Chapter 10: Rite

"So... do I eat it?" I stare at the guitar pick shaped rock on my hand. Actually, it might be more of a reptilian looking scale. This was the necklace dad gave me when I just turned 1 year old. I’ve always worn it since it kinda felt weird if I didn’t have it on my neck so I just left it there all the time. Turns out it was more than just an heirloom. I was wondering what this is...

"No, assimilate it on your heart plate." He points at my chest. The heart plate is the piece of rock armour that sits just above our hearts. It’s the hardest and densest plate D’varfs have on their body. "Assimilate?"

"You put it above the plate and think about absorbing it." I stare at it for a bit before quickly trying it out, but he grabs my hand before I can do so. Dad seems to be hesitating about something, but it seemed like he resolved his mind and so he released his grip "...just be careful son."

"Be careful of what?" I know look at the scale-slash-rock in suspicion. "Just… be careful and trust your gut.” I look warily at his warning, but I know they won’t do anything to harm me intentionally. They haven’t so far, why would they start now?

I nod towards him and mom before pressing the piece of rock onto my heart plate. I close my eyes trying to think about the piece of rock merging with the plate. I felt the coldness of the necklace on my heart plate. Wait… I can feel it?

I look down at my chest and... it’s gone.

Confused, I look towards my parents only to see utter darkness. There’s nothing in front, above, below, nor behind me. It’s making me a bit nauseous, there’s nothing I can anchor my eyes onto making me feel like I’m falling endlessly.

Hmmm, what the [email protected] is it this time? Thinking about it, isn’t it kinda bad that I’ve gotten used to getting weird experiences like these without really questioning it? Might be the common sense of the other world finally settling in… or might be a defence mechanism Despite being unusually calm about the situation, I still feel wary about my surroundings. This place of nothingness is eating into my sanity bit by bit, I don’t even know how long I’ve been here now.

So I call out to the nothingness, “Hello? Is anyone there? Mirror bro?”. Suddenly, a bunch of small balls of light appeared from above like fireflies in the night. Sparks, embers, snow, sand, and all other kinds of particles appeared as well. The wind picked up and pressure built up. Everything went haywire, moving in a chaotic but controlled pattern, building towards a crescendo as each group of particles bunched up together before suddenly stopping and outlining silhouettes of different kinds of creatures.

I stare astounded at the light show that happened around me, getting snapped out of my awe by an ancient-sounding voice. “Why are you here, puppet?” The air got heavier, my chest tightened up, and breathing became near impossible. I go down on my knees due to the pressure and the lack of oxygen.

Oxygen? Wait I’m in a dream why would I need to breathe? I imagine getting a breath of air and hoping that it’s how the dream works. But… nothing happened and I just lay flat on the ground with my vision beginning to turn black while unconsciousness starts creeping into me.

“Wait, brother.” The pressure stops instantly and I can finally breathe again, but I stay panting on the ground in fear of what the beings want with me. Is this why dad told me to be careful? What the [email protected] dad!? I need to get out of here!

Sounding like the hissing of wind and rain on a stormy night, the other voice continued to speak. “Look deeper, brother. It has been marked by ‘his’ friend and it appears to have inherited a piece of him too. Remember our debt to them.” The sound of roaring thunder nearly deafened me as the next voice came into the conversation. “It is so brother, not only is that creature carrying his will, but he also hails from our friends of metal and stone.”

I stay quiet as I listen in the conversation. I have no idea what’s going on, I need to make a note of this later. “Very well.”

The figures materialized into different creatures coated by scales of different colours and materials, some look crystalline, some wooden, and some metallic. They look mesmerizing and hypnotic, to the point where I was stuck in a trance without realizing it.

Shaking my head to break out of it, I look towards the pangolin-like creature as it called out to me. “I apologize for thoughtlessly assuming your intentions. Friend, who is of the stone, why have you come?”

I freeze at their question, unsure of how to answer it. “Uhhh… I don’t know? My dad gave me a scale and told me to absorb it here.” I point at my heart scale.

“Brother, our gift to the people of the stone.” A cold voice speaks out, originating from the blue salamander shaped creature. “We gave them our blessing.”

A blazing hot breeze of air and a smell of smoke appears as another of these creatures speak out. “Indeed, it has been centuries since one of them was worthy to be tested by us! Our lower kin is often the ones responsible for this task.”

