Rainer was woken up by a loud banging on his door. He sluggishly sat up in bed, his sheets falling to the floor. He stood up and walked towards the door and opened it. The guard in blue was standing in front of him with a letter in one hand and a bag in the other.
"Rise and shine." said the guard
He looked at the room behind Rainer
"You might want to clean up a little, and I don't mean just your room. The Awakening Ceremony will begin in two hours. Your clothes are in this bag, when you're dressed i'll take you to the Ceremony" said the guard
He handed Rainer the bag and the letter, then closed the door for him. Rainer placed the bag on a chair and opened the letter, it read as follows
"To the winners of round 1
We are pleased to inform you that you are invited to the Awakening Ceremony.
During this event we will awaken your powers (if any) and you will be able to use them during the second round
However, if you already have awakened , then you may skip the Ceremony.
This letter also contains a invitation to the Champion's Ball.
An event for tomorrow, it will be held in many different locations and will randomize the attendees for each location.
We look forward to seeing you.
-Advisor to King Cor
"Now I get to go to a fancy dinner party, hope they serve jumbo shrimp." said Rainer
He threw the letter on his bed and reached for his Ceremony clothes. It was a long white tailcoat with golden lining on the edges. It had a white shirt to be worn under it, with a pair of white nobleman dress pants, and lastly tight white boots that reached halfway up to his knees.
"A monkey probably picked these out" said Rainer with disgust
He quickly put on his new clothes and opened his door. The guard was leaning against the wall waiting for him. He looked at Rainer and reached for a big case next to his feet.
"Here, this is for you" said the guard
"Aww you bought me a present?" teased Rainer
The guard let out a sigh as Rainer knelt down and opened the case. It was a White Katana, and the sheathe was white with blue lines wrapping around it. Rainer took it out of the case and attached it to the back of his waist.
"This outfit looks good on you" said the guard
"You think so? Not too bright?" asked Rainer
"Well it could use a touch of black but that's not something I can control" said the guard
The guard began to walk towards the elevator at the end of the hall, and Rainer followed him closely. The guard pushed a button on the elevator and it began moving backwards.
"So where exactly is this Ceremony? And what does it do?" asked Rainer
"I forgot you humans were new to this" said the guard
"We're also not that bright to begin with" said Rainer with some pride
The guard stared at the door for a few seconds, speechless
"Right... Basically the Awakening Ceremony is where you obtain your powers"
"Powers?" asked Rainer, confused
"Yes. For example Magic is a common power that is released during the awakening" explained the guard
"Wait a second there. Magic isn't real. It's probably some sort of trick, right?" asked Rainer
"Magic is very real, some races possess an affinity for it and others don't. Those who do not have the affinity, just say it doesn't exist." said the guard
"I don't believe you. So what happens to people without the affinity for magic?"
"Instead, they receive a device from the orb that matches their preference. Such as shockwave hammer or a gravity defying arrow. Things like that" explained the guard
"Well I believe the weapon part" said Rainer
"Believe what you want, you'll see it for yourself soon enough" said the guard
The Elevator moved up to floor one and the gates opened. It was a Arena that covered miles of land, there were people in the stands as far as the eye could see. The Arena itself was made of granite tiles and in the center of it all were multiple silver crystal balls. They were placed at intervals across the Arena. The warriors who had won the first round were all here, lined up at each one waiting to be called up to the crystal balls.
"I hate crowds" said Rainer
"Then you're going to hate this one even more. Your line is going to be twenty-two. Just look for the number on the Orb. I'll be back for you once you finish up here. Good luck" said the guard
The Elevator closed and Rainer was left to find his Crystal ball. As he walked towards the higher end of the arena, he noticed that a lot of people were wearing clothes similar to his. They all wore something fancy in white, gold, or blue. Some stayed as they were but those were only life forms that had no body to support clothes.
Rainer finally found his line, it only had about six people in it. He took his place at the back and looked around him. There were cameras flying around everywhere and holographic screens showing the audience and the rest of the universe this event. Rainer stared at the timer on the screens and noticed there was still an hour left till the event was supposed to begin.
"That damn bastard! He woke me up early!" yelled Rainer
The Champions in the line all looked back at him, they were all larger in both height and width compared to Rainer. They were scary looking life forms with mean faces. Rainer laughed nervously
"Hehe, sorry about that guys, my bad" said Rainer
They all turned back around as if nothing happened. Rainer sat down in his spot and waited for the event to begin. As the minutes went by, more and more champions lined up behind him. All of them were varying in size and looks, some were larger than cars, and others didn't even have faces or limbs. Rainer was still the smallest out of all of them.
An announcer took the stage and all cameras directed their attention to him. He was very tall humanoid with stick like legs and a red mushroom hat with yellow spots on his head.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and other things that I couldn't care to list, My name is Wattan. And Welcome to the 1000th Tournament of Champions. King Cor is glad to have you all here, and would like to congratulate all the champions who have made it to the second round. Give them a round of applause everyone!" he said into a microphone like object.
The audience roared in cheers and applause, Rainer covered his ears and looked a bit annoyed at the noise.
As the audience died down, the announcer took control of the cameras once again.
"We will be starting the Awakening Ceremony soon but for those of you who are new and don't know what it is. Well download the guide and find out, because I don't have time to explain it to your tiny brains. So go ahead and attune to the camera that points to your Champion so you don't miss anything. And without further ado. LET THE AWAKENING BEGIN!!" he yelled
