Walking towards the very middle of the entire camp, Victor stopped only when he reached an elaborately decorated hut, lit by a multitude of torches and lamps. The plaza hidden behind similar tents was currently as dark as a place could get in the night as if the entire light from the camp was unable to get past the tents.

"Welcome to the ceremony office, how can we help you?"

As soon as Victor entered the hut he was walking towards, a warm voice greeted him. When his eyes got used to the dim lighting inside, he could recognise the face of an elderly woman that used to be a famed general of the previous generation. Unable to leave the warm confines of the faction and unwilling to join the court, she has chosen to take care of the main blood pond in the entire country.

"I came here to request a blood renewal for me and two of my aides at the next dawn. Would that be still possible Ma'am?"

Despite wielding now higher position than the former legend, Victor still acted as respectful as he could. While her service time barely touched his military history, he still had some vivid memories of the hellish training she subjected his group right before her retirement. While those experiences was just a short memory now, the officer still recognised their value that showed up at his second field mission.

"Yes, we don't have many recruits currently, so there should be no problem with that. May I know why do you deem it to be the right time?"

Even if the old Heswoman held some kind of sympathy towards her former trainee, the historical and traditional value of the ceremony was too great to take it lightly. Without following steps that were set in stone, the meaning of the whole event would lose its importance!

"We will depart for a potentially dangerous mission with the first sunlight. If my worries will become real, there is no telling if we will be able to make it back."

There was no need for any longer elaboration. While common soldier might repeat the ritual before the mobilisation, high officers like Victor were used to various missions that could threaten their life. If the gut feeling told him that he had to be careful, it should be enough to apply for the spot!

"Very well then, get your people to change into ceremonial clothing and fast for the rest of the night. You will be notified when the rite will be about to begin."

Acknowledging Victor's reasoning, the old Heswoman dismissed him with a wave of her hand. Only when the general left the hut did he allow himself to take a deep breath. No matter what other people said, his former master aura was suffocating. While she appeared and acted amiably to her colleagues, every drop of blood that she spilt altered the feeling that one had when near her. Despite being the soldier himself, Victor still found it hard to endure her bloodlust.

Prompting his friends to follow after him, the hesman entered yet another building where they found stacks of celebratory robes lying orderly on the tables. After searching for a while for the types reserved for their respective ranks, both men left the building to let Leila change in peace.

As soon as she stepped out, the world seemed to stop for a moment. With her black hair set free and falling on her back, her figure covered with a thin layer of the velvet robe seemed to align with the will of the world itself. Every step she made with her bare foot looked like she was gliding on the grass instead of walking. Unable to contain himself any longer, Victor and Klimmer reentered the building to don their outfits as well.

While female celebratory suit could be said to be beautiful, male version induced a feeling of seriousness and dignity. The tight bottom robe forced them to walk in small steps, to make them remember than everything had to be achieved by constant effort. Two wide pieces of material were hung from the respective arm and circumvented their torso to end hidden under the belt. With their heads covered by a loose piece of a cilice, they were bound to remember all the hardships that their ancestors had to face.

When both men were done with dressing, they left the building, picked up Leila which mind seemed to already start wandering through the annals of the history and entered the celebratory area.

On the very middle of the entire plaza, there was an elevated platform with an enormous, golden cauldron that seemed to shine with its own light. While they knew what was inside it, from their point of view, they were unable to take even a single look. To honour the tradition, they kneeled in front of the stairs leading to the stage and smashed their heads on the first step.

As they entered from the side where the officers quarters were located, they only cached a glimpse of the other group that was already prostrating themselves on the opposite side of the elevation. Without uttering a single word that could bother their new companions, the officers started contemplating the wonders of Perran history.

To feast before the sacred blood pond meant to endure the inevitable pain of the muscles stretched in an unnatural position while focusing all the attention of the brave deeds of their ancestors. There wasn't a single guard or watchman to hinder them from moving, but they didn't show even the slightest sight of movement. This was just a small discomfort compared to the hardships that their predecessors had to endure on the harsh road of being a warrior.

With every hit of the pain reaching his mind, Victor could focus more and more on his contemplation. Behind his closed eyelids, he could see the scenes from the past that he regretted. He could see the moments that left a mental scar of him. He could see his friends dying because of his failures. And this was just a first stage of mystical experience that he was about to endure.

With every event flashing before his eyes, he could feel an overwhelming burden of guilt rising within his soul. At first, it was comparable to being caught stealing a fruit at the market, but with every passing second, it turned into unbearable mental torture. At times he thought that he was about to scream to rhetorically scratch his guilt consciousness, but he nevertheless managed to endure.

