157 New world same beginnings (1)
It was a sunny day and the air was extremely clear, a huge crowd of young adults had gathered in a festively decorated square. Their appearance was almost identical to a human, if not for a single small horn on their forehead. It was not more than 1 cm in height and diameter, yet each and everyone raised it into the sky full of pride.
Despite the sheer size of the crowd, not a single word was spoken as everyone had their eyes on the front. There was an almost tangible tension in this silence. All of them waited for the event, that would define their future.
Every single one of them was aware of its importance as only their faint breathing could be heard. It became more than obvious, by just how much anticipation was placed on it.
More and more time passed but not one displeased voice could be heard, as a deafening silence filled the colourful square. But none of them was prepared for how long the waiting period would stretch for.
Although there was general confusion about the lack of development, they still did not dare to make any ruckus and endured the waiting period without any complaints. Nobody wanted to bring shame onto themselves and so they continued to stand straight with their mouths tightly closed.
It was a praiseworthy display of perseverance but there was no one to compliment them on it. It was a battle of patience in sheer solitude. No words there exchanged, but many gazes instead. Their eyes lingered on the surrounding members of the crowd resulting in a resurgence of energy to not give in.
This weird form of competition was born out the high expectancy and their competitive spirit. For the very first time in their history, something like this did occur leaving everyone a bit lost what exactly was demanded of them.
The pressure kept on the increase with the passage of time, yet each and everyone did not even consider giving up. Their pride forbade them from stepping down, as a lot was on the line for them.
Not only was their pride at stake but they also faced the unknown consequences that would result out of failure. But with every danger came an opportunity and the long waiting was deemed a test of their mettle.
At least this was their interpretation of the long duration of absolute standing still they found themselves in. The true cause for all of this was entirely unrelated to them, but nobody could have seen it coming.
As the session of competitive waiting commenced, another weird observation could be made. Even more, confused by the competition, was the men in charge of supervising it. His horn reached a length of 20 centimetres and his body was full of scars. He supervised many of these events and this was the very first time something like this had happened.
Baffled, he did not know how he should handle this affair, as he was afraid of being reprimanded for failing such an important issue. By admitting his fault, he would not only bring shame upon the Lady who had chosen him but also risk his life.
Replacing him would be done with utter ease and no one would bat an eye if he were to disappear. For his Lady he was just one of many and with his failure, he would be discarded without a second thought.
He spared a glance at the many young males giving their all not to fall behind and could only shake his head. Not many of them would return with their lives because their lives as well were deemed as disposable.
The memories of the cruel battle were still vivid as his hands were dyed in blood. He had proven his worth and persisted to the end, yet no one had shown any interest in him, as he was declared to be nothing more than second-rate man.
This judgement followed him all of his life and was something he could not escape from. Luckily enough he was given the honour of supervising the holy procedure in the name of his lady. Something which he could not reject.
An irregularity like this was something he had never seen or heard about, but as long as the lives of the participants were not in danger, he would never interfere. After all, intervening without a proper cause, would be another way to ruin his life.
Such an occurrence should never happen without a reason since many eyes are directed at this competition. It was a struggle between many different factions to find the next suitable candidate. Once he had yearned to reach that status as well.
Yet once he had seen those candidates, he had to admit the vast difference in ability, it was fortunate enough that he was able to keep his life. Their horns towered over him and had left a fearful impression in the back of his mind. In the end, he just had been too inferior to them.
Only the strongest would be chosen, while weak people like him were at the mercy of everyone. It was a cruel and harsh fight but all of this was considered to be natural. He felt a bit envious about these young adults, who were so full of ambition and motivation. It reminded him of the time before he stepped through that gate to that domain of death.
He might have left the domain with his life but the horror stayed with him It would never leave him as long as he lived. His horn was a reminder of how many lives he had taken in that place.
Whenever he looked at the proof of his manhood, he felt a sense of achievement and a lot of pride, but with it came with a lot of sadness as well. He had lost sight of himself and paid a terrible price. Most people who lost their lives in that place live on in others, but he had led their effort gone to waste.
This burden was something, which every strong man had to carry and it was an honour to have it. It was proof of their quality as a man. Just like their ancestors did before them, only the strong shall survive and serve.
As tradition dictates, only the best was suitable for the choosing of a lady. Their success was built on the sacrifice of many to form a few strong. That is the very foundation their race has been built one.
Normally a smile would have been on his face, as he remembered the noble history of his ancestors but at this very moment, hie did not feel like it, as the mysterious event was still ongoing. Had a change occurred, which he was not notified off?
A bad premonition overcame him, as he looked on in sheer horror as the competition continued. There was something wrong and the unease never fully went away the more he thought about what exactly was occurring.
Knowing the feeling of the next generation he was more than worried, that some lasting repercussions would be born out of this event. If it did not change soon, his head would roll. Especially if his lady became wind of it. He could not fathom why such a simple task, had suddenly turned into an event threatening his livelihood.
His only hope was that the issue would resolve by itself, which seemed unlikely given the duration the status quo had lasted for by now. A prayer was directed to his God to guide him but he did not receive any help.
