Chapter 12: Cheadle appears.
“The rite of passage will start in less than ten minutes!” Cheadle yanked at both of her parents coats in frustration as they stared up at the towering statue of Heshea.
“Such mega structures that originate from the Coranation empire always fascinate me, its appearance matches the descriptions and drawings of coronation scholars perfectly.” Cheadle's father, Marble Zwenlin said with gleaming eyes. Having been an archaeologist for most of his life, he had extensive knowledge of such structures. “If I’m not mistaken, this statue is the largest with the one in the coronation republic coming in a close second.”
“Apparently they built it only three years before the fragmentation period.” Cheadle’s mother and Marble’s wife, Joa zwenlin stroked her chin before retrieving a book from her purse. She then patted Cheadle on the head to calm her whining before looking around at the houses and then straight ahead at the palace itself. She herself was a historian with an obsession for coronation cultures.
“The newer houses and buildings along the mountain side are a clear evolution of late Coronation architecture, yet this palace retains the Characteristics of the earlier Coronation dynasties.” Joa observed before opening the book which was revealed to be a diary in which she promptly wrote. After that was done she began to walk towards the palace alongside her husband and daughter.
Cheadle let out a relieved sigh when her parents finally began to move again. The three walked through the entrance while marble and joa were engorged in an Obnoxiously loud conversation about the history of the Azurai clan and other similar topics. Cheadle couldn’t help but pull her wide brim straw hat down to obscure her face due to the cringe and embarrassment. Her parents formed a unique duo that generated infinite amounts of embarrassment for her. Because of them Cheadle would often become the butt of many of her peers jokes due to her parents being total nerds. She tried her best to drown out their conversation as well as the raised eyebrows of the surrounding crowd, fixating her eyes on the doorway leading out to the arena. As she got closer her heart began to accelerate as the image of a tall, handsome boy with olive skin, silver eyes, stallion like hair and a distinctive beauty mark under his right eye appeared in her mind. This was a boy that she had met earlier that day and his charm had left a lasting impression on her. That boy would be taking his rite of passage in less than five minutes and she had promised to make something very special for him.
“Okimodo…” Cheadle murmured as she clutched the bag she was holding. Within it was a sealed container filled with moonshishi, a delicacy she had prepared just for him. Since her parents were hell bent on moving here, it was best that she got started with making friends right away and a boyfriend would be even better.
The three entered into the large arena causing Cheadle to shiver in the night time air. Looking around, she couldn’t see Okimodo anywhere.
“Is he not here?” Cheadle sighed internally. She had planned on giving Okimodo the moonshishi before he had his fight, but with him nowhere to be seen she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “I’ll just have to wait until the ceremony ends.”
“You guys are tourists right?” A man said as he appeared before the family suddenly. He was quite tall and handsome with long unkempt black hair and stubble. His features were somewhat similar to Okimodo’s but with an overall slightly darker complexion. There was a large bow hung on his back and a sheathed dagger on his waist.
All three knew immediately from the man’s appearance that he was an Azurai clan member and likely a shang rokai.
“We are not tourists we’re actually moving here next week.” Marble responded. “On the 157th day of the year.”
“My apologies for being presumptuous.” Guyus laughed light heartedly. “My name is Azurai Sanshi Guyus, I came up to you guys because you’re currently standing in the middle of the arena which means the ceremony can’t begin. please take a seat over there with the rest of the watchers.”
“I’m so sorry.” The entire family apologised before being led up to the seats by Guyus.
He led them up to an area that provided a good view of the arena while being relatively uncrowded. As they sat down Guyus gave them a wide smile before turning around to walk back down. he was suddenly stopped when Joa hastily asked him a question.
“I hope we don’t come across as disrespectful for asking this, but is it possible for you to do us a favour.” Joa asked before turning to look at Cheadle beside her.
“It’s not disrespectful at all!” Guyus smiled. “A part of being a shang rokai means being a gentleman, so I’m happy to help you with anything you need to get comfortable.”
“Okay.” Joa smiled along with Marble before they both turned to face their daughter who sat in between them.
“Have you been able to spot that boy you’ve been talking about?” Joa asked suddenly, catching Cheadle off guard.
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“No… I can’t find him, why are you asking now all of a sudden.” Cheadle immediately turned bright red.
“There is nothing to be Shy about.” Guyus said giving Cheadle an empathetic look. “Who is this boy that you wish to speak with?”
“She just wants to give him some mooshishi she made.” Marble explained.
“It was adorable.” Joa added. “You should’ve seen how diligently she had been cooking it, she even yelled at me when I suggested changing the ingredients to make it less spicy.”
“Enough!” Cheadle yelled having enough of her parents embarrassing and overly personal rambling. Why the hell did Guyus need to know all of that?
“If possible, could you deliver the moonshishi to him?” Joa asked. “What was the boys name again?”
“Okimodo.” Cheadle said sheepishly.
“Okimodo?” Guyus had a stunned expression before it changed into amusement and then pride. “Of course it’s Okimodo.” He mumbled under his breath, proud that Okimodo had learned from Guyus’s own methods.
