The past chapters of Awakening are being rewritten entirely. We’re starting all the way from the beginning, like how it should’ve been. Going on a schedule of a chapter per week, unless a delay is announced. I hope you enjoy. 
Act 1: Forerunner
Clouds of smoke lay waste to the land. Buildings and houses burning in harmony, dumping ash on the once grassy groves of the island. The village had turned into a battlefield. The plains were littered with corpses, and bloodstained weapons and pieces of armor. Groups of soldiers moved past the mutilated bodies and stray limbs, marching in unison preparing to mow down anyone they saw through the thick gray clouds.
The soldiers were fully suited from top to bottom with steel armor and chainmail lining underneath. Their identical helmets and crest on their left pauldron made them appear like clones. Born and forged for fighting and mindless murder. The clear symbol of the Terragon Empire was thrust high into the air by one of the knights. It was a yellow hexagon, meant to resemble a shield. Three stone edges that appeared to be horns stuck out the top of the hexagon. Up close, it looked like the face of a golem, or some sort of machinery.
At the front, a knight with a gladiator helmet tipped with an orange feather stood in front of the group. The platoon stopped marching as he faced them. “Split up! Kill anyone you see. We report back at the docks with whatever numbers we have.” shouted the knight.
They all scrambled towards different directions, rather than equal amounts in certain areas. The knight stood there, until all his men disappeared into the smoke. “Tsk. Incompetent rats.” He mumbled, before heading off in his own direction.
A lone knight approached a family of three. Father, mother, and an infant daughter. He stared at them for several seconds, before sighing and drawing his sheathed blade from his side. It was a steel longsword, already stained with blood. The family cowered in fear against the rock, coughing and gagging in their last moments. “Please! Spare us! We haven’t done anything, nor are we associated with dark wizards! Please!” The father begged, as the soldier raised his blade up. Lifeless and gloomy eyes stared back at him. “You lowlifes,” the knight whispered before lowering his blade.
FLASH!
A beam of light blasts the soldier on his right, and he’s sent a far distance and knocked towards the ground. Without thinking, the man got up and took off his helmet, then held his blade firmly, wrapping his fingers around it repeatedly. He scanned the smoke, but it was too thick to see. Suddenly, a gust of wind struck him in the chest and he fell to the ground. What the hell? There’s more wizards? Two figures appear through the dust and ash, dashing towards where the family had been. They quickly retreat, as seven more figures appear in front of the man. Their identities hidden by the smoke, but even the dark outlines proved to be intimidating.
They were all varying in height, some short and some tall. It sounded like they were discussing something, unaware of the soldier’s presence. “Nice rescue guys! Let’s get them somewhere safe!” shouted a girl. “Hold on, we gotta be careful! What if there’s still a knight watching us?” The rest of the conversation was incomprehensible, as the voices began to fade away in the distance. *These voices… they’re high pitched and lacking maturity… it can’t be… children?
Without warning, the silhouette of a short boy dashed through the smoke and leapt into the air. He came from where the group of kids had just been.
“Cascading Flames!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Three fireballs hurled behind the soldier, and struck him hard in the back. He falls face first, and gets up to see three more fireballs heading towards him. “Raghh!” The soldier swung away at the fireballs, dispelling each one of them with the force of his sword. Another figure suddenly ran into his vision, followed by a gust of wind to his skull. Another fireball struck him in the back, scorching the soldier’s armor. By the time he could muster the strength to look up, nine pairs of eyes were staring down from above.
A tall skinny boy tapped a muscular and bulky figure. “Are they in a safe spot?” The tall boy asked. “Yep. All safe and sound.” The muscular boy replied. “Now… about this one.” a short girl spoke out. It was a different voice than the girl he’d heard earlier. All of them sneered at the soldier.
Fear and adrenaline rushed through the soldier. Kids! Kids! I won’t lose my pride and job to these village bums! The soldier began to scream, and went for a wide swing. All of his targets immediately bounced backwards, with no blood drawn. A multicolor of magic circles appeared in front of him. Red, grey, violet, light blue, green, crimson, brown, and yellow. They all charged up simultaneously.
The soldier felt his inevitable doom approaching, which prompted him to run away screaming in fear. Sounds of clanging metal and burning fire drowned out his screams. They all unleashed blasts of their element at once.
“Fireball!”
“Gale Bullet!”
“Nova Spark!”
“Ice Cannon!”
“Barrier Magic: Warding Pulse!”
“Blood Bomb!”
“Grievous Mud Impact!”
“Light Beam!”
A grand mixture of elements coalesced together, forming a huge elemental attack. Screams were heard past the smoke, followed by a marvelous explosion of magic energy, that spelled out the defeat of the first ever target and first victory of the young group of wizards.
