The Awakening

Event Summary
The Awakening, or Meekaal's Awakening, was an incident that occurred on March 5th, 2016, in which the first public awakening occurred in Kermen, Iran. Alexandre Bergheau, a french doctor employed by Doctors Without Borders, was gunned down by Iranian rebels and subsequently arose as a Chosen.

Background
An Iran rebel group, The Baluchi Liberation Movement, had been engaged in a five year guerrilla war with Iran. Numerous small arm and RPG attacks inside the Baluchestan Province had caused Iran to increase its military presence there. The hostilities drew minor international attention but after several reports of chemical warfare causing considerable deaths, the Doctors Without Borders got involved. Alexandre Bergheau, a head surgeon of MSF, as well as 30 other MSF staff, left to Kermen to set up a hospital to tend to the wounded. The Iran government initially blessed the assistance. This changed, however, when the doctors began to assist a large number of rebels as well. The Iranian military had been reportedly begun to pressure the staff to leave when the hospital came under rebel attack.

The Attack
At approximately 06:00 UCT the makeshift hospital where the Doctors Without Borders had set up in an abandoned apartment complex in Kermen came under rebel attack. It is estimated that there had been approximately 20 MSF staff and 30 patients inside the building at the time. The building was unguarded at the time and the rebels faced no resistence. Some reports suggest the rebels were there solely for patients belonging to the Iran army while others witnessed rebels gunning down doctors as well. Dr. Bergheau had been attending to victims of RPG attacks when the rebels had entered his room and gunned him down. Witnesses report Dr. Bergheau trying to talk down the rebels and interposing himself between the gunmen and the patients.

There had been two or three gunmen who had opened fire on him with assault rifles. It is unknown what exactly happened after, but witnesses report being blinded by bright lights. After their vision cleared, they claim that Bergheau was standing once more, transformed into a Chosen. Descriptions of his appearance all include him with two large, red, angel-like wings on his back and a staff in his hand. The rebels in the room either fled or surrendered. Bergheau was reported to of touched each of the patients in the room and visibly heal their wounds. Afterwards, Bergheau fled the building through the window.

Aftermath
Initial reports were kept under the lid by the Iranian government. Regardless, rumors spread in Iran about Bergheau's miraculous healing power. Internationally the event was still mostly unknown but a few videos began to appear online about people witnessing Bergheau flying westward. After a week, the Iranian government had a public interview with one of the soldiers who was under the care of Bergheau. Payam Banisadr, the soldier being interviewed, gave a very inspired interview and claimed that Bergheau was a miracle sent from Allah. The interview ignited a religious fervor in the Middle East and caught the attention of the international community.

While many outside of Iran believed the whole thing to be some sort of hoax, videos began to surface of a blurry figure flying in the sky. The videos soon went viral and the community learned the figure was flying to Europe. Many people hunted for sightings of Bergheau. These videos, however, stopped coming a couple weeks later.

Despite this, more Chosen began to surface across the glob. It was quickly discovered by the general public at large what was happening. While most had blown off Bergheau as nothing more than a hoax, now many began to see him as the herald to what was being known as the Awakening.