3 Chapter 2) System Initializing...
{System Initializing...10%}
Xavier yawned and rubbed his eyes. He wasn't surprised to feel a tiny warm body pressed against his back. There was another around his stomach area and close to his leg. At least three of the boys always joined him in bed sometimes during the early hours of morning.
And the room smelled weird. One of them had gone potty. Xavier only hoped that the culprit (s) was well padded up.
{System Initializing...30%}
Xavier's heart skipped a bit as the monotone voice filtered through his mind. He frowned and sat up to look around. Nothing looked above ordinary in his room. Even the tiny person passed out on his reading table looked totally normal.
Shaking his head in amusement, he stood up and tiptoed to the table. The boy, either Wayne or Doug, stirred a bit as he picked him up but stayed asleep. Xavier carried him towards the bed and had just dropped him between his brothers when the strange voice spoke again.
{System Initializing...60%}
"What is going on?" He asked no one in particular. Was he going crazy or something? Surely he must be loosing his mind.
But then a reasonable thought occured to him and he shook his head in unbelief. "No, that's not possible. It just can't happen."
{System Initializing...80%}
Cold sweat broke over his forehead. He was speechless and unable to think of what to do. He had indeed heard a voice. It was inside him...coming through his mind like a thought.
{System Initialization complete. Activating Celestial System in 10...9...8...}
Xavier's knees when weak as pure pain shot through his body, as if something sharp had gone through his skull and down to his toes.
He fell to his knees and clutched his head, trying to stop the ringing in his ears....
{...5...4...3...}
A blinding light took over his eyes and his heart seemed to explode from extreme firing of nerves. He felt his blood ignite within his veins....
{...2...1....Celestial System Activated.}
Xavier passed out cold.
His eyes flew open an hour later and he sat up ramrod straight, all his senses alive and alert. As if someone had poked him with a needle.
"That was strange." His voice came off patched thanks to the dryness in his throat.
He looked around. His room was now empty. Either his Aunt Fiona must've come up to get the boys or they had wandered out on their own. He hoped it was the latter because he didn't like the sound of Aunt Fiona seeing him in such an embarrassing position.
His mind flashed back to what had landed him on the floor. The monotone voice in his mind.
He scuffed, laughing at how impossible the whole thing was. "I must've been having a realistic dream. Me? A Mystic?" He snorted. "No way."
Everyone on Lazuli knew about the hundred Mystics born each year. They were legends...Heroes to the world because only them possessed the Celestial System and the abilities required to level up to higher realms and potentials. They destroyed cursed dungeons, battled monsters who popped up once in a while and slayed demons. They were men and women of valor and power. Everything Xavier was definitely not, and never will be.
He chuckled again. "I must've been really messed up when I woke up this morning. Imagine someone like me dreaming about activating the celestial system!"
The moment he spoke those last words, a golden holographic screen appeared in front of his vision.
{Celestial System}
[Host: Xavier Xerxes]
[Nature: Mystic]
[Affinity: Unknown]
[Soul Creature: Unknown]
[Level: Novice 1/10]
[Mana: 100/1000]
[Experience: 0/10]
[Health Points: 5/10]
[Agility: 0/10]
[Strength: 0/10]
[Stamina: 0/10]
[Offence Skills: None]
[Defence Skills:None]
[System Remark: Mystic has an extremely high fatality risk of 100000/10. Advised to Self Destruct to avoid Horrible Annihilation.]
"That doesn't sound right." said Xavier, too shocked to do more.
Xavier Xerxes, the freak of nature who can't sprint a mile to save his life, was a Mystic?
Mystics were all known to be born into wealthy and prominent families. They grew up strong, immune to sicknesses and bold to face troubles.
Xavier was unfortunately none of that. Even Bruiser, the big bully, fit the criteria better than him, what with the huge guy's destructive strength and respectable bloodline! Xavier was just a powerless cowardly teen without any backbone. The boy with strange skin who everybody avoided.
"Ok, calm down Xavier." He said to himself, taking in a deep breath. "Maybe there was a mistake somewhere. You just have to sort it out and everything would return back to normal. Boringly normal."
He sat on his bed, rubbed his hands together. "Ok, here goes nothing." Closing his eyes, he imagined himself diving into his mind. "Celestial System?"
The star shaped hologram filled his vision once more. It had six points holding different icons. There was Profile, Maps, Quest, Shop, Forge, and Network. The whole thing was arranged like a galaxy of planets with smaller stars, meteors and comets in the distance.
