Hours had passed since the contestants entered their cubes and Mathete was getting worried. She feared the possibility of all of them being lost and none was worthy to become the next Oracle; and the old religion needed the Oracle to survive.
She bit her nail nervously and fixed her gaze on the cubes of destiny. The one to emerge from the cubes would be initiated as the winner.
"Would you stop fidgeting? You are making me uncomfortable", Molina, one of the Sybil elders sitting close to Mathete snapped and gently hit Mathete on the head with the old stick she used to support herself.
"How can I stop? None of them is out yet and it has been hours. I fear they may all be lost to the test", her voice shook
"Mohan knows what he is doing. Rowena's vision was that four Sybil will enter and only one will return", Mathete smiled
"Rowena's visions have been wrong in the past and you know it. What bothers me is the last Sybil to turn up for the games, the one called Nikki. I should have never allowed that thing into the games, I don't know why you insisted", Mathete complained, all the while still focusing on the cubes
"You never know", Molina smiled yet again.
Truth was, she knew exactly what she was doing when she had put Nikki up for the games. She and Mohan knew exactly what they were doing.
Nikki might be inexperienced, cursed even, but she had potential.
"I see something", one of the spectators yelled out into the amphitheatre catching everyone's attention.
Everyone now focused their gaze intently on the Cubes.
Supporters of Zepha the warrior raised their banners in anticipation of her return; supporters of Freya the healer also began their jubilation eager for her to step out of her cube victorious; and supporters of Tetania were at the ready to pop open the largest barrel of beer to celebrate their celebrity's victory.
The whole amphitheatre was now rowdy and loud in anticipation of who their new Oracle would turn out to be.
"Anytime now...", Mathete stared at the cubes
The sky turned dark and every noise died down immediately. The wind picked up, blowing hard and fast. Everyone watched with eagerness as a large portal the four cubes began to shake violently. One by one all the cubes began to burst into a million tiny pieces, such that it looked like someone had sprayed black pixie dust everywhere.
A portal opened above the centre of the amphitheatre, where the cubes had once stood and the portal grew bigger and bigger still.
A body was thrown out and the portal suddenly vanished. Everyone watched closely, eyes trained on the body.
Nikki groaned and lazily struggled to get on her feet.
"Seriously, can't I be given the choice of either being thrown from the cube or just simply walking out?", she stomped her foot.
It took a minute for her to register what exactly had happened. She had no idea what happened after she had stabbed herself, now the dagger was gone and thankfully so were her other selves; she realized that she was back at the centre of the amphitheatre and the cubes were gone.
Everywhere fell quiet. People lowered their banners, stopped beating their drums and just stared at the unknown victor with their mouths ajar.
Mathete herself was left with her mouth opened, only Molina laughed at the sight of poor confused Nikki. She cleared her throat loudly, snapping Mathete out of the trance she was in.
"Um... Quite a turn out today, am I right?", Mathete announced from the high bleacher she was seated in, in hopes of lifting everyone's spirits. Sadly, it only rewarded her with quiet murmurs from the crowd.
"People of Gashier and far and wide of the old religion, your new Oracle", she announced.
Silence, then loud cries of boos and wailing erupted from the bleachers.
Even she was uncertain of what had just taken place on the biggest day in Sybil history.
<&>
"This is not possible, I smell a conspiracy"
"How could that cursed thing, so unskilled, an abomination be the Oracle?"
Nikki had been hearing these ever since the games ended two days ago. No one was ready to accept her; they were never going to accept her no matter what she did.
"Maybe mean Nikki and sad Nikki had a point", she sighed
"Of course not, people are just shocked that's all and who are these mean Nikki and Sad Nikki personas? Never heard of them", Molina mused
Molina had invited her over to prepare her for her initiation which was going to take place in the Temple of Mohan, in Galierlau, the city's capital, later that day and they were on their way to the initiation.
"I still don't understand why the other contestants did not pass", she played with a loose thread on her skirt as she walked beside Molina, "it's still hard to believe that they lost to their tests"
"The cube has strange ways of working. They merely failed to recognize their mission and fell victim to the enticements of the cube", Molina explained
"I'm a little afraid. What if the cube was wrong? What if I am curse and unlucky and I doom the Sybil tribe even more", Nikki moaned
"The cube is never wrong in its choice, if it chose you, it means you are worthy"
They walked on for a few more hours till they finally reached the Temple of Mohan. The ancient building was in good condition for a building that had been standing for thousands of years. The tall gates that gave zero sight of what lies inside, were still a shiny and inviting gold, while the walls; tall and strong, were marbled with silver pebbles that glistened in the sun. It was truly beautiful.
Usually, there would be a long line of creatures from far and wide lined up at the gate waiting to consult the Oracle, but today the grounds were clear for the initiation of the Oracle was a sacred ritual.
Entering the main hall, Nikki sighted Mathete and twenty-eight other Sybil women standing in a semi circle around a symbol scribbled with white chalk on the ground. Some of these women Nikki recognized, and some of them she didn't. Molina herself had gone to join the semi circle making it a total of thirty women.
"Step into the centre of the symbol", instructed one of the women Nikki believed to be a woman called Peralis.
Nikki obeyed.
"Kneel"
Nikki obeyed.
The thirty women began to chant in the old religion's ancient tongue that only a few in the old religion could speak, read and understand. Nikki closed her eyes and tried to calm her mind.
The chanting grew intense. The lit torches in the room began to flicker furiously, and the atmosphere had an ominous feel to it.
Nikki could feel the power crawling up her body, into her bones, into her soul; mating with her spirit. It felt overwhelming, and it took all the strength she had to prevent her body from falling due to overloading her body with such enormous power.
Is this what it feels like to be the messenger for the gods?, she wondered struggling to keep her body kneeling.
It hurt.
Along with the power surge came enormous pain and Nikki couldn't help but scream. By the time the chanting had died down, Nikki sank down to the ground, weak. She felt strangled in her own body; honestly, it felt nothing like her own body. Her vision blurred, her body wreathed in its own sweat and she couldn't see what was going on around her, but she could hear.
"Bring the ceremonial blade"
"Is there a blood ritual too?", Nikki asked, her speech slurred. She felt drunk; drunk on immense power.
"Restrain her"
Nikki was too weak to do anything when she was suddenly and aggressively grabbed by the arms and pinned down; her legs were also pinned down. She tried to fight back, but she was too weak to do anything productive and she had to admit, these women were crazy strong.
"Stop... please....", Nikki pleaded
No one seemed to care about Nikki's begging or her kicking and screaming, they all held her down while one of them began chanting again, a different chant this time. One of the women began walking towards Nikki, a small dagger in hand.
"No, stay away from me", Nikki cried. Fear gripped her.
The woman bent down and leaned in closer to Nikki. She held Nikki by the chin and slowly, gently pierced the dagger into her left eye.
"Eb-desselb-htiw-eht-noisiv" They all began to chant in the ancient tongue of the old religion.
Nikki screamed as her eyes were removed.
A/N- The ancient tongue of the old religion is just backwards talk.
So "Eb-desselb-htiw-eht-noisiv" means "Be-blessed-with-the-vision"
This explanation is so you don't get confused, cause the Ancient Tongue will be used a lot.
So,what do you think of the initiation process?