PROLOGUE
Alice felt as if her grin was stretching her lips to their limits as the water began to flood into her space. She had already completed the day’s abrasion and shaving a half hour earlier and returned the abrasive materials through the chute in the corner. A little rushed maybe, but she had long grown skilled at her daily cleansing ritual needing only half of the allocated hour to finish the abrasive stage. The Zealot’s themselves would be hard-pressed to find fault with her today and that was considering their tendency to fabricate filth where none exists. Standing in the center of her space and wiggling her toes in the warm water that passed over them, Alice closed her eyes and relaxed with arms by her side and her head tilted back.
Taking deep breaths, she focused on the feel of the water as it slowly rose, first up her calves, then seemingly tickling the back of her knees before continuing up her legs and past her torso. Once the water started to splash against her neck she kicked up off her feet to float on top of the water. The water pushed her up to the top of her space as it rose, heating up in the process. Nearing the ventilation that made up the ceiling of her space she slowly exhaled letting her body sink into the water in the process, stopping as she reached what she guessed would be the center of her space.
It was this floating sensation that she looked forward to each morning as the water heated up even more, seeming to massage her from head to toe as it gently rocked her up and down. She waited as the temperature slowly rose until she started to feel a slight stinging pain. It was at this point that she felt the turbulence caused by the floor drains opening and the water rushing out even faster than it came in. Returning to her feet as the water reached neck height again and continued on down, she was left dripping as the last of the water drained away. She heard the rumbling sound of the air dryers starting. Shaking and spinning as the hot air blasted her from above, she wondered what the lessons would cover today.
‘Hopefully not another prayer session. Half of my lessons these last few days have already been replaced with prayer. I don’t need anymore’ she thought grimacing a little.
Not that she disliked the experience but she already did that for an hour each night before bed. That was one thing the zealots would never allow her to finish early, regardless of circumstance. Still, the zealots have been acting unusual recently and the lessons have been short and uninteresting. A short time later the air shut off, leaving her warm, dry, and refreshed. She walked over to the drawer set into her wall, opening it. She pulled out the slippers, underclothes, and robe that was prepared for today. Having dressed herself, she kneeled down in the center of the room and started her morning prayer.
“
Nasin pi puliti li ale
Mi li sona e ijo jaki insa,
Mi li wile puliti e sijelo e lawa e kon,
Mi li sona e ijo jaki ma
Mi li wile puliti e tomo e kulupu e ma
Jan puliti li utala ijo jaki
Jan puliti li ken kama sewi
Nasin pi puliti li moli
”
“Pini.” she said aloud, having stood up after finishing her prayer. She wondered once again if the zealots waited on the other side of the door each morning until she spoke or simply knew beforehand when she would finish somehow.
As expected, the door opened moments later revealing someone in a white robe similar to hers but with the insignia of the zealot sown into the shoulders and a mask over their face.
“Good Morning, Alice. This way please” he said. Before turning around, leading her down the hall.
She followed behind a smile coming onto her face as they turned left towards the lesson rooms instead of right towards the room full of prayer mats. Her smile was replaced with dread as the zealot walked past the lesson room where she could hear a zealot speaking to one of the other chosen. The only rooms ahead now that she was ever allowed in to were the punishment room and the ritual room, and she knew her next ritual was supposed to be 4 days from now
“O. Mi pali ijo jaki?” she asked, as she tried to think of what she could have done wrong. Did she speak the zealot’s language in her sleep again? She didn’t think she did but it was hard to stop herself. She was always jealous of their ability to say so many things so easily instead of being limited to the words and concepts in Toki Puliti. Her dreams were the only place she could do so without getting in trouble as the zealots would never allow her to dirty herself by speaking a jaki language.
“What? Oh. no nothing like that. Do not worry, you have done nothing wrong. Today is a special day for all of us. A new ritual has been developed by the Leader and you will be the first to experience it. It is a tremendous honor! I’m sure the other chosen will be quite jealous when they hear of it” he said over his shoulder. Rather than entering the punishment room they continued on to the ritual room.
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‘A new ritual?!’ Astonished, she nearly tripped over her own feet. This was the first new ritual she had heard of in days well beyond counting. This...this was way outside her expectations!!!
Walking into the ritual room in a daze she noticed it was much more crowded than usual with a large number of people surrounding the altar in the center of the room. She walked through the hole they created for her as she observed them. There were the Zealots of course, right up near the altar where they always stood. The surprising part was who was behind them filling the rest of the crowded room: the Dedicated, then behind them were the Believers, followed by the Adepts and another group that she did not recognize but by process of elimination could only be the Followers. She did not see any fellow chosen.
‘There must be well over 100 people in the room right now!’ she thought. She knew people would be excited for a new ritual just like she was but there had never been this many people attending a ritual before. Not even close. She had never even seen this many people in one area before. She noticed many of the adepts and followers looking at her with curiosity. Perhaps never having seen a chosen before? She couldn’t say. It was at this time that the Leader walked in, coming to stand beside Alice near the altar.
