Ilyash just stood there as the blue flames faded and the fire returned to its normal state. His goosebumps settled as the inferno in front of him resumed its rage. “What…what was that?” he wondered, paralyzed.
The young man continued to stand there, unable to force himself to move until he felt a hand grip his shoulder and a voice speak into his ear, “I told you, you are mine, boy. Find me after this ends.”
Shivering despite the heat, Ilyash turned around and saw the smiling faces of the crowd, his parents, his sisters, and the Elders waiting for him to make his way back. Distantly, he could hear that the drumbeat had returned to its normal *thrum* *thrum* *thrum*, no evidence that it had ever ceased. Without really registering it, Ilyash noted Laura giving him a thumbs up while Benjamin still sported his own lost expression as he stood above his parents.
What Ilyash didn’t see was Zofia, despite having just heard her voice in his ear. Despite just having felt her bony fingers squeeze his shoulder until it hurt.
It was all too much. Too much to process. So he didn’t, instead turning back to the task at hand. Reaching down to pick up the bowl he’d dropped in his attempts to shield his ears from the ghostly voices. Ilyash made his way back to the Elders and gave them the bowl, embarrassment at dropping the sacred object warring with his overwhelming exhaustion from…everything.
“What happened, why did you drop the bowl? Looked like something scared the ghost out of you.” Old Maise asked quietly, worry on her face.
“It’s…nothing…” Ilyash tried to hide in plain sight at the gaze of the Elders, the watching eyes of the crowd, the waiting anticipation of his peers.
“So, a broken bone, boy? What do you think it meant?” Elder Hammand asked him with a smile, deciding to ignore the young man’s unease.
“A..a bone sir? Oh that, I don’t know. It seemed less important…” Ilyash trailed off, uncertain of what to say, having honestly forgotten about the bone that had appeared at the end of the vision.
“Less important than what? Did you see something else in the flames? It happens sometimes, the ancestors share something else with some of us, privately.” Old Maise prompted him, before Hammand waved it away.
“Let him go be with his family, Maise, he can tell us later - we’re holding things up.” The old man said, gesturing for Ilyash to go towards his family.
Ilyash hesitated, wondering if he should mention Zofia or the vision, but decided that it could wait. Maybe tomorrow. Casting a brief final look at the Elders, the young man, now officially an adult, turned and walked over to his beaming family.
“A bone! Maybe you’ll be a healer!” His mother called out, excitement on her face as she beamed at Ilyash.
“It’ll be good to have another healer in the village,” His father agreed, nodding amiably, a proud smile on his face. “I’m sure Nan will want to see you in the morning to start your apprenticeship.”
“Big bro! Big bro! Does it hurt?” Dora, Ilyash’s younger sister looked at him anxiously, looking at the blood-red bandage that covered his left arm.
“Doesn’t hurt at all, little one. Don’t you worry about me.” Ilyash gave his youngest sister a comforting smile, realizing that his words were honest - he had entirely forgotten that the cut was even there.
“Don’t call me that, byaka.” His little sister grumped, her cheeks puffing up unhappily as she crossed her arms and gave him the evil eye.
Ilyash’s other sister, Rosa, just looked disinterested by the whole thing, standing off to the side. He knew that part of her wanted to ask all about his experience, worrying about her own Ritual in a few years’ time, but she was hardly one to show weakness in front of their parents. She might ask tomorrow, in private, he suspected.
Ilyash…was just tired. He didn’t know how to process the voices screaming into his ears at the end, or the vision…much less whatever Zofia had meant, or why no one else seemed to have seen her. Instead, he just tried to smile at his parents and turned back to watch the remainder of his peers go through their own version of the Ritual.
Every few minutes the drums would build to a new crescendo as another young man or woman flung their blood into the flames and saw some symbol of their fate. Some were clearer than others: a blacksmith’s tongs, a hunter’s bow, a lumberjack’s axe - professions that were neither unexpected, nor particularly interesting. Not that most occupations in the village were particularly interesting, though they were all necessary.
For the most part, the teenagers saw signs that led them towards their existing hobbies or family trades, it seemed like only Ilyash’s trio of friends had been shown something unusual, so far at least.
Finally, the last person was undertaking their walk. Ilyash held his breath as Liz flung her basin of blood into the fire, waiting to see what would happen. Was she right? He hoped not.
Nothing happened.
As Liz’s blood evaporated from the heat of the flames…the fire just kept burning. No symbol drew itself in the embers, no further color materialized, no hovering symbol showed what her path would be. Even the drums seemed to pause for a moment, the drummers uncertain what the right beat would be - should they keep beating out a crescendo? Should they go back to a march? Something else?
Liz herself just nodded and walked back to the waiting Elders, a small smile on her face as she made her way, seemingly without a care in the world. The two Elders on the other hand were both frowning in the distance, exchanging quick words with one another before the young woman made it back into earshot.
