Time never stops, for anything, nor for anyone.
After a brief moment that seems eternal, Hades begins a short but important countdown.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. When it reaches 0, the clock changes to midnight.
It's August 3rd, and to be more precise, today this boy turns 18.
Suddenly, Hades begins to receive a series of images as if watching a third-person movie, you know, as a mere spectator, without a voice or vote.
The image of his original body appears, discovering a portal to another world.
The so-called spirit world.
Hades isn't the only person who appears in this kind of world; there are hundreds of thousands, perhaps even billions, but like Hades, all these people enter this world without a second thought.
At this point, the world begins a purification process where the bodies of all those people are pulverized with the mere touch of a curtain of water.
As time passes, more and more people are turned to dust. When it's Hades' turn, his entire body is reduced to dust with a small touch of that curtain of water, but it leaves behind a small fluorescent green light.
That light shines for miles around, attracting the dust left by the other bodies. After consuming this dust, the fluorescent green light of Hades' soul begins to grow.
Obviously, the change is small and not noticeable to the naked eye, but as time passes and after consuming a large amount of that mysterious gray dust, the light of the soul begins to undergo a series of changes.
Changes in its brightness and intensity. But the light left by Hades' soul is not the only light in the surroundings. Along with this series of changes, there are other lights of different colors. These lights do the same and also grow.
And I say "were," because as those lights approach the fluorescent green light, it envelops and devours them, as if devouring this type of light were incredibly delicious. So, immediately, that fluorescent green light goes in search of more food—to be more precise, other lights.
In this way, both lights and dust disappear from this world, and when Hades' light is left alone, a flash appears.
The images that follow show the soul's light re-entering Hades' body, but his skin cracks and all his bones are shattered.
With this small flash and another, Hades' body regenerates completely, then the light on his chest begins to flicker.
Each flicker has a purpose: one flicker to destroy and another to regenerate his health.
The tearing of his skin or the shattering of his bones generates such intense pain in the boy's mind that he loses consciousness, but in the next flash, Hades regains consciousness and at the same time his body regenerates completely, triggering an endless cycle of pain.
When the pain finally stops, Hades fearfully looks at his watch and his face contorts in terror upon discovering that only one second has passed.
As the clock ticks forward, the cycle of destruction and regeneration begins again, and he loses consciousness completely.
Upon awakening, Hades feels as if decades or even centuries have passed in this cycle of regeneration and destruction, since in the first ten minutes there were an average of 100 flashes per second to destroy and regenerate his body.
After those ten minutes, the number of flashes increases to 1,000, and twenty minutes later, it jumps to 10,000 flashes per second.
Thirty minutes later, the number of flashes increased to 100,000, but the most complicated part was the last 30 minutes, because the boy's body was being destroyed and regenerated 1,000,000 times every second.
When he opened his eyes, the first thing Hades did was look again at the clock on the nightstand next to a lit lamp; it was exactly 2:30 a.m.
The next thing he did was check his room, and seeing that everything was in its place, the boy's first thought was that everything that had happened up to that point had been part of a crazy dream. But this idea was quickly dismissed as soon as he saw his body.
All the changes in his body were so obvious at first glance. The boy had never liked to exercise, but his entire body was clearly toned, as if every muscle were sculpted into his skin. He was also completely covered in a foul-smelling substance, lying in the middle of the bed, something Hades would never, considered when there was someone else in the house, because the boy had a logical reason for this.
⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜
Like every morning, Elena enters the boy's room to wake him up, just as she used to do with her other children (there are five in total: two boys and three girls, including Hades). Before the two eldest got married and moved out on their own, she always woke them up, as well as the other two girls who now study at the academy (Natasha and Melania).
Upon entering the room, Elena immediately notices a foul odor, as if the toilet pipe had burst, but she only needs to take a few steps to find the source of the unpleasant smell. —"Oh my god."— Her first scream goes completely unnoticed by Hades, who is still asleep.
Elena seems to have lost her mind, because she lets out a second scream. —"Good heavens!"— followed by a fourth and a fifth scream.
