The two stood face to face with one another. To them it seemed as if no one else were in the room, which made Shawn slightly uncomfortable and confused.
"It's been a while, you seem... taller."
He looked down at himself, then back to her eyes.
"Do I? Hmm guess I didn't notice."
"You look a bit different as well. I'm not sure what it is, but there's something."
He rubbed the back of his neck, but maintained eye contact. Stepping closer he grabbed her hand and kissed it.
"And you're just as beautiful as ever. I can't lie when I say, I was nervous to come here... to see you again. But it was worth it to see that smile again."
She turned away, blushing. She cleared her throat, as she slowly took her hand away. She walked over towards her desk and pulled out a file.
"I was informed by your base that you would be coming, have a seat."
He walked over and sat in a chair near the desk.
The other two remained standing, not knowing what to do.
"That goes for you two as well. Shawn, Laura, don't be shy I won't hurt you. Well not without cause."
The two straightened up, they walked over and grabbed two more seats and placed them by Arthur.
'I'm so confused right now.'
"Let's see, Shawn Krueger."
She opened up a drawer, and started going through some files.
"Ah, here we are." Shawn Krueger, ability: healing, interesting. Ability Rank, marked as legendary, class is...hmm"
They watched as she went over the file. Shawn was a bit nervous, her pause didn't help one bit.
"Something wrong?"
"Not at all. Let me ask you, who evaluated you?"
"It was someone on site ma'am."
"Right."
He started to sweat, the silence after his answer made him question himself. Was there something wrong, did he mess up somehow.
"Here, catch."
Pressing a button on the desk, four small beeds were shot out towards him in quick succession. With only a small window to act, he caught the first one only a few meters from his forehead. The second, right in front of his chest, and the third not far behind that. The last one, was far faster and closer to hitting him. He leaned over almost falling out of his chair, reaching his hand out he tried to catch it as it past, but he was just a tad too slow. The beed shot forward passing them and crashed into the wall, leaving a whole and cracks along the wall.
"Reflexes, good. Instincts, good. Reaction to short notice could use a bit more work but still good."
He turned his head to look at her, bewilderment covered his face.
"Hey, what the hell was that!?"
Ignoring his outburst, she grabbed a small knife from one of the drawers. Tossing it a few times, she caught it and made a deep cut on her hand. She flenched for a moment, then held it out to him.
"Here, heal this."
He stared at her, with wide eyes.
"WHAT!?"
"I know it's a bit unethical, but I was consumed in my work, so I didn't have anything prepared. So, if you would please."
He looked at Arthur with a stunned expression, he said nothing causing him to question himself for a moment.
Standing up, he lightly grabbed her wrist. Channeling his energy through her body, the wound began to heal itself in a matter of seconds. Looking back up to her, she was examining her hand for a moment.
"It works better, when I place my hand closer to the heart. Either from the back or chest, it helps it travel through your body faster, and seems a bit stronger. It flows straight through the body, through the same channels as your blood, so to speak."
She looked back to the file, then began making small adjustments. He stood there, watching nervously.
"Hmm, I've gotta ask. The person you met in this other world or divine world if you will, did they tell you your ability.?"
He looked to the others before answering, nervously.
"No, I uhh....."
"Did you ask?"
"No ma'am."
"Right and your ability, did they tell you it was healing or is that the conclusion you came to on your own.?"
"Well the first time I used it was on myself during a fight, so I kinda just assumed... I guess."
"Right."
She began jotting more information down. Placing the file down, she walked over to her computer and began updating the information for him, in the system.
"Last thing, black or white?"
"Excuse me?"
"Your guardians' wings, were they black or white?"
He thought for a moment before answering:
"White."
After typing for a few moments she looked up at him. Standing up, she walked over to the counter near the demon. She grabbed three items off of it and walked back to them.
"Here, there are still a few kinks to work out but it'll help keep track of your progress."
She handed each of them a small watch, they looked at them for a moment before putting them on.
"What do they do exactly?"
Shawn asked, as he clicked a button, activating a holographic screen.
"Have you ever played video games before, Shawn."
"Yeah."
"Well think of it as a progress tracker, or experience bar. For you, you are a first stage ability user of sorts, a Lesser Angel."
He looked at the watch under his name, the title Lesser Angel was mark under his class, but his eyes quickly shifted to her when he noticed what was under his ability.
"Don't worry, it's not a typo. I just updated it, based off of what I noticed. If you couldn't tell I've had a bit of experience the past two months with abilities, the most precious being healing, given my position at the moment."
Saying this she looked over to Sofia and Ashley, laying in the beds on the other side of the room.
"I can tell you for a fact your ability is not healing. Can it heal..., well technically but it's real purpose is much higher. With the right amount of training you could be pretty much unstoppable."
He looked down at the watch, in silence. It read:
Shawn Krueger
Class: Lesser Angel (stage 1)
Ability: Regression
Rank: Mythic
'I'm a rank higher than I thought.' He smiled to himself.
It took a minute for her to test Laura but after a while, her watch was updated as well.
Laura Allen
Class: Lesser Demon (stage 1)
Ability: Shadow
Rank: Mythic
Gotta say you three are some of the strongest I've seen so far. Honestly I've yet to meet anyone of the same rank or higher than you three.
The three looked at one another, with smiles. They were happy to hear such praise, but it did leave the question. What of the people she hadn't tested, could there be someone out there who had enough power to best even the three of them.
"And now, last but not least. Arthur Jade, you've come because your nurse requested you to. She informed me of your readings and what happened before you passed out."
He simply nodded as she spoke.
"If it's true that you've reawoken, then we will have to test your capabilities more thoroughly. If the three of you wouldn't mind, follow me."
She nodded towards the nurse, she nodded back. Her body began to vibrate violently, then out from behind her a woman identical to her stepped out.The three stared in surprise, they had never seen such a thing before.
As the nurse walked towards them, her clone continued to watch over the two in bed.
"She was a bit of a late bloomer, her awakening happened much later. But as you can see its very useful, especially in her line of work."
"If you would please, follow me."
They followed as she led them to the door, and out of the room. As they passed the two guards at the door, they could feel the aura as their abilities were activated.
As they walked Sofia decided to explain a little bit about the awakening process.
"As you all may have realized. Once you are chosen to awaken, your soul leaves the mortal realm and enters that of the divine. To us on the outside it may seem like you are simply sleeping but in actually, it's more like you are dead, roaming the afterlife.
Once your soul reaches that world, you are greeted by a demon or angel, whom guides you towards reaching the power locked inside your soul."
As they walked the halls they passed more of the rooms containing those who hadn't returned. They noticed that some of the nurses and doctors, as well as the many workers roaming the place had the same watches on their wrists.
"Not everyone is chosen, but once you are, you undergo a trial. The trial tests your limits, and pushes your capabilities. But it also stays within your range of ability. It may seem impossible, but in reality with the ability you have it's nothing more than a rock to step over.
That is of course unless the trial, requires you to not have said ability, which I've heard has happened to a few people. It's not as common though."
As they listened closely, Shawn made is way over towards Arthur:
"So what was that earlier, you two seem to know eachother. If you don't mind me asking, how do you know her?"
After a few moments of silence, Arthur gave him an answer that made him pause:
"She was... Is.... my fiancée."
"Oh well I guess that makes sense.... WHAT!?!?"