss came upon her in that moment, one which she couldn’t quite understand.
Had she not been the one who decided to dump him?
Then why does it feel like the opposite was the case?
What was this sense of loss in her heart, as if she had just let go of something truly valuable to her, one which she would never be able to regain?
"He’s a Failure and will amount to Nothing. You did the right thing, Alyssa. All of the Elders will Agree..."
The brash voice echoed in her ear from none other than Thorne, whose eyes flared with a lustfully pleased smile, his fingers caressing harshly on the back of her hand.
All she could do was turn her head back to the gate, where the halo of Noctis quietly disappeared.
"I... I did the right thing..."
’Activate System Interface.’
The panel immediately changed to a set of tabs:
[Host Attributes] [Skills and Abilities] [Shop] [Quests]
Focusing his attention on the [Host Attributes] tab, the messages immediately changed into a long list:
[Host Attributes]
[Name: Err Noblesse]
[Age: 16]
[Title: Nonentity]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 1]
[EXP: 0/100]
[HP: 80/100]
[Energy: 30/30]
[Attributes]
[Strength: 5]
[Perception: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Intelligence: 7]
[Charm: 10]
{Attribute Points: 0}
Err’s eyes calmly scanned across the panel, noticing a couple of things.
The first was his health, which stood at 80, instead of a complete 100. That must have been due to his broken right knee.
The second was his stats, with Intelligence and Charm being noticeably higher than the others while still remaining fairly balanced overall.
But a value of 5 must have been weak.
Many times, his father had joked that he had inherited his mother’s physique. He had been a sickly boy for as long as he could remember.
The title Nonentity was eye-catching, but he wasn’t exactly sure what it meant.
It couldn’t be that important.
[A/N: I genuinely have no idea what that word means. I’ll go look it up... later. Lol.]
Moving away from that panel, he headed to the next.
[Skills and Abilities]
[NOTE: You Possess No Skills or Abilities as of Now. Please Check Out the Quests Tab for Answers.]
It read, and that moved him to the next tab.
[QUESTS]
[Pending Quests: (1)]
[Quest Details]
[Take The First Anomarish Portal and Survive Its Challenge.]
[Rewards:]
[1.) +1,000 EXP!]
[2.) A New Title]
[3.) +2 New Abilities]
’Where is the Anomarish Portal?’
Err asked, and the panel flashed.
[It Can Be Opened By Chanting:]
"Hey!"
A shout echoed out to him, and Err paused, watching as a hefty, muscular man walked toward him.
"You ought to be at the Training Class right now, and here you are slacking!"
He called out with a sneer, cracking his knuckles.
"Seems like I’ll have to take you through a minor combat lesson myself."
He said with a grin, to which Err replied with eyes that held no emotion.
By the way he looked at the man, it was almost as if he were telling him that he didn’t even exist.
That did nothing but infuriate the man as he watched Err turn away wordlessly, his lips moving.
"You bastard! Are you deaf?!"
"Anomar vaelith nor’Kesh."
"Astra morien thal’vakar."
"Elys varun en draeth."
"Anomarish ex cael’thaer!"
The second he completed the chant, a massive vortex suddenly spiraled open beneath Err’s feet just as the man’s clenched fist shot toward his head, missing by inches as Err fell into the portal.
Immediately, the man backed away in both shock and caution, staring at the vortex of darkness, which soon closed right before him.
"That...?