Before the sixth scream, Hades awoke, completely disoriented by the shouts. But before he could ask anything, Elena grabbed his arm. —"Come on, come on, or we'll be late."—
Still confused, Hades asked sleepily. —"Late.? Late for what.?"— While trying to clear his blurry vision.
—"What's that smell.?"— Hades asked.
Instead of answering, Elena pulled him out of the bedroom and into the hallway. She immediately led him to the bathroom, where there was a large mirror.
Although there was another, larger mirror in the master bedroom, Elena wasn't willing to carry him there and risk staining the carpet. Therefore, her only option was to take him into the bathroom and help him into the bathtub. —"Okay, now get undressed while I find a sponge."—
—"What? What do you mean, I take off my pajamas. ?"— Hades asked, still astonished by what he was hearing.
After hearing this, Elena stopped, smiled, and commented, —"Do you think I've never seen a man before.?"— Before she could say anything else to the boy, the woman realized the problem and, after approaching him, took hold of him and turned him by the shoulders toward the mirror.
With just this image before his eyes, it was as if everything he had dreamed and experienced up to that moment made sense.
On social media, there are countless boys and girls with awakened talents, but none have undergone such radical changes as Hades.
Mainly in terms of build and height.— "How tall are you now.?"— Hades looked in the mirror and made an estimate. —"I don't know, maybe 1.85 or 1.90."— Elena simply nods, not missing the moment the boy takes off his pajama top.
—"Good heavens, look at your muscles, they're all defined now."— Pointing to his pecs and abs, the woman finishes by saying. —"All those girls are going to be wild."— That comment was very awkward to hear, making Hades stop his hands.
—"You need to hurry, or we'll have to wait until next month if you're lucky,"— Elena says before turning around and looking for the bath sponge.
Hades nods and pulls down his pajama pants along with his boxers. —"Holy crap."— the boy says aloud.
Elena notices the tone of astonishment in the boy's voice, so she immediately turns and asks. —"What is it? What's going on now.?"— No one answers, but they both stare at that large thing between the boy's legs for several seconds.
Hades grasps his shaft with both hands, and a portion still protrudes.
Seeing this, Elena finishes with. —"Good heavens, Hades."— The young Hades doesn't respond; he simply enters the water and reclines, still lost in thought. —"I'll clean up a bit." — With that, Elena returns to the boy's room and gathers all the stained sheets before venturing out again.
At this point, Elena knows she can't discuss this matter with strangers. She needs people she trusts, or she'll end up in serious trouble, because this is no longer just a simple awakening; it could even become one of the most legendary awakenings to date. Therefore, it's crucial to remain calm.
In the world of Pandora, there are two types of awakening, actually, there are more than two, but the two most important are induced awakening and natural awakening.
Induced awakening is the most common and least important of all: it involves the use of substances that induce the body to awaken, resulting in the bare minimum of potential. Although with this type of talent a person can be a warrior or a mage, the answer is yes, but your future is extremely limited.
Of your total human potential, you can only display 10 or 20% of your total capacity.
Natural Awakening, as its name suggests, involves the human body awakening its talents naturally, and only 1 in 100 people achieve this. However, within natural awakening, there are also different types of talents.
A very poor talent is considered grade "F".
A poor talent is considered grade "D".
A regular talent is considered grade "E".
A good talent is considered grade "C".
A very good talent is considered grade "B".
An excellent talent is considered grade "A".
An earthly talent is considered grade "S".
A celestial talent is considered grade "SS".
Finally, and most importantly, a divine talent is considered grade "SSS".
The higher the grade of your talent, the more limitless your future becomes. You may even be supported by different governments, countries, kingdoms, or empires, but you will also attract problems.
⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ ⁜
After changing the water a couple more times, the impurities on Hades' skin dissolved, leaving it clean and creamy like a newborn's.
A while later Elena returned with a towel in her hands. —"We should go, or we'll be late, and you'll have to wait until next month to get a good spot,"— Elena said, handing out the towel.
Hades nodded before getting up, letting the water slides down the skin. The woman swallowed hard. The young man knew Elena wasn't lying; in the worst-case scenario, it could be a year or two before he could apply to take his first exam.