Hello readers! I know I took a fair amount of time to write and then upload this, but I lost all my work for this chapter yesterday! :( so I had to rewrite the chapter, it is a bit different from the original one, but it is perhaps even better! And by the way, are these chapters long enough? I tried to not make them too short......And.......It's finally time for the ceremony! Enjoy!
When I entered the city gates the view blew my mind away, in a good way of course. The wide densely populated stone road was surrounded be wood houses. Houses that are obviously in better condition than the ones in my town. Just a few hundred miles away from Reaspear is a city much wealthy than itself. This clearly how poor my town really is. The noises of yelling merchants, laughing children and shuffling feet made it painfully clear the differences between the two towns.
The main material I see is wood, every single house along the main road is made of wood. The booths of shops and merchants are located near the main gate for obvious reasons are also made of the same material. I can see a few flags of the Finley royal family. The bright colors of white and gold made the city glow like an angelic city. The flags had a symbol of a gold hilted sword with a white edge. The sword is pointed up into the white clouds.
'I wonder who made the national flag.....'
The crowded street made it hard for the large carriage to move through. But the driver managed to move a few feet every few seconds, ensuring that the journey to the destination will be reached in a short time.
I looked out the windows without revealing much of my face and hair, though there would be some random person peeking in. Those "peekers" were dealt with a uncanny precision by my mother. It was amusing, but also scary to watch my mother's unusually emotionless face.
A few minutes later the carriage stopped abruptly, slamming me heavily to the back of my seat. Instantly I heard some hurrying footsteps and saw the door being opened. I stared with the rest of the group toward the figure.
"Excuse me? We have arrived at the church." The door opened to reveal the bearded carriage driver.
My father and Lucas got out first. Eventually I was helped down by my father's hand. I was slightly confused when I saw the large hand, but then realized I am a girl of only 4 years. I would need help from someone if I want to get out quickly.
'Oh yeah, I am a young girl now.' I smirked to myself.
I took the hand and stepped down from the carriage. A soft thump and a dust cloud appeared, indicating my foot hitting the ground. I dusted a bit of dust from the trims of my blue dress and sighed. 'I'm I getting too girly?'
I cringed and finally taking my surroundings in with attentive eyes. I look at my destination with interest and a beginning hopes in the place where my ceremony is being held.
'This is the church that my blessing ceremony will be held?' The church was made of a whitish color stone. It was 3 stories tall, massive compared to the single stories buildings around it. A single large stained glass window was in the front. One object that caught my attention was a large, black statue of a male standing near the peak of the roof of the church next to other statues of different colors.
'Hantantos? Who is the other statues next to him?' I stared at the 3 statues.
The first statue beggining to the left was made of a stone material like marble, it was a color purer then the church's stone.
'Do they clean the statue daily? Jeez, it's so clean.'
The statue was a woman with beautiful wide eyes, straight nose and delicate cheekbones. She had long wavy hair that seem to float, even in a statue of stone. She looked innocent and beautiful, especially when she is holding a little bird in her hands. Even though she was a statue of stone, she seemed full of life.
The statue in the middle was a man. The statue was standing above the other two, he stood directly on the peak of the roof. He had hooded eyes that seemed sleepy, long, straight, strangely silky hair that hit mid back. He was also very tall, taller than Hantantos, in statue form at least.
The man is handsome, but in a way that is incredibly irritating, at least to me. The figure was made of gray stone, making the statue slightly eerie.
I pursed my lips at the particular statue, but I shook my head and stared to the right of the annoying man that probably haven't done anything to me.
The next statue was obviously Hantantos. The statue was completely black head to toe, alike how the High God actually dresses.
'I would know this because I had actually saw him in person, once, still.'
I shook my head to throw trivial thoughts out my mind. I looked toward the 10 feet double, white double doors of the church. There, I saw 2 white and blued armored Knights holding spears. They nodded to our group before opening the doors. I took a deep breath and I entered the church.
I widened my eyes when I entered the building. Everything was glittering and white. Pillars of marble was standing side by side by the walkway toward a slightly raised platform. The 20 to 25 feet pillars made the sight majestic.
Benches filled the area, most of them were filled to the brim because of how much people that are currently in the building.
I look around to see all kinds kids in little groups. There are the stupidly wealthy groups with adults and children dressed in heavy ceremony clothes, all that had expensive patterns and brightly colored silk. Some of the families were surrounded by a protective squadron of warriors. These groups were usually separated from the other nobles.
'More influential people?'
There were also the poor. The poverty sickened people, some of the children actually look older than the minimum requirement of 4 yrs.. They were probably down with illnesses during their 4th year of life that prevent them to walk or be awake for days on end, or even for months. These are some sicknesses that people of poverty have during the time of war.
And of course, there were the middle class. The middle class that like the poorest during the peaceful because of the wars going on in the continent.
I sighed sadly and followed Lucas to a group of empty benches. The sea of people seem to go apart unconsciously for the cold and frightening Lucas, with his stark uniform and gleaming sword. We followed him and sat down on the benches that was located in the middle of the middle class.
A young looking priest in a long brown robe came to our group and gave Diana and I a slip of paper. My slip read, "655."
After a few minutes, a old man came out from the large double doors, entering the platform like a king. His long white beard and deep wrinkles on his face made him look extremely wise. He wore long heavy looking robes and held a long staff with a large fist-size white jewel. The gem glowed with a dull light in the milky-white orb.
