CHAPTER 10: AWAKENING DAY [1]

Today was the day.

The day that everyone had been waiting for.

The Aurelion Awakening Center loomed ahead, its crystal façade glittering like a beacon of fate.

Normally, Awakenings drew only family, a few friends, and perhaps a curious noble or two.

But today was different.

Lucius von Hohenberg’s Awakening time and center had been leaked online, everyone assumed that it was by an employee on the inside but what idiot obviously used the most esteemed center to awaken?

When they were obviously going to awaken a weak element?

The leak had spread like wildfire across the net — through noble chat groups, gossip forums, and finally mainstream news.

By morning, the Awakening Center was overflowing.

A restless crowd gathered outside: reporters waving enchanted microphones, streamers with their drones, and throngs of commoners craning their necks, eager for a glimpse.

The Hohenbergs were famous.

And Lucius — the disowned youngest son was infamous.

He had been stripped of his name, left in a hospital bed, and forgotten by most... except by those who wanted to see him fail.

There were whispers amongst everyone.

"He won’t come."

"After being banished? You think he has the spine?"

"They say he never even Awakened before the coma. Useless, just like always."

But others countered — whipping the crowd into more fervor.

"Remember, his siblings set impossible standards. Valerian, Elena, Damian... they’re the faces of the Empire’s next generation. Compared to them, what is he?"

The eldest: Valerian von Hohenberg, twenty-three, knighted by the Imperial Guard.

His sword arm was so fast it cut lightning bolts in training duels.

He was the Hohenberg with the most feats.

The second: Elena von Hohenberg, nineteen, the Scarlet Phoenix.

She had a different hair color from the usual Hohenberg so people speculated she was adopted.

Flames bowed to her command and she was also the youngest Mage-General in three centuries.

The third: Damian von Hohenberg, nineteen as well and he was strategist of Skylan Academy, already tutoring officers twice his age.

And then... Lucius.

The forgotten fourth.

He was eighteen this year and a well known simp for Lily von Silberhain.

...

At the very front of the crowd stood Luna, her violet hair glinting in the sun.

She was a commoner, but a clever one: her Stitch channel had broken a thousand viewers in an hour, and her custom drone floated at her side like a loyal pet.

Unlike others who used tripods or shaky hands, her tech gave her a perfect angle.

She adjusted her glasses, scrolling through the chat feed in real time.

[Viewers: 1,024]

[@DarkWolf: He’s not showing, trust me. Dude’s scared.]

[@SilverTongue: Would you come out if Valerian was your brother? I wouldn’t.]

[@Huntress77: Scarlet Phoenix Lucius the Loser.]

[@FrostBite: Bet the kid runs before stepping inside.]

Luna cleared her throat, speaking to her stream.

"If I’m being honest... I wouldn’t show up either. Not with this many people waiting for me to fail. I’d be afraid."

It wasn’t malice — it was sincerity.

Nobles played by different rules.

She wouldn’t understand since she was a commoner.

Still, the chat spammed laughing emojis, flame icons, mockery at Lucius.

And then —

A sudden gust of wind swept the plaza.

Stronger than the petty breezes from earlier.

Luna’s hair whipped against her face, her skirt fluttering wildly as the crowd gasped.

"What—?" she started.

Her stomach lurched.

The ground was gone.

She was in the air.

But — she was in someone’s arms.

The drone whirred frantically, auto-adjusting to keep focus.

Luna’s heart nearly stopped as she looked up at him.

The man who held her wasn’t what she expected.

He wasn’t the sickly, bedridden noble the gossip blogs painted.

No — his hair was dark, somewhere between long and short, perfectly framing sharp, regal features.

His eyes glowed with a deep violet hue, piercing, dangerous, almost cruel.

He looked like someone sculpted by the gods and then sharpened by fire.

"...Handsome," Luna whispered before she could stop herself.

The chat exploded.

[@BlushQueen: WHO IS THIS???]

[@NightCrow: ain’t no way that’s Lucius.]

[@VelvetLust: someone hold me, I’m WETTT.]

|_ [@Ratattou: Why would we want to hold

you]

[@DragonFire: Bro looks like he eats lightning for breakfast wtf.]

The man smirked faintly, his voice smooth but edged like steel.

"Just because you would be afraid," he said, his eyes locking with hers, "doesn’t mean I am."

Luna blinked rapidly, her brain stalling.

"...Y-you’re...?"

He leaned closer, still holding her as if gravity had no say in the matter.

"Lucius von Hohenberg," he said, the name rolling from his tongue with deliberate weight.

"The one and only unless someone else has stolen my name."

The crowd below roared in shock.

Reporters fumbled with their mics.

Streamers cursed as their drones auto-tracked him.

Lucius tilted his head toward Luna, the faintest smile curling his lips.

"And you should be very happy," he added, "because I’ve chosen you, and only you, to stream my Awakening."

Her brain short-circuited. Her chat feed combusted.

And above the thousands who had gathered to mock him, Lucius descended from the sky like a king.