“Excuse me!”
The shout rang out through the crowded street, but did nothing to move the people one way or another. The young, scrawny red head desperately tried to pry the wall of shoulders apart when his cry faded away with no effect. With one hand clasped firmly around his sister’s, he wiggled his other arm between two people. A hard elbow made contact with his ribcage and he stumbled back coughing. The human wall closed and more people rushed passed the two siblings, filling in any gaps that might have been left.
“What do you see?” his little sister’s voice reached his ears over the crowd’s bustling activity and conversation. He strained to see over the numerous heads separating him from the lake at the end of the street. When he didn’t respond, a sharp tug on his sleeve proved she was still waiting for an answer.
“Cory, what is happening?”
He looked down to see her lips turned out in a pout as she tugged on his sleeve again. She had waited all year for this. With a sigh, he scanned the rapidly filling street and crowd, searching for another way around. Their small village only had one road, lined with houses on either side, and sandwiched between dense woods and a large lake. Anything ever worth seeing happened by the lake. Today was the biggest day of the year, and there was definitely something worth seeing happening, which made their current predicament even more frustrating. Because of the shape of the tree line and unusual landscape, the clearing at the end of the street was the only place the lake was truly visible from the ground. Except maybe...
Gripping his sister’s hand a little tighter, Cory started jogging towards one of the houses. He avoided the growing crowd rushing past him and slipped into the small alley separating two of the small buildings. He had to turn sideways to squeeze between the stone walls on either side of him. They stepped out from the alley and immediately into a heavily wooded area. Cory pushed through the thick bushes that pulled at his clothes as he made his way up the side of a hill. A whimper behind him caused him to turn to his sister.
Her foot was lodged between two branches and she tried futilely to unwedge it without losing her shoe. With a rather loud sigh, Cory reached down and picked her up, wrapping his arm around her waist as she clung to his neck.
“My shoe!” she shouted into his ear as he started moving again.
“It’s fine, Gabby. We’ll come back for it later. We’re going to miss the announcement if we stop now.”
He ignored the second whimper that escaped her lips and pushed forward. This was his last year to watch the event without having to participate, and he was going to enjoy it while he could. A few more minutes of hiking passed before the forest finally broke into a small green area at the top of the hill. Gabby gasped as Cory set her down in the tall grass.
The large blue lake sat below them and caught the rays of the setting sun. The crowd and town looked like mere dollhouse items from their vantage point, but they were still close enough to pick up on the growing excitement as a small group of five walked out towards the lake. Their long, hoodless cloaks swirled among their feet as they walked down the short beach and identified them as Elders. The mixture of dark and light blue material seemed to blend in with the lake itself as they stepped into the water.
The small group turned to face the town and the forest grew quiet. The crowd stood still in the silence as their anticipation grew.
Gabby reached up and tugged at Cory’s sleeve. “Is it happening?”
“Shh, not yet.” Cory’s eyes remained fixed on the scene below them.
Four of the Elders took a step deeper out into the lake, leaving the middle one to address the crowd. They dipped their arms into the water and swayed them back and forth in synch. The small movement was barely identifiable inside their large cloaks and from Cory’s distance.
“How about now?” Gabby asked again. Cory ignored her question this time as the lake began to stir.
The dark water swirled around the group, slowly creating a powerful whirlpool that surrounded the figures. The four continued their dance as the fifth Elder spoke. How, exactly, his voice traveled across the valley so easily was always a mystery to Cory. Yet, then again, there were many things in Cory’s life that he did not understand.
“Three thousand years ago, our ancestors broke off from the Mother Tribe in an effort to establish peace for our people. Others soon followed, until we had the Four Colonies: Blazen, Illumia, Floresta, and Aquatri. Each of these tribes were distinguished and separated by their unique Gifts. Today, we celebrate the purity of our colony and the next generation of Aquatri Wielders.”
Cory’s impatience grew as the Elder continued to explain the history of their people that every Aquatri could recite by the time they were five. He wanted to see the Rite. That’s the real reason the tribe was gathered today. As the Elder finished his introductory speech, Cory focused on a small group of youth stepping out from the crowd. They lined up on the beach in front of the water and Cory leaned forward as the Elder began the next part of the ceremony.
“Every year, we welcome those entering adulthood to test and prove their abilities. If you pass, you will begin training under the Elders and learn the secrets of your people.” The Elder paused and looked across those lined up on the beach. “If you fail, you will join the inept away from our tribe. This is how we maintain our purity. This is how we maintain the peace.”
The Elder stretched out a hand from his cloak to reveal twenty blue stones – one for each contestant. There was a moment of tense hesitation before a young man stepped out into the water. The swift current caught his feet and sent him stumbling deeper into the lake. The crowd shifted uncomfortably as the man tried to regain his footing. He dug his feet into the sand and locked eyes with the Elder. In a move of sheer confidence, he straightened his stance and took a sure step farther into the whirlpool. The water stilled around his foot as it entered the lake, forcing the current to flow around him. The phenomenon continued as he walked towards the Elder’s open hand. When he stood before the cloaked figure and his prize, he chose a single stone and bowed in respect. The Elder continued to focus on the next contestant as the first stood beside the other cloaked figures in the back and joined their dance.