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"The high priest...."
"One of the 100 high priests in the continent?"
"Wow....."
He raised a hand and silence quickly overcame the originally noisy church. His aura of wisdom calmed everyone down easily.
"Today is the day the blessing ceremony will began. I will call a number and read the words of gods from my orb when a child touches it. Please be silent during this ceremony." His voice echoed across the large space of people.
As the silence continued, he smiled and began again. "Number 1!"
A second later, a tall boy that is obviously older than 4 yrs. walked up to the steps of the platform. His brown patched clothing and dirty face clearly tells everyone that he is poor. His face would have been handsome if he hadn't look so skinny.
'Poverty' my heart ached and I remembered the people at my town.
A few snickers came up, probably from the spoiled rich kids. The old man shot a glance to the group and the snickering died down.
'Why laugh?' I glanced unpleasantly at the laughing group and saw that they had a squadron of knights around them. Which prevented me to stare any closer.
The old man then began, "Boy, in my staff is an orb. An orb that can tell me which God blessed you. Don't be sadden if you don't get a blessing. But I'm sure you will." He said it quite bluntly and then held the orb out.
The child touched the sphere with no hesitation. The orb stayed the same shade of white for a few seconds, but it reacted and glowed a deep royal blue.
"Boy, you got the blessing from a major God. The God of the seas and the water element, Seaigen." The high priest showed a face of surprised. "Boy, the water element means a calm heart that can change very rapidly and suddenly."
Some whispers were heard when he had announced the results.
"Seaigen?"
"I heard the God is one of the most powerful gods in the Major gods group."
"A new king?"
"Shhh! You don't want him to kill you!"
"Be quiet!" The old man yelled out, his voice vibrated in the open space. "Now! Number 2!"
The ceremony moved from the incident and it continued without further mishap. When my turn came it was almost 8 pm. The people in the church was cut down by half, and it was much less noisy than earlier in the morning.
"Number 655!"
My parents looked nervously at me and smiled faintly.
I smiled at them and turned away from them. I look at the orb in the priest's hands with an eager glint in my eyes and I stepped up to the platform.
The old man smiled faintly with tired lines on his face.
'I guess anyone can get tired of using their powers for hours, even if he is a powerful priest.'
The man inturrupted my thoughts by saying, "Do you know the instructions by now? Just touch the orb okay?" The old man smiled gently.
I nodded absently while looking at the milky white color and reached out to the ball.
The instant I did I got a painful shock. The old priest recoiled back a few inches by the slight unexpected pain. He kept his emotions in check by not showing them on his face. He gave me a quick glance and motioned with his chin to the orb. I heisantly touched the orb once again with slow movements.
This time however, I didn't get a sensation of pain. I was feeling amazed actually at what did happened.
The orb made me have an image. An image of a wavering picture of black attired man with a pale blue blob. Then before the image could become clearer another image replace it. And strangely, this picture was extremely clear; it was like I am staring at a realistic photograph, but unlike a photograph, I was in another body.
It was of a dark forest and my vision was in an "another person's" viewpoint, I was exprencing something I never actually did in my life. I couldn't control my actions and I let "myself" run in a panic deeper and deeper into the forest. It was an unusually experience, I could occasionally saw a flash of white hair. It was a familiar sight.
'My hair? So, this is actually "me"?'
I continued running through the tall trees and I saw a bright light ahead. I stared at it curiously in my mind.
In "my" body I can feel relief, even if I could only feel it distantly. But I felt a flash of pain in my legs and with my consciousness, not my other "me's", I blacked out.
I "woke" up in the middle of the exact time I "fall asleep." I looked around to see that everyone was acting like I didn't just see myself in a vision. I heard a cough and I turned around to face the priest when I saw his face. It was telling me not to tell anyone anything I just saw. I nodded slightly in a way that doesn't seem suspicious. The priest's face relaxed in relief, the slight change in experience was barely noticeable.
While this was all happening, my hands are still on the fist sized orb. I looked down toward it and saw a glowing of multiple colors. I looked up to see a slack jaw priest. I coughed a bit and he glanced at me sharply.
"Child, you have been blessed by 2 major goddesses and a High God. You have been blessed by Luna of the moon and the art of hunting with a minor blessing, Gaia the goddess of Trickery, Love and Family with a minor blessing. And the God of Death, Hantanos have given his minor blessing."
"""".......................................""""
The silence grew into uncomfortable length. So I hopped stepped down from the platform and walked toward the group. I sat down next to Daina.
"Diana, I got 3 blessings!"
"That's amazing!" Her eyebrows then pushed toward each other. "Do you think I will get a blessing from a detity too?"
I nodded at the young girl. "I'm sure you will!" My enthusiasm made her smile brightly.
"Haha! Thanks Zana!"
Daina got blessed from a single God.
"You have been blessed by the Major God of Nature, Virajay."
The cheering from me and everyone else from our group was kinda embarrassing. Especially for Diana, but she just smiled happily in front of everyone with a bright red face.
My parents and I congratulated her while we started walking out toward the doors leading to outside. My father laughed and joked with Lucas and I stared in surprise.
'I never notice until now, but my father and Lucas are actually good friends. It didn't really seem that way at first....' I tilted my heads in thought. 'Haaa..... No use thinking about it. It's my father after all."