"This is interesting." said Xavier in excitement and awe. "What am I supposed to do next? What do all this icons mean, System?"
[Profile: Contains your current details and ability statistics. Updated on real time.]
[Maps: Activated whenever you venture into a new dungeon, wormhole, abyss or chasm. Requires mana points that depends on the size of the location. No saved maps available now]
[Quest: Your current tasks and their rewards are displayed here. Given tasks must be completed before another is earned.]
[Shop: All weapons, potions, artifacts and items are stored here. It is a multidimensional pocket that holds anything regardless of size and can be accessible to you anywhere. The shop is empty.]
[Forge: Your workshop. Has every equipment you need for brewing potions, making special weapons to your taste, journalling panels and accessories. You must source every ingredient to the Forge. The forge is unavailable until you reach Master.]
[Network: Contains information about everything that exists in the universe. Accessibility reach is limited to your level. Certain queries may not be answerable until you attain a specific level. Required mana points depends on the sort of query.]
"This is amazing!" Xavier said when the hologram disappeared.
He was a Mystic, one of the esteemed hundred Celestial Kissed souls of the planet. He had special abilities and could level up to become an Immortal.
Wait a moment. Speaking of leveling up, that meant one thing...
"Celestial Academy! I have to attend Celestial Academy to get trained!" The more he thought about what being a Mystic meant, the scarier the whole concept got. Every quest Mystics embarked on meant their lives on the line. The most frightening thing Xavier had ever done was...ok, maybe he had been living life on the safe side till now. How was he going to survive the dungeons, monsters, war games, quests?
Xavier came to a safe decision. To avoid all the hassle, he wasn't going to get registered at the Academy. Simple. No one would ever know that he was a Mystic. Yes, he activated the system. But without registration and training he was as good as useless. The other 99 Mystics could go and throw their lives to the wind if they wanted to. Not him. He had his mother to think about.
The moment this became a resolve in his mind, the hologram appeared again. On seeing the screen, he went numb all over.
[Main Quest: Reach Valor Level.]
[Day's Quest: Register at Celestial Academy]
[Reward for Day's Quest: 4 level points, Affinity Wisdom, Soul creature, +900 Mana points...and Hidden Reward.]
[Reward for Failure: Self Destruction]
"You have got to be kidding me!"
Panic and confusion seized him immediately. This was bad, really bad. The system was giving him no choice but to perform the quest. Self Destruct had a sinister tone to it. He didn't want to know what that really meant, but his hunch told him it would be brutal and irreversible.
Moving as if on autopilot, he ran out of the room and down the stairs.
"Aunt Fiona!" He called around the house. Xavier had to tell someone...anyone. His mother was out of the option considering her present state. And he had no friends since none of his age mates were brave enough to accept him. That left only his Aunt.
He found her in the playroom. And one look at her told him that she had way more important problems to contend with than the impending death of her nephew.
Fiona looked a lot like his mum when she was still healthy. With her long brown hair and petite frame they would've passed for twins three years ago.
In this moment she looked tired with dark bags under her eyes and a crazed look to her hair, as if she had not slept for a few days. The boys were all over the place, expressing themselves very loudly. There was crying, laughing, blabbing, wailing...one of them was sleeping peacefully on the blanket beside the door.
"Teddy dear, let go of your brother's head! Do not put that in your mouth, Harry!"
"Aunt Fiona?"
"What?" She looked up at him and sighed. "Sorry about that. The boys are a little wild this morning. I shouldn't have added sweeteners to their cereal. Are you alright? I made breakfast already. There's food on the table for you."
Xavier nodded and backed away.
Fiona's face creased up in concern. "Xavier, is there something else you wanted?"
"No, I'm fine." He said, feeling sorry for her more than anything. "I have to go into the city later. I might be out till late in the night."
But her attention had already drifted away, so Xavier left as quietly as he had entered. He didn't blame her for not caring about him. She had her hands extra full with the children. Roderick, her husband, was a nuclear engineer at the power plant in Savanna city. This meant he was away from home for months at a time. Since Xavier hardly went out, he helped around the house as best as he could. But Fiona's case was different. She barely had breaks from any of it.
Xavier would have to go through this on his own. Somehow he would have to find a way to Celestial Academy and turn himself into something that was beyond his difference, limitations and fears. A Mystic. The chances of that ever happening was few steps from impossible but he had to try.
"System?"
[Ready to take your Query...]
"How do I get to the Academy?" He asked in a shaky voice. There was no going back after this.
[System will download route network into Maps. Mana required to download: 5. Mana required to view: 5. Proceed?]
