Old Ritual of Enlightenment

[Gladuos 869]

((As a forenote, this is something written IC by my character. It's a telling of an experience he had during a ritual. A strange experience, but most should not ICly know about this unless they were given these papers. I'm making this for your OOC enjoyment in reading, and for having a place to put this for my future reference. So anyway, enjoy the read.))

 

Two individuals, old friends perhaps, find each other near the gates of Sanctuary. An old ritual once mentioned being brought up once again. Something that the younger of the two had certainly forgotten, as it had been that long. A woman guides them to a place proper for the ritual, then politely takes her leave.

"We'll continue. Mustn't make the lady go on. That's the way to be a gentleman, lad." the white-haired elf says as he leads them further into the forested lands ahead.

The younger of the two nods and agrees, following every order in preparation for the ritual as the white-haired elf commands. After some time of trekking and collecting of materials, they find themselves to quite the solitary pond. Alone and still surrounded by the liveliness of the forest. The herbs are thrown to the center of the pond, a minuscule ripple resonating throughout.
 

 

The red-haired elf is commanded to enter the pond, standing waist-deep at its center. He closes his eyes, focusing deeply on absolutely nothing at all. Mind is still and empty as things begin to drain from his surroundings. Then, a pressure is felt somewhere on his body. Then another. The sounds of the forest are gone, there is nothing but emptiness and darkness now. A voice echoes through the darkness.

"Listen to my voice..." the muffled command is heard through the blackness.

Then, without warning or context, the young elf finds that he is submerged within water. A hand holds him there firmly in place as he regains his surroundings. Instinct and panic take hold as he grips the arm and begins to push himself against it. The strength too seemed to drain from him as his attempts for air remain futile. Finally, the arm lets go and aptly vanishes from the water.

With a burst, he flings himself through the surface, gasping desperately for air. As his breath and senses return to him he finds that the white-haired fellow has vanished. There is nothing. Confused and disappointed, he attempts to trudge his way back to the shore. Wait... No, the shore isn't coming closer. With every step it seems as though no distance has been made. With great confusion, he finds that he hasn't moved an inch from the center of the pond. Eyes widened, he attempts to look about and make sense of his predicament.
 

He notices it then. The strange blurry orange on the shore, a distance that didn't seem so far previously as the two discovered the pond. He blinks and squints, staring forth at the intangible blur. With every blink, it becomes clearer. With every moment his eyes leave the figure, it becomes more defined. Eventually, he sees what it is.

 

The burning fiery form comes into vision. The creature of myths. A phoenix sits perched upon the shoreline, staring forth at the befuddled elf. He keeps his vision locked upon the peculiar sight briefly before he finally decides to do anything. Without many options and having lost many of his understandings of the reality around him, he attempts trudging forth again. This time, he doesn't even have the chance to move a limb before he finds himself becoming entangled. Arms from underneath the water begin to grab at him, imprisoning him in the spot. His eyes widen fearfully before the phoenix raises its beak. It speaks with an odd amalgamation of feminine voices. The voices of all the women this elf has met in his lifetime.

 

"Aether... Nether... Aos... Eos..." it says, the voices echoing across the water.

Shocked and unmoving, the individual simply stares forward as the phoenix begins moving its beak in a circular motion. The water of the pond begins moving in tangent with the beak, slowly circling the man. Then, the phoenix moves its beak perpetually faster, the water following in line. Finally, the water bursts upward and turns into a great funnel. A blinding watery wall forms in a cylinder around him with great ferocity. The arms vanish as he looks down, the exposed bed of the pond shown as sizzling and rotting flesh.

 

There is nothing he can do when the funnel suddenly collapses down on him, surrounding his body entirely. Confused, his body cascades through an infinity of water. And yet, he can still breath. And yet, he is without fear. Lights burst throughout the water, flashing momentarily before vanishing. It's as if he moves with infinite speed all the while without moving. An ethereal moment in an ethereal place.
 

 

Images begin to appear within the lights. Visions through the water appear before him in oddly clear detail. The moment of someone's birth comes into vision. The sound of cries echo throughout the strange watery cascadence. It passes by with the rippling of fluids as another light bursts ahead. There appears a village. A village of great serenity and peace, filled with elven individuals going about their day. The vision focuses on a duo near the town center. A white-haired elf, not the same one that inacted this paradox, but another, is shown smiling down at his red-haired son. He holds his hand as the son looks back up at him with a similar smile. The vision passes as the lights fade, passing onward.

The next light focuses on someone else, that of a human boy dimly lit within a bedroom. He sits near the bedside, sobbing quietly over the still form of what might be his own father. As this one fades, yet another image comes after. This one shows that same boy, except grown and adorning a full plate of gritty armor. He fights in a field of fallen men, everything covered by the crimson of such sin. It is in that moment that he slices someone down, a furious yet disgusted look upon his face as he kills his first man. A surreal darkness encompasses these images, as if they are meant to denote a passing of something.

The vision burns away, falling into the background of this paradoxical existence. No more visions come forth. No. As the last image fades, so does everything else. This man cascading through eternity, finds that he is without thought as blackness surrounds him again. Nothingness. No emotions or sense. Gone.

As it seems that eternal void would grip him, he begins to hear the muffled chirping of birds and the dancing of cicadas around him. Slowly, senses return to him as he opens his eyes. There he is, sitting within the shallow pond from before. Blinking and numb, he looks up to the shore to see his friend waiting.

"Hm... Very well, Mister Ward." is all that's said, the solemn tone of contemplation passing between Beranabus' lips.

[Elad™ 560]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.