"Why?" I asked instead of immediately agreeing to it.

She clearly didn't expect that question, for she immediately lost her poise. She opened and closed her mouth to speak a few times, until she decided what to answer.

"I wanna get stronger."

Her determination hadn’t wavered, and I nodded. If she couldn't even stand up to herself against a simple question, she wouldn’t have been able to stab her own heart.

"So? What does it have to do with me?" I asked.

She took a deep breath. "I wanna ya... to do it... ya know? To remove the thing... from ma heart. I... I have no one. I'm alone." Her voice shook at the end.

I nodded and raised my voice enough for others to hear over the cracking of the bonfire. "From today onwards, whoever wants to [Awaken] are to find someone you trust to help you with it. If there's no one, ask a councilor and they will find you someplace under the watch of a warrior. I'll show you how it's done." I turned to her. "Do you have something to pierce your heart?"

She showed her spear. Its point was long and straight enough. "Good. The perforating object must be long enough and have a pointy edge. This spear has extra weight to it, which will help.”

I pushed her gently and started lying her down on the ground. “You will want to lay down. The Tower only accepts your sacrifice if you're physically healthy and the piercing of your heart is the only cause of death. No other injury is allowed. If you die in another way after stabbing yourself, you'll be dead for good.

"If you stab yourself while standing, you must be confident in instantly killing yourself. If you don't, you might fall from pain, dizziness, or fainting. Then, there's a tiny chance to hit your head hard enough to do damage the Tower would consider a minor help to killing you. Or you might break your neck and die. If that happens, it's over."

Still gently, I positioned her hands correctly on the spear. She was holding it so tightly that she cut herself on a splinter and started bleeding. That wouldn't be enough for the Tower to disqualify her sacrifice though.

"When you do it, first feel your heartbeat and position the perforating object diagonally, as close to your heart as possible, below the ribcage. That’s important; you must avoid the ribcage unless you're strong enough to break bone. Most of you aren't. If you can, find a former doctor or nurse to help. Position it firmly and-"

"S- Stop!" A man suddenly yelled, stuttering. I looked at him and he continued. "This is wrong! T- This is not what God would want for us!"

I nodded. I had heard enough about religion that I agreed with his assessment about what his fantasy book said about his God’s will. Killing oneself was against Cristian teachings.

That, I would thread with care. I didn't believe in any of it, as I had seen no evidence of any of it being real even during my over eight hundred years of life. But I acknowledged the hope it could bring people in their darkest hour.

This was humanity's last run. There would be only despair when it was done. Humankind would need any comfort it could take when it was enslaved for eternity. It didn't matter to me if such comfort came from lies. As long as it didn't make people rebel against me, that is.

"Indeed, from what I had been told, your God wouldn't agree with it," I replied calmly. "All religions are free to preach in my domain unless they advocate for taking direct action against me or my orders. One such order is that everyone is free to make their own decisions." I turned to the girl. "Do you want to hear that good man before continuing? If you do, I won't wait for you. But I won't force you to [Awaken] now either."

She looked at the man for a long time. Tears started rolling from her eyes.

"Please, child," he said, approaching. "You don't need to do this. No one does. God loves us and don't want His child to do such terrible things."

Finally, she opened her mouth. "Fuck off," she whispered. "Fuck y'all. I'm tired of being the poor and fat and ugly and the black chick every'un looks down on. I wanna be pretty. I wanna be in control. I'mma do it and I don't need yar god. He never helped me when people made fun of me. Or when I was hungry. Or when Marin Thompson and her bitches said ma hair is shit and threw chlorine on it."

That wasn't what the man expected to her. "But-"

"Enough." I said firmly. "You can preach, but she is also can reject you. All preachers must respect other people's decisions and rejections in my domain. She gave you her answer. Fuck off."

He looked at me, back at her, sighed and left. That was a good man. The good ones always let people decide, for if even God allowed men to sin, who were mortals to try to manhandle everyone into obedience?

"Are you ready?" I asked softly. She nodded and I raised my voice again. "When you do it, go all the way. It's better to pierce more than needed instead of failing to pierce enough. That would be painful, and it might weaken your determination to push a second time."

She was looking at the skies, still crying. Instinctively, she started changing his grasp on the spear, but I stopped her.

"Hold it correctly. One hand touching your body to guide the spear correctly.” I put hers there. “The other hand with a good grip on the spear, far enough that you can pull strongly.” I placed her hand there, too.

Then, I put a hand on her shoulder. “That's it. It’s going to hurt, but do not remove the spear, or you’ll die for good. Do you understand?” She nodded, her body trembling. “Good. You're ready. Do it."

Her eyes found mine and I nodded at her. She took a deep breath.

And pulled.

She put so much strength behind it that the edge of the spear hit her spine. She grasped for air when the pain hit. Then, she screamed with the full force of her lungs.

"It hurts! Fuck, it hurts! Goddammit! Fuck! Fuuuuuuck!"

She screamed and screamed, but to her credit, she stayed mostly still.

When she let go of her spear to hit the floor with her arms, the spear didn’t move, stuck in place. That was unlucky, as if it did move, it might’ve killed her faster.

