As Casian stepped into the circle, he felt the world shift around him, and the bustling crowd around the crate vanished, leaving nothing but a dry desert. And within the crator, countless Chosen mingled. They ranged from the ages of 12 all the way to 19, and some seem to have already formed their own cliques. Casian new he wouldn't be welcomed in any of them. At least not with the mark of a Heretic. 

There were tables draped in fine tablecloths and adorned with delicate silverware with food that never seemed to be fully eaten. Most of the tables were full, as it had been the final hour of the Beckoning. Soon, the gate would close, and no more Chosen could enter. 

There was a table near Casian, with two Chosen sitting across from each other. Seemingly uninterested in conversation. Casian's stomach growled with hunger, and didn't particularly care about his apparent rudeness. He approached the table and neither of its guests batted him an eye. He took a seat and began shovelled food down his mouth. He tried to retain a semblance of manners, but his days eating close to nothing left him starved, and it was hard to hold back his hunger.

The two people who sat across from him seemed to be close to his age. Neither seemed noble. The girl had her black hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail, aside from a strand that escaped, framing her face. Her skin was tanned, and her eyes were lightless. Her expression… was dark. Almost solemn. The other person sat at the table, seemed to share this melancholy. His eyes were a pale blue, and his stark, orange hair was cropped just above his ears. 

Tension was strung tightly on this table, and Casian immediately knew the identities of the two Chosen. There could only be a few reasons they were so isolated and solemn. It was very likely they were only just recently Beckoned, before they could manifest their own ability. And they were likey very poor commoners… from the state of their clothes. Casian didn't leer at them while making these silent deductions, he merely shovelled down the food. Like a brute.

Poor commoners, with little to their name did not have the resources to prepare for a Beckoning, and it was a likely death sentence to be sent here. Of course, many could refuse the Beckoning if they didn't want to risk death, all they had to do was not show up. So the fact at these two are here anyways meant that they had little hopes for their future otherwise. 

'Probably very poor, or in a dire situation. Too poor for a proper education, so their only choice was to accept the Beckoning hastily, even though it meant certain death'

After finally satisfying his hunger, Casian looked to the middle of the crater. A large beckon of light stretched into the sky, like an anchor to the heavens.

He refused to think about the future, lest he fell into another despair.

He looked at the two Chosen seated at his table. With little care for decorum he stared at the girl. She didn't look back, but Casian was sure she felt his gaze.

"What are your abilities?" Casian asked. She winced, ever so slightly. But Casian was able to catch it. 'That must confirm it. She likely doesn't know'

She didn't answer. Casian waited but decided to ask the other one, he looked at the boy. But the boy was looking at him. His mouth was agape, staring at Cassian's heretical mark.

"Y-you! A Herretic!" He gasped out. Seemingly horrified.

The girl glanced at Casian, and was just as shocked. 

"How..?" The boy trailed off. "How are you here? How are you Chosen?" He said, disbelief leaking into ever word. 

'I'd like to know myself.'

"The Will of the Gods." Casian answered. Which, was technically true. The boy had to accept that answer, otherwise the Beckoning would reject him.

The girl's face did not betray any fear, maybe some type of curiosity instead.

"I've never heard of a Chosen Heretic. Are the Gods getting desperate?" She speculated. 

The boy looked at the girl with narrowed eyes. "Well certainly something is wrong, if someone like you was Chosen." His voice full of hatred. Casian was a bit surprised. How is it that this boy seems to hate this girl more than a Herretic, like himself? 

The girl smiled back at the boy, it was hollow and full of contempt.

"Someone like me? You can hardly be the judge of that." 

Casian was curious to know the history between the two, and even more so wanted to know why despite their apparent hatred they decided to sit with each other. Casian glanced between the two, whose hopeless expressions were now filled with silent anger.

"Oh? And what did he do?" Casian asks. The girl doesn't spare Casian another glance.

"He's a filthy little rat." 

"Ha!" The boy said, astonished. 

"And you're a damned murderer!" He spat back at her.

'Oh?'

Cassias took a sip from his endless glass of water. Feigning indifference. A nosy brat like him wanted to know all the details desperately. A murderer and a rat? He could only speculate that the boy had ratted the girl out for murder. Or perhaps their history was more complicated than that? There was a strange melancholy in their hatred, and with the rat comment, Casian suspected betrayal. Maybe some misunderstanding? 

Before he could continue to speculate, he was interrupted by a loud ringing in his ears, his gaze averted to the beacon as that painful blaring only became worse. All conversation ceased and the once bustling crator with its strange fancy tables become completely silent. An apostle stood at the base of the crator, their body leaking out a terrifying presence. They didn't seem to have a mouth, and yet they spoke anyways.

[Children.]

The ringing stopped at the sound of its voice, as it entered the mind of the gathered Chosen.