The silence in the arena didn't last long. It was quickly devoured by the sound of ten thousand whispers, a low, buzzing static that grated against Leib's raw nerves. The judgment of a crowd is a heavy thing, but the confusion of a crowd is heavier.
Leib stood in the center of the dust-choked floor, his boots rooted to the spot where the shadow had struck him. He looked at the Bátis, the source of all life, all power, and all hope, and felt a tidal wave of betrayal.
"Where is it?" he whispered, his voice trembling. "What happened?"
No one answered. The High Rulers on the stage remained like statues, their own shock pinning them in place.
Leib's breathing became erratic, hitching in his chest. He looked at the thousands of faces in the stands, then back to the cold, dead stone of the well.
"Why didn't you give me anything?" he screamed, his voice finally breaking the tension.
"Did the well run out? Is that it? Did you give them all away before it was my turn?"
His knees hit the dirt.
"All my life... all my life I have adored the Gabays. I studied you. I prayed to you! I spent every waking moment dreaming of the partner I would find here!"
He slammed a fist into the ground, the impact stinging his skin. "And then you give me nothing? Why? Why!"
As the last syllable tore from his throat, the world responded.
The vibrant, sunny sky of Hirayi, the sky that had been golden just moments ago, began to bruise. Thick, iron-gray clouds rolled in with impossible speed, blotting out the sun as if a curtain had been drawn over the world.
The temperature plummeted. A jagged bolt of lightning arced across the heavens, and then, the sky simply opened up.
It wasn't a gentle rain. It was a deluge, a heavy, punishing downpour that mirrored the chaos in Leib's heart.
The crowd panicked. Thousands of people scrambled from their seats, sprinting toward the roofed sections of the arena. The teens who had just received their Gabays, those lucky enough to be bonded, hurried to the shelters, clutching their new companions to their chests to keep them dry.
But Leib didn't move. He sat in the mud, the rain soaking through his clothes in seconds, his hair plastered to his forehead. He felt the weight of the water, but it was nothing compared to the weight of the void in his chest.
Through the curtain of the storm, a shimmer of light appeared.
The rain stopped hitting Leib's head, though he could still hear it splashing all around him. He looked up, squinting through the blur of his own tears.
Hovering above him was the Opal Serpent. Its scales glinted with a dull, iridescent glow even in the gray light, its long, ethereal body coiling in the air to form a living umbrella. It was beautiful, a masterpiece of spirit and magic, and it was everything Leib didn't have.
Reign walked through the mud toward him. Her own clothes were damp, but she looked at Leib not with the mockery he expected, but with a deep, furrowed worry. She knelt beside him, her hand hesitant before she gently patted his back.
"I don't know who you are... aside from your name," she said softly, her voice barely audible over the thunder. "But please... don't question the Bátis. It's dangerous."
Leib turned his head, his eyes red and searching. "Why not? It took everything from me today. It gave me a shadow and then it died."
"Maybe... maybe your spirit animal just hasn't found you yet," Reign offered. It was a weak consolation, and she knew it.
She looked up at her serpent, her expression reflecting her own disbelief. She hadn't expected a Mythical. She hadn't expected to be the center of the world. She felt like an imposter standing next to the boy who had been given a hole in the air.
"Why can't he find me?" Leib choked out, a fresh sob wracking his frame. "I've been right here. I've been waiting right here for twelve years. If he wanted me, he would be here."
Reign fell silent. She had no answer. How could she explain the whims of a thousand-year-old well when she barely understood the creature currently shielding them from the storm?
On the high stage, the Seven Rulers remained under a magical canopy, watching the two teenagers in the rain. The atmosphere among the sovereigns was just as turbulent as the weather.
"What in the heavens happened?" Greig spoke first, his voice booming like the mountains of Harbo. "This year's Awakening... it is beyond historical. It is terrifying."
Queen Gab nodded, her eyes fixed on Leib. "It is unprecedented. To have two Mythical creatures emerge in a single year is a miracle we haven't seen in centuries. But for the Bátis to fall silent before the final child? To give nothing? That has not happened since the founding of Hirayi."
"It didn't give nothing," Filo corrected, his voice sharp and analytical. "You all saw it. That darkness... that shadow. It didn't look like a Gabay. It looked like a shadow."
