The Dusk Shaman
( Please ignore weirdness of tenses... I have a bad habit of, well, not editing. )
The only sounds were the the crunch of boots through snow as Khuja made her way to the trial ground, accompanied by the three Elders of the Clans and her mother, Ohzu. They were dressed in their warm, heavy furs. The Elders carried their staves, and Khuja her spellbook, but otherwise they traveled light. It was neither a long journey nor a difficult one and already, she could see the cave on the horizon.
The winds of Coerthas were blessedly still this evening, and the sky was clear, allowing the full moon and myriad stars to shine down on them without filter. It gave her comfort. It allowed her to focus. As the cave loomed ever closer, Khuja steeled herself ever more.
“We are here,” said Basuh, elder of the Jinjahl clan, as they reached the cave entrance. She was the oldest of the Elders, but moved with all the grace and confidence of someone younger. She steps into the snow-free entrance to the cave, followed by Pako of the Molkot and Soje of the Moshantu. Ohzu moved to the side, watching the proceedings with a critical eye.
The elders faced Khuja, who remained outside the safety of the cave, standing tall and proud in the snow. Basuh was the first to speak, with distinct authority, “Khuja, you are First Daughter of the Moshantu clan, daughter of the Matriach Ohzu. Tonight, you seek the title of Dusk Shaman. Are the words I speak true?”
“Venerable Elders, the words you speak are true,” Khuja returned, placing her hand over her heart and bowing her head to them.
“The Dusk Shaman is a master of all elements. Fire. Earth. Wind. Water. Void. She is capable of destruction and healing, control and chaos. If you are found unworthy, you will not be allowed another chance and will be disinherited. Is there ought else you would do before attempting these trials?”
“Venerable Elders, there is not else I would ought to do. I am prepared,” Khuja said, glad to hear herself sound firm and confident. She didn’t feel it.
“We shall begin,” Basuh stated before she turned on her heel and made her way further into the cave. Torches lit the way, and Khuja followed along. They did not descend far before entering a large, open space within the cave itself. Inside there were four stations set up, each with a different trial set.
Basuh was again the elder to speak, “You will begin at the left, and work right. You are to dissipate the block ice with fire, from the inside out. You are to raise a stone pillar measuring six fulms in height. You are to overturn the table with wind. Lastly, you are to douse the bonfire, though leave the coals burning hot. Have you any questions?”
Basuh had motioned to each station in turn as she spoke. The block of ice was easily as tall as Khuja, and was wide as she was tall as well. The circle to work with the earth was small. The desk was solid, ancient hardwood, and the bonfire was tall and raging. The young Keeper shook her head, “No, Venerable Elder. I have no questions.”
“Then you are to begin,” Basuh murmured, before moving off to the side with the other Elders and Ohzu. A deafening silence falls over the cave now, broken only by the crackling of the bonfire. Khuja approached the block of ice first.
She did not hesitate to begin to work. She half-closed her eyes and then reached out with her aether, tendrils invisible to all but her. She picked at the surface until she found an imperfection. Her aether wiggled into the imperfection and then sought another. Over and over she repeated the process, until her aether was pooled as close to the center as she could manage.In the next moment, a handful of the tattooed runes and symbols began to glow as she activated the spell. Fire erupted in the middle of the block of ice, and soon it was nothing more than a puddle.
“Pass,” called Soje.
Khuja did not pause to celebrate. She stepped up to the circle of dirt that served as her second challenge. Once more she reached out with her aether, pooled it in the dirt and rock there. She lowered herself down to a kneeling position and held the position. A few moments of silence - and then another set of tattoos and runes begin to glow. She gritted her teeth and then rose to her feet sharply, lifted her hands from the ground to above her head.
The earth followed, and soon a pillar of earth and stone stood before her, well taller than her. Certainly more than six fulms.
“Pass,” called Pako.
Khuja stepped to the next task and tried to keep her hands from shaking. She was not nervous or tired, but she was growing anxious. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then reached out with her aether once more. She gathered the latent wind aether from around her and drew it into a bundle before her. Carefully she then knelt down, before thrusting both hands forward to ‘throw’ the ball of wind forward, which she guided to the ground and base of the desk. It caught the heavy wood and Khuja then lifted it, with a grunt as the heavy wood resisted. It took an extra tick or two but soon enough, the desk had been flipped up onto its side.
“Pass,” called Basuh.
Khuja continued now to the bonfire. Extinguish the flames, but not the embers. She eyed the fire a moment before she reached out once more with her aether. This time, she drew water aether from the snow outside. The then carefully began to weave it among the fire, slow and steady, avoiding the flaring fire as best she could. Soon enough she had a dancing latticework of water aether ready to be called upon. She threw her hands out to her sides and it came into being near the base of the fire. The flames died at the base and then disappeared into the air, leaving only red hot coals around the charred wood.
“Pass,” called Ohzu.
“You have passed the trials of four of the elements,” Basuh said from her position to the side, “Now you must prove your mastery over the fifth. You are to summon a voidsent, a simple voidoriga, and bind it to you. Prove your mastery over it. Then, banish it. Should you falter, the beast shall be slane, and you shall be deemed a failure. Do you understand?”
Khuja had, by now, turned to face the Elders. She nodded her head once, “I understand, Venerable Elder.”
“Then begin.”
Khuja bowed to them and then snapped her spellbook off her belt. She flipped it open to a familiar page and withdrew chalk from her belt. She knelt down and drew a handful of symbols with the confidence of someone who had been doing this for years. Showing confidence was key. With the symbols drawn, Khuja returned to her faet and pocketed the chalk, snapped the book back to her belt.