“Ah, well then, congratulations.” A shimmering bird chirp in, almost blinding me with its bright white feathers. “Prepare yourself, little friend.”

“Prepare for what? What’s the test?” I ask nervously. Pain really isn’t my thing, not that I can’t tolerate it when necessary but I would rather not if I can. I’m afraid this test of theirs would be something like getting submerged into a pool of lava or something of that level. That wouldn’t be fun at all...

Silence ensues before a blinding white light and a deafening high-pitched sound hits me. I closed my eyes and forced my ears shut instinctively, but the sound and the light penetrate through with relative ease. “Agh [email protected]!”

*thud thud thud*

Several heavy objects hit the ground around me in a rhythmic manner. Eyes still trying to adjust from the abrupt change in brightness, I open them to see hundreds of pedestals with different objects floating on top of them. Gold, weapons, jewellery, technology, books, a plethora of random items as far as the eye can see, each one seemingly more precious and powerful than the last.

A new voice, one I haven’t heard of voiced itself with an authoritative presence. It is as if the world is made of clay and its words are the mould that shapes it.

“Choose.”

[POV Phenea]

My little Cas is now going through the D’varf ancient rites. According to Julius, this is normally only done after getting their first class. And even then they have to wait at least three years for the scale to attune itself, else it won’t work. I pestered him about using it as a research subject before, but he always was against it.

“Are you sure he’s alright dear?”

Cas is currently lying on the ground in our backyard, Julius insists that it was to help him draw strength from the ground. I don’t buy it one bit, but on the off chance that he’s telling the truth, I just believed him for now.

“Yes honey, don’t worry and just prepare in case it becomes explosive.”

I nod and stare intently at Cas, looking at any slight change around him. Julius did say his trial was just to take a leap of faith and bravely walk through a path of fire and coal for a few hours. Considering he’s basically half rock that would’ve been easy for him, I would say. I think about Julius’ stories about the rites. As far as I can tell it’s completely random, and how much they endure is indicative of what they get from the rites.

Suddenly we felt something heavy in the air. “Julius…” I call out to him.

“I think he’s about finished his trial.”

The air felt heavier and heavier, a pressure like nothing we’ve ever felt from our years of adventuring. The surrounding light becomes dimmer and dimmer as Cas’ body glows brighter and brighter. “JULIUS?!”

“Ready a barrier! I think this is it!”

“!” I roused my magic and cast my strongest shield spell around us. I focus my eyes as the light seemingly reaches its climax.

*shatter*

With the sound of glass shattering, everything stops and goes back to normal. It was like everything that happened before was a lie, nary a blade of grass was disturbed, nor a breeze travelled through.

We look at each other for a moment, unsure of what to think about what just happened.

[POV #[email protected]#@]

“So, that was… interesting.” I look towards my kin still shocked at the result of the trial. Even the most stoic of us stared in awe at what our friend of the stone did.

“Indeed it was,” Ember said, surprisingly not shouting as she always does. “Never has anyone failed as fast as it did.”

“Never has anyone failed in our trial you know, it’s just a formality as the real trial was to be able to come here.”

“Was what it did surely a failure? Or was it the inadequacy of our test?” I asked in defence of our friend, “Is it not enviable that it knows where it’s desire lies and act on it without hesitation?”

“But are we not judging whether it is worthy and responsible enough to wield our gift? What sins might be born by giving power to one who easily succumbs to temptation?” Quake retorts and stomps in annoyance.

Ray replied calmly, “But who are we to judge that this temptation is one that has negative consequences? It didn’t lust for power, nor money, nor fame, nor any other artefact among the choices. It went immediately for the one which showed its true nature.”

We, such ancient beings of revered judgement, argued for a long time about whether or not our test was wrong or our friend was wrong. I sigh in the realization of the cause of this quandary, “My kin, I believe we’ve all been sedentary for too long. Our fear of death isolated us from what it means to be alive. We have not but ourselves to judge this pitiful friend.”

A moment of silence and pondering ensues before it is broken, “I concur, I believe we need to interact once again with society. Too long have our judgements been rot by dormancy.” Pitch points towards our friend who’s currently hugging the object it has picked. “I believe we have our friend here to thank for this realization. I vote to grant it a blessing regardless of whether or not our judgement is distorted”

“I believe it already received one,” Ember replied with a hint of sarcasm. I shoot a bolt of lighting at her direction making her flinch. She sighs in concession, “Fine, I suppose it deserves our gift for this.”

