Kaiga

The seer was gone for two hours already, and Ryzen Rozenhart was left alone in the dingy old cellar. He was treated like a prisoner, with a centaur guarding beyond the locked door and at the end of the hallway. He could tell using the beast's eyes. There was no need to hide anything anymore.

He was drifting back to sleep when the rustic door flew open. Ryzen was greeted with the presence of the seer.

'Oh, she has company.'

A girl, barely ten years old in her physical appearance, was with the seer. With the pointed hat she was sporting, he could tell that the seer's companion was not any ten-year-old kid. Wizards tend to be deceiving in their appearance, after all.

"To be a fully pledged Avatar with a new identity, you must face the initiation every Avatar went through for centuries." The seer seriously informed him; the void in her gaze penetrated Ryzen, now Raya.

'An initiation?'

The centaur came again and led Ryzen to the much more profound and darker part of the cellar. It reeked of dried blood and rotten flesh everywhere. The seer and the wizard opened the door. Just like that, he was greeted with a foul smell, making him almost gag.

The room was way smaller than the last one.

Ryzen was rudely pushed inside by the centaur, who immediately locked the door, leaving him with the seer and the wizard. Nowhere else to go, he faced them and waited for the initiation to set forth.

"What is this initiation all about?"

"You'll know, child. Theresa, you took care of it, okay," said the seer. And just like that, she was gone in a matter of split second before their very eyes.

'Is she something else aside from being a seer?'

Ryzen looked at Theresa, whose eyes were void of any emotions. Her tiny body contradicted how she behaved. Wizards were always like this. They were egocentric and reserved, but what made them special aside from controlling the elements was that they could play with their age and appearance. Ryzen was a hundred percent sure this Theresa was more or less a century-year-old wizard to be acquainted with the seer.

On the other hand, the seers were as old as the kingdoms. There were five seers long ago before the unity of the realms. Upon establishing the four great kingdoms, they were divided. One seer per kingdom, the seers, were the other celestial beings alongside the dragons that connected to the gods. They were the ones who delivered messages from above, or so they say.

Ryzen was snapped back to reality when something came out of nowhere. Two fierce hellhounds materialized out of nowhere as if they had just popped out from thin air. His eyes snapped to Theresa, now chanting something under her breath.

'Of course, the wizard. Who else can summon a hellhound?'

'Okay, is the initiation starting?' He asked himself at the back of his mind as Theresa opened her eyes. Her eyes were bright orange and seemed more brilliant than usual, maybe because she was using a hefty amount of magus.

"Beyond the wall speaks nothing but sheer coldness and pain. Things you never thought would happen, frequently occur there. Creatures you never knew of, lived beyond that wall," Theresa began.

Ryzen sat before Theresa. The hellhound behind the wizard while Ryzen stood there listening to what Theresa was saying.

"Avatars were fallen heroes. They died for the kingdom, and no one even knew their name or grieved for them. Tell me, Raya, how much do you know about Avatars?" The wizard's voice was cold and distant.

"I only heard that they were chained beyond the wall to protect Raxes, and they never get back alive," Ryzen repeated what his parents told him and his sister about the Avatars.

"Part of that is true, but people in this land became ungrateful through the years. Nobles scared people away, so no one would like to work as an Avatar. I remember when nobles gave their sons to be Avatar because they knew Avatars are heroes, but now they were degraded into lowly slaves. Avatars aren't chained, as you have heard. They are free beyond the wall. That's partly true in what you have heard: Avatars seldom made it back alive."

"Why?" His question was whispered.

"An Avatar can't go back inside the wall without the bell of Korendell or their master's permission. Most of the time, the bell will ring for them every ten years, but some Avatars can't stay alive for ten years." The wizard's voice was laced with deeper melancholy; something told Ryzen that this wizard had something personal to an Avatar.

"What about the master?"

"You surely believed that the Silver Bloods would grant the Avatars a break? Think again, Raya. Avatars are merely tools for them. Avatars are destined to die and be replaced by the Silver Bloods. They never even have the decency to put up a grave for the heroes who fought beyond the wall for the kingdom," the wizard's voice switched from sadness to bitterness before she continued. "But the connection between the Avatars and their masters is not to be taken lightly." Her last sentence was vague for Ryzen.

"I'll die too, right? Like the others? And who am I fighting beyond those walls?" Ryzen let out a frustrated sigh.

"It is my responsibility to make sure you will not. You see, there are creatures that even the gods can't control, so the gods threw them down here. The people were in peril, and thus the wall was created. The wall was created not to protect the people but to separate the living and the dead. Here take this," the wizard waved her hand midair, and a big metal wrapped with a red satin appeared in front of her waiting to be grasped.

"What are you waiting for? Grab it."

And grabbed he did. A deep searing pain ran through his veins when it touched his hand. He felt as if his blood flowed in his body reversely. He knelt on the ground from the pain, but his hand could not let go of the handle. The handle seemed to grow a life and went inside his palms; Ryzen could not help the scream of pain from his cracked lips. His howls of agony echoed in the cellar. And in his clouded vision, the wizard just stood there like nothing. An inner growl escaped from his lips.

Ryzen knew his beast was at bay.

And just when Ryzen was about to scream murder, everything stopped, and the big metal dropped to the ground producing a clanking noise. He was panting as cold sweats covered his heaving body.

"That weapon is yours. Every Avatar earned one with the same process. This is your sacred weapon Kaiga, and behind that red satin, it will change its form after you claim it." The wizard explained to Ryzen.

"Claimed?" he asked through labored breaths.

"Yes, Ryzen, or shall I say Raya Rozenhart, the new Avatar. You see, this sword is made of pure magus and created to destroy all the dark elements. And this sword chooses its master. If you have been weak, it will reject you, devouring your body in the process. As an Avatar, this is your sacred weapon designed to be with you to death."

Ryzen stared dumbly at the metal still covered with red satin before him. "Go to it. Answer to its call."

Ryzen stood up slowly and reached for the Kaiga. Inch after inch until he was able to pull the cover. A gasp escaped from him upon seeing his sacred weapon. It was a scythe. When he touched its blade, the crimson stone etched on its handle glowed as if it was responding to him. "So, you are Kaiga, huh? Let us try not to die, Kaiga."

It glowed again as if answering him.

"You and Kaiga are now connected. You can summon your weapon anytime or carry it around all the time. Now to end this initiation, kneel before me."

Ryzen obliged and knelt before the wizard, Theresa. Theresa started to chant as her hand was placed on his head as if she was blessing him.

The temperature dropped, and the land trembled. As the seconds passed, something in his head exploded, creating unbearable pain that he collapsed on the spot.