CHAPTER 88: THE RITUAL (2)

Calen ran around the gymnasium at top speed for over two hours - at first Isara was watching him, but she quickly got bored and started reading her book.

"I think that’s it." He stopped, slightly out of breath. "I could probably do more, but I want to do a couple more things before the ritual."

"Right." Isara closed the heavy tome, which disappeared at the snap of her fingers, and stood up. "I don’t know about you, but I’m slightly hungry - would you mind going back to eat breakfast?"

"Not at all." He shook his head. "In fact I was about to suggest that - lead on."

***

Cassian and Elira had already woken up and were enjoying breakfast when they reached the common room.

"Where did you go?" The alchemist asked.

"Cal wanted to check the results of the herbs he ate." Isara answered.

"Ooooh, you should have told me." Elira’s eyes lit up. "I would have loved to see what was their effect."

"Eh, it wasn’t that interesting." Calen shrugged and opened the door to his bedroom. "I’m gonna join you in a bit, but I need to change first."

Isara joined the meal as the door close behind him.

"The endurance test was kinda boring, but I liked the strength one - even though he made me create the targets." She commented.

"And? How strong is he?"

"Definitely stronger than what should be humanly possible - he punched a hole into a stone wall, and bend one made of iron."

"How thick were the walls?"

"I don’t know... maybe the length of my forearm? He could probably punch through a wall of a regular house."

Elira nodded, before asking another question:

"Do you think he’d beat Cass in a duel?"

Everyone fell silent - including Calen who just left his bedroom.

"Is... is that a bad topic?" Elira questioned.

"No, just a very divisive one." Cassian shook his head. "And according to what Isa said he would easily defeat me."

"I disagree - you’re a far superior swordsman, you could win even at a such disadvantage." Calen argued. "I have yet to win a serious duel."

"Technique is nothing in a face of an overwhelming force."

They descended into an argument that felt more like half-hearted bickering than a serious debate.

"Are they... arguing who’s worse?" Elira sounded quite confused. "When Cass said it was divisive this wasn’t the direction I was expecting."

"Indeed they are." Isara chuckled. "We owe this weird state of things to sir Vandrel."

"We do?"

"Yes - from the very beginning of their training he kept repeating that arrogance and underestimating your opponent are two worst sins a swordsman could commit. The boys internalised those lessons, and for some it creates this weird discussion why each of them is the worse one."

"So are they seriously discussing it?"

"Not really, at least I don’t think so. Once upon a time maybe they did, but now it’s more or less memorised lines they use as an inside joke."

Five minutes later both of the boys went through all of their arguments, and they returned to eating breakfast as if nothing happened.

"I talked with Alison before they brought us food." Cassian stated. "She said that Sylara hasn’t left the ritual grounds since yesterday."

"Yeah, I’ve heard that as well." Calen nodded. "Apparently she’s preparing a bunch of protections around the place."

"I thought she said you’re safe?" Isara frowned.

"I am, the protections aren’t for me - they’re supposed to shield the ritual from any curious eyes." He explained. "I think it’s fair to assume that there could be really nasty things out there capable of sensing divine energy."

"Will it really matter if she hides you now?" Cassian hummed. "You will eventually leave the city, and as your power grows you will become gradually more visible to anything that can feel your power."

"Well it’s true that I’m destined to gain a permanent ’I’m here’ sign above my head, but I think Sylara wants me to remain hidden at least a little bit longer - at least until I can survive whatever could potentially spot me."

"Seems sensible." Elira said. "Do you feel ready for the ritual?"

"Not particularly, but to be fair I rarely feel ready for things." Calen laughed. "Would you mind reminding me what we currently know about it? Maybe that’ll help."

"Sure - the first ritual is supposed to be very painful, and can in theory fail. It is also said to take anywhere between fifteen minutes and dozen hours, depending on the subjects mental strength. After the ritual is successful you’ll fall unconscious for some time, but no less than half an hour and no more than six hours."

"Why is there so much specific information about the rituals, but so little about the Flamebearers themselves?"

"Because the rituals were conducted by the church, which meant they had to store knowledge about them. And considering the first one was performed by every single Flamebearer, the information about it is very detailed."

"I’m willing to bet the church had specifics of all the rituals in their archives." Cassian scoffed. "And it wasn’t the only thing they kept in secret."

"Are you talking the lost knowledge?" Elira asked. "If so they didn’t exactly keep it."

"I don’t believe they destroyed all of it, a lot of the knowledge from before the Sun Kingdom would be beneficial not only to the people, but also to the church itself."

"I never understood why they buried all of the history and knowledge from the age of old gods." Isara agreed. "Surely not everything was against their doctrine?"

"But they didn’t destroy everything." Calen argued. "We have some information about the old gods the general history of that era."

"We have the church’s version of those things - that’s a bit different than the real thing." Isara insisted. "If they truly kept the real version of events, why would they destroy original records and keep it their own versions?"

"You think they had a nefarious reason."

"Not necessarily an evil one - just selfish, they want the Sun God to look as good as possible, so who’s to say they didn’t erase some fucked up shit he did from the stories they fed us?"

"The Flamebearers’ stories seemed to be at least partially redacted despite their already luck luster contents..." He admitted. "I concede that it is a bit suspicious, but I’m not not convinced they would be able to change the narrative too much - there were plenty of archmages who remembered the time before the Sun Kingdom, if they started spreading straight up lies I’m sure one of them would’ve reacted."

"I understand you two being interested in the topic." Elira stated. "But why is Cass so invested in ancient knowledge?"

"That would be because of aura." Calen explained. "You probably didn’t know, but in terms of people capable of using it, the age of old gods was far ahead of modern times."

"Really?"

"Yes, some people believe that back then there were commonly known techniques or methods for training aura."

"And considering how high the percentage of aura users is among the inquisitors I firmly believe that the church stole those techniques for themselves." Cassian finished.

"Well, the church doesn’t exist anymore, so if we stumble onto any of their monasteries we could raid them and retrieve any ancient texts we can find."

"Never thought I would hear a Flamebearer suggesting to Rob the church of the Sun." Isara giggled.

"It’s not a robbery since the organisation doesn’t exist anymore - and since I’m the chosen of their god, it’s only natural for me to claim what’s left of their fortune."

"Not much I reckon." Elira said. "I asked Sylara for a more educated view on the beginning of the invasion, and from what she said all the big organisations depleted most of their resources within the first year, and then promptly fell apart."

"I’ll take whatever I can, even if it’s not much." He smiled and changed the topic. "Are you guys coming to the ritual?"

They all looked at him with a varying levels of confusion.

"Isn’t that a given?" Isara asked.

"I thought that maybe you all wouldn’t be to keen on watching me in pain for hours on end - especially you, because of that moon thingy."

"I’ll be able to feel the connection no matter where am I, it will be much less worrying if I can visually confirm you’re not dead."

"If you say so... What about you two?"

"We’ve trained together for well over w decade Cal, your pain doesn’t particularly bother me." Cassian shrugged.

"Your eloquence and tact continues to astonish me." Calen responded. "Ellie?"

"I’m intrigued by the ritual, so if you don’t mind I’d like to tag along."

"Well, alright then."

Just then someone knocked on the door, and entered the room.

"I’m here to lead all of you to the ritual site." Alison announced.

"Bit early isn’t it?"

"Lady Sylara realised that she needs you fat a last bit of set-up." Alison explained. "Besides you should want to get done as soon as possible."

"Why?"

"Because there was a change in schedule, and the main attraction of the festival will be today after the sun sets."