“Welcome all! Whether you are an experienced Zealot or a newly joined Follower, all who do not have other duties assigned have been invited here today to witness the completion of a work years in the making.” The Leader said. Turning to look at Alice, the Leader continued. “Of course, none of this would be possible without the assistance of our most prized chosen. Through us, their body, mind, and spirit are purified. And now, through them the sacrifice is repaid and we are all cleansed. Once cleansed, we stand ready to rise above the filth that would pull us down. The mortal world will no longer hold us. The gods themselves will make way for us. We will rise above them unfettered and untainted. We will reach the peak, where we will rule because it is our right and our responsibility. Because the world is filthy and it must be cleansed, as we cleanse ourselves.”
The crowd cheered! Alice remained silent, unsure if such cheering would be considered jaki for a chosen. Still, she could not suppress her smile thinking about how lucky she is to be a part of this, one way or another. On that note, she wondered what her job for this ritual would be. If there was a prayer she would have been instructed on it beforehand. In some rituals she is cleansed during the ritual so maybe that? Unsure, she could only wait for the cheers to die down.
Once the crowd had quieted down the Leader continued.
“All of that lies before us, past the creation, growth, and cleansing of many more chosen. Today is where we start and we start with our first chosen, Alice. Please remove your garments and take your place on the altar ” The leader said. Turning to look at Alice.
‘So it’s a cleansing then? Granted, they haven’t trained me for anything else so I shouldn’t be too surprised. Still, they did call this a new ritual so maybe we do the cleansing first and then the new part.’ Alice thought, a little disappointed.
Walking up to the altar, Alice began removing her robe and slippers followed by her undergarments. As she climbed up then laid against the surface of the altar, the Leader walked up to her while grabbing a thin metal instrument from his belt. Alice looked up expectantly waiting to see what would happen next. As the Leader’s form appeared in her sight it began.
The leader chanted:
“
Nasin pi puliti li ale
The way of purity is life
Mi li sona e ijo jaki insa,
We know the filth inside
Mi li wile puliti e sijelo e lawa e kon,
We must purify body, mind, and spirit
Mi li sona e ijo jaki ma
We know the filth outside
Mi li wile puliti e tomo e kulupu e ma
We must purify house, community, and country.
Jan puliti li utala ijo jaki
The pure man battles filth
Jan puliti li ken kama sewi
The pure man can become divine
Nasin pi puliti li moli
The way of purity is death
”
The crowd chanted back in unison.
“The way of purity is death”
Then, faster than Alice could react or anticipate the Leader plunged the instrument down into her heart. Alice screamed from the pain and tried to move but the Zealots near the altar reacted immediately and held her down, covering her mouth in the process.
‘I don’t understand! What is happening? Why does it hurt so much? Help! Someone please help! The ritual is wrong. Stop it!’ Alice screamed in her mind, unable to get an actual word out. She felt the instrument shift as the leader pulled it out. Allowing the blood to flow more easily.
The Leader spoke again.
“And now the chosen ascends, Unfettered, by sin or corruption, she will rise. Soon, the other chosen shall rise with her and as they rise they will pull us up from this corrupt plane, freeing us from the filth that holds us here. Soon my brothers and sisters, the cult of purity will walk the realms once again and the gods themselves will tremble in our wake.”
Alice’s struggles began to weaken as her mind became fuzzy, the pain and fear fading fast. She could still vaguely see the outlines of her cult members cheering but even that faded as everything started to go dark. Never having witnessed or been taught the concept of death, Alice could only feel sorrow, not understanding what was happening but knowing on an instinctive level that it couldn’t be good. As the final thought faded from her mind, Alice died.
In another place, a place that may have been no place at all, a soul shuddered before breaking it’s lock and coming free of it’s position, gaining a hint of awareness. Its sense of its surroundings, if it could be called that, was only telling it one thing. Filth; it was surrounded by and covered in filth. In disgust it rejected the filth and tried to escape only to find itself surrounded by filth on all sides. Moving in the only direction that seemed to have less, the soul forced its way up through the filth unintentionaly creating a path for those that would follow after.
Some time later, that may have been no time at all, the soul had grown weary from traversing the filth. At this point, the amount of filth had decreased greatly. No longer suffocating in a sea of shit, and instead only feeling a reasonable taint, the soul stopped to rest. Suddenly, the soul shuddered. A great attractive force began to pull on it as its shudders resonated with a point nearby. Unable to resist the pull, the soul felt itself dragged towards the point. As it overlapped with the source of resonance, it felt a force bind it into place. Stuck fast and without the energy to fight, it could only merge with space that was binding it. As the merge continued it felt as if it might be falling into a dream. A dream of somewhere else. A place that was. A place that would be. And most importantly, a place that is. As the soul fell into the dream, directed by the resonance, it felt itself reach a border. This border was a barrier that it lacked the strength to pass. Instead, it was stuck waiting for some time adjacent to time. It was at another moment that a life ran up against the border calling to the soul it resonated with. The soul ready once again to move, forced its way into the border opposite the life. The border between a life and a soul was torn and each shifted. One from reality to dream and the other from dream to reality.
Somewhere in a place and time finally settled, a cry was heard for the first time.