Finally, dizziness hit her, making her scream less and less.

And then, she died.

"Make sure to check her pulse when someone dies," I said over the shocked silence of the place. "Even if you're sure they are dead, wait five to ten minutes to make sure. Then, remove the perforating object."

I had seen enough people dying that I knew it was over. I grasped the spear and pulled it out of her body.

The effect was immediate. The skin closed in seconds and she opened her eyes.

"Good, you accepted the essence seed.” I looked at my warriors. “When you're assisting someone and they don't return, no need to second guess if you removed the object before they were truly dead. They likely were, they just didn't want to accept the seed. It will happen often. You’ll understand it better when you [Awaken] yourselves."

The promises of power and glory the essence seed gave could be scary. It sounded too good to be true and like something an evil force would tempt humanity with. Many faltered when the time came.

She tried to stand up, but I stopped her. "Don't stand up yet. You should have a system window saying you got the [Awakened] title. Read it. Then, you'll feel pain like you never did before. But when it's over, you'll feel as powerful as a god."

Her eyes moved, reading something I couldn’t see.

And then she started screaming for real.

Wordless, mindless screams. Her body started trashing, contorting itself in unnatural ways, shaking. Her own twisting muscles broke her bones, which were forged anew.

I stepped back and filled my throat with essence to be heard above her screams. "Don't try to hold people when they resurrect or you'll only injury yourselves. [Awakeners] will be completely healed when the [Awakening] process is over. Just wait." I turned to my councilor. "It might be wise to do it somewhere out of sight though."

Just like everybody else, they were looking at the spectacle with shock and terror. They glanced at me though, so I knew they heard.

For minutes, the girl screamed, her body and mind reforming themselves. When it stopped, she let out a yell of pure pleasure that made even I stir with desire.

"Oh, yeeeessss..."

Those simple words came like a purr from a cat and made my skin crawl. She jumped into a standing position and everyone saw her new self.

Her light brown skin was unblemished, her curly black hair had gained volume and luster, her fat had burned away, and her muscles had grown. Just like mine, her muscles had also been affected by humanity's standards of beauty due to the social attributes. But unlike my male bulky muscles, her female ones were less pronounced. It gave her more a look of healthy and sexiness than overwhelming power. Her figure was a perfect hourglass.

The perfect mix of Greek amazon and a temptress.

"I feel great," she said, looking down on her body, touching her whole body shameless. "I'm fucking gorgeous." She looked at me. "Wanna fuck?"

I smiled and shouted. "[Awakening] will make you think, say, and do things you'll regret later. Take deep breathes and rest for a while before doing anything else."

"I'mma gonna regret nothing," she said. "Nothing!"

And I believed her. She said she had been socially oppressed before. Most people like her immediately started enjoying all they thought they had missed on Earth and it took a long while for them to calm down.

"For your bravery in pioneering [Awakening], you're now my Head Warrior, the leader of all of them," I said, changing the subject. "Enjoy this night however you want. Just be quiet enough so other people can sleep. Try to be discreet too. Your first mission tomorrow will be to double our numbers." I extended her spear back to her.

She took it and asked, "Is that a no?" She used her arms to push her breasts together and leaned my way. "You gonna say no to my pretty self?"

"I will," I said firmly. "I have someone in my heart already. But even if I didn’t, I must hunt tonight. You'll be the main responsible for defending the village while I’m away. I'll return tomorrow and if I see you used your power to impose yourself over my people against their will..." My voice became pure ice. "Believe me, there are ways to make even the pain you just went through feel like a pleasurable massage."

My persuasion attribute did its job, for her eyes widened and she stood straight.

"I can do whatever tonight?" she asked. "Anything, if I don't bother tha others?"

"Yes," I confirmed.

"Then I wanna go with you." I frowned and she quickly continued, "Not to do that. I mean, if you wanna, I wanna too. But I wanna learn. I..." Her eyes widened when her own persuasion attribute gave her a new argument. "Ain't I the new Head Warrior? I need to fight good, don't I? Teach me how to hunt tonight, so I can protect the village tomorrow."

I smiled. Even when I knew it was the persuasion attribute talking, that was a good argument.

"Very well. You can help me carry the food if anything else." I started walking around the bonfire, looking at the populace and shouting. "I can hear your stomachs grumbling, I can feel your unmet desires for the meat those loyal to me received. So, I shall give you a gift. A gift for also being loyal and staying with me, instead of running away like the others. Tomorrow morning, we shall feast with meat. Tonight, I hunt for my people." I stopped in front of the cook. "Recruit nine others to cook the meat in the morning. Councilors, you're in charge."

It was important for me to directly give them control over the village even though they were officially second-in-command already. I needed both civilians and councilors to be reminded that their power came from me and could be given or taken at my say so.

Even more important was to make a promise to my people and deliver. They would have good expectations of me and would partake in the fruits of my labor. It would be much more impactful than it had been with the walls too.

Without saying anything else, I turned and left the village, braving the night under the moonlight.

My Head Warrior followed like a shadow.