Ilyash couldn’t make out what was said, instead he glanced to either side to see both Benjamin and Laura glancing his way as well. He hadn’t heard of this ever happening before, the ancestors always had something to say during the Ritual of Age. Even his parents were murmuring to one another, though Ilyash couldn’t hear what they were saying either.
Finally, the Elders seemed to wrap up their conversation with Liz and motioned for her to rejoin her family, her parents waiting with anxious expressions. At her departure, Elder Hammand once again cleared his throat and raised his voice.
“With that, our Ritual of Age is complete once again! The ancestors blessed us with many visions and guidances today, ones that I hope our new adults will heed well.
To those that are wondering about young Liz’ vision, worry not - not every vision is public. In fact we had several private visions this day, in addition to the ones that you all witnessed. Now go, celebrate! Those of you who haven’t eaten your fill yet, eat up! For everyone else, maybe our maestro on the drums can help get the party started.”
His closing speech said, Elder Hammand bowed to the group and both he and Elder Maise gathered up their things and walked off into the distance, keeping a distance from the crowd as they chatted amongst themselves, joined by another three Elders as they walked. Ilyash’s eyes followed them for a minute before his parents interrupted him out of his reverie.
“Ilyash, I’m sure you’re hungry, but you know the rules, no food for you tonight.” His father told him, as he himself looked longingly at the picnic tables still laden with food.
“Yea, yea I know. I’ll go join Laura and Benjamin, we can be miserable without food together.” Ilyash told his parents, anxious to go talk to his friends about what had happened.
His mother looked like she’d argue for a moment before relenting and saying, “Don’t… Just make good choices, okay?”
“Don’t make good choices? Okay!” Ilyash replied with a smirk as he walked away, the smile fading as soon as his back was turned to his family.
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Walking through the crowd, many of whom attempted to forestall him with congratulations and suggestions of what his “bone” may have symbolized, Ilyash finally broke past the throng - only to see that both Laura and Benjamin were already waiting for him, the former holding a carafe in one hand and a trio of cups in the other, while the latter was laden with a further set of carafes, likely at Laura’s insistence that he needed enough alcohol to get properly drunk too.
“Yea, I could use a drink.” Ilyash greeted them. “To the hill?”
“It’s a bit far…” Benjamin objected half-heartedly, his own expression still looking lost.
“The hill.” Laura agreed, confidently marching around the crowd and heading to the eastern border of the village, leading them back to the hill Ilyash had only recently vacated.
They walked in silence, though Ilyash took over holding Laura’s carafe, leaving her to just carry the cups as they made their way to their refuge.
The hill looked much the same as when llyash had left it earlier in the evening, the moon bright enough to illuminate their way without much issue and providing ample light for their evening’s activities. Settling down on the ground, Ilyash gestured towards the little fire pit to see if there was interest in warming up.
“I’ve had enough fire for one evening.” Benjamin said, sitting down with an audible *thump*.
“We should light it, the temperature is dropping quickly.” Laura shook her head, disagreeing with the larger man as she set down her load and took out a set of matches to light the fire.
“I guess.” Benjamin replied, unconvinced, but unwilling to further argue, moving his hulking form closer to the fire pit.
The trio was silent for another moment as Laura worked to get the fire started, and longer still as they stared at the dancing flames which quested through the kindling on their ravenous journey. Finally, Ilyash was the first to break the silence even as he continued to gaze into the depths of the fire, as if looking to find something within.
“I saw more, like Elder Hammand said, I saw a vision in the flame.”
The other two waited for a few moments, looking to see if he would continue before Laura’s impatience won out, “What did you see?”
“I saw figures, thousands of figures, walking, flying…moving. And then I saw one figure, a…bird made out of bones which blotted out everything.” Ilyash spoke haltingly, still unwilling to look at his friends as he continued to stare into fire.
“And the fire…it was blue, and it was cold. Oh so cold.” Ilyash finished, shivering despite his warm clothing and the merry fire crackling in front of them.
Laura, as always, jumped in with suggestions, “Oh! Those sound like armies. Maybe you’ll be a healer in the army? Maybe you’ll be fighting that bird thing?”
“There’s more,” Ilyash said with a sigh. “When it all ended, Zofia was there. I couldn’t see her, but she spoke into my ear. She told me that I am hers, and that I needed to find her.”
“She also visited me here earlier tonight, telling me the same thing. I think it has something to do with the voices.” Ilyash finished, rushing through the last few words before casting a guilty look at Benjamin.
“Zofia? I didn’t see Zofia, that old hag. Maybe you’re just imagining things again!” Laura blustered through after his statement, dismissing the possibility.
“What voices?” Benjamin asked after she’d finished.
Ilyash sighed, knowing that he’d put this off too long.
“I’ve been hearing voices ever since the start of the summer. It happens randomly at all hours of the day and night. I just hear random voices speaking in my ears, proclaiming that they’d been murdered or demanding vengeance. They don’t seem to hear me, though one of them talked about Y’gythys right after Laura mentioned it earlier. I don’t know, maybe I’m going crazy. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you..I’m just scared of what it means.” The young man finished guiltily.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Benjamin asked softly, his expression hurt.
