CHAPTER 5

After the offering was made to our patron goddess, everyone took their seats at the prepared tables and ate and drank to the full. However, I could not join in the celebration because my thoughts were centred on Lito. Tlaca, who was sitting just one table away, kept giving me worried looks, which I always dismissed with a slight smile. But I couldn't fool her, she knew me too well for that.

By the time the feast ended and everyone got up from the long benches to clean up the mess, I was exhausted. I didn't want to stay any longer. There was nothing else left for me here, anyway.

"Yona where are you going?" my mother asked next to me. I wiped my eyes tiredly. "I'm really tired, I'm going to bed."

"Yona, what are you talking about again? This morning I told you to pull yourself together! Your divine blessing is about to begin!

That's right, there was something else. My tiredness and exhaustion had overtaken me so that I thought of nothing else but getting into bed and sleeping quickly so that I could see Lito rested in the morning.

I nodded and forced a smile. "Yeah, yeah, I know..." Then I yawned and rubbed my eyes. "It's just that I'm so sleepy..."

"Stop yawning the priests can still see you!"

"Yes, yes, it's all right. I'll just tell my brain that you told me to stop. Maybe it'll do you a favour and I'll stop yawning!"

"Don't get cheeky Yona. A little more respect would be appropriate at this point."

I was about to say something but stopped myself.

What am I supposed to say to my mother? That I don't want to go to the temple because Lito is dying there and I hope that he will be better tomorrow after his healing and that he will receive me with a smile? Or that I don't want to be blessed because yesterday, strangely enough, I couldn't pray as if the Goddess didn't want to see me? No way!

I nodded and said: "Yes, ma'am."

My mother shook her head. "Be glad your father doesn't hear you talking to me. He's not very fond of you anyway!"

I stopped listening to my mother and tuned out. This information was nothing new to me. My father could never really warm up to me and there had always been a distance between us that could not be put into words.

And my mother...

My mother was always complaining about me and I could not help wondering why. It seemed like she was constantly angry with me even though I always tried to be good and respectful.

A muffled chime made everyone prick up their ears. The crowd became restless again and Tlacas and my eyes met. The time had come for our divine blessing to begin.

"Come child." My mother took my hand and together we walked towards the temple.

My father and brother followed us both at a little distance. All the better I wanted nothing more to do with him.

The path to the temple was lined with torches that were driven into the ground. The wind made the lights dance on the ground and offered a beautiful sight that gave me an inner peace. In the meantime, evening had fallen and only a few rays of sunlight could be seen making their way from the horizon into the night sky.

We reached the entrance to the temple and were greeted by the guards. We had to pass through the temple gates to enter the sanctum of the goddess.

I looked down on the ground. My hands were trembling and I could feel tears running down my cheeks.

Everything in me cried out not to go to the temple. I felt bad and my headaches started again. The pain reminded me of yesterday and fear overcame me.

"I don't want to go inside."

My mother leaned towards me. "Don't say that. Don't be like that and stop making such a fuss and crying.... no Yona, you have to go."

We entered the temple and a stab ran through my body. I winced briefly in pain.

Inside the temple it was dark. Lanterns lit up the walls and the altar.

There stood the priest from yesterday who handed me a white robe. "Put this on." I looked around and saw that my father and brother were sitting on the prayer benches, watching me. I quickly averted my eyes and put on the robe.

My mother went to my family and I was now alone facing the priest. "Why are you crying?" he asked, slightly puzzled,and I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know," I replied as the tears rolled incessantly from my eyes. Next to me appeared a new future believer who was to receive his blessing today and the Preister now stepped in front of him to hand him his robe. Every now and then, however, he gave me a worried look which I tried to ignore.

In the meantime, the sacred gates had been closed. I tried to find Tlaca, but could not discover her.

"Children of Eurybia, I welcome you to the sacred halls of our patron goddess, so that your future may be full of faith. A priestess appeared behind the huge steel statue. She wore a white robe like the other priests, but a golden silk cloth veiled her face. In greeting, she brought her palm to her forehead. We did the same.

The priestess lowered her hand again and stepped towards the first aspirant.

"Now, daughter of Chui, tell me your name."

"My name is Tlaca, Your Holiness."

I looked to my left and almost twisted my neck to be able to see her.

"Tlaca, please follow me to the water basin."

Tlaca followed the priestess to the pool of water that stretched out under Eurybia's statue.

"Tlaca, be aware that if you enter this pool of water, there is no turning back, and if you are blessed successfully, you will be loyal to your goddess."

"I am aware of this and accept it gratefully."

The priestess nodded with pleasure and held out her hand to Tlaca. "Now enter the pool and conquer your allegiance."

Tlaca grasped the helping hand and stepped into the well. The water went up to her ankles. Suddenly her movements became slower and at the same time more fluid. As if in a trance, she walked towards the waterfall that poured from the statue's right hand.

Meanwhile, my headache was getting worse and my eyes were hurting. Nevertheless, I was too fascinated, so I fought the dizziness that was coming on.