Once more did her runes and tattoos begin to glow, this time bright enough that even beneath her furs they could be seen. A moment later and there was a rumble like thunder in the cave above her symbols before a tear in the fabric of their reality appeared. She opened it further, watching carefully for her quarry.
It did not take long to appear. A voidoriga - scaly, deformed, vicious, and winged - burst from the tear, attempted to fly for freedom. Khuja clapped her hands together, which shut the gateway down behind it and simultaneously launched aetheric chains from the symbols on the ground up to the beast. They snapped around wrists and ankles and throat, and now the Keeper made eye contact with the snarling and flailing beast.
“You will submit to my will and serve me for a time,” Khuja said, voice firm in tone but slightly shaky from the effort to hold the creature, “I will strike a bargain. A small portion of my aether for a small portion of your time. Then, you shall be banished whence you came.”
The voidoriga shrieked and thrashed and ignored her. Khuja set her feet and snarled as she fought to hold it. She held her hands out, strengthened the bonds, “I… said,” she then yanked her hands back and down, pulling the aetheric chains - and the creature - with the motion, “Submit!”
The voidoriga hit the ground with a dull thud and a now-pained shriek. It started to struggle again but Khuja only yanked on the chains harder. Eventually, the creature stilled and glared at her. Silence once more fell across the cave.
“We have an accord, then?” She asked firmly. The beast let out a low growl but nodded once. She was never sure how smart these creatures were, but they always had a dangerous sort of cleverness hidden in their eyes. “Then your bindings will be removed, and you are to stay put.”
Khuja eyed the creature for another second or two and then stood up, snapped her fingers, and the chains disappeared. Her heart skipped a beat when the voidoriga stood, and she saw the Elders and her mother get ready to kill the creature… but it didn’t flee. It stayed put and stared at her with those beady eyes, awaiting a command.
The Keeper let out a quiet sigh of relief. She portioned off a small portion of her aether - knowing it would regenerate in time - and then floated it over to the creature. Greedily, it launched itself at it. “Now, begone.”
She clapped her hands together and the runes on the ground glowed brightly. With a surprised shriek of pain, the creature burst into flames and then was gone, back where it had come from. Khuja then stood tall and still, hands clasped behind her back. There was some discussion among the elders before Basuh stepped forward, looking stern.
“Khuja, First Daughter of the Moshantu clan, daughter of the Matriach Ohzu, it is with great honor that we bestow upon you the title of Dusk Shaman. You shall serve the Clans with honor, and long may you do so.”
It is all that Khuja can do to express her excitement and glee. She must concentrate on the honorific ways. A hand was placed over her heart and she bowed to the gathered elders and her mother.
“Venerable Elders, I thank you, and accept the title of Dusk Shaman. I shall serve the Clans with honor for as long as I may live.”
Each Elder approached her in turn after that, took her hands in their own. They murmured soft words on encouragement or gave minor blessings of their own, often unique to their Clan. All the while, her mother hung back and waited, her hands folded behind her back and her brow furrowed slightly.
Soon enough, mother and daughter were alone, and the cave was silent save for the sounds of distant water dripping from the ceiling of the cave to the floor. Khuja can’t keep a straight fact any longer and erupted into a fit of excited giggles.
“I did it, mother!”
“You did,” came Ohzu’s reply, though it was far more tempered, nearly devoid of her daughter’s excitement. Khuja’s smiling faltered, and then disappeared as her mother continued talking, “Nearly five winters older than your elder sister. Twenty-one winters old you are, and - “
“Miah is gone, mother,” Khuja said sharply, feeling old pain rising to the surface, “She has been gone for -”
“Do not lecture me, child, I know. I also know what consumed her. She was a prodigy, but too bold, too careless. You will not make those mistakes. I will not allow it.”
“O - of course I will not make those mistakes. I suffered in her passing as well. I would never repeat what she had done. I am more -”
Ohzu held up a hand to silence her daughter, and then clasped it once more behind her back. Her tail swayed slowly behind her, “You will not make the same mistakes, because I will not allow it,” she repeated, with careful and controlled emphasis on her final words, “You will partake in the celebrations and the feasts, and in a sennight you will leave. You will travel the lands, mediating and strengthening your control over the elements. You will not return until you have mastered them utterly.”
Khuja’s jaw slackened as her mother continued to talk. Her ears pinned back and she couldn’t help but stomp her foot and lash her tail, “That is unfair! You did not require it of Miah. I have never heard of this required of any that would call themselves a Dusk Shaman, and -”
“Those who have failed in the past have not been my daughter,” Ohzu snapped, her voice quiet and cold. “This is not negotiable. You will do as I say. Alternatively, you may return the mantle you have been bestowed -”
“No,” Khuja retorted, with a shake of her head that sent her braids bouncing, “No, I will not relinquish this mantle. I will go on your journey. I will do as you say. I miss her too, mother, but this will neither bring her back nor honor her memory nor prepare me better than I already am.”
A heavy silence fell between them as neither wished to budge on the issue. “It will make me feel better, and I have no doubt you will return stronger for it. Go. Meditate. Grow.”
Ohzu approached her now, leather scuffing on the rock floor as loud as thunder in the otherwise silent cave. She reached up and took Khuja’s face in her hands before she leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, “I am immensely proud of you, as I was her. I did not protect her enough, and now I shall protect you overmuch. Come, the feast is to begin soon.”
With that, Ohzu stepped beyond her daughter and continued to the mouth of the cave. Khuja hesitated a moment longer, lingered in the space where her victory occurred, and then turned to follow.
2 notes
·
View notes