The last thing Akai remembered was yelling “stop it”, then hearing someone speak to him. Though, he did not fully remember what was said.

  The silver haired boy sat up in his bed, looking around in a panic. He threw the blanket off of him and noticed he was covered in bandages. His skin hurt all over and looking underneath, his torso was pink and raw as if he was burned. He didn’t take the time to dress himself, wearing only a pair of pants he quickly ran out and ran downstairs. “Mom! Dad! Everyone!” He shouted before stopping halfway down the stairs to see everyone, including Lamorie’s father Drake, and even Kidd and his parents were there too.

  Everyone was.. Alright..

  “Akai, you’re awake!” Jennifer shouted before running up to catch him in a warm hug. Holding her son close. The hug was tight enough to hurt but Akai only returned it.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing to look, and Rei shouted “Easy, Jennifer! Don’t squeeze him too hard!”

  Jennifer lightened up on the hug but brought Akai down and had him sit with everyone.

  He looked and was surprised to see everyone was okay. Even noticing Emmie barely had a bruise on her cheek from where she was smacked..

  Akai asked "Everyone is okay..?” worriedly.

  Lamorie walked up and shouted at Akai “Are we okay? We should be asking if you are, idiot!” before grabbing his shoulders. Though Akai expected to be shaken while being yelled at by Lamorie, she only held him gently.

  “You were asleep for a week. What the hell was that anyways you did?”

  This info clearly shocked Akai, his eyes widened and he looked at everyone. He didn’t answer for nearly a minute before quietly asking “Its… been a week..?”

  Lamorie’s father, Drake, asked. “What was the last thing you remember, kid.”

  Akai took a moment to think before saying. “I remember that blonde guy about to hurt mom, It felt like my heart was being boiled inside my chest. Then I heard someone say something and, then, everything got really bright and I woke up in bed.”

  “What did you hear being said?” Kidd's father quickly asked as if Akai’s answer was very important. Akai flinched at the sudden question, he had to take a moment to think and remember. Suddenly he said “Righteous fury smolders in your heart, I’ll help it ignite.”

  All of the adults' eyes widened and they stared at Akai in a mix of awe and happy surprise.

  “Do you know what this means, boy?” Asked Liam, Kidd’s father.

  “No, I have no clue what it meant..” Akai answered honestly as he shook his head.

  “It means the gods had recognized you and had blessed you with an awakening..”

  Akai looked a bit confused, and Liam continued to explain.

  “Most people are completely mundane. Like me, your father, and everyone else here. But there are the lucky few who do something that gains the attention of one of the gods. When they recognize you and what you’ve done, or your case, what you were going to do. You are imprinted with the tiniest portion of the god’s own power. Awakening your spirit to all sorts of stuff. Some people study magic to get the blessing of Andarta, and thus can cast magic. Other people train to get strong or work hard so they can be blessed by Miogh, and gain strength. It sounds to me like you may have been blessed by Svendar, whose primary attribute is wrath. You turn your anger into fire and power.”

  Akai listened and his eyes slowly lit up as the concept was explained to him. Soon, a smile was beaming on his face and he lifted both arms up. Shouting “I was blessed by a god!” before wincing and holding his side.

  Lamorie patted his shoulders and said “Careful, Akai. You have a few broken ribs, so take it easy.”

  Jennifer helped Akai stand up and said “Lets get you back to bed, sweetie. You are hurt and need rest.”

  When the two began to walk, a noticeably more timid Lacy, who was alone in the kitchen, spoke up. She was still rattled over what happened.

  “Thank you..” She said, glancing at Akai before looking away. The boy smiled and put a hand over his chest in a salute. He winced at the discomfort the movement caused. This did elicit a small smile on the shaken girl’s face.

  Over the next few weeks, Akai’s mother hardly let him do anything other than rest, walk around the house, and eat.

  Akai learned the full extent of the injuries he suffered in this time, and more about what happened to the village and the bandits.

  Akai was surprised to hear that he had three broken ribs and a few more bruised ones. His chest had suffered fairly bad burns. Confusingly, the burns seemed to come from inside and radiate out, not the other way around.

  Most of the bandits in the village were killed with holes burned through them, only a handful on the south side of the village survived. The bandit that had been holding Akai was reduced to ash, and Kell had not lived more than a minute after Akai’s devastating, magical fire fueled punch.

  Kell had most of his internal organs, including both lungs, ruptured. Half of his ribs were broken and so was his back. He died from internal bleeding, but even if he had lived he would have been paralyzed from the mid-back down.

  Akai didn’t know how to feel about actually killing so many people. There were many complex emotions, but eventually he resolved that whatever they were going to do with his family and Lacy, this was the better ending.

  2 months later.

  Akai was in the training grounds with the militia. Kidd standing next to him, both doing sword drills. Though Kidd still held a wooden sword, Akai was given a heavier metal training sword. Since he gained his awakened blessing, Akai was growing stronger faster than expected. His muscles didn’t grow in size, but they were visibly getting more and more taught under his skin. Growing denser and more defined.