“I don’t need you to deliver it to him.” Cheadle explained. “Just tell him that I’ll be waiting for him over here, I want to give it to him myself.”
“Sure thing.” Guyus nodded smugly before leaving the row of seats.
A loud horn roared across the brightly lit arena as an old bald bearded man walked into the centre. He wore a long cape like black robe with a red shang rokai robe underneath it. As his ancient and powerful brown eyes swept across the arena, Guyus and the other shang rokai bowed to pay their respects
Within the crowd Shikimodo, Petra and Shitari all bowed along with kaiya and her parents. Soon all of the Azurai clan members present were bowing at the sight of the old man to pay their respects. Even many none Azurai clan members like Ivan and Sharron bowed as well which prompted Cheadle and her parents to bow too hoping not to stand out. With everyone now bowing, a silence had fallen over the arena with the Azurai clan’s anthem and chattering of the people still in the palace being the only sounds heard.
The old man stroked his long white beard approvingly before speaking. “Greetings everyone, as the head of the Azurai clan it’s my honour to be hosting the rite of passage ceremony. I’d like to thank all of you who came here to bear witness to our ancient tradition, a tradition that originated long in the old days of the Coronation empire.”
As the clan head spoke, a long line of boys marched out of a doorway at the side of the arena before circling around the clan head. Before long over two hundred boys had formed a circle around the arena. Among them were Okimodo and Shipo who stood in the inner most ring of the circle along with Chaiseky, Stava, Shibeki and Bhudboidingas.
“I wonder who I’ll be going up against.” Chaiseky sighed. “Hopefully it’s a third timer and not a shang rokai volunteer.”
“You need to relax.” Stava said in a light hearted tone. “You’ll never win with that mindset.”
“At least I’m honest.” Chaiseky Shot back. “I don’t know why you’re trying to act tough. Do you think we don’t all notice that your hands a trembling.”
“What!” Stava quickly hid his hands under his robe before thinking up a lie. “I’m trembling from excitement not fear.”
“Yea, totally.” Shibeki laughed mockingly.
“Why the hell do I have to stand next to you.” Shipo sneered at Bhudboidingas.
“Because you’re number twenty four and I’m number twenty five obviously.” Bhudboidingas responded smugly. “You should worry more about passing this time and not getting your ass handed to you like a little bitch again.”
On the opposite side of Shipo Okimodo glared at Bhudboidingas, not liking the youths disrespectful attitude towards his brother. Okimodo may have had his problems with Shipo but he would never allow anyone to insult his brother casually in his presence.
“Bhudboidingas.” Okimodo spoke with a dark voice. “Watch that mouth of yours…”
The clan head concluded his speech and motioned for all of the surrounding boys to take several steps back. They did and the clan head made his way out of the arena with general Shimpacha walking in to replace him.
“Please step back a bit more until you’re all at least ten metres away from the clan emblem depicted on the ground.” Shimpacha roared. Before long the right amount of distance from the emblem was achieved and Shimpacha began to announce the first match. “Number one, please step forward.”
At the next moment a boy stepped into the centre of the circle. He stood there somewhat nervous as he awaited general Shimpacha’s next words.
Shimpacha looked the boy up and down before giving him an approving nod. “Good, now number fifty three step forward.”
A taller boy walked out from deeper within the circle and met the first boy in the centre. The two faced each other and it was clear that the second boy was older by two years.
Chaiseky observed this fact and sighed bitterly. “Everyone knows about it, yet they still do this crap. Why don’t they just admit that first timers are supposed to lose…”
On the other side of the circle Okimodo rubbed his chin with intrigue. “That’s Zendlyn right? If I’m not mistaken he’s Stava’s cousin.”
“I doubt he’ll last long.” Shipo observed. “He’s already trembling with fear.”
“I almost feel bad for him.” Okimodo chuckled.
Shimpacha took a deep breath before laying out the rules. “The rules are simple. To win you must force your opponent to admit defeat or knock them unconscious. You are not permitted to use any weapons that are not known to be used by Heshea and you are not to use any form of illusions or mental manipulation resonance techniques. You are also not allowed to kill your opponent or else you’ll be charged with murder. With that being said, let the first match begin.”
General Shimpacha quickly moved backwards until he was at the edge of the circle.
The older boy immediately went on the offensive and pummelled the younger boy ruthlessly.
“I admit defeat!” The younger boy cried out.
The older boy grabbed on to his arm and pulled him up to stand before patting him on the back.
“The first match has concluded. After five seconds Azurai Shelly Zendlyn has admitted defeat and has thus failed his right of passage.” Shimpacha roared with a great passion. “Azurai Sonsin Shitotobi has won the match and from this point onwards is an official shang rokai.”
“What a joke.” Bhudboidingas laughed. “At least try to put up a fight.”
The younger boy left the arena in a slump as the older boy turned to leave with an indifferent expression.
“Number two, please step forward.” Shimpacha yelled.
“Well shit…” Stava sighed as he stepped into the arena and immediately felt thousands of eyes on him.
“Don’t let me down.” Okimodo yelled, hoping to encourage his vertically challenged friend.
End of chapter 12: