The first rain finally came. It was later than I had estimated, nevertheless, it came. The mages in the settlement along with some of the warriors had been working hard making channels within the settlement to control the excess water that overflows from the lake, so flooding wasn’t a thing to worry about; and just as well, for the rain came with a vengeance.

The sound of thunder rumbling high up in the cloud, flashes of lightning streaking through the dark skies, the sound of the wind blowing furiously by my shut window, it all combined to tell the tale of very heavy rainfall. I wasn’t scared of the rain, but I had no doubt children would be holding tight to their mothers tonight, because for the relatively inexperienced it would’ve been a scary night.

The rain continued to fall even as day broke, the sun was well hidden behind the dark clouds, it was hard for me to tell exactly what time it was, as it was still very dark, I only knew it was daytime due to the little streaks of golden light that leaked through the dark clouds in the sky. The rain fell for hours before it finally stopped, signaling the beginning of the rain festival.

The rain festival originally was a ritual for farmers, giving their offerings as thanks to the gods for providing them with rainfall, and imploring the gods for good harvests. Over the years the festival evolved, due to many disasters the rain brought, the festival evolved to what it was now, making offerings to the gods to thank them for the rain and asking for protection from disasters.

The festival lasted a day in our settlement, but I’d heard that in larger settlements it could go on for multiple days. Everyone within the settlement having made an offering before or during the festival went to the temple and made their wishes known to the gods; I’d heard that on rare occasions the gods passed down prophecies to the priests—though such a thing had never happened during my lifetime.

“Are you up?” I heard Aurel ask outside my door just as I began preparing to head to the temple.

“Yes, the door is open.”

Aurel entered just as I was pulling a shirt over my head, he was already fully dressed. We made our way to the temple, and upon getting there we found a large crowd had already conjugated. There was a long line in front of the temple doors, some in the line had their offerings with them, and others, like Aurel and me, were empty-handed.

“What will you be wishing for?” I asked Aurel as we waited in line for our turn to have an audience with the gods.

“For the gods to continue to take care of my father,” Aurel answered with a somber expression, “what about you?”

“I’ll be asking that they protect everyone dear to me, I don’t want to lose anyone precious to me anymore,” I answered Aurel's question.

“Silas, are you at the temple?” I heard my sister’s voice in my head.

“Yes, where are you?” as soon as I asked the question I regretted it.

“Where else would I be? Silas, I swear sometimes I worry about you,” was my sister’s reply.

“What do you want?” I asked curtly, not appreciating her teasing words.

“How about we meet after the festival is over? The pubs will be closed today, so will the library, so how about we meet at home?” my sister asked.

Home, a word to describe a place that was the most uncomfortable to me. It had been quite a while since I’d been back there. At first, after it was discovered that I couldn’t practice magic, mother’s presence alone made me wilt, so I would go out and put off returning home for as long as I could to avoid my parents. Then when I decided to become a warrior training with Titus kept me occupied, though I still had to return home at the end of each day, and each time mother had things to say. My parents were never shy about making their disappointment with me known. When I became an apprentice I moved into the barracks with the other apprentices and never looked back again.

“Can’t we meet somewhere else? How about we meet by the lakeside?” I asked my sister back.

“It’s cold Silas,” was her simple answer.

She was right, it was cold, but she as a mage couldn’t be bothered by the weather, she could regulate her body temperature; so, I surmised that she must’ve had a reason for asking me to meet her at home.

“Will father be there?” I asked, suspecting that her scheme probably involved father.

“Yes. He wants to have words with you,” she answered, being more forthright than I’d expected. Frankly, it scared me a little that she wasn’t hiding this fact, to me that only meant there was something else she was keeping hidden.

I sighed before I answered, “Fine. when do you want to meet?”

“This evening. We’ll be at the temple for some time, so come this evening,” my sister replied then cut the link.

We stood in line for a little longer, and all that while I was trapped in my head wondering what the evening held in store for me.

Why does father want to see me? Does it have something to do with the request I made, or is it perhaps pertaining to the rune I wrote? Could it be something else? I haven’t done anything that would shame him recently, so I doubt I’ll be scolded. It’s not as if father has paid any attention to me recently anyway, he would need to care to scold me.

“What are you thinking about?” Aurel who was staring at me asked.

“Nothing,” I replied.

“Who were you talking to earlier, was it the little demon?” Aurel’s question surprised me a little, I wondered how he knew I was talking to someone, my confusion must’ve been evident on my face because Aurel answered without me asking, “You had that look you get on your face whenever that magic is cast on you.”

“Then how come yesterday you didn’t know?” I asked.

“Well, you suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence so it threw me off a bit,” he answered with an awkward smile. “So who was it?” he asked again.

“It was Minerva, she wants me to meet her at home, father apparently wants to have words with me,” I answered.

Aurel put his hands on my shoulder and squeezed, with a very sympathetic look on his face, he said “Just as well that we’re heading inside the temple, I will pray for you.” I could only smile hearing Aurel’s words.

It soon came to my turn to go into the temple. There was a ritual I had to follow before entering; first, my shoes had to come off, then I had to wash my feet before entering. The temple hall had a really high ceiling, the floor was made of marble and the walls were white. Straight from the entrance on each side were statues of various lower gods, and on a higher platform straight ahead were the statues of the higher-ranked gods. In front of each statue were offerings made by the inhabitants of our settlement.

The priests in their white robes stood at various locations within the hall, not interfering with the worshippers but keeping a watchful eye on everyone; it wasn’t as if any of the worshippers would be brave enough to cause any trouble, but still, they kept watch.

On the higher platform, in front of the statues of the higher-ranked gods, father, my sister, and the various other chiefs—including the chief priest—were kneeling offering their prayers to the gods. Their presence there didn’t dissuade others from climbing unto that platform and making their offerings, but I was reluctant to go on there, so I kneeled in front of a lower-ranked war god to offer my prayers.

“I am going to embark on a journey soon, it will be dangerous, I ask for your protection for me and for my traveling companions, in return, I will bring glory to your name by feeding the earth the blood of those vile worshippers of chaos,” I spoke my prayer in a hushed tone.

I remained on my knees after saying my prayer for a few more minutes then made my exit, on my way out I saw Aurel coming in.

“Should I wait for you?” I asked him. He nodded his head as he walked past me.

Aurel’s prayers didn’t take long and he was soon out. I didn’t want to head back to my room, and as the pub and library were still closed I wondered where to spend my time—it didn’t look like my sister and father would finish with their duties anytime soon.

“Let’s spar,” Aurel offered and I was tempted to take him up on it, but I didn’t feel like sparring today.

“No, let’s just say you won today, I don’t feel like moving my body,” I said somewhat lethargically.

Just then I spotted the server at the pub coming out of the temple, so I waved at her. She smiled before heading towards us, and Aurel beside me couldn’t hide his nervousness, though he was trying his best, he was fidgeting a lot.

“Aurel, you’ll scare the poor girl away,” I said with a little laugh before the server reached us.

“He–hello, Madeleine,” Aurel stumbled over his words as he greeted the server.

Madeleine was a tall woman who was round in all the right areas, Aurel had once described her as having “the perfect birthing hips and a chest that could nurture even a nation with its milk”. I had no doubts she had many male suitors.

“Hello. It feels odd meeting you here,” Madeleine said to us with a smile.

“Madeleine! Why don’t you invite your friends over?” someone shouted from the temple steps, looking over I found a short round woman who seemed to be middle-aged looking in our direction, a smile on her face. The resemblance between her and Madeleine was too much for her to have been just an acquaintance, is she her relative? I wondered.

“Mom, they are busy people,” Madeleine shouted back.

“No, no, no. We’re not busy at all,” Aurel said, the words leaving his mouth in rapid succession. Madeleine looked at him oddly, and I was doing all I could to suppress my laughter. Aurel, in his eagerness to keep Madeleine company, had ignored her very obvious attempt to cut our interaction short.

“Indeed we aren’t too busy today, though I have a place to be later this evening, I can spare a few hours at least,” I said, backing Aurel up. As I spoke Aurel nodded repeatedly.

“Really? Then, if you don’t mind you can come over to our place, we’re having a feast to celebrate the first rain,” Madeleine said.

Her home was warm and cozy, it had all the necessary amenities to enjoy living in it and a few luxuries, I liked that the living area had a fire pit. She lived in an area of the settlement occupied by merchants, and I learned that she didn’t just work at the pub, but that it was also owned by her parents.

The food was delicious and the company even better—although Aurel was nervous at first a cup of ale loosened him up. Stories flew around, jokes were told and laughter was abundant, I thoroughly enjoyed myself; sadly I couldn’t stay long. Excusing myself I left her home, leaving behind Aurel who was truly enjoying himself, not even the presence of Madeleine’s mother phased him anymore once he was sufficiently drunk.

Madeleine’s home was everything mine wasn’t. Whilst hers was warm and welcoming, mine was cold and distant. Not once in my life had I ever heard laughter at home, though my father loved my mother dearly, he wasn’t the type to play around, and even if he was, mother wasn’t the type to laugh without restraint.

On my way home I became nervous again, wondering what I would be scolded for this time. Father was a difficult man to please, though he had no complaints about Minerva, I was a disappointment, and he never let me forget it.

I entered the house to find my sister and father seated in the living area in front of the fire pit. The glow from the flame lit their faces, painting it gold, and that only served to highlight the grim look on their faces.

What happened? I wondered.