I sit up and groan. "It's not everyday you wake up with two heart beats." I blurt out a laugh but clutch my head from the sharp pain.
Looking around I notice I'm in the same type of bed as before, except this time the room isn't an illusion from Raine's mind.
The wall in front of me is riddled with paint in what looks like a winter setting. Pine trees with snow falling off the branches littered across the wall. And as I turned to take off the cover that was placed over me I noticed another painting on the wall closest to me.
Lightning streaks arc across a mountain top, and rain falls down from a deep blue storm cloud. The two separate paintings merge together at the center of the room.
"Whoever painted these walls should get a raise." I mutter in awe. The scene is just as beautiful as the real thing would have been.
Then the door opens. Luna walks into the room with a book in one hand and a staff in the other. She sees me and gasps. "Skye! You're finally awake!" My friend flings the book into the other bunk bed.
She practically leaps towards me and smothers me with a hug.
"You were sleeping for days!" Luna mumbles into my neck.
"What?"
"Ayla said that you were just sleeping but I couldn't help but worry, you're my best friend after all." Luna says this and then breaks the hug.
"Well I definitely feel like I've slept for days. That would explain my empty stomach." Just then my stomach growls and I feel my energy fading once more.
"Yeah. Raine said that's normal for people who end up feeling bliss within the Soul Incubator. Although it doesn't usually break like that." Luna says nervously.
Luna then sets her staff down up against the bed and opens the book. She flips a couple pages over and gently tears one of the pages out of the book. Then she hands the page to me and says to read.
—Dear Raine Rupture, I'm Theodora, from the team who offered to help with your personal project. I am happy to inform you that we have finally perfected the first prototype of The Soul Incubator.
The goal of this project was to build a machine that could apply mana awakening to those born without it. At first it proved nearly impossible, but with that scrap of your artifacts mana we have successfully managed to awaken a normal owl pet of mine to my beats shift mana. Though it was very unstable and had to be held down by a protective spell.
The outward appearance is that of a metal container with a see through glass door for entry. There are buttons upon an outside panel that are for controlling the level of power placed within the machine.
I would highly recommend not placing a human inside until you have proved the power level is stable.
Also I would like to state the basics of how the Soul Incubator works.
First you must place the target you wish to apply mana awakening inside the machine and close the door. Then you should put the settings as: Low unlocking, personalized, non adjustable. Then press start. This will in turn force the subject to feel four different emotions. Those emotions will be sent to the data collection center in the form of a frequency chart. The higher the emotion on the chart, the more mana that was generated.
A list of the emotions and their corresponding frequencies will be written on another document that we will send you through mail as well.
Look out for the document named "Soulstruct System" to find the information on the emotional chart. You may find that these emotions were based upon the same data given to the kings of The Tower. That is an accurate assessment and was our initial analysis of the best possible outcome.
The Mayor has also tasked me with informing you of the completion of another set of documents. Those will be mailed at later dates so stay on the lookout for them.
The Kingdom of Bestia wishes you luck in your future endeavors.
Sincerely Theodora Bestia—
As I finish reading I blink rapidly in a confused manner.
"So they shoved me in the Soul Incubator even though this document says they shouldn't?" I ask Luna in an emotionless tone.
"…Yeah… I wasn't expecting that either. They even-" Luna's sentence is cut off from the ground in between us succumbing to darkness. I can't help but think this is oddly familiar.
"Finally awake I see." A deep and rumbling voice sounds from the shadows beneath us. Then a head pops out of the ground, scaring Luna so badly she jumps backwards and slams into the half opened door.
"Relax Icy, I'm Ayla's friend." The man speaks. His hair is a complete mess of bed head. His poofy black hair sticks up here and there, and his eyes are dark as if he didn't sleep long enough.
"Oh, it's you… What's your name again?" I ask as he seems to step up a ladder of darkness into the room. I notice that he has the same color clothes. Deep black jeans, deep black shoes, and an oversized black hoodie.
"Dez. Dez Somnum." He stops his sentence so abruptly I'm not sure what to think. The room goes silent for just a moment and then his ear twitches.
"Raine's coming. I'll be in the training area waiting for you both." Dez eyes seem to pierce through my head. I stare at him for just a moment as he steps back down into his shadow.
"I think you need more sleep. It would help with those eye rings." I blurt out just as he's about to submerge. But before he can say anything to me Raine pokes his head through the doorway.
"Ah Dez. Since you're awake you should go meet with Ayla. She's been looking for me but I'm too busy to do paperwork right now." Raine smiles at Dez and I can almost hear the sound of his eyes rolling.
"Training area is ready whenever you need it. Death corridor this time." Dez yawns while he speaks and then disappears.
"Death corridor." Both me and Luna ask Raine simultaneously.
"Oh that's no big deal. It's not as bad as the hellish hall training course. You two will be fine."
"Uhh… Sure?" Luna says.
"Death and I are practically buddies, I'll be fine." I joke and stand up. My voice clears and I stretch as I hope to hide my nervousness.
"Nice stats on the Soul Incubator Skye, it's not everyday you see someone with that much potential. Dez is likely looking forward to the training." Raine smiles and then walks off down the hall.
Footsteps are heard then stopped just before a lighter pair sounds. "Raine! I swear if you don't show yourself right this instant. I'm tired of doing all of your paperwork!" Ayla's voice is heard yelling loudly.
Then I panicked. Why did I panic from her and not the guy who came from the shadows talking about a death corridor training program you may ask?
To be honest I'm scared of women, especially loud ones. They intimidate me.