"Again!?" Zane queried.
"I didn't stutter," the light replied.
She stretched forth her hands, almost as if she were conjuring something, the space where her eyes should be lit up in an almost flame-like manner.
"You were lucky the first time. Show me what you can do for real, this time."
She was manipulating the nature of the barrier she had put around us earlier. That's when I felt it, we were surrounded. I think she noticed the not-so-definitely-not-scared look on my face, that she gave me a typical reassuring comment.
"Relax, there are only about twenty of them, they're all stage one to three, they've been here with you since day one, my barrier has been keeping you safe all this time, but it's only a matter of time before at least a stage six is drawn to the energy you possess. You must learn to suppress the flow of the heavy force in you."
I heard the change in tone when she mentioned 'stage six', almost as if she was afraid.
"If a stage six were to come here, w- wo- would you win? I mean, you would win, right?" I asked sheepishly.
She stopped what she was doing, resealing the barrier around us. I guess she had intended to let another stage one slip in, so I could train further. Her head raised, and she took a few steps towards the campfire and sat. She didn't even signal me to take a seat; she used the force to manipulate the wind to pick me up and drop me on the hard log beside her.
"Mmm," I grunted and wheezed like a true man.
"Ten stages..." she started.
"Ten stages of devourers there are, ten stages of Awakened as well: F, D, C, B, A, S, V, X, Y, then Z ranks. But, after the Z ranks are monarchs whom we call sovereigns, all these years, they were thought to be a myth, but seeing you is enough evidence that the void does exist, and so do the sovereigns."
I coughed: inhaled some monoxide, my bad.
"The way of knowing the rank of an Awakened is by examining a faction of the aura they elude. I could be an S rank, but no matter how efficient my concealing abilities are, that could make me elude the same aura as a D rank, one look from a skilled awakened, and they'll know that I am an S rank."
"But, are you an S Rank?"
"The difference between each rank is tremendous..." she went on to say, like I hadn't just asked a question. She reminds me of the shadow in my head at this point.
"Ahem! Are you listening?" She knew I was definitely judging her in my mind.
"Yes, yes... do tell."
"By the way, you've changed. You're no longer acting as you used to before you awakened."
"What do you mean?"
"You're more cheerful, and cool too," she muttered the second part of the sentence.
"I didn't quite catch that, could yo..."
"An A rank is miles stronger than a B." She cut me off. What a tactic. Almost like Lily, I wonder how she is, though.
Lily, living her life, throwing house parties with her new sister. Her brother suffers every day, always nearly escaping death. What a world we live in. Didn't her mom just disappear a few weeks ago?
"I'm a B rank, been stuck on it for a while. To advance, one needs something called grace from the eternal force itself; that selfish thing keeps blessing the rest of my family except me. God help me."
"God? You believe?"
"Just cuz we're awakened doesn't mean we're atheists. The eternal force didn't create itself, you know."
"That aside, you're a B rank, surely you can handle a stage six, right?"
"I've always known you to be smart, Zane. This is the dumbest you've ever been. Ten ranks, ten stages. Don't you think they're simultaneous?"
I kept mute, I was really dumb just now. I got up and looked at my hands, pulled my gloves, and closed my eyes, trying to work my way into tapping the force as I did before.
*rip
Sounded like a torn connection. I just lay down on the snow, looking at the sky while her light radiated around my point of view.
"What's that?" I pointed at a figure in the sky.
"NIGERU!"
"What? Was that Japane-"
"Run!"
Before our Apex Sovereign could get to his feet, the entity above them landed, easily breaking through the barrier. Not only was it a devourer, it looked at him and spoke:
"Quite the inviting aura you've got there." It said, while adjusting itself in a fitting stance, ready to charge at him, it smirked.