Suddenly, I heard the thunderous roar of the waterfall. I looked up and saw that Tlaca was standing before the statue of Eurybia. Her once shoulder-length black hair was now waist-length and curly.

The last rays of light from the evening sun fell through the mosaic windows and enveloped Tlaca in a breathtakingly beautiful light. All raised their palms to their foreheads to welcome Tlaca as a full member of society.

Our eyes met and she gave me a happy smile, which faded a little when she saw my tears.

I smiled reassuringly as the priestess led her out of the water.

When she came back, the priestess said: "Tlaca, you are blessed and you belong to Eurybia."

"Thank you, Your Holiness."

The priestess picked up a bowl that was filled with red water and sprinkled it over Tlaca's head. "You may go to your family."

Tlaca thanked her and happily went to her parents where she was warmly welcomed by her mother with a tight hug.

The other villagers my age followed and one by one they completed the procedure.

My pain had grown to almost unbearable levels and I was breathing heavily.

As an outsider, this would probably be attributed to my nervousness, but that was not the case. My pain reminded me of Lito, but as I thought, he was not treated in the main hall.

"Now, daughter of Onea, tell me your name."

The priestess was now standing directly in front of me. Through her veil I could see her light blue eyes.

"My name is Yona, Your Holiness."

Worried, I looked down so that she wouldn't see my tears and pain. But this was inevitable. For a moment I thought I could see that she was drawing her eyebrows together, but it was not really visible through the veil.

"Yona, please follow me to the water basin."

I followed the priestes. We stopped in front of it and it seemed as if my heart was being squeezed. I squeaked softly for a moment. But the priestess didn't seem to pay any attention.

"Yona, be aware that if you enter this pool of water, there is no turning back, and if you are blessed successfully, you will be loyal to your goddess."

"I am aware of this and accept it gratefully."After saying these words, my ears began to crack and my feet ached.

The priestess nodded and held out her hand to me. "Now enter the pool and conquer your allegiance."

I grabbed her hand and forced myself to move my aching feet into the water. But when I touched the water it felt boiling hot. Was that normal? How did everyone before me walk through it so easily?

When I let go of the priestess' hand, I felt the air change. I found it increasingly difficult to breathe as I moved towards the waterfall.

Every step hurt and slowly the world around me blurred. I forced myself to stay conscious, fearing that I would faint and fall into the boiling water. I just had to make it to the waterfall.

In the distance I could hear anxious shouts, but I did not understand what was being said. But I didn't care either. I wanted to get the blessing over with and finally reach that waterfall.

When I reached the waterfall, my strength left me because the pain was too much. The last thing I remembered was falling into the waterfall.

***

Cold. Iron cold. I felt my whole body shivering but I couldn't open my eyes. I felt the icy water and tried to stand up, but something held me back. As if I were bound to the water.

I heard something approaching me. The water lapped gently and he, she or it came closer and closer. Am I going to die now? Have I perhaps already died?

A loud sigh

sounded and hurt my ears. In my life I have never heard anyone yawn so loudly.

"So you came to me after all." A voice filled the silence and I winced. It sounded like a child's voice merging with an old lady's voice. As if several were speaking, but in the end you knew that only one person was speaking.

"Stand up and follow me."

All at once I could move again. I felt the blood pumping through my veins again and a pleasant warmth spread through me. I opened my eyes and saw .... legs. My gaze wandered upwards and I had to stifle a startled gasp. Eurybia. This giant in front of me looked exactly like the statue in the temple, except that the skin was not steel.

"Now don't look so puzzled and follow me or I'll change my mind again and just leave you here." With these words she turned around and shrank to the size of my body.

Still confused, I followed her quickly through the cold water.

Our little walk seemed to have no end when a door appeared out of nowhere.

"Come inside. You can't stay long in that water."

I just nodded and followed the woman, whom I still believed to be our patron goddess Eurybia, through the door.

Behind the door lay a table covered with fresh fruit. "Eat some fruit."

I took a strange looking fruit and bit into it. "It's delicious."

The taste was similar to plums but sweeter. The woman nodded and sat down on a chair that had not been there before.

"I think I can save myself the introductions. Yes, I am the patron goddess of Niantra and yes, you don't hallucinate."

A little taken off guard, I just nodded and looked around. Although we had gone through a door, we were in nothing. Words could not comprehend what I saw here. There was a table in front of me, but in a way there wasn't. Below me was a watery floor but also, at the same time, pure nothingness.

A sigh filled the room and Eurybia looked at me seriously. "Yona, you must not be here. It is a miracle that you did not die on your journey to me."

I shook my head in wonder. "What do you mean? I am supposed to receive my divine blessing from you, right? Is that your standard phrase that you recite when someone asks you for your blessing? Do I have to do something for you to grant me this?"

"No Yona, you've got me wrong...", Eurybia replied in that double-sided voice that sent a shiver down my spine with every word she said.

"Yona... you will not receive a divine blessing from me!"