“I…I don’t like talking about myself, you know that. I don’t like thinking that something might be wrong with me.” Ilyash replied, his eyes downcast.
“But you talked to her.” The larger man stated, nodding towards Laura.
Both Ilyash and Laura shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to say.
“He only told me a little while ago, you know our Ilyash he’s…well, Ill, right?” Laura said, trying to make light of the situation.
Benjamin still looked hurt, but a slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips at the woman’s terrible joke and he decided to move on, “So, you’re going crazy, hearing voices, seeing visions, and now listening to old Zofia?”
“That about sums it up, yes.” The other young man replied.
“So, you’re going to talk to the Elders tomorrow and seek her out?” Laura asked, her expression clearly saying that she didn’t believe he would do that.
Ilyash just shrugged, unwilling to commit to either act and spoke to try and deflect from himself, “What about you, what was that flower?”
“A rose. At least that’s what Lyandriz said.” The young woman replied before fishing something out from inside her clothes. As she unwrapped the leather bindings which held the object, Ilyash saw an identical copy of the flower which he’d seen in the fire on the palm of her hand.
“That’s the token that you were given from the Underdark? Lyandriz is the one that offered it to you? Why? What does it mean?” Ilyash asked, stretching out a finger to touch the rose, it surface cold and hard but he couldn’t tell what it was made of.
“It’s a symbol of one of the organizations of the Underdark, and an invitation to…try out I guess.” Laura replied, re-wrapping the flower in the leather before stowing it back inside her clothes.
“Why did she give it to you? You’re not a dark elf.” Benjamin asked, not seeming as surprised by the news that Laura had met a representative of the Underdark as he’d been by Ilyash’s revelations, making the other man feel even more guilty at not sharing his secret earlier.
“She saw me hunting, I think they recruit more than just dark elves for the Black Rose.” Laura replied, looking uncertain.
“What is the black rose?” Ilyash inquired, unsurprised that someone would be impressed with the young woman’s skills.
“The Black Rose. It’s the assassin’s guild of the Underdark.” Laura said, looking challenging as she spoke as if daring someone to question her.
“Assassins?!” Both men exclaimed in unison, staring at the woman.
“I need an opportunity, and this is it.” She replied, her face rigid.
“But you’ll be a murderer, killing people!” Ilyash exclaimed, aghast at her suggestion.
“I’m not going to sit here forever Ilyash, waiting for something to happen. And I’m not strong enough or skilled enough to make my own way. This…this will get me there.” Laura exclaimed, passion heating her words, though she sounded slightly less certain at the end.
“But…” Ilyash trailed off, not knowing what to say.
“I guess that will make two of us.” Benjamin interrupted, his voice booming as he turned to stare into the fire again.
“Atyr,” Laura nodded. “God of Conquest. I suppose we’re both destined for conflict. Did he…say anything? Do you know what you’re meant to do?”
Benjamin shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know, “No, I will need to go to a temple of Atyr to find out more. I will join you with the caravan to Y’gythys, if you’ll have me. There should be a temple to Atyr in the Underdark.”
“Of course! We can stay together, go on adventures!” Laura replied brightly, smiling brightly, prior stress forgotten.
Ilyash looked at the pair, depression sinking into him as he realized that his best friends in the world were leaving him. Going to war, killing people for no reason. Stewing inside his own head, Ilyash grabbed one of the carafes and took a large swig of its contents only to choke as the strong liquor hit his throat. Determinedly, he took another swig as if to prove to his friends that he didn’t need them, as if to prove to himself that he could.
“Ilyash, slow down!” Laura protested, worry on her face as she saw him downing a significant portion of the alcoholic brew.
Ignoring her, Ilyash kept drinking until his stomach protested halfway through the container. Setting it down, Ilyash stared intently at the fire, waiting for the alcohol’s effects to set in, ignoring his friends’ voices as they talked to him. Within minutes, Ilyash could feel the liquor take hold, his vision blurring as he lost track of what he was angry about.
Benjamin and Laura looked at each other and their friend with worry as they saw him become quickly inebriated.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Benjamin asked, looking at the young woman.
Laura shrugged her shoulders, furiously saying, “He needs to get off his ass and do something. He’s always been like this, just letting the world pass him by.”
“I like that about him, he’s laid back.” Benjamin said. “But, I think this is going to be painful for him when we leave. Maybe it’ll spur him to do something.”
“Maybe,” Laura said, sounding unconvinced. “Do you think he really heard Zofia at the Ritual? I didn’t see anything.”
“Me neither, but if he did…maybe she’ll do something. Could be good for him.” Benjamin replied.
“Well, the two of us will go conquer the world!” Laura said, smiling brightly, oblivious to her larger friend’s pained face.
The two friends talked through much of the night, periodically taking sips of their own beverages but avoiding the state of intoxication that Ilyash had reached. As the sounds of the festival in the distance faded, they gathered up their belongings, rounded up their wayward friend, and made their way to their beds - and their futures.