This state of mind keeps escalating for hours before it all stopped. The guilt disappeared completly from his mind, and a godly garden appeared. With colourful flowers, gentle sways of the grass and comfortable breeze, he felt as if he died and reached the legendary eternal peace. With a delicate chirping of the birds and blissfull wailing of the sheep, Victor thought that he would be content leaving everything behind just to spend the rest of his days here. Just as he reached his hand to touch one of the flowers, the entire place started burning.

The birds were flying frantically with their tails on fire. Formerly beautiful flowers were withering down, the wailing of the sheep turned into the most annoying sound he ever heard. As this scene of tragedy developed at an unimaginable pace, his mind was overtaken by a sudden burst of sorrow and feeling of loss. If even such a perfect place could be destroyed in a blink of an eye, what was the point in living in this damned world!?

In a flash, the sorrow turned into anger that quickly developed into a rage. Filled with wrath, Victor was on the verge of standing up and destroying everything around in the endless sea of wrath, but in the last moment before taking this decision, he gnashed his teeth and endured.

With the fury unable to find a way to went, it turned into a fire that started burning his entire body. For hours he felt the temperature of the blaze constantly rising, to the point where he was at the verge of losing his consciousness. Unable to control his body anymore, when a sudden force prompted him up, he couldn't resist it. He glided through the blazing inferno in an unspecified direction, feeling that this whole ordeal was about to put his life to an end.

And then, unspeakable comfort overwhelmed him.

The pain has stopped.

All regrets, longing for a calm life, anger and the need to give up. They all disappeared, washed away by an unimaginable feeling. If he were to try to describe it, it would be like he was suddenly embraced by his father, mother and all of the ancestors, taking all of those feelings on themselves while comforting his soul. It felt as if his veins were pumping new energy into his bloodstream, void of all the imperfections there were in it before.

Only when this godly feeling subsidised, Victor was able to open his eyes. Noticing his arm submerged into the great pond of crystalic blood, he understood that the ordeal came to an end. Shifting his sight to his right, he saw Leila with the blissful expression, still submerged in the aura of happiness. Seeing such a content look on her face, he was hit by how insanely beautiful she was. With her robe barely hiding any details of her figure, with her black, dense hair enveloping her head and falling on her back… If not for his willpower, he was sure he would just push her down here and now and indulge in her!

Shaking the unnecessary thoughts from his head, Victor pulled his arm from the pond only to have it instantly covered by a bandage. At some point during his trial, a ceremony helper cut his wrist to allow the cleansing of his blood. Without the bandage, he could very well die from the bloodloss!

Finally back to his full mental capabilities, Victor stepped back a bit and took some bandages from the helper while waiting for his fiancee to clear her head as well. When he saw Leila opening her eyes, he jumped to her and helped to finish the rite. Throwing a quick look around, he saw that they were the last to finish the ceremony.

This wasn't something to be surprised about. With every rite, with every experience and day lived, the trails would become harder and harder. According to the legends, by exchanging the blood with the Perran heritage, one was leaving a silver of his experience in the mixed blood, gaining a connection to all of his ancestors and colleagues in its place. If that myth was to be true, it was no wonder that the later one went through the ceremony, the harder it was for one to endure!

Helping Leila down the stairs, Victor nodded to Klimmer, who was already waiting for them on the solid ground. As the sun was already rising over the horizon, his face seemed to shine with a profound aura. Waiting for his fiancee to take a few breaths and stabilise her mental state, the hesman looked at the sun to judge the current time.

"Kamarish is probably out of his mind already. We told him we will depart with the sunrise, but we didn't inform him about the ceremony at all."

Noticing Victor's look, Klimmer pointed out. While delays were common in every military, being late at the very beginning of the mission was a bad example for the soldiers!

"Yeah, we need to hurry up and go. You all right?"

Nodding to Klimmer's remark, hesman turned to his beloved and looked at her face only to see a perfectly clear look in her eyes.

"I'm good. We shouldn't stall any longer."

Even if physically she was in a perfect state - side effect of the rite - she still had to sort her state of mind. Since this was the case with everyone who finished the ceremony, getting on the move would be the best thing to do right now.

With only celebration helpers remaining at the plaza, they managed to leave the most important place in the Perran camp rather swiftly. Without anyone brave or stupid enough to hinder them on the way, reaching their company assembly point took them just a few minutes.

When they appeared on another wide plaza, Victor had to acknowledge the Lor's prowess at commanding his unit. Despite how late they were, the soldiers were already organised in rows, with several carriages ready to depart at any given moment. Unwilling to waste even a single moment more, Victor jogged up to his new underling, received horse reins directly from his hand and jumped at the mount.

"Good job. Sorry for being late, we went to get our blood cleansed."

Even if there wasn't any need for a Hesman to explain himself to a simple low-rank officer, Victor still felt that they owed this guy an apology. They were going to work together for a long time from now on, so keeping their relations fair and nice was the minimum that hesman could provide!

"As we are already late, let's not linger here anymore. Everyone! With the King's blessing, forward march!"