Chapter 65   - The Ritual

The rest of the day passed like a fever dream. Kai went through the motions, but his mind wasn’t really there. His thoughts returned to the impending ritual, making up scenarios where everything that could go wrong did.

He thought he had gotten over having these pointless spiraling episodes. The idea that something outside his control would significantly impact his life threw him off balance. The Guide had made him believe in the illusion of fairness, that everything could be achieved through hard work.

It was hardly a secret that it was a lie. Potentially every person could do anything; reality disagreed. To reach the same goal, some had to climb mountains and sail stormy seas, and others got a paved road, with refreshments and care rides when they got tired.

“We can end here for today.”

“What?” Kai asked, raising his gaze from the paper.

“I said, we can conclude this lesson. We can continue tomorrow.” Dora said. She didn’t seem angry or annoyed at him, but her tone lacked her usual cheerfulness.

Kai looked down at the condensing rune he had been drawing. It was a pretty sketch of a swirling interconnected pattern, but runes didn’t need to be pretty, they needed to be precise. He had utterly botched the proportions.

Yeah, maybe she’s right.

“You can take the rest of the day off.” She said, staring out the window with a melancholic air.

After tidying up papers, pens and ink bottles, Kai was about to walk outside when Dora stopped him. “However it goes, you will be fine. There are always more paths.”

Not sure how to respond, Kai nodded and left. The sea was perfectly crystal clear today. He laid down, trying to find a better position on the bed of sand. It was hot, but not scalding. The sun was low enough that he could look up at the cloudless sky without getting blinded.

Closing his eyes, he focused on the sound of crashing waves, hoping it would calm his turbulent mind. It took more than usual to fall into a meditative state, but eventually, he managed to stop his thoughts from racing.

He was tired, exhausted by the idea that, after all his efforts, something up to fate could still screw him over.

It wasn’t very different from all the other obstacles he had to overcome to stand toe to toe with all the lucky kids born with a silver spoon. Instead of wealth and privilege, this time it was genetics or magical randomness that he had to defeat.

Since he got the upgrade, he had yet to activate Mana Sense. He knew himself well enough it would only serve to give him more chances to make pointless speculations. Even if he saw something different, he would not be able to interpret it. Better to wait for the final verdict.

Whatever happened, it would not be the end of the world. As Dora said, there were many magical professions where mana affinities made little difference, like alchemy and runes.

His train of thought stopped for a moment.

Damn, I’m an idiot.

It could be a coincidence, but it was unlikely. There must be a reason why Dora specialized in those fields. Coupled with the odd mood she displayed earlier, it left few doubts. He should have realized it sooner, but he had been too self-absorbed in his own stupid thoughts.

I behaved like a pouty child and acted like not getting good elemental affinities would ruin my life. Amazing.

Should he go to apologize? What could he say to make it better? Shining more light on the subject was not going to help.

Spirits, I’m a mess.

The best thing he could do was stop behaving like this was the end of the world when they met for dinner.

Opening his eyes, there were still a few hours in the day. Kai went to get his sword and fell into the familiar stances. It took him less than a minute to enter a meditative state, practicing against an invisible opponent.

The physical exercise helped him clear his head. This was just another step on the road. He would find a way to make it work.

***

The next day his eyes shot wide open and he was suddenly awake. Darkness greeted him, not a hint of sunlight was coming from his window. Knowing that trying to get back to sleep would be a futile endeavor, he put on his clothes and walked outside.

It must be at least an hour before dawn. There was no sign of light on the horizon, and five moons dominated the sky, leaving place for only the brightest stars, which were still far more than what he was used to on Earth. The pale rays of the celestial bodies illuminated the world with a soft light.

He remembered why, the first time he had seen them as a child, he spent hours following their trail without getting tired. With the years passing, the impressive spectacle began to feel less special.

Kai tried to remember the wonder he had felt that day. Looking at the bejeweled heavens, it wasn’t too hard. This had been his first love in this world. He didn’t want to take it for granted.