"It was scary," Zor added, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. "The Bátis has never reacted that way. It felt... angry. Or perhaps, exhausted."
Akar crossed his arms. "The boy is a shell. Whatever that darkness was, it went inside him. He is no longer a normal citizen, but he is certainly no trainer. He is an anomaly."
Prien let out a short, dry laugh, trying to cut through the tension. "Regardless of the boy's misfortune, we must look at the silver lining. Two Mythicals! The future of Hirayi is brighter than it has ever been. We have the weapons we need for the coming age. Isn't that right, Batlaha?"
Batlaha, the King of Paraiso, did not respond. He was staring at Leib with an intensity that bordered on fear. His own Gabay, Shaba, stood behind him, his human-like face unreadable but his eyes narrowed.
Prien reached out and tapped Batlaha's shoulder. "Batlaha? You're drifting."
Batlaha's senses snapped back to the present. He took a deep breath, the scent of rain and ozone filling his lungs. "We should not disregard this," he said, his voice dropping to a low, serious tone. "Something is wrong. The balance has shifted. We cannot simply celebrate the two and ignore the one."
"So what do you propose?" Prien asked.
"The three of them"
"Reign, Jay, and Leib," Batlaha commanded.
"Bring them to my kingdom. Bring them to Paraiso. I feel that the answers we need are buried within that boy. If we let him go now, we may never understand what the Bátis was trying to tell us."
.
.
.
.
.
The last thing Leib remembered was the cold. It had seeped into his bones, a hollow, gnawing frost that started in his chest where the shadow had hit him and spread until his vision went black.
When he opened his eyes, he wasn't in the mud.
He was lying on a soft, silk-lined bed in a room that felt too bright to be real. The walls were white stone, carved with intricate gold leaf patterns of vines and suns. The air smelled of jasmine and expensive incense.
He sat up slowly, his head throbbing.
"You're awake," a voice said.
Leib looked toward the center of the room. A large, circular table had been set up. Seated there were the other eight teenagers from the arena. The six who had received Special Gabays were clustered together, talking in hushed, excited tones about their new powers. Jay and Reign sat slightly apart, their Mythical companions resting near them, the Ten-Tailed beast was a shimmering mass of fur in the corner, and the Opal Serpent hung like a chandelier from the rafters.
At the head of the room stood the Seven Rulers.
The atmosphere was clinical and tense. One by one, the owners of the Special Gabays were called forward.
"I choose the Kingdom of Fiero," one girl said, her eyes alight with ambition.
"I go to Mahar," another whispered.
The rulers accepted their choices with nods of approval. These children were the new elite, the future generals of the world. But when it came to the final three, Batlaha stepped forward, his cape sweeping the floor.
"Jay. Reign. And Leib," Batlaha announced. "By the authority of the High Council, you three are hereby invited (and required) to reside within the Kingdom of Paraiso. You will be trained under my personal supervision."
The Special Gabay owners looked at Leib with a mix of pity and disdain. To them, he was a broken gear in a golden machine. He was the boy who got nothing.
Leib didn't even argue. He didn't feel the pride he should have felt at being invited to the greatest kingdom in Hirayi. He felt like a ghost haunting his own life.
As the meeting dismissed and the others were led away to begin their new lives of luxury and power, Leib was escorted to a private balcony overlooking the shimmering spires of Paraiso.
The city was beautiful. It was a paradise of hanging gardens and floating fountains. But to Leib, it looked like a graveyard.
He looked down at his hands. They were shaking. He tried to reach inside himself, to find that spark of joy he had felt since he was three years old, but there was nothing but a cold, echoing cavern where his heart used to be.
He was depressed, not just sad, but fundamentally altered. The world he had spent fifteen years preparing for had slammed its doors in his face. He felt like he was standing at the edge of the world, watching everyone else fly while he was tethered to the ground by a chain he couldn't see.
I am a failure, he thought, a tear sliding down his cheek. I am a hole in the world.
But then, he felt it.
Deep within his chest, in the center of that cold void, there was a tiny, microscopic throb. It wasn't the warmth of a Gabay. It was something else.
He didn't have an answer. He didn't have a companion. But as he looked out over the kingdom that was now his gilded cage, Leib made a silent vow through the fog of his despair.
He would find out what the Bátis had done to him. Even if he had to tear the world apart to find the truth.