6 CHAPTER 6: AWAKENING

Back at the estate, Tapiwa, after a quick meal, took out the duartz stones she brought home with her and began to grind them into powder.

The process was a bit tedious, but she felt that everything was worth it. For her to awaken, she was supposed to soak herself in a tub full of water, a cup of duartz stone powder, and two spoonsful of daisy powder will be added to the mix.

That wasn't all. The person to be awakened, should also take a cup of daisy tea before soaking. And this process will be done for seven days. The process won't be painful in the first four days, but the remaining three days will be hell.

Just like the mystic veins that are used to draw in mana for mages, awakened people would form a nucleus in their heads which would help draw in the energy from the duartz to strengthen whatever ability the awakened would unlock.

Even if the process was painful, one wasn't allowed to lose consciousness for that would be detrimental to one's health. It was possible to get crippled or even die during the process, so carefulness was required. And also, one should awaken in the presence of the other.

But this was a condition that Tapiwa wasn't willing to fulfill. If someone were to witness what she was going to do, won't she get in trouble because of this?

She still wanted to live and sit among royalties, if that can be done. She didn't want to be buried without anyone knowing. There was so much that needed to be done.

In order to fully focus on the awakening, Tapiwa spent three days grinding duartz stones and daisy flowers into powder enough to last her at least ten days.

On the fourth day, she traveled from her house to the river repeatedly as she filled any barrel and containers with water, although she still failed to store enough water to last her for a week.

She didn't know what will be waiting for her but she hoped that she will be able to survive this.

On the fifth day, Tapiwa took out a small bag of mealie-meal from the store, which was corn ground into fine powder. This powder or mealie-meal was then used to cook porridge or pap, pap something that she saw in one of her dreams.

Even after three decades of eating corn, she never knew that it was possible to use the corn powder to cook pap, a solid form of porridge that didn't require any salt or sugar. Pap wasn't watery, and it also requires more mealie-meal to fully cook plus more heat.

She used a bigger pot that would last her several meals and with meat from the store. Although her heart ached to see that one bag of meat was gone, it was still worth it.

After eating her meal by herself, something that was a bit unusual after she was used to eating with the old lady, the blessed lady who changed her life for the better, she prepared for her first soak in the awakening ritual.

On the first night, she didn't feel anything, but she wasn't depressed, for she was already expecting something like this already.

This happened until the third night, but she still continued soaking herself diligently. It was also on this very same night that she felt like a fool.

The water she had stored was finished and while she had been pondering on when to go to the river and be faced with the scornful expressions of those village women, something in her flashed.

'Oh, don't I have water inside the store space?'

Tapiwa mocked herself upon realizing that. The water and electricity inside the store space were infinite and as long as wanted water, all she needed to do was fetch water using a bucket until the water she needed was collected.

So, on the fourth day before soaking herself, she dutifully fetched water from the store to the tub she had been using to soak herself until it reached the point, she wanted it to be.

With this, she didn't need to worry about going to the river to fetch water again and being scorned by people who didn't even own a single piece of land in their name.

On this night, after drinking the tea, she got inside the tub and let herself soak in the herbal bath. The soak was supposed to last an hour, and just like any other night, she was relaxed and waiting for time to slowly pass.

But destiny had something for her on this night.

Twenty minutes into the bath, Tapiwa suddenly started feeling very itchy, and it felt like a worm was busy crawling all over her body, making the experience very uncomfortable.

Her first reaction was annoyance, but when she suddenly recalled how one would feel when soaking and awakening an ability, she became invigorated and determination flashed through her eyes.

So, what if she felt itchy and her body felt very uncomfortable?

Tapiwa vowed solemnly at that moment that she was going to tolerate any discomfort that was going to come her way, and at the end of the bath, she deeply regretted it.

Those forty minutes felt like an eternity, and the discomfort ranged from itchiness to severe pain that attacked the head.

It was as if she was having a severe migraine, and her world seemed to be crumbling. If she wasn't ready for this kind of pain and at least had not seen someone suffering during the ritual, Tapiwa would have surrendered and left the tub for comfort.

However, when the pain hit, she kept on reminding herself about how much she wanted this. If she were to lose it all, won't she live in the shadows of her younger sister despite being far away from each other?

If she were to give up right now, then did it mean that even village women and shrews would still point at her with their fingers as if she owes them gold?

She wanted so badly to win, become someone and above all provide herself with a sense of security for it was due to lack of security that a woman always ends up relying on a man which might end up as sending herself to prison which will become very difficult to escape.

In the end, she weighed the advantages and disadvantages of doing what she was currently doing and concluded that whatever pain she was suffering, everything was worth it.

All she needed to do was just persevere for three more days and she will finally be part of the envious small group of people. And in this world, she will probably be the only person with an ability unless there are other lucky people.

So why would she give this all up just because of some temporary pain?