Chill added, “And as it is not its fault whether or not the test was a failure, we should consider it a success.”

“Shall we go to its previous world? I am interested in its culture and history, and from what I’ve seen from its memories it should be relatively safe. The grasp of otherworlders is not strong enough to affect us.”

“I agree.” “Indeed” “Yes” We all voice our agreement and went back to the matter at hand. “I suppose we need to call it back here now and grant its reward.”

Breeze murmured, “I’m quite interested in this ‘truck’ it so loves…”

[POV Cas]

*yawn* What a nice dream, I had my truck and all was good! I rolled to my side thinking about lazing around in bed all morning but something felt wrong. I sit up and I’m in the middle of our backyard, with mom and dad on either side of me in a battle pose. I look up and there’s a barrier of wind surrounding the whole backyard inside that other illusion barrier we had.

“Uhhhh… what happened?”

“The rites son. You just went through it remember?” Oh yeah! Did I already do it? Owww my head... I try to remember what happened but I only get vague images and fractured memories of my ‘dream’. Though I remember the conclusion quite clearly…

“I passed! Woooo!” Raising my hands in the air in celebration from my achievement, I scream in elation. I stand up, dusting my clothes and stretching my limbs. I must’ve been laying down for quite some time. I feel like I slept for ages!

“Congrats, Cas!” “Congratulation son!” Mom immediately hugged me and dad ruffles my hair smiling proudly. “What was your trial, son?”, dad asks after a bit.

“I... don’t really remember much for some reason, I just remember having to choose something from a lot of choices and then being rewarded with these.” I close my eyes calling out towards my rewards. I learned later that the rewards given are something personal and unique to the person, usually a weapon or a skill that’s appropriate for them and will grow and evolve with them.

Stein! Kern! Fels! Three different rocks form and float out from the surface of my heart plate as if they're emerging from water. All three are circular floating stones that’s sort of orbited by a tiny other stones. The only way to tell them apart is the ‘eye’ part of them which is a circular indent the moves around their body and it glows in different colours. Stein’s scarlet, Kern’s amber, and Fels’ viridescent.

“What are those?! They’re so cute!” Mom immediately gathers them up and hugs them. The scene reminds me of a child getting new toys for their birthday. Dad also inspects them, but he looks concerned about something, which he voices out.

“You didn’t get a weapon?”

I shake my head. “Should... should I have gotten one?” I asked inquisitively. He never said anything about getting a weapon anyway, also I kinda didn’t have a choice.

He shakes his head and looks towards my summons. “I don’t know. What can they do?”

“Actually… I have no idea? Apart from one thing.” I ‘will’ Stein and Kern telepathically to come to me and demonstrate their ability. They escape mom’s grasp, apart from Fels who seems to have taken a liking to her.

They quickly floated towards me and I ready my left arm for their transformation. Kern latches onto my arm and morphs into a bracer of some sort with a shield connected to it and Stein connects and reinforces the medium-sized shield to form a tower shield almost as big as I am.

Of course, it’s still made of the same rock as my plates are because essentially they’re a part of my heart plate, but it very looks imposing. It’s rough and jagged looking surface combined with the scarlet and amber linings that are slightly glowing adds to that effect.

“It’s a shield?” Dad looks surprised at the giant shield on my arm It’s really heavy so I don’t put it up for too long, Stein and Kern quickly re-morphed to their previous form and floated beside me.

“Yeah, they can morph shields. They can’t float in that form though, so I have to carry them on me if they turn to a shield. And it’s really heavy!” Maybe I shouldn’t have gone for a double shield immediately, Kern was light enough I guess.

I get Kern to transform back to the medium-sized shield on my left arm. It’s lighter and more manageable but it’s still like carrying weights strapped on your arm. Mom and dad comes closer to observe it.

“Hold it up, son.” Suddenly says, grabbing a wooden mallet that’s conveniently leaning on the house wall. “Uhhhh… please don’t’”

“We have to check if they’re effective.” Dad says and Mom suddenly exclaims, “Ah! Don’t destroy them! What if they’re damaged forever?!”

“I think they regenerate mom, even if they are destroyed, as long as my heart plate isn’t then they’ll be alright!” That was actually a dumb thing to say right now...

“Well then, prepare yourself.”