  “Seventy five”

  “Seventy six”

  “Seventy seven”

  Both him and Kidd and a few other teens and young adults called out in unison. Sweat dripping from their brows as they swung the training swords, focused on strengthening their cutting form and making it muscle memory.

  When everyone finally reached one hundred, they were done. They had just finished the full morning’s workout. 100 swings, running laps around the grounds, pushups, situps, then 100 more swings at the end.

  Akai and Kidd are both visibly exhausted as they put up their training swords.

  “Hey, Akai, mind if I come with you to visit your girlfriend?” Kidd asked, Akai rolled his eyes. He was used to the teasing by now and said “she’s not my girlfriend, but sure.”

  Akai and Kidd walked, Kidd letting his arms hang low due to how fatigued they are.

  When they reached the smithy, Lamorie’s father shouted. “Boy, come here and put that special fire of yours to use.” as he saw Drake working the bellows for their forge. Lamorie was holding a piece of metal with tongs, heating it in the fire.

  Kidd went to sit in a chair as Akai walked to the forge. He held out both of his hands and closed his eyes, focusing on the ember he felt burning in his heart. Soon, the fire of the forge changed from orange flames burning from cherry red coals, to a yellow flame and the coals burning brighter and hotter. Akai struggled to hold control over the fire, changing it to the same kind burning within him.

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  Kidd watched as Lamorie worked to evenly heat the metal before saying “That’s enough.” letting Akai drop his concentration as Lamorie brings the glowing metal to the anvil.

  Lamorie’s work in the smithy has made her muscles grow larger than Akai’s or Kidds. She lifted the hammer and her arm was visibly thicker than theirs. Lamorie struck the hammer against the metal with incredible strength, yet equally great precision.

  Ting, Ting, Ting, Ting.

  They watched as Lamorie was forging a heavy construction maul. Shaping the head and seeing the intense focus in her eyes.

  Akai felt a strange warmth in his chest as he watched, Hammer striking glowing metal.

  Lamorie’s father stood back and supervised, but had a curious look on his face.

  Ting, Ting, Ting. TING!

  The last strike was suddenly much stronger than before, yet supremely precise. Looking at Lamorie’s face, she seemed almost like she was in a trance as she struck the iron with more force than before. The metal deformed under the hammer like it was made of clay. Yet shaping perfectly into what it needed to be. Another strike hit with inhuman force, the hammer Lamorie held had its handle creak and a couple of splinters fell, leaving behind a crack in the tough hardwood.

  Akai felt a slight burn in his chest as he saw green energy spiral from Lamorie’s moving arm and coated the smithing hammer’s head. Then the final strike coated the half formed head of the maul. A faint glow of the same color briefly appeared behind Lamorie’s eyes as the energy pulled and pushed the iron like it was an amorphous liquid. Then dissipating, leaving a fully formed head of a maul on the anvil.

  After this miracle Lamorie had a faint green glow behind her hazel eyes begin to slowly dim. Before another wave of this green energy spread through her body. She relaxed as it sunk into her skin, leaving it looking just as smooth as before. However, her muscles seem to be just a hair more defined than before. Everyone who looked at her right now knew the has been Blessed by the god Miogh, God of Strength, patron of laborers and artisans. Lamorie took a few breaths before nearly falling, being caught by her father who stood behind her.

  Unlike Akai who had fallen unconscious, Lamorie stayed awake showing signs of mental exhaustion. Immediately, Drake asked “What did you hear?” as he lowered himself to his daughter’s eye level. The slightly dazed Lamorie said “I heard someone tell me to strive for greatness.. They said I should take their power and have it flow through me like water. To push and pull whatever I desire into form. To weather and destroy obstacles, and to nourish my growth like a field of grain.”

  Lamorie rubbed her eyes as the last wisps of the green energy left her, but she looked at the anvil in a bit of surprise. She looked at the time and asked “Did.. I? That wasn’t a dream, was it?” as lucidity began to come back to her.

  The brightest smile could be seen on Drake’s face as he grabbed and hugged his daughter. He laughed and said “My Daughter has been blessed! This is such a wonderful day!”

  The shouting grabbed the attention of Lamorie’s mother who had missed the ordeal.

  For the next few hours, Akai and Kidd were left celebrating with Lamorie’s family and news quickly spread through the village. Many people came to stop by and congratulated Lamorie. The whole time, she seemed very tired but did not want to go to bed.

  She did display an aspect of her awakening during this time.

  Lamorie discovered her strength had increased greatly. She was carrying a box of stuff and realized it didn’t seem to weigh nearly as much as she remembered, yet it was full of various tools and equipment for the smithy.

  She tested it further and found that she could ever so barely lift the anvil by herself now, even with it mounted to the wooden base. Putting her strength just below her own fathers right now.

  The anvil weighed around 200 pounds with the base.

  By the time the brief celebration was over, Lamorie’s mother was going to plan a proper celebration for her daughter with the rest of the village. She considered making it a holiday, since two people awakened so close together. Lamorie was lying in the grass as Akai and Kidd was sitting next to her. Lamorie sighed and said “I understand why you were asleep for so long, Akai. I am so exhausted, and I didn’t do anything cool like you did either.”

  “Nothing cool? Did you not see what you did?” Akai shouted.

