Sam quietly drifts off to sleep as the night gets late, his parents still aren’t home but it’s not unusual for them to be away like this. His body enjoys the wait rest after the active day learning exercises and muscle groups when,

*BANG BANG*

Sam wakes up suddenly, he looks at the clock and can see that he has only been asleep about an hour. His head is groggy as he yells out, “Yes?”

“Are you awake?”

Sam wakes up immediately after noticing the voice, “Yes, what do you need me for?”

“Your mother will be back soon with the other part but it’s important for you to be prepared so can we speak?”

“Sure.”

Sam gets up from the bed and heads over to the door, his father is standing there. His towering body is scarred while he’s missing one eye, his body has a powerful statue that is almost suffocating but he has a gentle smile on as he looks at Sam.

“You look like you’ve practised the standard body exercises? Good, you’ll want to get started on the intermediate as soon as possible” the man says as he walks inside the room.

“Yep, I’ve also practised a few of the general moves for the basic monster types including some of the rarer ones. The dragon-knight training looks fun, I hope I can get one.”

“Ah Sam, when I was your age…” the large man sits down on his bed, his shaved head almost shining in the moonlight coming through the window, “everyone wanted to be a dragon-knight but only the rich people could, they’re the ones that can afford the training too. It’s expensive, they eat a lot.”

“Did you want to be one father?”

“Ah, nope. I’ve always been happy how I am. So it’s almost time for you too, it came by quickly. I am glad that we didn’t see to wait until you’re older like some of the people I ran in to today.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah well this,” the large man holds out a small bag, it’s made of fine silk with symbols that Sam has never seen before, “a lot of people were after this stuff.”

Sam takes the bag and peeks inside, he is speechless, “What is it?”

“It’s training powder, I believe it’s grade D4.”

“D4? Wow, thanks. Can you share how you got it?”

The large man laughs for a moment, “I called in some old favours with some people that rose through the ranks, I know some dragon-knights myself.”

Sam raises an eyebrow and is about to ask about that when his balcony door opens suddenly, they both turn their attention to it.

“You’re late” the large man says.

Sam looks at the person walk in, it’s his mother. She looks worn-out and tired but she is holding several bags in her hand.

“You only had to get 1 thing, I had to run around.”

“Luck of the draw, how did you go?”

“I got everything, it was the last charged ionic distributor available in the region.”

“Ah seems like it’s common knowledge now, well lets set it up quickly.”

Sam clears his throat, “What’s going on?”

His parents both set about their work, as if they know what they’re doing setting up all these complicated looking machines and filling them with powders and liquids. They usually need him to do anything digital yet here they are setting up machines he doesn’t even understand.

“It’s for your future, we can only take this for 4 hours as it’s meant to deter a monster infestation.”

“Is there a monster infestation?”

“No” his father responds running cables to some sort of different pylons that are set up in the corners.

“There’s no infestation, this will just provide you with a better environment to synchronise with the space around us. It will enhance your abilities come ceremony time. Just trust us, this wasn’t heard of when we went through the ceremony.”

“Ok.”

Sam sits on the bed and watches them fill the 20+ machines that now fill his room, they have finished measuring out all the fluids and powders that he feels relieved aren’t going to be injected in him yet he’s also curious as to why a machine needs all that stuff.

“First two pylons coming online soon, we’ll have to aim for 1 hour minimum if he’s to enter pre-lit 5 state” his father speaks as if he’s no longer there.

“He’s our child, if we both could undertake PL400 then we can take it” his mother responds careful with her wording.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve got the healing powder and mark two fluid, just in case.”

Sam is sweating from hearing this, it seems like he wont be having a pleasant time, he looks at his mother with the cutest eyes that he can muster as if pleading with her.

She responds with a smile, plugging in another cable causing another pylon to light up.

“Well let’s do it then,” his fathers says before pressing some buttons on the machine causing several of the to whirl into life, “if you get any messages while you’re undergoing this then don’t worry, we’ll handle it.”

“If you get the notification during this, we’ll handle it.”

Sam’s parents both leave the room quickly as he’s left there without a chance to ask anything, he trusts them but all they’ve said is to sit in the middle of the pylons and… endure.

“<Area will undergo cleansing of foreign impurities. Please vacate.>”

The machines start buzzing loudly, Sam’s ears ring as his body feels a strange pressure come down on it.

The ringing sound increases, the pressure increases and his body feels heavier.

Sam grits his teeth, the pressure doesn’t stop building up as the pylons emit a noise. He cannot look at them as they emit stranger noises, like a strange melody coming over his ears.

