CHAPTER 90: THE RITUAL (4)

"So, what know?" Calen asked. "Do we start early, or wait?"

"Now you will light the braziers while I tell you everything you need to know about the ritual - they’re filled with holy oil so just a spark is enough."

He nodded and got to work.

"From what I heard you’ve already realised the nature of this circle so I’ll skip that part, and instead focus on the outcome of the ritual."

"I’ll be better at controlling flames and get a bunch of powers, some dependent on my tenets, correct?"

"Partially." She nodded. "You will indeed become more adept at handling the flame, and your powers will be dependent on your tenets - but also on those of the current Sun God. On top of that you’ll gain a few abilities regardless of your your choice of ideals: seeing through illusions, a powerful healing factor and partial control over non-sacred fire, to name a few."

"That seems incredibly powerful."

"And there’s even more - while your body will retain it’s current capabilities, your physical attributes will actually increase dramatically."

"Why?"

"It’s because of the flame, the active enhancement that you can use now will become a passive effect since it will be hosted inside of your body as opposed to that lantern."

"So I won’t need it anymore?" Calen frowned and looked at the ornament hanging at this belt - he has grown rather fond of the thing.

"I’m theory no, but it would be a good idea to keep it - just like with regular fire it’s easier to grow a flame than make it from scratch, so keeping a small sample will be helpful in battle."

"I see. Anything else I need to know?"

"I don’t think so..." Sylara shook her head. "But there’s something I must ask you before we begin - you came here with a light wyrm, are you planning on helping him become a real dragon?"

That was not a question Calen was expecting - to be honest he kinda forgot that Auren was a mythical beast, as all the wyrm did was sleep and eat.

"Um, I guess? But I’m not sure if he would want that, I got the impression that a life worthy of a lazy cat suits him rather well."

"That was because you weren’t capable of correctly raising him, but that will change with the ritual." Sylara explained. "If you’re sure about this choice then I suggest that one of your companions brings him here - he won’t be a part of the ritual, but being in a close proximity to it will be extremely beneficial for him."

"Isa, could you grab him? He dislikes Cass and I think Ellie is slightly scared of him."

"Sure."

"He can’t keep a grudge over the fact that I didn’t let him eat my breakfast." Cass scoffed.

"I’m not exactly scared of him per se, it’s just I find him extremely creepy at night." Elira defended herself.

"Why?" Calen raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean ’why’? He sleeps with his eyes open while standing!"

"He does? I swear I saw him sleep normally - are you sure you didn’t just dream about it?"

"As much as it pains me to side with Cal, he’s right." Cassian nodded. "Auren routinely falls asleep in the chair I use for reading, and he always lays there curled into a ball with his eyes closed."

"I know what I saw." Elira insisted.

"How many times did you see it?"

"...Once." she grimaced. "But it’s mostly because I decided to not leave my room at night because of that first time."

"Was he perhaps staring at fire while you saw him?" Sylara prompted

"Yes, do you know something about that? I’m not crazy, am I?"

"No, your not." She chuckled. "It’s a rare condition that can happen to a young wyrm; if they stare too long at something related to their element, they become mesmerized."

"It didn’t happen with the sacred flame though, and he was staring at it for several days back at the temple." Calen pointed out.

"That’s because sacred flame isn’t an element in the traditional meaning of the word - it is a manifestation of a domain simply taking the shape of fire."

"What about all the magic lights? They’re everywhere, yet they never caused anything like that?" Cassian questioned.

"That’s because magic lights are actually illusions - they don’t actually produce light, just make our brains think they do." Calen answered before frowning. "Wait, does that mean that every magically lit room will be completely dark for me after the ritual?"

"Being able to see in darkness is one of the perks of the ritual, you won’t notice a difference." Sylara assured him.

"Neat."

They waited for another twent minutes before Isara returned, sleeping Auren in tow.

"Put him next to the circle." Sylara instructed.

"Do I need to wake him up?"

"No need, he will fal asleep after the ritual anyway."

Isara placed the sleeping wyrm between one of the braziers and the circle - apparently being transported over few hundred meters wasn’t enough to wake him.

"He really is like a cat." Isara laughed. "Maybe a bit heavier and decidedly less furry, but the attitude is spot on."

"Alright, everyone aside from Calen move behind the line made by braziers - as long as you don’t cross it you’ll be safe from the flames."

"The flame will go haywire?" Calen looked slightly alarmed.

"I don’t know, that’s why I set up the protection."

"You don’t know? I thought you knew everything about the ritual."

"On paper I do - but this is the first time I’ll be actually performing the ritual, and the records from the church weren’t exactly detailed, they only marked whether the Flamebearer died or not."

"...but you’re still sure I won’t die?"

"Positive, while I don’t know what side effects might occur, the rest is pretty much certain - you have to trust me on that."

"It’s not like I have much of a choice." He sighed. "How do I begin this thing?" Just pour the divine power into the circle?"

"No, this is a ritual circle, not an enchantment - they are started by a specific act or phrase, and then start syphoning power on their own. In this case you need to sit in the place of one of the missing components, and place your lantern in the other."

Calen detached the lantern from his belt and put it on one of the empty spots in the circle, taking the other one himself.

"What now?"

"Now you need to connect your soul with the flame."

"...how do I do that?"

"Just try to reach out to it like when you control it, but without giving any commands, that should jumpstart the process. "

He did as she instructed, and he felt a subtle link between himself and the flame.

"Good, now try to circulate the divine energy inside this connection." Sylara paused. "And before we lose contact with you, remember to your tenets at the forefront of your mind, otherwise you’ll just inherit the ones from the Sun God."

The invisible thread connecting him to the piece of the Sun domain trembled, and then started rapidly expanding, until it swallowed him whole.

At that point the only thing he could feel was the presence of something far larger than he could compared - those observing from outside saw something else though, the circle underneath Calen began glowing.

The light was faint at first - just a dim glow, barely noticeable because of the multiple sources of fire around it, but it quickly grew in strength.

Surprisingly, the light wasn’t the uniform gold they were accustomed to when it came to dealing with sacred flame, but was threaded with red, orange, and white.

"A decent start." Sylara commented. "See those additional colours? Those are his tenets, they are being tested against the domain, whether they are suited as a basis for a domain."

"Will the colour of the flame also change if they’re deemed acceptable and he passes the ritual?" Isara asked.

"Yes, the gold comes naturally from the domain, but the flame is supposed to look different for every user."

"What about the current Sun God? What are his colours?"

"Gold, gold and gold - his ultimate goal is perfection, and since non-uniform things aren’t perfect he forced his flame to become pure gold."

"He can do that?" Elira sounded surprised.

"He’s a god, he can do whatever he wants." There was a hint of bitterness in that sentence.

"What about-" Isara was about to question Sylara further, but a sudden flash of light interrupted her.

The flame in the braziers which was lazily dancing before was now erratically jumping, and periodically shooting up like a volcano.

Additionally the circle began glowing brighter, and a ring of multicoloured fire appeared at it’s edges, separating Calen and the source of the flame from the rest of the room.

"It’s finally starting." Sylara tensed.

"What is starting? I thought the ritual was already underway..." Isara frowned.

"The main part - and with it, the pain."

Just as she finished her sentence, an inhuman scream tore through the hall