Thwack

Ugh, why? What kind of devil incarnate would wake a man with a foot to the stomach?

“Sam you retard why are sleeping in a bush, you’re going to miss the awakening”

Huh, awakening? Oh shit! I jumped to my feet as soon as I gained my wits. Quickly I oriented myself towards the voice.

“Gee thanks Cassie, if you didn’t wake me that’ll be me over. I owe you one.”

Cassie, in turn, squinted at me for a good couple of seconds before turning away with a sigh.

"Sure put them with the others" She replied flatly. I nervously chuckled not knowing what to say, I really owe Cassie more times than I could count.

After I quickly dusted myself off, I followed Cassie towards the main road that led toward Totem Tower. Cassie took a cursory look over me before asking me,

"How come you're sleeping in a bush anyway, trouble at home?"

"Calling the orphanage 'home' is a bit of a stretch, but the short answer, yes."

"You know the offer still on the table, you could always live with my family"

"Thanks for the offer Cass but I'd rather rough it out on my own two feet y'know. Also, I know your father is not my biggest fan either."

Cassie snorted and decided to not dig into it further as every time her father saw us together he always gave the same lecture on people knowing their place and whatnot. Sometimes I was tempted to take her up on her offer but I just couldn't stand being the orphan who befriended a noble for their very own benefit. But hey I'm still glad for the times Cassie was there for me even when she didn't need to, she is too kind for her good. Sometimes I wonder why she keeps putting up with me when there's no benefit for her in doing so, well I guess only a fool refuses to count his blessings.

As we walked into the main part of town we got a couple of stares, well I did. People wouldn't dare risk offending a noble, even one as kind as Cassie. Cassie tugged me to go faster as I stuck out my tongue to some of the gawkers. Other than the ugly stare the town square is easily the most beautiful part of Dorwell, which would make sense since it's where most of the noble's peruse for their wares and you wouldn't normally see people of the lower class around here. Except for today.

Now the usually calm town square is teeming with people of varying classes all because of one thing, the awakening. The awakening happens every year, the 14-year-old youths gather at the Totem Tower where they'll have their powers awakened. Humans are either awakened as a warrior or a mage, but other races have different classes to awaken. For instance, dwarves can awaken as blacksmiths or elves as rangers which in my opinion is pretty unfair as humans have only two classes to awaken whereas every other race has at least three.

Regardless the awakening is an auspicious time when no one dares to cause trouble. Some people say it because people get cursed if they cause trouble or that bad luck would befall their descendants. I like the fairy tale where the totems represent the spirit of the human spirit and that when we die our souls return to the totem so we can help look over our descendants. I know that this probably just an old wives tale, but it's pretty comforting to think about, that there's always someone looking out for me even though I have no one in this life.

Before I could continue with my lonesome musings the gates for the tower opened up. As everyone shuffled in you could see people making space around some of the more distinguished individual, which included me and Cass. I tried to slip away from her area of influence but she caught me with her iron grip and gave me a look of warning to not try it again. I sigh in defeat and bear with the stares of contempt and envy that are sent my way.

Eventually, in the main hall, there were hundreds of us gathered in front of the two totem statues.

One was humanoid figure clad in battle-worn armour that was threatening to fall off, with a battered short sword in its right and half a buckler shield on its left. The statue even managed to capture the following motion of a cape which still impressed me to this day. This totem is called the Spirit of the Fight, which is the embodiment of throwing one more punch before getting knocked down to just get back up to throw another.

The statue stood opposite was dressed with a ripped up traveller's cloak, thick iron rings adorned on each finger, a knapsack full of scrolls of maps and travelling instruments, a shabby pointed hat and a gnarled staff with a rough gem placed on top. This totem is called the Heart of Adventure which represents humanities ingenuity and rampant curiosity.

Neither of these statues is elegant, beautiful or even that nice to look at however when you look at them it emanates valour and bravery. It represents the tenacious human spirit, that even if we aren't the most powerful race we will keep walking, that our bodies will fail before our will to survive does.

As the feeling of awe settled into the crowd the Tower Mistress emerged in the in front of the gathering. her attire is just a humble as the totems before us but no one dared scoff as she is one of the most powerful magic users in the city of Dorwell.

"Welcome everyone to the Totem Tower. I'll keep this short as I know all of you desperate to know what'll happen after you awaken. I just want to say that even if you do awaken great magicks or gain tremendous strength what separates the trash from the true luminaries is your stone-cold will, because only with a truly sturdy resolve will you fly so high that even the heavens will to crane their necks to see you soar. Walk tall, live proudly!"

As she spoke, everyone in the hall, including me, stared at her with fervour as she stoked the sparks of ambitions in our chests with her words. As she finished she lifted her staff high into the as lights of various colours streamed from all directions to the crystal which in turn made her whole figure glow with a golden light. as she whispered her incantations the sheer power she was summoning manifested themselves in bright flashes of flames and howls of storms. As this happened Cassie grabbed my hand into hers, I was shocked for a moment but I grabbed it back because I know this is a much bigger day for than for me because her dreams are also at stake based on what power she gains. I gripped her hand back to reassure her and as I raised my head back up to the Tower Mistress what I saw was a flash of white and the cool feeling of my body seemingly filling with power.

Walk tall, live proudly huh, I could do that.