Sam enters a strange state as his mind replays that melody over it, the pressure doesn’t stop increasing as his body sweats heavily causing the bed to be soaked.

A strange melody that Sam can almost recognise something familiar in comes over his ears as he enters some sort of strange state unknown to him, his parents watch from afar.

“Is he ok? Why isn’t he moving?”

“I think…”

“You think what? Is he hurt? Should we stop it?”

“No, I think…”

“Yes, you think, you said that but while you think, our child is getting hurt.”

“No, listen. I think he has entered that state.”

Sam’s mother is about to enter the room when she stops and listens to the large man, “That state, you mean embracing tranquillity?”

“That’s what you guys call it? Well yeah, probably, we need to leave him and ensure nothing disturbs him as most people can only ever dream of entering that state.”

“Ok.”

Sam’s parents both set up a perimeter around his bedroom where they ensure that nothing will disturb his current state, it wont last too long as he hasn’t undergone the ceremony but it will be a tremendous boost for when he does.

Sam isn’t aware of anything going on other than a strange melody that is replaying in his mind. There is no other information other than the strange melody, his mind is almost entranced by it causing him to be unaware of the changes going on around him.

An hour goes by, his body is looking dehydrated as the bed is soaked.

Another hour goes by, the veins all over his body are standing out making him look very sickly yet the expression on his face is one of calmness.

Another hour goes by, Sam’s body is covered in a layer of grey black ooze when he suddenly coughs up breaking his state.

Sam falls off the bed, the machines cut out returning the room to silence.

“Uhh, woah. How much time passed?” Sam wipes his forehead noticing the colour of his sweat.

“The hell, black sweat? Is this blood?”

A towel is passed down to him from above, “No, you need a shower though. You’re running late already but congratulations, you’ll do some great things.”

Sam takes the towel, wiping himself down quickly before looking up. It’s his father standing there by himself, he has turned off some the machines and passed a towel.

“Late? For what?”

“The notification, it happened. You need to unlock the first package, but you have some leeway. Go take a quick shower and open it.”

Sam’s father reaches down to help him up, Sam takes his hand and stands up with uneasy legs.

“Do you want the powder?” he asks as they near the door.

“No, I’ll be ok… I just need to have a drink.”

“Ok.”

The two of them walk through the door, on the other side is a chair with his mother sitting there. She is asleep holding a weapon, Sam looks to his father but he’s holding his finger up to his mouth.

They walk quietly down the hallway, Sam enters the shower and quickly washes the ooze from him.

His body feels much refreshed after the shower, his body feels surprisingly energetic as his muscles are well-toned and defined for a change. His joints are much more flexible than they ever were and his skin feels perfectly smooth now.

Sam gets dressed in clean clothes quickly and enters the kitchen where his parents are both standing waiting before an old yet familiar box filled with many things.

Sam walks up to the box and rifles through the contents for a moment as his parents speak to him, “Well we need to undertake the oath, so son listen closely. You are one of the humans that remain surviving after countless disasters, as such the current world government has decreed that each child upon birth will be given one package to be administered before their coming of age ceremony.”

“We all must take the responsibility entrusted upon us in this box, this is about the future of the race and we must not falter.”

“Yeah, everyone knows that and we need to repeat the vows every year… multiple times. Aren’t we running late?” Sam asks as he pulls out the first package.

“Are you ready? We are running late but there’s no going back once you start.”

“Yeah I’m ready, let’s get started.”

Sam’s mother steps forward and grabs the package, she tears it open pulling out two items.

An injection-gun and a vial.

Sam gulps loudly, “We all thought it was that.”

“Yep, the first one is the unlocking serum. You are lucky, this one… doesn’t have the old ones side effects.”

“What were they?” Sam asks his mother, she blushes and while his father looks away.

She steps presses the arm against Sam’s arm, the small vial filled with purple and green liquid is loaded into it.

*SHT*

“Ow, you didn’t count down.”

“Stop asking embarrassing things. Do you exercises” she says standing up and walking out of the room.

“We’ll be back in 2 hours for the fifth package, you go through the ones between.”

Sam smiles as he feels the strange liquid go around his body, his father smiles as he leaves the room.

Sam instantly grabs a glass of water, his throat is suddenly very dry. He needs to stay hydrates and do his exercises as the liquid is going around his body until the next notification comes in.

Next to the package is a large statue that includes a clock and several other numbers countdown down, it displays information about Sam and his current age.

