Chapter 302 - Ritual of the Cloak

In Fuha, amidst a ruins which had half sunk into the swamp. In the twilight hours of the evening.

Somm stood solemnly before a small makeshift altar holding a silver ritual dagger. His face was obscured by black strips of cloth intertwined in a complex fashion. Braided talismans and charms hung heavily from the layered furs, belts and fabric of his attire. His eyes glowed from within with a blood red light.

A single candle flickered on the altar. It sizzled as he carefully poured a single drop of rose oil on the flame. The shadows around him grew deeper and the sounds of the wind outside was muffled as a rich spiritual aura settled around him.

He began praying in ancient Fortus. The air reverberated with the latent power of the ancient language, which ebbed and flowed in a gentle rhythm. The syllables were soft and gentle, but filled with divine power.

“O’, Lord of the Inner Gates.

You are the ruler of light and shadow.

By this rite we adjure you. We pray for the embrace of night, for the cloak of Kapakhei to be lain upon our shoulders.

O’ Lord of Divine Wisdom,

You are the benevolent guardian of equilibrium.

May this sacrifice of nightshade and cloakdust be pleasing to you. May our prayers be pleasing to you. May our offering of aether be pleasing to you…”

Seated behind him on either side, Yuzu and Nilya sat cross-legged with their heads bowed. They repeated the words under their breath, not fully understanding the words spoken, but aware of the contents of each line which aligned their thoughts with the intent of the prayer. This intent was sufficient to activate the powers of nature contained within the words.

The ritual targeted Renshu, the God of Preeminent Wisdom, a god which was commonly prayed to in the Byran Empire to the south, though Yuzu herself had never heard of Him. Renshu was a sleeping god who had not been active in the world for a millenia, but He still responded to prayers and rituals. The ritual sacrificed a number of materials and spirituality, requesting Renshu’s powers of concealment to prevent Bacchi from using Exalted methods to find them.

The ritual required each receiver of the blessing to participate, thus Somm could not conduct it until Yuzu had rescued Nilya from the Trial of Requirement. The time of day and even the chosen location for the ritual also contributed to the efficacy of the ritual. All of these factors were taken into account by the guru-chi in order to increase the chances of success.

The spoken incantation is complete, the ingredients have been sacrificed. Next we extend our spirituality into the candle to form the conduit for the ritual to take place. Yuzu evaluated the ritual’s progress. Next, we should feel our senses dull temporarily, and the atmosphere to grow cold. We must concentrate on maintaining the spiritual connection and not be distracted by external sensations.

Somm had explained that the God of Preeminent Wisdom was not an evil or corrupt god. Thus praying to him for boons was relatively safe, even for non-followers. The worst that would typically happen is their sacrificial items and spiritual energy would be consumed without reward.

Furthermore, this was a standard incantation that was widely known by Renshu’s followers. Somm had performed it many times in his life, and understood the correct ratios of ingredients required for success.

Her breath came out in puffs of frost as the temperature around Yuzu dropped sharply. The light from the outside world dimmed until Yuzu could only see the thin, flickering light from the altar candle.

It seemed far away, like the distance between her and the altar had increased. As the darkness fell around her she saw the flickering of stars as they came to life all around her. She lost her sensation of the physical world around her as the stars even appeared below her, twinkling from far, far away.

Is this part of the ritual, too? Yuzu wondered to herself as she recalled the guru-chi’s instruction to avoid becoming distracted. She took a deep breath through her nose as she focused on the candle in the distance, maintaining the spiritual connection to the flame that represented the link to the God of Preeminent Wisdom.

As she focused, a thin white fate thread glimmered into existence between her and the candle. At the same time, dozens of threads appeared amidst the stars in the darkness forming the shape of constellations.

The stars are ringing— Yuzu only had a moment to register the shrill, resonant chimes from the stars when her mind was assaulted with intense pressure and pain.

She buckled forward with a cry as she felt the light and sound from the myriad constellations pour into her head. Disjointed visions of strange coloured worlds filled with words being spoken by hundreds of men and women, beasts with the bodies of men and formless spirits simultaneously flooded her mind.

They were speaking in languages that Yuzu didn’t understand and had never heard before. These voices melded together into a vast, incomprehensible whole. They flooded through Yuzu’s mind as she struggled to maintain her consciousness, feeling that if she were to let go she would be drowned in the sea of voices, never to recover.

She heard the illusory banging of heavy chains against a door far below her as she felt like she was being stretched and torn apart from within.

There were now an infinite number of constellations in the sky bathing her in a cacophony of light and sound.

The only thing that tethered her to the world was the altar candle’s flame, which floated in front of her, both near and impossibly far away.

Her white thread of fate that connected her to the candle trembled with increasing vibrato as Yuzu struggled to maintain the connection amidst the chaos.