All of them cheered in victory, high-fiving each other and shaking each other with joy. The muscular figure approached one of the shorter boys with messy dark red hair. “Quick acting there Apollo. You saved that family just in time with your light beam.” said the fire wizard. “Thanks Vega, but you’re the one that jumped into action first. Striking them with all your fireballs, that was so cool!” Apollo said, still fascinated by replaying the event in his head.
A boy with long hair tied back approached the two. The torn light-gray long sleeve he wore was loose on his skinny arms. He placed his hand on Vega’s shoulder. “Good work there man.” spoke the wizard. “Thanks Jin.” Vega replied. A gust of wind flew by, revealing the fiery red and orange eyes meeting with the calm and serene grey eyes of Jin. They smiled at each other with admiration and affirmation, as if they had accomplished a lifelong goal. Suddenly, Jin tightened his grip on Vega’s shoulder. Vega was surprised, and tried to shake off Jin’s hand. “Hey, uhh, you mind letting go?” questioned Vega. Jin growled at Vega in friendly frustration. “You put yourself in too much risk. I thought we agreed to jump in together to catch our opponent off guard?”
Vega forced Jin’s hand off his shoulder. “Well, that one was my bad. I just noticed the guy past the smoke and then… my body just moved on its own.”
Jin sighed and shook his head. “Alright well, please be careful next time and don’t be too reckless. You promised we’d fight as a team. Also, I don’t want any losses or injuries. Especially in this situation.” The two gazed at the burning village around them, and the clouds of smoke seeping into the air, before returning to face each other.
“I’ll take it into consideration.” concluded Vega. The two shook hands and split off to discuss with the other wizards.
Elsewhere in the area, two wizards burst into laughter, kneeling down with tears flowing from their eyes. They got up and wiped the tears off with their sleeves. “The look on his face when we all fired at him was too good!” yelled the short voluptuous girl. A tall boy laughed at her comment. “Oh yeah! He was all like, RAHH!” The boy made a disgusting frightened face, mocking the soldier’s expression at the moment he saw all of them cast magic circles.
“But of course, all of us lined up together casting magic circles was so badass right Joyce?” the tall boy asked. “You said it Julius!” responded Joyce. She raised up her arm and the two high-fived each other.
In the distance, the sound of clanging metal and stomping footsteps grew louder with each second. More soldiers were approaching the area. The celebrations stopped and the wizards stopped chatting to gaze at the smoke ahead of them. “Come on guys! Let’s get ready for the next fight!” shouted Vega. The wizards split off in groups to various areas. It was part of a strategy they developed earlier together. Hide, and ambush. Strike first, and win.
The group of soldiers led by the orange feather general arrived at the scene. His men marched behind him. The general put up his hand and stopped his soldiers. He knelt down at the defeated soldier just a few steps in front of him. “What a shame.” the general murmured, before getting up and kicking the dead body to the side. It flew off in the distance, hidden by the looming smoke around them. “Keep going.” The general ordered. All the knights walked forward in unison.
Elsewhere, the wizards had split up and awaited for the first sight of shining armor. However, one had lost track of the others. A beautiful young woman with scarlet red hair dashed through the smoke, calling out their names. “Marie! Jin! Asura! Julius! Vega! Anyone there?” she shouted.
The girl continued to run, covering her mouth with a torn piece of black cloth from her shirt. She occasionally rubbed her eyes, removing the ash that had settled on her face and turned her eyes red. As she ran, she caught a glimpse of a longsword and the Terragon crest. A pair of ominous and dreadful eyes caught her movement for just a second. Sounds of a blade leaving it’s sheath, followed by metal footsteps stomped on the ground, rushing towards the girl.
She was far too slow, and the knight had caught up to her. The girl manifested a pair of small daggers from leather pouches tied at her waist. They were dull and dented, but it was all that she had. Realizing running would be futile, the girl wasted no more energy on trying to flee. She turned around and took a stance.
The knight scoffed at the sight of her weapons. Yet, he kept his guard up. He remembered his dead comrade that the general kicked away earlier. So she’s no pushover… That look on her face. It was fearful, yet determined. Poor kids with nothing to lose but their lives. Of course they would fight to protect all they had left.
The girl had made the first move. She dashed at him headfirst, swinging her arms forward aimed at the knight’s neck. He moved back, but hesitated to swing back at her. Her daggers skimmed the knight’s chestplate, hardly causing a scratch. He looked down at his armor. “Oh you poor thing. You’d be better off in the afterlife.” spoke the knight. With intent to kill, he took a stance, and with one full movement he dashed forward and swung a clean horizontal slash.