‘Sam Tonak, age: 17 years 322 days, 22 hours and 23 minutes’

It also displays a notifcation section which reads, ‘Stage 1 - Active’

Sam had totally forgot about this large statue, it’s also part of package that people get at birth yet it’s only for the ones that are born to parents that are above stage 1. Most old-school people have pride in things like this but the newer generation typically hides it.

There are better options now but given that it’s sitting there before him, he has no choice but to follow it.

Sam does his exercises, they feel much easier than before he’s able to do a set of 200 in about half the time but it still leaves him panting exhausted afterwards.

He takes another big drink of water catching his breath, “I see what they mean about getting you to practise first, why didn’t they ever emphasise this before…”

‘Those exercises were much easier, maybe I can do that Red Flash move…’

Sam attempts the move, he manages the first 3 muscle groups with easy and hits the fourth…

He succeeds.

The young man doesn’t stop there, he tries the next muscle group and almost falls to the floor in pain.

“Ow, fuck.”

Sam nurses his thigh, they truly weren’t designed to move like that.

*BEEP BEEP*

“<Notice, Stage 2 will commence in 1 minute. Please prepare the package.>”

Sam walks over to the box and fishes out the envelope marked Package 2. It’s a light one that feels almost empty, they inflexible as he holds it in his hand.

“<Notice, Stage 2 will commence in 5…. 4… 3… 2… 1…. Stage 2 commencing, please open package 2 and do as instructed.>”

Sam tears open the top and pulls out the contents, he feels slightly annoyed yet not surprised at the contents. It’s a bunch of cards, the top one reads: Basic Understandings of the Ceremony of Ages and Society.

He pulls out the first card, it’s filled with questions that he needs to fill out. There’s over 20 pages that are filled with long spaces for long answers.

“Well it says I have 45 minutes to do this, seems stupid but whatever.”

Sam grabs a pen and fills out the questions, it was fairly simple where there’s no wrong answer but he does wonder why the government are collecting it. He reaches the end of the final sheet with only minutes to spare.

This sort of process repeats for the next 8 packages, where his parents are needed to be involved in answering some questions and ensuring there are witnesses, the entire family will be implicated if the answers are wrong but no one is worried.

The night progresses into dawn, the sun rises as they’re halfway through the pre-ceremony ritual.

It has been called a ritual because back in the day when religion was more popular it would be more common to head on down to the local place of worship and ask for any sort of benefit you can before going.

The process continues after midday, it’s nearly 1pm when they reach stage 14.

Sam and his parents are sitting around the statue exhausted, this is undoubtedly recurring elsewhere in the city as there are thousands and thousands of people undertaking the ceremony this time. Sam struggles to stay awake while his mother is asleep on the table.

His father is standing there solid like a mountain.

<“Notice, Stage 15 will commence in 1 minute.”>

Sam leans forward, his joints cracking as the weariness catches up to him, the day is far from over and he’s exhausted.

“Stage 15… what’s that one? Answer another questionnaire about patriotic duty to some entity?”

“No.”

Sam’s father doesn’t elaborate further, he stands up as this reaction is somewhat unusual so he might need to be prepared for something, the next package in his hand already prepared.

<“Notice Stage 15 will commence in 5… 4… 3…. 2… 1..”>

Sam open the package. It contains two vials.

He immediately tries to hide them but his mother wakes up, “Is it stage 15?”

“Yes, let’s go. You do it and I’ll get the car.”

“I haven’t even read the instructions yet, why do you need the car?”

“Sam, hand me the vials” his mother is holding the injection gun from earlier approaching him quickly, Sam sighs in defeat passing them over.

His father leaves the room as his mother grabs his arm, two quick injections later he is walking to his room reading the instruction card.

‘Stage 15, ceremony arrival commence. Final phase for family contact until after ceremony.’

There’s some other details about where he needs to line up in the ceremony hall and that’s about it for information here, he looks at his room and feels strange after after that has happened the last few days.

This day was always coming yet it’s actually here, he cannot believe it.

Sam changes his clothes from casual clothing into a bodysuit layered with the ceremonial garb, an old battle uniform that has been redesigned somehow. He stands before the mirror for a moment thinking about his life so far, how things will forever be different.

He takes one last look before leaving his room and his house, his parents are both waiting in the vehicle outside. A private car is luxurious so the roads are mostly empty, especially today where the town is quiet.

Sam waves at his neighbours who give him a solemn look in return, they know what he’s about to go through while the younger people look on in envy, the older people think back to all the people they’ve lost in relation to this process.

Sam enters the grey vehicle and they begin their short drive to the ceremonial hall, where many thousands of people will be taking the ceremony from around the region here.