He heard the Church of the Seven Moons had a name and extensive lore about each of the sisters. He should study some of their texts if he planned to go to the mainland. On the archipelago, they were just the Sky Sisters.

People said each one shone with a slightly different pale color. He had thought it was like when people said a mountain looked like a bear or a person. To see some vague resemblance, you needed to be standing in a particular spot, with the right light, closing one eye, and possibly drunk.

Only after he reached Orange and improved his Perception did he realize it was to be taken more literally.

The Wandering Moon was the most distinct with its violet light. Another clearly had a green tint. Squinting his eyes, he could also see how a third could be considered red-ish. The remaining two still looked white to him, no matter how he looked at them.

The only way to make sure is to improve my perception. Luckily that is already on the list.

About half an hour later, Kai started to see the edge of the far water lighting with warmer tones. The sun was starting to push away the night sky. As the time was getting closer, he started to feel a little tension rise in his gut.

No, thank you.

Kai used Meditation to kill time and maintain his peace. More light peeked out on the horizon before blooming into full dawn. He let his mind be swept up by the pink, orange and yellows.

As time passed, he expected Elijah to appear at any moment to tell him to start running. An hour later that still hadn’t happened.

Is it possible I get the morning off? What a miracle.

It was a couple hours later when the butler made his appearance. Neither of them said a word.

Kai followed the pale man inside the main building, down a series of corridors till they stopped in front of a dark wooden door, reinforced with metal bands and covered in a complicated network of tiny runes. He could recognize a couple of them, but they were so small he wasn’t sure. They looked slightly different from what he was used to.

“What is this place?” He asked. Besides the fact they would use a ritual to get an accurate estimate of his elemental affinities, he had no idea what to expect.

“It's a ritual chamber,” Elijah said as if that explained everything.

Kai wanted to roll his eyes, but forced himself to maintain a calm appearance. “Why does it look like a vault?”

“The last thing you want when performing a delicate ritual is to have an external factor interfere. It also helps prevent anything dangerous from leaking outside.”

“Does that happen often? The dangerous part, I mean.”

Elijah made an exasperated sound but still answered. “The elemental affinity ritual is as safe as they get. Been perfected over thousands of years. Even if you tried your hardest you could not mess it up.”

“Did you also go through it?”

“Naturally.”

“What did you get?”

Elijah gave him a long look.

It was worth a try.

The reinforced door opened and Dora’s face peeked out.

“Oh, great. You’re already here. Come on in.”

Kai didn’t need her to repeat it twice. The sooner this was over the better. With a glance behind his shoulder, he noticed the pale man stayed rooted on the spot.

“You can come to bask in my glory if you are interested. I don’t mind.”

The butler would know the result regardless.

Elijah glared at him, he looked about to walk away when he changed his mind and stepped inside before him.

Kai was a bit surprised he took his offer, but the building tension of the moment was too high for him to care.

Passing the thick gateway of the ritual chamber, he looked inside. The first thing that hit him was the mana density. It was higher than anything he had ever experienced before. If he moved his hand, it felt almost like he was underwater.

It was a large circular room with a vaulted ceiling and a perfectly flat white stone floor with no seams. He didn’t recognize the material, but it looked like it was a single piece or—more likely—fused through magical means. A faint herbal smell filled the air, but his attention was soon captured by the three-meter-wide runic circle that occupied the center of the chamber.

Thousands of runes and lines had been drawn with a dark purple ink that distinctly stood out on the white surface. They were simpler than those he saw on the door, but still miles away from anything he could draw. Sharp and precise lines, if he didn’t know better, he would have thought they had been printed.

His gaze was so focused on admiring the patterns, he didn’t immediately realize there was one last person present. Virya stood right beside the ritual with a brush in hand.

“Lady Virya decided to officiate the ritual herself,” Dora whispered to him.

Why don’t we invite the mailman too?

He was already tense without everyone’s eyes on him. The chamber was large enough to comfortably hold more than a dozen people, but it started to feel claustrophobic anyway.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. In and out.

Kai stifled the feeling before it could get out of hand.

