The rest of the evening went by in a blur of activities. Food was served along with other refreshments for the newly awakened candidates. Xaden ate like a starving man because, in reality, he kinda was. It turned out that in real life, only a bit more than a single day had passed, exactly like in the Crucible, so the last meal he had consumed was two days prior.
All the Candidates moved to an open room in the Echelon building called the cafeteria. Seating side by side in wooden benches with the people who shared a connection with them.
Xaden ate until he was full for the first time in months; he had to resist the urge to package some and keep it in his pockets to save for later.
Leo laughed when he had told him.
Their training schedule to survive the next few Crucibles was what Sergeant Barrow called open. Essentially, this meant they had flexible schedules and could train however they wished with the few officials.
The boys were shown into their dorms, where they would be staying till after Threshing. Xaden stepped inside his dorm room, his eyes wide.
It was bigger than anywhere he had ever stayed in the last few years.
His eyes swept over the place. The dorm consisted of a made bed and some light furniture. He opened the closet door and was greeted with a pleasant surprise.
It was his bow.
He grabbed it, amazed by how well it looked. The string had been replaced, and the bow frame had been fixed and even polished.
His fingers brushed the engraving at the tip; it was a name, Fenrick, his father's.
It sat at the bottom of the closet with a few new pieces of clothing, probably because the ones he wore the day of the First Crucible were already horrendous, unsalvageable, and probably smelled weird.
It was then that Xaden realized just how much was spent on the Awakened, from the Echelon building to the Healer attending to him at his bedside when he first woke up.
He made his way to the bathroom to freshen up. He hadn't had a decent shower since forever. The bathroom was simple enough: a toilet, a shower, and a mirror sitting above the sink. Xaden took a look at himself; he hadn't really had much of a chance since before the first Crucible. Not much had changed, really, except his blue-green eyes seemed sharper, his chin just a touch straighter. His face was still almost deathly pale.
Though the rest of his body seemed a bit stronger, though less like a starving child and more of a lean build.
He stepped into the shower, switched on the faucet, and sighed when a stream of hot water poured over his face. He couldn't recall the last time he had a hot shower.
When he was done, he put on a pair of underwear from the closet, then peeped outside his door, checking to see if anyone was still moving around. There was no one. He locked the dormitory door so no one would barge in.
'Ok, let's see what you can do.'
Xaden sat cross-legged on the bed. He tried to search for the familiar hum of energy sitting just below the surface of his being. He shut his eyes, concentrating deeply.
This was his first chance to try out his powers as well as the awakened artefact he had acquired, Ariadne's Thread.
He could feel the energy. He tried reaching out to it, to grasp it and wield it however he could. But something wasn't right. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't use it.
Xaden frowned, focusing harder.
Still nothing.
His jaw tightened.
Come on…
Still nothing.
The silence in the room felt heavier now, almost taunting. Doubt began creeping in. Maybe Jewel was right. Maybe there really wasn't—
No.
He felt it. That hum. That coiled, waiting presence under his skin.
So why the hell wasn't it responding?
His fingers curled slightly against his knees. He remembered the other Candidates, running around with power at their fingertips. If they could do it, then why couldn't he?
His breathing slowed.
'Concentrate...'
A memory trickled its way into his head.
Leo stood a few feet away, fire dancing lazily between his fingers as it belonged there.
Wind brushed through the trees around them, carrying the faint scent of damp earth and that particular rust scent which always hung on Terra's air. They had spent the morning hunting down a wild deer that had escaped, leaving the two with next to no food or money for the rest of the day.
"How does it even work?" Xaden had asked.
Leo had shrugged.
"I don't know," he said. "It just kinda… happens."
He closed his palms. "Instinct, I guess."
Xaden's eyes snapped open.
"…Instinct," he muttered.
Silence settled around him again. He exhaled slowly, forcing his shoulders to relax, trying not to think too hard about it, trying not to force it.
'Just… let it happen.'
His fingers loosened slightly where they rested on his knees.
For a moment, there was nothing.
Xaden breathed in.
A flicker. So faint he almost thought he imagined it.
Xaden stilled, and his breathing slowed.
There.
Again.
Something beneath his skin shifted, like a coil tightening. A low hum—not sound, not quite feeling—just there, pressing against the edges of his being.
He focused on it without trying too hard to force it.
The hum responded.
It rose abruptly, like something waking up at once. Xaden's breath hitched; he felt a warmth emanate from his hands. He opened his eyes, and there, he saw a thin thread of red light spark into existence between his fingers.
He froze.
The glow pulsed—faint at first, unstable, flickering like it still wasn't sure if it should exist.
"…No way," he whispered.
He let instinct take over.
The energy wavered. Then he directed it towards the chair across the room. Xaden's eyes snapped toward it. The red energy wrapped around it.
It moved an inch.
His heart started pounding.
'I'm doing that...' He marveled.
He held out his palms, willing the chair toward him.
The chair jerked—harder this time. One leg screeched violently against the floor. Xaden inhaled sharply.
"Wait—"
The chair jerkily got lifted upward.
It hung in the air, trembling like something had grabbed it wrong. The wood creaked under the strain. The frame began to bend inward, the red energy crushing in from all sides.
Xaden's eyes widened. "Stop!"
The glow flickered, then snapped out.
The slightly deformed chair slammed back to the ground. Xaden felt exhaustion wash over him. He collapsed on his bed, panting.
He held out his palm after a while, examining his fingers. So, a sort of telekinetic ability, that was it? He wasn't sure he believed that. The Crucible had called Chaos Wielding an ancient god-level ability. While telekinesis was powerful if used right, he wasn't so sure that it was the only thing his ability was capable of.
He shut his eyes once again, reaching for the energy. He felt it reach the edge of his fingertips, then disappear again. He lay there for most of the night, trying to gain a feel for the new power, till he eventually fell asleep. Drowsily deciding to try out his artefact the next day.
He dreamt of a massive red snake, writhing and slithering about in deep space as if bound by some force. Xaden felt a deep trepidation as he observed its twisted form. The snake turned towards him, opened its jaw, and made a sound with its forked tongue, lashing about.
It was disaster itself, it seemed to tell him. The master of calamities. The bane of all creation.
And the end of all things.