His red-haired target had disappeared, leaving only dust behind. Without a sound, the girl spun down from the sky and crashed down on top of the soldier, impaling his back with her daggers. She violently ripped them out of his armor, and dashed in for two quick slashes. The blades cut straight through the armor, and a deep cut formed on both of the knight’s arms.
With fear coursing through his veins, the knight desperately grasped onto his blade and charged straight at the girl, screaming. He swung wildly, leaving no option for the girl to defend herself. She was pressured by the mighty longsword, proving superior in range and power against the short dull blades. Crap! That hit didn’t finish him off! Are these knights cursed or something? the girl though, as she defended against each incoming blow.
“Mud Magic: Twin Rockets!” shouted a nearby voice. It had a childish and innocent tone.
Two blasts of mud slammed straight into the knight, covering him in the thick and viscous concoction. The girl seized the opportunity, charged straight towards the knight as he flailed around to get the mud off his body. She leapt into the air and swung her right dagger with all her might, then slid on the ground to secure her landing. The knight’s head fell clean off his body into the pile of mud.
“Kaleigh!” shouted the girl. A messy brown haired boy just as tall as her appeared through the smoke. His mouth quivered and he scratched his freckled cheeks as he walked towards the collapsed beheaded body. “Scarlett, did you seriously… kill him?” Kaleigh slowly said.
Scarlett stared back at her body, realizing the gravity of her action. “It seems like… I did,” she said, then gulped down the reality of what she had done. Scarlett slowly walked towards Kaleigh, before hugging him and bursting into tears. “Oh my Gods! I just killed someone!” wailed Scarlett. Kaleigh patted her on the back, whispering to her, “Hey, you’re alright. You did it to protect us.” Scarlett let go of her hug to wipe her tears.
Suddenly, a pair of footsteps walked nearby them. It was the crisp and clear sound of crunching sand, ash and gravel. Spiky silver hair and bright green eyes appeared through the fog, followed by a familiar flat nose and small lips. “Kaladin!” Scarlett and Kaleigh screamed simultaneously. Kaladin had held his hand out, already casting a magic circle. He dropped his arms and the magic circle with it, as he ran to meet the two.
“You guys alright? I heard some shouting in the area.” Kaladin looked at the two and scanned their bodies. Apart from Scarlett’s bruises, the two were mainly unscathed. “We’re alive.” replied Scarlett. “Have you found anyone else?” Kaladin shook his head. “I split off by myself, and I’ve been trying to locate somebody since.”
“Let’s all stick together then,” said Scarlett. “Agreed.” both Kaladin and Kaleigh said. The three headed off into the battlefield together, hoping to search for more of their friends.
Farther away from the soldiers, the muscular boy, Apollo, ran across the charred fields in search of the others. He spotted a plethora of corpses along the way. A blade accompanied the slain owners, stained with the blood of an enemy, or their own. Apollo shook his head, and silently vowed to not bat an eye. There’s a lot of bodies here… this must be where the fighting had started in this area. I’m probably close to the docks. Perhaps one of us also managed to come here, but I doubt it. Apollo’s hope began to fade away. With each passing corpse he moved slower and slower, until finally coming to a halt. He sat down cross legged, trying to catch his breath. The ambience around him grew louder and louder. Like the screams of dead villagers and soldiers alike, were carried through the air, howling at him. Apollo closed his eyes, and stood up.
He looked down at the ground. A blood stained sword was right beside him. He nudged it away with his foot, hiding it in the fog. Apollo smiled to himself, maintaining hope. “My spirit won’t waver! Not here, and not now!” he said out loud, reassuring and calming himself down. He ran forward, until he spotted an outline in the fog and smoke. It was tall and had a well-built frame. However the glint of steel armor, nor the scabbard or hilt of a blade was nowhere to be seen. Apollo crouched and slowly trudged away, observing the mysterious person from a distance.
The figure walked forward, appearing more clearer as the thick gray air moved past him. It was almost as if he commanded the smoke to move, or some invisible aura pushed it out of the way. He wore a long black trench coat, with glowing yellow lines that ran across the whole coat like a circuit. The man turned his head over in Apollo’s direction. Glowing yellow eyes pierced through his soul, like a thousand blades through his heart. Apollo felt as if he could die at any moment. Apollo extended his arm out of instinct. He gritted his teeth as he formed a light magic circle and pointed it towards the pair of eyes.
“Flash!” A cone of blinding light burst out in front of Apollo. The entire area lit up, as if a miniature sun had brightened up the place. Apollo ran in the opposite direction, fleeing the area.
