Chapter 313 - Maiden’s Prayer

Nilya knelt before the makeshift stone altar, his hands trembling as he held the stone bowl of molten catalyst. He stared at the potion that pooled at the bottom of the bowl, pupils trembling as he felt the waves of fear wash over him.

Even as he repeated the prayers to the Sun God as he was taught he felt his courage crumbling. He muttered the ancient words under his breath, feeling nothing, which only made him tremble harder.

He wondered what he was doing far away from home, praying to an ancient god in a language he didn’t understand.

“Drink.” Somm knelt to the side of the altar facing Nilya.

Nilya stared down into the liquid. An intense heat radiated out from the bowl. Sweat dripped down the side of his face, sizzling against the stone.

He hesitated.

As he stared down into the molten liquid, a memory floated up from the depths of his mind.

Tell me, Nilya. What do you want the most in this world?

Are you seeking power? Power to protect yourself, your family?

Or are you looking for freedom, or fame, or fortune?

The words were so clear, the memory of that moment so crisp, it was almost as if he was back in the Trial of Requirement standing across from Shou Tao in the heart of the mountain. He had had trouble meeting her eyes. He remembered being mesmerized by her long, silky hair. Hair free of tangles and left loose to blow in the wind, very much different than the tightly braided hairstyles common with Fuha girls and women.

Even as he mumbled the sun god’s prayers under his breath he shook his head, thinking to himself, I don’t know what I’m looking for.

“You do.” A soft voice said, so clear it was like Shou Tao was sitting beside him.

His eyes lit up as he suddenly stopped his prayers and looked around.

“What are you stopping for, boy? Keep praying!” Somm scolded, “Drink!”

Nilya winced at the harsh reprimand, immediately starting to pray again, though his eyes kept looking around. Shou Tao wasn’t here, he couldn’t have heard her voice—

Just as he thought he really had been imagining things, he heard her voice again.

“You’re strong, Nilya. You’re the strongest boy I’ve known.”

“I’m not!” Nilya stood up with a start, saying to the sky, “I can’t do this!!”

The guru-chi was about to raise his cane in anger when he felt a spiritual presence settle around him.

“It’s okay to be afraid.” In a voice that only Nilya could hear, Yuzu chuckled softly, “Being scared doesn’t mean you’re weak. You were scared in the mountain, weren’t you? But you got the egg.”

“That— That’s because you were there—“

“You were scared when you ran away from the hawk nest. You ran up the side of that mountain on your own.” Yuzu said. She held Nilya’s thread gently in her fingers from afar, imbuing the string with her spirituality, knowing that with that heavy a touch Nilya would be able to clearly feel her presence, “You were scared when you stood up to the guru-chi and saved your sister’s life.”

“It’s okay, Nilya. Be scared. When you drink that catalyst, instead of praying to the sun god, pray to the White Maiden.” Yuzu nodded, “It’s okay if you don’t know the words. They’re not important. Most of all as you pray you need to believe in yourself.”

Nilya clenched his jaw as he found himself staring back at the glowing liquid in the bowl. Without further hesitation he lifted the bowl up to his lips and drank it down.

A heavy feeling settled in Yuzu’s heart as she watched Nilya drink in the present. The turbulent, unpredictable energies of the catalyst caused the future to remain uncertain for Yuzu. Even with Fate Cycling to guide her responses she wasn’t sure if she had done enough to help Nilya succeed.

In this moment she really did feel like a spinster, a fraud. She didn’t truly think Nilya was the strongest boy she’d known. She didn’t have any ability to help him even if she could receive his prayers as the White Maiden. She only knew that Nilya needed to find strength from somewhere, and the prayers to the Sun God wouldn’t do him any good.

Yuzu closed her eyes, feeling tense inside. If her words helped Nilya, if he somehow survived, it wouldn’t matter if her words were false. The guru-chi wouldn’t miss him if he died. His parents, his family would likely never find out about his fate. And Yuzu herself… Well… She barely knew Nilya. Truthfully she wasn’t sure if she’d miss him either, but at the very least, in this moment she was all Nilya had.

She kept a firm hold of Nilya’s string as he started screaming.

Twisting lines of light bloomed under his skin as the veins and capillaries throughout his body were filled with the light of the sun. Beams of golden light shot out of his eyes and mouth, lighting up the mists that swirled around the altar in a sudden gale.