Cory watched in awe as the next eighteen contestants who entered the lake all chose a stone. Although he had seen dozens of young adults pass this test, it never ceased to amaze him. It was rare for a member of the tribe to fail, and Cory had only witnessed two in his lifetime. His father had once told him that there was a time when more failed than succeeded, but thanks to the Rite, their colony had nearly eradicated any ungifted from their bloodlines. Yet, the knowledge that he too would have to complete the Rite next year filled him with both excitement and dread.
It was against the law for any member of the colony to practice their gifts before adulthood. Even though it was common knowledge that some of the more rebellious youth would meet at night to experiment with their powers, Cory never had. He would wait and find out the day of the Rite like he was supposed to if he was Gifted, despite the knot it created in his stomach at the thought of that day.
The last contestant stood on the beach alone. He stared down the Elder and single stone in the middle of the whirlpool. His hands tightened into fists at his side and the crowd behind him began to mumble at his offensive stance.
“Who’s that?” Gabby asked beside him. Cory strained to see the details on his unfamiliar face.
“Why isn’t he doing anything?” Gabby asked again when Cory didn’t answer her first question. She tugged on his sleeve.
He shook her off. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t like him. He looks mean.”
Cory couldn’t argue with Gabby’s comments, but he ignored them again nonetheless. After another moment of awkward silence, the strange man stepped into the lake. Unlike the other contestants, he didn’t stumble as his feet entered the current. The water parted around his foot to reveal the dark sand underneath. He strolled confidently towards the Elder and remaining stone, shocking those gathered to watch. Without stopping, he plucked the blue stone from the Elder’s hand and turned back to the crowd. He held the colored pebble to the sky and examined it in the light. His mouth opened to speak, and Cory was shocked once again at how clearly he was able to hear his voice.
“My father used to tell me about these. He would say they were the consolation prizes for those who believed they were better than others. A solace for the broken soles who threw out their own family. He was within arm’s reach of one, that is, before the current swept him off his feet and cost him his place among the tribe at the same time.” The man grasped the stone in his fist and turned back to face the Elders and other contestants who, by this point, had stopped to watch him in confusion.
“I wish he could be here to see this. He always talked about the day the Galias would pay for their sins.”
Before the Elders could react to the man’s statements, he shifted his stance and swept his arms across the surface of the water. The strong whirlpool restarted around the others and pulled them under the current and deeper into the lake. The remaining Elder beside the man stepped back into a fighting stance and stopped the current before it unset his own footing. The two men locked eyes, each of them challenging the other to strike first.
A movement at the bottom of the hill caught Cory’s eye and forced him to look away from the perilous scene unfolding in front of him. A line of camouflaged soldiers approached the village silently. Cory gaze followed the line as it wrapped around the outside of the village, completely unbeknownst to the crowd gathered at the beach. His heart dropped as he realized what was happening and he looked back to the standoff in the lake.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” the Elder spoke in a low, menacing tone. He raised his arms and a wall of water shot up behind him. The wall arched over his head and angled directly at the mysterious man in front of him. “You don’t understand the consequences of your actions nor the power you are dealing with.”
The man smiled slightly at the Elder’s threat. He whipped out a gun from behind his back and aimed it at the Elder’s pale face. “I think I do.”
Cory turned away from the scene and shielded Gabby as a gunshot rang out through the valley. He turned back hesitantly to see the man standing alone in the lake with his gun still raised. The dark blue water contrasted with a deep red that rose to the surface around the fallen Elder’s body.
Cory watched in frozen helplessness as the crowd fell into a frenzied panic. A few of the village men jumped into the lake, performing a series of Aquatri attacks upon the stranger while the majority of the tribe ran back to the safety of their homes. The murderous man countered and returned every attack directed at him. Screams from the village mingled with more gunshots as the soldiers entered the clearing and began mowing down the people.
Gabby’s cries and tugs at his sleeve snapped Cory out of his trance and he looked down at his young sister. One thought entered his mind: run.
He picked her up into his arms again and sprinted back down the opposite side of the hill. Gabby’s desperate cries to return to the village and their parents faded away as Cory’s survival instincts kicked in.
Run!
He forced his legs to move faster as his body filled with adrenalin, ignoring the branches whipping across his face and exposed arms.
Run! Faster!
He reached the bottom of the hill and stumbled onto a paved road. The echoes of the gunshots could still be heard behind him and he stopped for a moment as he tried to decide which way to go. He had never even left the village before, let alone traveled to someplace unknown. Gabby’s quiet whimpers reached his ears and he steeled himself before turning right and running away from the village.
All roads led somewhere. He could only pray this somewhere would be safe.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
