Chapter 2: ...
Carson walked Down the flight of stairs with an odd expression on his face. The young man was still quite confused about the actions of his instructor a few minutes prior.
He looked around confusedly trying to see if anyone was watching him, 'The hell did he mean my story is about to begin' but he couldn't seem to find anyone. Well anyone other than the massive crowd of people now exiting via the same stairwell he was.
Tonight was his 18th birthday, the day he would have a chance to get blessed by the Primordials, and start his first trial. His heart picked up pace just thinking about it, the possibilities that he could take, the wonders that he could achieve.
The young man turned the corner at the bottom of the stairwell, dodging all the incoming people with practiced ease as he walked to the edge of the building, and to one of the many sky piers his college building had. His thoughts picked up again. Both of his parents had been blessed by one of the strongest Primordials, that painted a great picture for his chances. Most often, if a parent - or both - of a child was blessed, that child would have better chances of getting a blessing as well, especially if the parents blessing was from a stronger entity like his own. But, he still was nervous about the choice of blessing he'd receive, if any. What if the choice wasn't something that fit him, or if he ended up too weak to protect his family if something happened. Just the thought made him want to rip his hair out
His parents, strong as they were, were mainly knowledge seekers - Keepers who entered trials for the explicit purpose of finding knowledge of the ancients. So they may be blessed, and have echoes strong enough to support them, but they were by no means combat focused. The young man cared for his family deeply, and every new trial they entered filled him with a sense of dread, one that he couldn't quite get rid of today.
He arrived at the Sky pier shortly after that thought, ending his train of thinking abruptly. Carson looked out over the towering expanse of a glass and steel jungle laid before him, the soft breeze wafting over the pier, and the gentle buzzing of ships going by. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon, since he took evening classes, and he could see the many shades of violet and cyan superimposed over the stratosphere, shifting it from the naturally dark sky. The college he attended was the top college of his planet, and so it was quite grandiose in stature, as one might expect. It was several hundred floors taller than the other nearby structures on the planet, so he had quite the view, enough so that he could even see the curvature of his home planet. The college student stoped at the edge of the pier and sat down after pressing the call button, when he heard a voice from behind him.
"Carson?" A voice asked from a couple of feet behind him.
He turned around to see a young woman, one who was exactly his age, in fact. Their eighteenth birthdays were both tonight. "Hey Cass" he said to his childhood friend. The two of them had been neighbors since he was a child, she lived on one of the top floors on the building adjacent to his, but if it weren't for the bridge that basically connected their apartments together, he doubted he would've ever met the young woman.
"You waiting for your ride?" she asked sweetly, her tone showing no signs of contempt.
"Yeah, those instant transport modules are way to expensive for me to invest into getting at the moment, so I just gotta wait" He sighed, slumping back.
"My mother just got one for the family ship if you want me to give you a ride. Its only a short range, so it wont take us home, but you wouldn't have to wait here." She smiled kindly at him as she offered.
"No, its alright." He spoke tiredly, "I'm not gonna be home tonight if I'm lucky, I'm meeting my parents at the monolith in a couple hours, and were going to jump right into my first trial if I get blessed."
"Suit yourself." She shrugged, "Ill be going then." The college girl stood from her seat beside him. Carson was wondering when she even sat down there in the first place when a silver flash interrupted him. Cassie's ship had just arrived, and was slowly drifting towards the pier, extending the dock as it did. She strode aboard and gave him a wave as the ship started heading off slowly, before closing fully, and disappearing in a violent burst of speed.
Carson drifted off into thought once more, only lasting a couple minutes before his ship arrived. Much like Cassie, he boarded and had the ship set off, but his went toward the monolith instead of his home. It was a long flight, one where he couldn't quite get his mind off of the possibilities of tonight, and how much his life could be altered, whether by the trial, blessing, or even lack thereof.
He arrived at the monolith's shrine almost half an hour after he set off, there was only three on his home planet of Zaro, so it was quite the distance to get to any of them. Carson's ship docked at the sky pier near the monolith, and he messaged his parents.
'Where are you guys at, just got to the monolith's shrine' -c
'I'm at the main plaza on the ground floor, your father's on his way and should be here by the time you get here' -m
'Alright I'm heading down now mom, see you in a bit' -c
He closed his holo message log and walked to the ground floor, every step he took, he could feel the pressure in him increase, his adrenaline rose, and his heart thrummed louder for every passing second. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to suppress his growing anxiety as he entered the main plaza. The sight that greeted him was a giant obsidian pillar, one not uniform in length, nor symmetry, but yet had some form of primeval beauty seemingly ingrained into the golden runes glittering on the pillar. The air had a warm and welcoming feel, like the waft of a hearths warmth on a bitter cold night. He saw the pillar, levitating in its primordial majesty in the middle of the hall, it colossal size uncontained, even by the unimaginable size that the building was.
He found his parents standing at its base, smiling and talking among the others around them in the bustling plaza. By the time he arrived next to them, they had already taken notice of him, and were looking upon his arrival with a sense of pride. The two of them hugged their only son when he finally drew close enough to do so, warm smiles plastered over the loving expression the older couple shared.
"Happy almost birthday Carson" His father said proudly "Eighteen, eh? You're gonna get gray hair before me at this rate" The older gentleman smiled cheekily, his wife promptly slapped his shoulder in a reprimanding gesture. "Its his birthday, don't be like that... Save it for tomorrow." she joined in on the grinning.
Carson rolled his eyes at the antics of his parents, but still smiled. His parents jokes were a little odd at times, but he still found himself laughing at them more than not, even if it was just out of pity for how bad they were.
The young man's mother turned to him "I know its not quite your birthday yet, but we've got a gift for you" she motioned to Carson's father who pulled out a small bag, dropped it, and promptly picked it back up acting like nothing happened. His mother rolled her eyes at her husband, and proceeded to snatch the bag out of his hands before handing it to her son.
Carson gingerly took the small brown bag and slowly opened the drawstring tying it closed. Inside was a sharp pointed gem about the size of his hand, glowing with the dim radiance of the cosmos.
"What is this thingy?"
"..."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone