The Aether God: Chapter 14 - Wedding Day
Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, and all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
Caladrius School East District: Court 12, Lecture Hall 34
“And that will wrap up our Monday lesson! I’m letting each of you leave early, so I expect all of you to at least share a bow with me as you exit! It’s the least that you can all do for a kind elder such as myself, hohoho!”
As Elder Roshi finished speaking, he poured what was remaining in the chalice back into a bottle, before walking over to the door. As the disciples left the lecture hall, they each shared bows. As Cerulean arrived at the door he spoke.
“Thank you for the lesson!” Cerulean bowed.
“It’s my pleasure!” Elder Roshi bowed back to him, as he would any other disciple.
Once the students had finished piling out of the room, he closed the door and walked over to his desk to finish some grading. As he arrived though, there was a most peculiar ring on his desk. It was invisible, but was enveloped in a cloud of Infernal Ether, revealing its form through negative space. Furthermore, there was a floating imprint of Infernal Ether written in the space above his desk. It was extremely faint, but Elder Roshi noticed it. It read, “Please touch the ring. It’s harmless.” Elder Roshi began stroking his beard and smiling.
……………
Caladrius School East District: Cafeteria
As Cerulean, Cedar, Reed, and Triton stepped into the cafeteria, they were met with the usual swarming of activity. Disciples bustled about, and many were waiting in lines. After lectures, the school offered lunch to all of the disciples before clubs commenced. While they also offered breakfast and dinner, they weren’t as popular. Most skipped breakfast, and then opted to visit the other districts of the school for food, or even the Market District of the valley. Hundreds of tables were filled with students eagerly discussing artistry, while others chatted in lines to receive their meals. The aroma of freshly prepared food filled the air, mingling with the sound of clattering dishes and laughter.
“SECTMASTER CERULEAN!” About sixty voices pierced through the lively chatter. It quieted down a little for a moment, but quickly resumed soon afterward. The voices that shouted belonged to those standing by a group of tables in the far corner of the cafeteria. There were about forty attributeless boys, and twenty attributeless girls. Cerulean smiled and started shaking his head as they all began to laugh hysterically. The four boys walked over.
As they got close, one of them asked.
“Are we all gonna get struck down by lightning now?” They all began to laugh again.
“You have about two hours. I’m filling the welkinean chalices now.” Triton joked.
As the four boys sat down, everybody started chatting. None of it was about cultivation though. Rather, it was just everyday talk. Soon, the tables near them became inhabited by other peers of the abyss. Many of them stayed at one table, while some moved around, getting to know one another better. Soon, the group of seven attributeless descendants of the legendary sects joined as well. They each at one point looked at Cerulean. When he returned a look, they nodded, as if telling him they no longer needed to doubt his words.
“I wonder if Archer and…” He pulled out a slip of paper that Cedar had handed him earlier. “...Oriana Blackwood… will become sectmasters. I hope they don’t feel bad if they don’t. I also could make Nora head of the Meadow sect… That would be hilarious!” Cerulean had a bit of regret stating so early on that he’d probably be making them sectmasters. He thought that he could have just told them he had secret plans and that he’d let them know later.
“I’ll just have a talk with them and let them know what’s going on. They’ll understand.”
“Who’s going to the wedding in an hour?! I hear it’s going to be huge!”
“I most certainly am! Latia’s so gorgeous.”
“I have archery club… should I ditch?”
“Yeah, but I hear she hates the Scorchbloom Sect. She even hates her own sect haha.”
“Orion’s the Scorchbloom Scion! He’s already a master artist too at our age.”
“Doesn’t he already have like six wives?”
“Fella’s getting a little greedy.”
“They say he’ll be able to surpass the lord rank!”
“Yeah, but how do you think they got her to go through with it?”
“Latia’s aby… I mean… attributeless. Maybe she had a change of heart haha!”
“After what happened last month? Hell naw.”
“Why do you think he’d want to marry an aby… attributeless… hah!”
“Bro… have you seen her?”
As Cerulean was pondering, a certain topic began weaving its way into the discussion. The upcoming wedding of Latia Aurora and Orion Scorchbloom. Apparently, it was quite the dramatic event. He had already heard of it, but had been quite busy with his own plans.
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“I’ve got nothing to do, I may as well see what’s up.”
………………
The Central District: The Wedding Gardens
The grandeur of the occasion was truly unmatched. As the nether star stood high overhead, it cast its golden rays upon the vast expanse of the grand hill, illuminating the gathered multitude in a radiant glow. The hill was enormous, and had a slight slope. Rows upon rows of distinguished descendants from the Scorchbloom and Aurora Sects sat in silver chairs on the grand hill, their attire glowing in hues of red and sky-blue. Below them, on the lower plateau, which also curved upward into the nearby hills for viewing from above, a truly massive sea of eager onlookers stood in anticipation. Their eyes were fixed upon the majestic pavilion where the marriage between the two Legendary Sects would soon take place. As a gentle breeze stirred the air, whispers of excitement swept through the millions below. The atmosphere was alive with anticipation. Amidst the buzz of conversation, the sounds of horns could be heard. The assembled guests awaited the arrival of the bride and groom.
“What is this? A royal wedding?” Cerulean and company pushed their ways toward the front of the crowd, trying to get a good spot to watch. After waiting a while, people started to shout.
“Hey, hey! It’s starting!”
“Look! It’s Orion Scorchbloom!”
As the ceremony was now reaching its climax, a symphony of cheers and applause erupted from the assembled crowd. Cerulean conjured a small abyssal barrier over his ears to reduce the noise. Floating down from the sky above were Blaze and Orion Scorchbloom. They were dressed in most ornate robes. They stood in front of a marriage officiant who began speaking a number of words to them.
“I can’t hear squat… Wow I’m stupid…” Cerulean canceled the barrier over his ears… “I still can’t hear jack! This is even more stupid but…”
After about twenty minutes, Blaze sat down just outside the pavilion, and Orion turned around while looking upward. In the sky above, Aurelius and Latia Aurora were floating downward.
“Awe man, they cast a concealment art under her dress… Cerulean? … Cerulean?” Triton looked all around, but couldn’t find him anywhere. He looked at Cedar and Reed. “Where the hell did he go?”
……………
As they arrived on the ground, Aurelius spoke to Latia.
“Don’t mess this up. The fate of your sect rests upon this.”
If looks could kill, Aurelius would have been eighteen feet deep in the ground after the look she gave to Aurelius. “Curse you father! I’d rather flagellate myself to death than do your vile will!”
“You will smile and shut up.”
As soon as he spoke, Latia’s face contorted into a smile, and her mouth closed against her will. Her shouts from then onward were muffled.
He then whispered to her, “I’m going to let you go, and you will stand still in your place, not speaking until the officiate tells you to kiss Orion. You will then kiss him. You will follow the plans I have discussed with you beforehand. I’m truly sorry that you’ve come to have such a truly vile tongue. I should have raised you better… Oh… and you will not cry.”
Soon afterward, he smiled and released her arm. She began to walk toward the pavilion.
“A concealed slave collar? Isn’t this his damn daughter? Why is the Scorchbloom Sect letting their scion marry an attributeless girl… Could she… That - is just vile.” Cerulean was standing near them, listening to the entire ordeal. He had to stop himself from letting out a disgusted laugh. It wasn’t funny to him at all, it was just absurd.
As Latia reached the central pavilion, she stood about six feet away from Orion and the officiate.
“This will almost definitely ruin everything I’ve been working on… No…” Cerulean debated for a few moments about whether or not he should step in immediately. He wasn’t one to sit by and watch such an occurrence, but making a scene in front of millions would be bad. He considered simply waiting until after the marriage to step in. But he grew more annoyed with the concept of even watching her kiss the boy against her will. “I can make this work easily, hah!”
“We gather here today…”
Latia was known from her childhood to have the most lovely temperament. She was kind, gentle, sweet, and loving. She particularly loved animals, and felt most comfortable in their presence. She desired to communicate with them, as she felt they would have much wisdom to share. Even though she acted in quite an immature manner when upset, it was because she had a great emotional perception that had not yet been honed - in large part due to her youth. She hadn’t developed so much character as to hold herself with dignity akin to her fellow descendants, but she had great emotional depth - experiencing all of life fully and innately. Though it happened slowly at times, she grew more fond of that which was good, and lovely, and beautiful. Furthermore, she was pretty. Her skin was very lightly tanned, her hair was very dark, and she had the deepest of brown irises. Her beauty was something to be coveted.
In this moment, though, Latia stood in despair. She tried to just ‘let go’ of being alive. She had been under constant supervision from the moment her wedding was announced, and thus her attempts to escape - or sadly even end her own life - were futile. She was not a weak-willed individual, but was truly helpless. She couldn’t even shed a tear now, or fall to the ground. As she stood listening to the officiate, for the first time, she considered resigning herself to this fate.
“Stay quiet and calm. I’m here to save you.”
Despite a flurry of emotion, there was one thing Latia knew she was absolutely going to do - obey this voice.
“In a few moments, I’m going to remove your collar. At that moment, I will be standing in front of you, though invisible. I apologize in advance, but you’re going to have to jump and latch on to me with your arms and legs as fast as you can, like terrestrial pretzel bark. We only have probably one second before your dad spits out some domain. I’ll guarantee your safety afterwards. If you don’t trust me, your collar will at least be off and you can scream at everybody. But I’m going to have to get the hell out of here either way, so pick your destiny.”
“Do you, Orio-”
Out of nowhere, a loud unlatching sound could be heard. Around Latia’s neck, there appeared a black collar, falling backward. Before it could even hit the ground though, she jumped forward, throwing out her arms and legs in the most strange manner. However, instead of falling to the ground, her body suddenly darted sideways through the air, as if she had been caught by a torrent of wind. Within mere moments, she had turned invisible.
“BASTARD!!”
Within a fraction of a second, every member of the Aurora Sect had stood up and casted some variety of art. Aurelius himself was most livid. His expression displayed nothing short of pure outrage. The entire hill suddenly became enveloped in a strange sky-blue hue, and it quickly expanded far outward to even cover the nearby hills. The millions below were soon enveloped within the strange ethereal dome. None of them were able to move.
“WHO DARES!?” Aurelius screamed.
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