  “No, all I did was make the head of a maul. I didn’t singlehandedly beat a bunch of bandits and extinguish all the fires.” Lamorie said with closed eyes. Though, she could imagine the look on his face.

  “Hey” Kidd said, seeming frustrated. But before Akai could ask what was going on, he grabbed the silver haired boy’s shirt and pulled him along to the training field. He said “First you awaken, then the day you go to visit Lamorie she awakens. You, you’re going to spar with me until whatever you’re doing makes me awaken too”

  Akai had a dumbfounded look on his face and said “What? I’m not doing anything, what are you on about” as Kidd was still pulling him by his shirt.

  Minutes later Akai stood across from Kidd, both wielding training swords and shields. Both wearing simple helmets and the instructor made them put on padded jackets.

  “Are you sure about this?” Akai said, “You know that I got a lot strong-”

  “I know that!” Kidd shouted. It was obvious, both his friends had awakened so close to one another, Kidd did not want to be the one left out. A fire burned in his eyes as he suddenly lunged forwards.

  The sound of wood striking wood rang out until Akai stood, breathing a little hard but in front of him Kidd was on his knees, only keeping himself from laying flat on the dirt by supporting himself with the wooden sword. Kidd was dripping in sweat as he gasped for air. Akai had managed to parry every incoming attack and tried to refrain from hitting back. Not wanting to hurt his friend.

  Awakening had increased not only Akai’s strength, but his speed, reaction time, and clarity of mind. So Kidd was not able to land hits anymore.

  Kidd tightened the grip on his training sword and said “We’re going to keep sparring, every day, every day until I awaken. I don’t care how long it takes.”

  Feeling a bit bad, Akai nodded. He said “I will help you.”

  Over the next week, Akai and Kidd could be seen at the training grounds almost all day sparring. When the sound of wood against wood wasn’t heard, Kidd was resting to get ready for their next spar. He fought until he couldn’t stand, took half an hour to recover, and kept going. Akai was about to speak up on the 7th day of this routine. It was dusk, the sun setting in the distance.

  The shield long grew too heavy for Kidd. He was only a boy around Akai’s age, such physical exertion had been taking its toll on his body. So they stood, only wielding wooden swords as Kidd lunged forwards for another round.

  Kidd started with a stab which Akai bat out of the way. Kidd followed through with the movement, turning the parried strike into an upwards draw.

  Akai stepped back, letting Kidd bring it down. Akai blocked it with the guard on his sword, then moved in to strike Kidd while keeping his sword in the bind and unable to parry it.

  Curiously, Akai felt a familiar warmth in his chest as Kidd stepped to the outside, disengaging for a moment. Kidd went in for another upwards cut, but as Akai moved to dodge it. Kidd pulled the sword back while straightening his wrist. Causing Akai’s parry to miss. Despite having quicker reaction times, Akai fell for the feint. Kidd shifted seamlessly into a thrust. Akai barely managed to shift in time to block it, but the moment he made contact to bat away Kidd’s thrust, Kidd took the momentum to swing the sword in an arc at Akai’s legs.

  Akai was forced to disengage and he felt heat rising in his chest. Looking forwards, he saw the fire of passion in Kidd’s eyes mixed with almost perfect focus.

  Kidd moved in again, he wasn’t any quicker than before. He was a lot slower than when they began training much earlier, but his skill had sharpened suddenly. Akai’s superior speed and reaction times didn’t seem to matter anymore. Every attack Akai threw, Kidd parried. Every attack kidd threw, he pushed Akai’s ability to parry in response. Kidd countered just as easily, and feints Akai could see a mile away just an hour ago were nearly undetectable until the moment they struck.

  After a minute, Kidd was in perfect position. He managed to stop Akai’s swing and catch his sword in the bind at an off angle. Kidd pushed forwards with all his speed and might, having the strong in his favor. He was going to finally get a hit in on Akai, or he would have. At the last moment, Kidd’s knees buckled, void of any strength left and his thrust turned into a fumble as he fell to the dirt.

  Kidd lay panting heavily, having pushed his body too far. His vision had gone blurry and sound began to turn into echoes. He felt it, though. He was almost there. His performance had something’s attention, but he collapsed before it could focus in on him. It left just as fast at the end.

  As Akai lowered himself to try and help his friend, he heard through Kidd’s panting. “It was right there.. I almost did it..”

  Akai helped roll Kidd onto his side. Through his auburn hair, Kidd’s red eyes shined up at Akai’s own blue ones. He took a deep breath and said with conviction “Tomorrow. I will awaken tomorrow.”

  Kidd was too tired to argue when Akai picked him up, he had been pushing himself too hard all day. His legs just couldn’t take it anymore. Akai said “No, you’re resting tomorrow. Stay at home. Let your body heal. We will spar the day after.”

  Akai carried Kidd to his home and ended up giving his mother quite a fright. Kidd’s mother knew her son was training hard but seeing him covered in dirt and unable to stand, she took him in without pause.

  Kidd wasn’t able to spar the day after his rest day. Both because every muscle in his body was beyond sore. And because his mother had punished him for taking it too far. He wasn’t allowed to leave the house for another week after this.