The silence in the chamber was deafening, the atmosphere too solemn and serious for his taste. They all stood there while Virya checked the ritual and fixed two lines. Kai could not see any difference. He was awkwardly switching his weight between his legs, balancing on the ball of his feet.

Sometimes he didn’t hear from Virya for a month, then she called him two days in a row to teach him an obscure history lesson. Her interest in him seemed as fickle and unpredictable as tropical weather. If there was a pattern, he had yet to find it.

“Come, we can begin.” Virya's voice echoed through the chamber.

Let’s get this done.

Walking forward, he stopped at the edge of the runic circle.

“You can touch the ink. it’s dry. Sit in the empty spot in the center.”

He did his best to avoid stepping on any line even if Virya told him it wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t hard to find the only blank spot. Sitting down the contact of his skin with the cold stone sent shivers through his body.

Virya was standing outside the circle, with a relaxed smile. He looked at the mage for further instructions, his nerves tense in anticipation.

Am I some kind of entertainment? Let’s spin the wheel and see what this kid gets. I wouldn’t be surprised if she and Elijah placed some bets.

It was his nerves talking, but he would really appreciate it if they could get moving. Even Meditation did not help him calm down right now. With one last look at the runes, Virya nodded to herself and moved her piercing orange eyes on him.

“No need to sit straight as an arrow, child. Try to relax and open your senses.”

Kai had to try really hard not to glare back.

Did you get that from the book of vague and useless instructions?

“You don’t need to do anything. If you are curious, you can activate Mana Sense when I tell you and you might gain a level. But only when I tell you and at a low intensity unless you want to fry your brain.”

It’s safe they said, nothing to worry about.

It was too late to run away now, Kai could only nod obediently.

“How does this work?” He gestured to the runes around him.

“In most places, this archipelago included, the largest component of ambient mana is unattuned,” Virya explained. “There are only two steps to this ritual. In the first part, it will create an environment with only elementally attuned mana and expel the rest. Two things will then happen at the same time: your presence will be magnified and the concentrated ambient mana will be pushed into an excited state.

“Don’t be alarmed no matter what you feel. It will last no more than a minute and I’ll record the elements that have a reaction with the help of the ritual. Simple, isn’t it?”

Those are not exactly the words I’d use.

“Let’s begin.”

Virya put her hand above the circle. The reaction was instantaneous. The purple ink lit up and Kai could feel the mana stirring around him. The air was getting heavier with each passing second. A suffocating feeling very similar to the one he got the first time he came to the estate.

The seconds passed slowly, but Kai thought it had finally reached the apex. Virya took out an iridescent pearl and threw it into the ritual circle.

For a moment he thought it was going to hit him in the head, As it reached the peak of its arc, it dissolved in the air in a small burst of multicolored light. He did not have to wonder about its function. A new wave of energy washed over him. The mana seemed to be going crazy around him. His vision blurred for a moment, thank the spirits he was already on the ground.

The first part of the ritual reached its peak. The mana density was still ridiculously high, but it had settled down in apparent calm.

“If you want to use Mana Sense now is the time.” Virya's voice sounded muffled, even though he knew she was only a few steps away.

Before Kai could come to a decision, an influx of mana surged from the ritual below him into his body. It felt like he was being electrocuted, shaking uncontrollably. It didn’t last long, but he would have liked to have been warned beforehand.

Mana was stirring again around him. For a moment he feared the worst, but it was different from the total chaos of earlier.

In one of his less bright moments, he remembered Virya mentioning a free level and decided to use Mana Sense. The world turned alight with a rainbow of meshing colors. Every color and shade of the rainbow and then some more like in a bad acid trip.

His brain felt completely overwhelmed. Somehow he managed to put together a few strands of will and turn off the skill.

He could feel the cold floor against his cheek. By the time he regained control of his body, the ritual was over, he dried off the drool on his chin with his sleeve. He imagined Elijah looking at him disapprovingly, but every pair of eyes was focused on Virya. She was scribbling away in a notebook, her eyes darting around on the ritual to look for, only the spirits knew what.

“Highest affinity for the Nature element, followed by Water, Earth, Shadow and Space…”