Towards the Sapphire Light.

White gowns

Day 2 - The enlightenment and replacement ritual.

I woke up to the echoing sound of rhythmic ululating. I guess they are already continuing the 5-day process before the burial/cremation. No one would care if I was there or not. As to them I had shunned and abandoned our community and so my presence in all this was unnecessary.

There was a sudden silence and I saw this as my chance to go and freshen up. I got my small bag with my bathroom stuff and headed for the door. I was met by many young girls with ash on their faces with what I assume was lamb blood on their cheeks and lips, in white gowns standing in a straight line in the middle of the hallway with their legs spread. The next successor to take the place of Grandma as godmother of these girls was expected to crawl between their legs as a way of them accepting her as their New guardian. It was usually done in the afternoon but I guess something was wrong. I quickly went back into my room and covered up before my presence was detected. I threw on a white gown similar to that of the girls that I found hanging on a racket in the wardrobe. I believe it was put here for this.

As I went back outside I found the crowd had already left. The ululating once again began but outside of the building. I sighed in relief and walked out of the room closing the door behind me. As I was scurrying my way to the bathroom in hopes of not running into anyone I bumped into someone. It was a tall masked figure who was dressed in black raggedy robes, that were very different from everyone else's. The mask was wooden in the shape of a peculiar upset face. Just looking up at the being sent shivers that felt like they were sent from the dark realm of Berferos, down my spine. I then felt compelled to immediately drop my head to face the ground, that's when it hit me. This was the priestess. She lowered her head down to my ear and whispered in a raspy voice

"You can't run from destiny if it is written in the cosmos it will be so. Remember that Young Zahara or should I say Alaine?" She then cackled away disappearing as soon as she was behind me. My heart was racing. How did she know my name? I pondered to myself forgetting that the priestess was an "all-seeing and all-knowing" being as she was a child of the gods. I quickly shook off the thought and continued my way down the hallway. Someone I was raised with probably told her, "all-seeing" my foot. I had a long day awaiting me so I had to hurry before I did something that was considered taboo in this community.

40 minutes later___________

I awkwardly swallowed the last bit of my omelette as the younger girls between roughly the ages of  8 - 14 glared at me with beady eyes and watering mouths. As part of the 10-day mourning ritual, all the residents of the compound were to follow the following rituals, Day 1 is the memorial, Day 2 is the replacement(only on day 2 where they have to put something or someone else in the departed's place to avoid them or malevolent beings from coming back to/occupying their place) and enlightenment ritual (where they observe a fast for two days to cleanse themselves before the burial), Day 4 Shedding ritual (where they get rid of all the departed's belongings either by burning or giving them away, Day 5 the rite of passage ritual (where everyone stays in their rooms the whole day to let the soul of the departed roam and pass through the house freely one last time before going to the afterlife), Day 6 the burial or cremation, Day 7 Prayer festival (intense prayer and dance for the journey of the dead into the afterlife to be successful) Day 8-10 (basically just crying their eyes out or laugh your lungs out or whatever you need to do to get over the loss and let go). Honestly, to me, it's backward thinking observing fasts, rituals, and everything, absolute poppycock, but I guess it does help forget the pain and move on... I am only here to say my goodbyes to her and to honour her wish. My chest welled up I could see they were hungry but if I offered them anything it would have probably caused problems. I got up from the dining table with my plate and walked over to the kitchen I was designated to.

They were living like pilgrims but they were at least on the way to modernising the compound they had electricity and somewhere near modern kitchens. It was all the do's and don'ts of living here that suffocated me and now that I know of a better life I knew this was wrong. As soon as I heard the bell tolling for prayers I quickly rushed to my room to avoid another run-in with the priestess. Those burning herbs she walks around with during prayer always bring forth my asthma. The thought of it on its own gave me anxiety. It felt as though there were bad memories around my past attacks, but I couldn't remember any of them. I reached the corridor with the rooms and as I kept dwelling on my missing memories I could feel a headache brewing. It felt like something was banging on my head the pain was unbearable.

I stopped for a minute to take a breather leaning on the wall. The headache subsided and I felt strong enough to walk as I stood up straight I saw the end of the hallway it looked like the door at the end of it was getting smaller until it was gone and so was the light. My head felt light and my eyesight was hazy. The sound of indistinct chanting echoed in the background, I couldn't make out what they were saying but I could recognize that voice any day, what was she doing to me?

"Chanting in the native tongue, Zahara, Zahara, Zahara it's almost time. It's almost time for your destiny, it's almost time to fulfil your destiny, Chanting continues." said the priestess in an eerie voice which was more than clear now and strangely familiar. I was surrounded by total darkness and it felt like the priestess was dancing around me, and then she was gone but I was still in the dark place the floor I was standing on was covered in water that didn't feel wet. The air was still and I could feel another presence a much darker presence near me the atmosphere was suddenly dense. A dark disfigured being appeared in the distance it looked exactly like what Nana described as a Nocturnal. It turned on its spikey legs, and its skinny body looked burned but glowed all over like it had live lava pulsing through its veins and thick black silhouetted bones. The area around its ribcage area was bright orange, I could make out the silhouette of its beating heart. Its face was covered by a white mask and it had extremely long red hair tied into a ponytail.

I edged a few steps away from it as it seemed to notice me. Raspy and heavy breathing echoed everywhere. "What was going on? How'd I get here and how do I leave ?! Someone help!" I yelled in my head. My breath grew shorter and faster I could feel the fear coursing through my veins and I felt like I was glued to the spot. Suddenly the breathing stopped and the Nocturnal started disappearing and reappearing as though glitching in and out of existence,  each time it was getting closer and closer to me. "Shit shit shit shiiit I have to get out of here!" I exclaimed to myself again. It started running towards me its steps in rhythm with the thumping of my heart which was rising into my throat. It kept getting closer and closer and closer...

Berferos: the realm where the condemned dead, darkness, and all things impure dwell.

Nocturnal: a supernatural being usually described as either a nightmare dweller or bringer that uses nightmares to feed on the human's life source/soul through their fear.

Another chapter completed, hope you liked it.

~Tina♡