During the rush through the tunnels I was given a sliver of information that was important: namely that I was to remain silent throughout the ritual and not to interfere.

It was exciting in its own way to finally see how Grimms were made and how that differed from my own experience. From what I learned of Alice during her ritual, the immense pain was there but nowhere near the level I had undergone.

Who knew that waves of hellfire and ice baths weren't normal?

I chuckled at my own joke but cleared my throat and focused ahead as Alice cocked her head.

Adeline stopped short of a large stone door covered in runes etched into the stone. They were filled with specks of silver that gave the stone an almost speckled, shimmery appearance. She reached for the lone spot of the door without the runes and mana trickled through, igniting the specks like sparks as the door slid open.

“Remember, no interrupting. Just stay in your position,” she commanded.

We walked through and the door shut behind us, leaving the room to be lit by the glowing pool of blue water in the center. The room itself was fairly spacious, if sparse with only the center being the busiest.

Like the door, the walls were covered in runes that spread from the floor to the ceiling above where a singular hole was carved in a perfect circle. Strangely enough it displayed the outside, where clouds rested with the sun shining through.

Kierra stood by the pool next to a stone statue of a wolf’s head atop an iron pedestal. Two people were in the room, one I didn’t recognize but one I did.

What’s she doing here?

The sunlight highlighted the scar along her lip, illuminating her eyes as she watched us enter. Her eyes narrowed but she remained quite as we followed Adeline’s lead and stopped along the otherside of the glowing pool.

“You’ve cut it close, pup,” Elizabeth said, addressing Adeline.

Adeline bristled but she bowed her head. “My apologies. We are here now.”

“Thank you for coming,” Kierra said. “I’m sorry that it was unexpected but I wanted you two to be here.”

She was dressed plainly, in a white shirt and black pants. White paint adorned her limbs that continued down her neck and stopped below her chin. From the bit of skin showing through her ankles I assumed the lines were drawn across her legs as well.

“Of course,” Alice said.

I nodded. “Not a problem.”

Kierra smiled and turned to Elizabeth who continued to watch us with a bored interest. Elizabeth looked to the ceiling and then the statue before taking a step around Kierra. Her hand grazed the wolf’s neck, stopping behind the ears.

“Are we ready to proceed?” she asked.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I’m ready,” Kierra answered.

“Pup. Lock the room.”

Adeline moved back to the wall nearest to the door and placed her hand along a different section. As mana thrummed into existence it spread down the speckled lines and ignited while a rumbling grinding lightly shook the room.

“Done,” Adeline said.

“You two. You know the rules?”

Alice answered first.

“Do not interfere. Do not disrupt the ritual.”

“As long as you understand.” She waited till the room was blinding, the lines mixing with the sunlight. Her hand shifted forward, stopping over the wolf statue’s eyes. “Enter the pool.”

Kierra obeyed, placing one foot into the pool and stopping. Blue motes exploded outward, flowing past her and toward the hole in the ceiling as she winced. Even from where we stood, I could feel the chill rise from the lake and spread like growing frost over her leg.

Step by step she entered and moved closer to the center while fighting off her body’s shivering. The clack of her teeth filled the room but she stopped with the water resting just about her navel.

“Are you ready to proceed, prospect?” Elizabeth asked again. “Once you begin there is no going back. To do so means death. There will be no second chances.”

Through clenched teeth she raised her chin and spoke with perfect control of her voice. “I am ready.”

Kierra was a tough woman even with how little I actually knew about her. She always trained with Adeline and carried herself with the confidence of someone assured in themselves. I met her eyes and she grinned even as a blue mote grazed her cheek and left behind a streak of flash-frozen skin.

Mana exploded from below Elizabeth’s hands. The older woman’s hair ruffled as a breeze tore at our clothes and whipped the particles into a frenzy. They raged in a cyclone around the round, almost obscuring Kierra’s form as more rose to join the storm.

Adeline watched with an intense gaze that bore through the chaos, her hands clawing at the hem of her shirt.

So far so good. Now the choice.

Elizabeth’s voice cut through, echoing off the walls. “State your name and your intentions. Speak only the truth for the system hears all.”

“I am Kierra Marisol Santiago Reyes. I seek to join the pack. Let my words be true or may I be struck down for admitting falsehoods amongst this sacred rite.”

So that’s her full name…

Hearing her full name teased an inkling of a memory, one involving somebody I knew but could not place. It scratched at my mind while a flurry of mana whipped at my hood. I shut the thoughts out and focused on the ceiling where the clouds had started to shift.

The once bright sunlight and lazy sky darkened as the stars began to twinkle above. The clouds disappeared and a full moon stopped at the apex, its light reaching through the hole and filling the room with pale light.

Kierra stood at its center, a spotlight just for her in the eye of the storm.

“The Endless Hunt calls to its pack. To join us is to become our kin to take our blood and take up the oath. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“Do you accept the duty you must undertake?”

“I do,” she sputtered.

The frost continued to grow, the water level rising above her, now at her chest just below her collarbone.

Elizabeth shifted her hand and her fingers elongated into sharpened claws covered in grey fur. Streaks of white stretched up to her elbow before the shift stopped. The mana wisped between her fingers condensed into a sharp spike that hovered above the back of her hand.

Through the swirling blue and past Kierra struggling to stand, my eyes narrowed and the world took on brighter colors.

She had white fur. More than that, agitation spread like wildfire through my chest and the beastie stalked to the forefront of my thoughts.

Competition.

Elizabeth’s eyes met mine, a ring of bright orange overtaking the edges of her iris.

“Later, pup. Now is not the time,” her voice whispered into my ears.

Alice tugged my sleeve and I broke eye contact, looking down to see her shake her head. I turned my focus back to Kierra who was now neck deep in the water.

Elizabeth raised her head and howled, a rumbling note laced with authority. Adeline froze, as did Alice, but I could move freely. It lasted long enough for Kierra to take a final gasp of air before she was plunged below the glowing tide.

It was time for the awakening, and the choice.