The hard competition of waiting in silence resumed in full force and nobody knew how long it would last. Although there seemingly was no threat to the lives of the young adults, any time wasted standing there doing nothing was inexcusable.
But the portal should have opened by now, yet the place where its arrival was more than due remained empty. Every single one of them started at it, awaiting its appearance and they were kept on being disappointed.
it was them when a bright light eliminated the place and the portal everyone had yearned for appeared with all its glory. But no one dared to make the first step, as they stared with their eyes wide open.
Suddenly a figure stepped out of the portal with a wide grin on its face. Its features strikingly resembled the ones of the youth in front of the portal. There was only a singular difference, he did not have 1 horn on top of his but 3 with a length of over 20 centimetres.
Dressed in a white garment, he looked cheerful at the crowd. Upon noticing their rather plain clothing he felt slightly dejected but did not do anything else about it. It was him who was late to holding this ceremony and therefore he had to make up for it.
With a wave of his arms, a ginormous amount of magic was moved and everyone felt their horns tingling and increasing in size. All of them lowered their head and bowed in front of such generosity.
Yet the one responsible for this act remained unperturbed and clicked his tongue in annoyance. He wanted nothing more than to go along with the procedure and needed the people to hurry up since they were not the only ones waiting for him.
Not waiting for these people to lift their head he started to speak.
" That should be enough. We all know just how important the upcoming months are for you. So I am not going to bother to explain the rules, everyone knows what to do. I will not interfere regardless of what is done inside of it. Remember to become the best in order to be chosen."
This short speech was done without any motivation and he yawned as he stared at the mesmerized look of the group. The eyes were always the same, he had grown numb to them a long time ago. What seemed marvellous and promising to them, was nothing more than a chore for him.
It was his duty to watch over these pitiful children, as they did everything just to be appealing. If this race was not so fertile, he would not have to hold so many ceremonies. Looking at the sheer size of youths he felt nothing more than a pure ecstasy.
The bloodshed that would occur would be incomparable to any time before and if he thought about the involvement about the human, he could not help himself and became excited. Finally, something would change in the otherwise boring repetition.
" My dear children, you have proven your worth by waiting for so long. My gift shall be your reward and it shall be in the future if you produce the necessary achievements." Seeing the listening in their eyes he had succeeded in giving them even more motivation.
He would not tell them about the human itself as these crude people would not understand a single thing about it. The significance of the event that he bore witness to can not be understood by these boorish mortals.
In all of this time, he had never even dreamed about seeing such a strange sight, but the human managed to do something which was unheard of. Truth be told, even he had never thought such a thing to be in the realm of possibility.
Sadly he could not speak to the human, as the sounds it made had no rhyme or reason to them. He had tried every language he knew, but it was to no avail, as the human did not seem to understand him either.
Otherwise, he would have loved to ask the human what exactly he did. What a truly interesting fellow, he had not even arrived in his domain and he already had caused such a scene. Receiving that kind of attention, without having done something was indeed something inexplicable to him.
" Hereby I declare the time of Maturity has come" As the words were loudly proclaimed a war crime escaped out of every single mouth to present their will. Step by step they wandered into the portal without looking back.
It was an awe-inspiring sight but in the end, they were just lambs before the slaughter. But he could not care less about them, it did not take long before there was another wave of young and foolish children hoping for the best.
Amongst these children there was no quality whatsoever, the only thing they had were the quantity. It was hard to feel pity when life meant so little. It is due to that reason, that the Gods do not even pay attention to this place of misery.
Their abilities were truly pitiful in comparison to their counterpart and therefore rightfully classified as the lowest of the low. Far too many were needed to produce a single one with good capabilities. This would never change, they were far too adamant on not changing the ways of old for that.
Due to their nature, he was forced to get the human in the first place. Relying on them to take care of a problem was more than unlikely and he could not risk the loss of the few which were eyes by the Gods.
The task for the human would be quite an arduous one, as it required a lot of time to accomplish. Though the hardest part would be to convey the actual task since communication has proven to be difficult up to this point.
As for the glorious impression of youth walking in his portal he had already forgotten about it. The portal would close on its own after 30 minutes had passed. He was already on his way to the next ceremony with yet another group of youths staring at him full of desire.
Once again he held the same speech, gave out the same gift and watched on as the same people walked into his portal. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, as he complained inwardly about his duty. Watching the human was so much more fascinating than seeing the same acts from the same people in the same manner yet another time.
But sadly he could not forsake his duty as it needed to be done and sadly he could not make the process any faster, there were just too many of them. He cursed their fertility yet another time before hurrying to the next station.
The mundanity of the situation was making him furious. Finally, there was an interesting change and yet he could not even watch it. It was vexing for him to see the extent his duty began to interfere with his passion.
He just hoped that the human would not do anything too interesting while he was not watching, but knowing the human, he will without a doubt do something incredible. He just hoped that the human would not bring any danger upon himself.
But just as usual Moirai was 2 steps ahead in that regard.