Snap!

Yuzu collapsed violently to the floor of the ruins, her whole body seizing up as Somm and Nilya looked over with shock.

Bright red blood flowed out of Yuzu’s eyes and ears as she coughed up a thick, black liquid. Her chest heaved with each painful ragged breath as she clutched at her eyes with her palms, crying out in pain between sobs.

The blood frothed and boiled violently as it splattered against the floor, letting out a thick acrid odor.

“Shou Tao!” Somm strode across the room, not wasting any time as he laid his hands on top of the back of her hands. A warmth flooded through her body as the holy man channeled his spirituality into her while uttering an incantation. The yellow and red talismans on his cloak began floating weightlessly in the air as they glowed with a holy light.

“He’s awoken!” Yuzu spat out blood as she cried out, “He’s awoken!”

Her words were not in Nianese, but rather in the ancient Fortus language.

“How? Just from a simple ritual—?”Somm’s eyes widened as the words sent a tremor through his soul. His teeth clenched together as he focused on healing the girl before him.

One by one the talismans on Somm’s cloak lost their colour and curled up, shrivelling like dying caterpillars until they were spent and fell onto the floor. Only half of them remained when Yuzu finally stopped trembling and lay curled into a ball amidst her blood and vomit.

With the danger over Somm began to wipe the blood away from Yuzu’s face and neck, washing her while praying under his breath.

“Gather more water from the river.” Somm ordered Nilya, who quickly ran out the door with a waterskin.

Yuzu had no energy to resist, remaining barely conscious of her surroundings.

“Has the God of Preeminent Wisdom truly awoken?” He muttered under his breath.

“He saw me through the strings.” Yuzu croaked in response.

Somm’s eyes widened as he heard Yuzu’s words. It wasn’t just her statement that shocked him, but the fact that he had spoken in his native Ying Chu tongue, and she had responded to him in kind.

Side effects from exposure to a God of Knowledge? He wondered to himself.

He placed a hand on her forehead, responding, “If so, you are lucky to be alive, after experiencing direct contact with a God.”

“It’s not the first time…” Yuzu grinned sardonically in Ying Chu tongue before coughing up a few more drops of blood.

Yuzu’s thoughts were muddled and slow as she didn’t register that she was speaking in another language. Even as she recovered she heard echoes of the countless voices that she had heard in the ritual. The shapes of constellations glimmered faintly in the depths of her mind as they faded into darkness.

At some point in her delirium she passed into sleep.

When she woke it was dark. Nilya was beside her, wringing out the blood in her cloak. The young boy looked over as she rustled, a look of concern and relief washing over his face as he continued to clean the garment diligently.

Yuzu was wrapped in a blanket with her under layers of clothes untouched, her hair cleaned and skin moistened with a menthol-like oil. The warm light of a lantern filled the room, which was the same room which they had conducted the ritual in.

She tried to sit up, but was stopped by Somm’s hand on her shoulder. He spoke softly, saying something to her.

“Sorry, I don’t understand.” She replied.

“Then perhaps you’ll recover yet.” Somm replied with a tone of relief in Nianese, “You were speaking earlier to me in several languages. I was worried that your exposure to that God of Knowledge’s presence corrupted your mind.”

Yuzu frowned, feeling an ache in her forehead, “I don’t remember.”

“Forgetting is a natural defense mechanism of the spirit. You saw and heard things which your spirit was not able to handle.” Somm nodded, “You said that the God awoke and saw you through the ‘strings’. Though I’m not sure what exactly you experienced, perhaps you were saved because it happened in those ‘strings’, thus you avoided direct contact with His existence.”

“I thought you said the ritual was safe.” Yuzu couldn’t help but quip sarcastically.

“The world of mysticism is fraught with danger… Nothing is truly safe, though I did not ever expect such a reaction to occur from a simple bestowment ritual.” Somm replied with a deeply contemplative tone. “For prayers and rituals such as these, the Gods do not typically respond personally but use various methods to allow their worshipers to access their blessings without need for their direct involvement. In some cases, a God may take notice of a particular prayer, but they would be careful not to expose their True Form to the worshiper, which is far beyond the level which a low level Exalted’s spirituality is able to handle.”

“However… The God of Preeminent Wisdom has been asleep for millennia.” Somm said softly, “If he awoke suddenly… Perhaps he did not have the presence of mind to conceal his True Form as he responded to the ritual. But neither myself nor Nilya suffered any ill effects. Only you, Shou Tou…

“He only looked at you.”

This wasn’t her first time in the presence of a God… Somm’s eyes flashed quietly as he recalled Yuzu’s previous words. He looked at the slender, unassuming Exalted girl before him, with one question on his mind.

Just who exactly is she?