The best view came from below: red, twisted. Blood flowed down Eiron’s thighs to a pile of bones underneath.

He gazed at the stick retreating from his lower abdomen, crimson blood stained the blade. He gasped for air, his breathing erratic, his throat burning. However, he couldn’t let the scream restrained in his lungs loose. Not when the old bastards were all looking at him, ready to knock him off at every sign of wavering or making him a child for one more year. And the latter, he wanted none of it. Control, he needed control.

In his misery, Eiron wasn’t alone, merely one of many. A couple more juveniles bled around the coming of age well. Adults circled them from afar.

Loud chants resonated through their eardrums. "For the clan!”” For the clan!!!”

Heavy thuds, bodies hitting the ground resounded around the well. ‘One, two, thr-, fuck my sideways!’ The pain made it impossible for Eiron to concentrate.

‘Inhale, exhale...inhale...inhale’

Truly, the view was great. If he became the ground, then there was no pain, no spike impaling his genitals. For as long as a moment, he let his body be. Extremely dark grin skin, lean build, slightly shorter than the average goblin, the boy gritting his teeth washed by his own tears? Not him. It couldn’t be.

Eiron thought himself the stain on the brown soil, undisturbed, waiting for the right moment to possess a body he’d hope didn't belong to him.

But yet_

“Damn!” His genitals or what could be seen under the red veil of blood combusted. The fiery ache spread to his already buckling legs then to his guts.

"This" he said, "is worse than shit!"

"Worser than the shittiest shit", a boy leaning against a rock replied.

"But..." The boy forced a smile. "Do you think this is real?"

"Ugh?"

"I'm literally naked and no female is jumping at me"

"..."

"Not that they are my type, but hey. I mean, you feel me, right?"

For a second, Eiron forgot the pain and stared besides him. This boy, June, was to his surprise not ugly. His braids shaded if so slightly his emerald eyes that conflicted with his light tone. And his toned body... Eiron stared intently.

June furrowed his brows and turned around.

"Good gods so he was just all talk" Eiron said.

"No, I'm..."

"NOT YOU! Him!"

Three of the new initiates remaining were boys. June and Eiron sat a meter from the well at the centre of the clearing, and the third...

Before Eiron could scream, a frail body came crashing against him. A trail of fresh blood painted the well's outer walls.

In place of the third boy stood what June thought should have been a woman. Thin fur covered the creatures’ greenish skin. Only her tightly fitting skirt and top were testaments of her humanity, or so he thought.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Gruuuhhh

Crimson eyes stared back at June, her fangs out, eyes almost watery?

His gaze hastily felt back to the frail boy that just hit Eiron, and you bet our dark skin goblin felt it; an ache more intense than what he thought was the shittiest pain. His chest contracted, the air leaving his lungs.

The pain, he learnt, you should accept it; take it before it brought you down. Think pain, drink blood, feel wound. For thirty seconds, an hour, a day maybe, that’s what he did.

His eyes searched aimlessly for a new spot to hide. Blood flooded the stain he used to inhabit.

In the crowd, his gaze caught Ma’s. For once her furry laid hidden under her wrinkles. Traces of youthfulness appeared on her aged face. Although her few white strands of hair stayed the same, what truly change were her eyes that revealed fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of all her unaccomplished dreams, her damnable life, his'.

‘Truly beautiful’

Tears veiled her eyes, her lips trembling. Tears did that to some people, made them beautiful in a weird sort of way. At least not Eiron. The ache kept hammering his guts. His face turned in a twist akin to a crumpled leaf.

His old man kept his mouth shut; his eyes hidden by a read bandage that screamed of uniqueness. However, Eiron had seen more, his mother enough.

For a second, he thought her truly near him, not the usual circus, but genuine reliance. Her thin body laid near him, their skin almost touching.

“Fathers of our fathers, mothers of the people, we present to you the future of our tribe, the bones of our bones, flesh of our flesh for you to ever protect them, for them to ever honour your name”, said a short elder adorning a feather hat.

“’Protect them! Protect them!”’

A hundred or so villagers, all in adulthood, stood at the edge of the clearing, their bodies shaking, or dancing was it. Their feet hit the ground with mechanical constancy.

The shaman brought a beverage and made circles with the bowl above the male juveniles’ heads. Some spit into the mix, then he grasped each boy's mouth and shoved the liquid down their throats.

A minute later, the first spasms began. The remedy made their bodies vibrate, brought them to the hideous state of shaking, choking and vomiting.

Under the creature’s watch, two lone girls, their teeth gritting, circled around them with an unfitting vigour.

The bonniest girl attempted to induce some passion in the rough movements. Well, not Nadia. The shaking? Yes, she did. But Nadia truly danced, a virtuoso with her hips. Her dancing fled from place to place, and with it, June’s mind.

Two slender ivory legs stretched far above what his lying corpse could see. Girl brought it to a new level: Those hips! That dance! Or her skirt just so tight and the dizziness brought out his primal desires.

Exhilarating! Amazing!

That was it, the trial. His demons took over him.

Nadia's eyes crept away from that look. Something about her dance changed, became clumsier. She could see besides him Eiron's deformed grin. Nonetheless, she kept dancing around them. June's eyes chased her every step. Behind his deranged face, a sense of tranquillity fought against his urges.

The third boy, short hair and skinny build, bolted in the direction of bonny. His head soon collided with a wooden mace, then a man pulled his body out of the formation.

The girl’s expression changed from fear to terror as she stopped dancing for three seconds. Her feet trembling, a wet liquid stained her leather skirt.

Another thud resounded in the clearing.

‘Ugh’

Eiron’s head arched back. Countless stings dug through his brain. A new kind of pain assaulted his eyes and flowed to his brain.

“Where?! Where are you!”

“Where...”

Around Eiron, everything became red. The bright colour stretched to infinity, the stings digging wider, faster.

“Please...Please don’t leave me alone”

“...”

“Anything”

“...”

“Someone”

“...”

“Please”

“...”

“...”

One leg, then another. A light stump, a swipe. Hands held high, low, to the waste. Eiron once more heard the sound of the flutes and drums. They kept going slower, stopped. However, he didn’t care. His body moved on it’s own completed guided by sheer wild instinct. It mirrored hips, how they turned them, swayed them.

One leg, then another. A light stump, a swipe...

The pain moved away from his body. He felt the oxygen refreshing his brain. It flowed to his limbs and guided his movements.

With each step, Eiron's grin grew wider, stopped only after his back hit the well.

Eiron senses came back, and with them the pain. If just the initial pain, maybe he could have held back. To his demise, his waist seemed to have dislocated or teared or whatever rigid waists did when they did things they never s

uspected they could, because, yes, Eiron’s hips did not sway... before.

At last, a strident scream escaped his mouth, came to being along a lump of crimson blood and thick intestinal juices.

And then, his mouth agape, two hairy hands pushed him into the well.