Rohan looked around, trying to get any sense of direction. The circular stone platform was situated in what looked like the middle of a city square, probably the very centre of the city as well since he'd read that every city had one like it.
However, before he even had a chance to look for someone who knew what they were doing, he was approached first. A young girl a whole head shorter than him, around his age, approached him timidly. She was obviously nervous, even more so than Rohan and many of the other Awakened nearby who were in the same situation as them.
"Hi… I-I'm sorry to bother you like this, but c-can you tell me where I am right now?"
She looked up at Rohan, visibly shaken.
'Okay, it's a little concerning how scared she looks right now…'
He glanced at her for just a second, composing his thoughts. He had no idea why she approached him of all people, especially when he was in the same situation as her — looking for someone who could possibly answer some of his questions. If anything, he was just as clueless as her right now.
"I wish I could help, but uhh… I'm in the same situation as you right now, just like all the others in this place. What made you think I knew something that could help?" He tried his best to sound spirited and not so condescending; the girl looked shaken up enough as it is.
Rohan got the feeling that if someone responded to her with hostility, then she might just burst from anxiety.
"W-what do you mean by in the same situation?"
Though it seemed that instead of moving on, she became even more confused.
Rohan took a good look at her this time, observing her more closely. That's when he realised.
'She's just like I was when I was tricked into taking the Beast Trial!'
Everyone else, Rohan included, wore some sort of protective gear and held a weapon in their hands or kept their Genetic Armaments unsummoned. However, this girl right in front of him wore nothing but a pair of jeans and a white sleeveless shirt to cover up…
"I think I get it now." He mused.
"Huhh??" The girl grew even more confused.
"Right now, we're in the Origin Realm; you, me, and everyone else on this stone platform have just been summoned here for the first time. We are all freshly awakened, only awakening around 24 hours ago. That's why we're all here, including you."
Her eyes grew wide after hearing Rohan's explanation, and her shaking intensified. Rohan could tell that her heart had skipped a beat, and she began hyperventilating. Rohan rushed to continue his explanation, realising he might have skipped over some things.
"Don't panic, don't worry! I think you might be a case of a natural Awakening… Those are quite rare nowadays, but that's the only thing that makes sense to me."
He unsummoned his Horned Rabbit spear to free up his hand and grabbed onto her shoulders to keep her still and upright.
"W-what do you mean? You're saying I'm an awakened now???"
"Take a look around you. Does this look anything like the world you're used to?"
Rohan stepped back and let her figure things out for herself, allowing her to observe her surroundings and make some thoughts of her own.
"I'm going to die…"
Her face grew pale.
"Hey! Hey, no, you're not! Well… I mean maybe you will, but it's not as big of a deal as you think. Death isn't the end in this place. If you die, you'll just be sent straight back to the outside world, granted you'll feel a bit weak for a bit, but it's fine!"
Rohan spent the next 10 minutes gradually reassuring her and calming her down. The two exchanged names with each other, which seemed to help a lot with her situation.
It turned out her name was Elane Ryker, and like him, she'd just turned 18; only she failed her third and final Awakening attempt at the ceremony at her school. Making her case especially rare amongst Awakened. Natural Awakened were already rare cases, but almost unseen amongst those who've already had three attempts under their belt.
'Maybe it was a false negative?' Rohan thought to himself, since she had showed up in the same batch as him.
She hadn't revealed her background or where on Earth, maybe even the Solar System, she came from, but all schools generally held their Awakening ceremonies at similar times across the Solar System.
Not once did he, for one second, stop to think, 'Why am I spending such precious time helping someone I don't even know?' since he gained a new outlook on life after going through what he did in the Awakened Association.
He had been in her position not even 24 hours prior, and he knew that if he had someone there who understood him and helped him like he was doing for her right now, then things could have taken a much more positive turn for him.
If anything, this could just be his way of earning back some good karma, even though he didn't really believe in something superstitious like that.
"So uhhh… what am I supposed to do now?" She asked, finally calm enough to come back to reason.
It seemed she at least came from a better educated and higher class background than Rohan from the way she held herself and improved her emotional state so quickly. Despite believing herself to be an ordinary person until just a few minutes ago, she knew a surprising amount about Awakened and the Origin Realm.
'She must have one or two Awakened in her family or something.' Rohan reasoned.
Elane knew that dying in the Origin Realm wasn't such a big deal beforehand, but the shock of the whole situation must have just completely thrown her off, making her forget about that fact.
In fact, now that she understood her situation better, she actually seemed even more excited to be an Awakened than Rohan!
"I guess we can team up. Tell me, did they teach you to fight at your school?" Rohan felt a little bad for her, so he offered to help. Besides, two was much better than one when facing off against a beast.
Not knowing wouldn't be the end of the world, as Rohan was proof of that, but it would make their situation a whole lot easier.
"No, not my school. But my father did teach me."
"That's just as good!" Rohan was relieved to hear this.
Truthfully, she probably knew more about combat than him
He didn't pry any further about her situation or her father, since if she wanted him to know she would tell him herself. He felt that asking would be intrusive and would only throw her off, since they had only just met 10 minutes ago…