“The prayer!” Somm shouted, panic cracking his voice, “Focus on the prayer!”

Nilya’s entire world was consumed in a burning, painful light. Somehow in the inferno he heard Somm’s words. He fell to his knees as his physical body began to disintegrate, but rather than sink down he rose up into the air as his body took on a weightlessness.

Focus on the prayer.

Somehow the screaming medicine man’s words reached his consciousness. His screams cut off sharply, caught in his throat as he stared up at the sky in a sudden surge of clarity.

His thoughts turned to the White Maiden, to the image of Shou Tao. Amidst the blazing heat he felt the warmth of another presence, soothing and calm.

His body evaporated into light.

The winds around the altar calmed. The mists were chased away, the overcast sky cleared.

Somm found himself standing alone in the marsh.

“Damn you!” Somm screeched. His voice echoed across the empty marsh for a moment as he stood staring at his empty surroundings in disbelief. This silence lasted only a moment before he let out a string of epithets, stomping his feet, “You idiot boy! You mud-cursed brat!”

“You can’t fail like this! You’re my oji! I’ll tell you when you can fail, you bastard child!”

He didn’t notice Bacchi arrive until the slender guru-chi was only a dozen paces away. “Keh keh keh. What a pleasant sight to come across.”

He leaned on a long, gnarled walking stick as his pack-carrying oji lumbered up behind him. “My poor younger brother. You lost another oji? Too bad, I suppose you’ll have to get another— Oh, that’s impossible now, isn’t it?”

“I adhered to the teachings.” Somm bowed his head as he slumped to the swampy earth. “I had the blessings of Fate. How could this happen?”

“This was always your problem, younger brother. Haven’t I always told you—“

He paused, concern flashing across his eyes. His red eyes shone brightly, the dark, leathery skin around his eyes wrinkling deeply, His shocked expression was clear even with the thick, black bandages wrapped around his entire face.

Somm, too, stopped his lamenting as he looked up at the shimmering air above the altar.

A light bloomed in the sky, a body made of flames burst into existence, black smoke billowing rapidly from the human-shaped inferno. The sick, yellow grass around the altar blackened and smouldered as figure landed on the floor, molten tar dropping in thick goops onto the ground.

“By Shuma’s embrace—“ Bacchi muttered under his breath.

The form of the boy in front of the two guru-chi was unmistakable. The flames, acrid and unbearably hot even from a distance. The two wise men felt the heat against their bodies even through their thick furs and leathers.

The figure was only as tall as a boy. He held his flaming arms out in front of him, calmly looking back and forth at each hand. His attention turned over to Bacchi as the guru-chi knelt down on one knee and dropped his gaze in reverence.

Somm, too, did the same.

The teenage oji behind Bacchi remained standing but looked directly at Nilya with a calm, stern expression.

The flames began to calm. Nilya felt the flames become a part of him as the power of the catalyst was absorbed into his body. He heard an illusory gong, loud and brassy, the powerful sound reverberating through the core of his soul.

He felt like the impurities in his body had been burned away. The dissonance between his spirit and the catalyst had caused him immense pain, more than anything he had ever felt in his life. So intense that he had been on the verge of giving up just to make it stop. Even now with his body tingling with a new, raw power he felt like a part of him had been irreversibly broken from the trauma of that trial.

It was only the words that Shou Tao had spoken to him that saved him. No, not even the words. The memory of the question that she had asked him was what had saved him.

What do you want the most in this world?

He hadn’t known how to answer it at the time, but now he was sure of his response. He watched the lines of the veins in his arms as the final traces of golden light were absorbed into his body, and once more he looked like a normal human boy.

“You have truly succeeded. The light of the Solar flows through your veins, boy.” Somm said reverently, gesturing religiously as he bowed his head before Nilya, “Praise Shuma, praise the Sun God.”

Nilya was at a loss for words as he saw the two wise men kneeling before him.

Something triggered his spiritual intuition, pulling his gaze away from them up to the horizon. Far in the distance he saw a thin girl with long black hair standing in the swamp, too far to see her eyes, but they unmistakably locked gazes.

“No.” He whispered, “Praise the white maiden.”