Elegy for a Star

After breakfast, the four recruit-hopefuls traveled through the busy hallways. Tess once again saw unnatural figures, such as a reptilian creature, with a humanoid upper half and a slithering snake-tail for his bottom half. It was difficult to not stare. In fact, Tess often found herself staring at people. Tess didn’t mean to be impolite, but there were more and more incredible things to see every day.

Tess would have been lost without the three others after only just a few turns. The stone floor changed to hardwood and the doorways were labeled with engraved bronze plates. Rooms such as “Alchemy” or “Ritual Circles” were listed, and Gwendolyn explained, “We’re in the college now. This is where you would be attending classes.”

“You know, I bet your gift is stealth,” Mairaela mused, “You seem like someone that would like to go unseen, you know?”

Tess wasn’t sure how to take that, but couldn’t deny it. She did sometimes wish that she were invisible like Miri, especially when she was feeling as out of place as she had been lately.

Every hallway seemed to lead to a central library that the group had to pass by before they came to their destination. It was there that she saw the winged, bejeweled, exotic woman that she’d seen in the hallways before, sorting books. She caught Tess’ gaze once again and offered a wave. Tess returned it with a soft smile. 

Eventually they made it to a room marked “Ritual Guidance.” The door was open and Mairaela led the way inside. Within was a large, open space with a circular platform roughly ten feet in diameter. Along the walls were all sorts of reagents stuffed into bottles and meticulously labeled. Iron ribbon was separate from iron filings and that was separate from iron powder.

At a desk beside the raised platform was an old, balding gentleman. What hair he had, plus his full beard, were as white as snow. A large nose, aged wrinkles and dark eyes came together to give him a comfortable and grandfatherly appearance. According to the placard on his desk, his name was Ulrich Bernauer, Ritualist Guide.

“Good morning, Mr. Bernauer,” Mairaela said, greeting the old man.

“I’m afraid I don’t recall your name,” Ulrich spoke, continuing his writing.

“Mairaela.”

“Ah. Yes. Aulidwulf, right?” Ulrich asked and Mairaela nodded her confirmation. “What can I do for you?”

“Well,” Gwen stepped in, “Not actually for us, but for this one.” She gestured toward Tess and gave her a quick introduction, “This is Tess. She hasn’t had her gift revealed yet and may be stepping into the Void soon. It’s short notice, but could you help us?”

“That’s about as short a notice as one can give, Miss,” Ulrich acknowledged, placing down his inkpen and closing his ledger, “But this is my favorite ritual to conduct. I’m always curious to see a person’s specialty, so let us get started.”

“Miss,” Ulrich said, gesturing to Tess and then to the center of the platform, “I’ll need you to sit right here.”

Tess did as asked, sitting cross-legged upon the platform, squirming a bit as the cold metal was chilling even through her clothing. A jar labeled “sieved mud” was pulled off of the shelf and Ulrich dribbled a thin line of it in a unique pattern upon the platform. Whenever the line would need to cross Tess, it did exactly that, leaving a line of mud across her legs or her back, but thankfully nothing touched her face.

That is, until Ulrich pressed a muddy thumb to her forehead.

Next came powdered silver, laid in a different pattern that criss-crossed over the top of Tess’ head. She wondered how she was going to wash any of this off. Next came a new symbol, though when Tess tried moving her head, Mairaela spoke behind her, “Stay still, Tess.” She couldn’t see what material was being used, but from her peripheral vision it looked like some form of white powder. It was laid in a unique pattern before Tess was made to form her hands into a bowl, where a small bit of the powder was placed.

Ulrich then took a jug of water and poured small amounts over the white powder, which caused it to smoke, and then ignite in a small, blue flame. The same was done for the powder in Tess’ hands, and while it felt warm, it wasn’t causing her pain.

“See you soon, Tess,” Gwendolyn said, and before Tess had a moment to panic, a black dot appeared in the center of her vision. Rippling, the dot expanded outward, swallowing the reagents along the wall, the platform she sat upon, everything and everyone in the room, until there was nothing but darkness.

There were no more reagents scattered about her. The flames were all snuffed out, except for the powder and the fire in her cupped hands. She held it out, trying to see if it could illuminate anything, but all around her, on all sides, was a black, inky pool.

“Hello?” She called out, “Gwen? Mairaela?” Tess squashed the panic rising in her throat, stuffing it down as best she could. Now wasn’t the time. There was no one here to help her, so she needed to help herself.

Just in front of her, two blank, white eyes opened and a shifting, amorphous figure pulled itself through the darkness to step in front of Tess. It could only be seen by how the firelight played off of its figure, making it appear like a piece of the black background had an imprint upon it that was pushed out in her direction. The figure was androgynous, with no notable features save for the two white, hollow eyes.

The voice entered her brain like intrusive thoughts, ones she had no control over, and felt entirely foreign.

“Who are you?” came Its words.

Tess spoke back, her voice echoing, “I just want to know my gift. Can you tell me what my gift is?”

“Wait,” It replied, and hands lifted to grasp Tess’ face. She couldn’t pull away, no matter where she moved this creature was tied to her, locked against her, and followed her wherever she went. A four-fingered hand cupped her left cheek, while a three-fingered one met her right cheek. “It’s you,” The thoughts It put into Tess’ mind were tonally similar to undulating waves, “My little Crow, it’s you. You came back to me.”

“I don’t know who you are,” Tess snapped, trying to pull away, but while she had full movement, the dark shadow seemed to go wherever she went.

Tess could feel Its disappointment; Its pain. 

“Am I supposed to?” Tess asked.

It released her and slunk back toward the shadows, its hollow eyes narrowing and drooping with sadness.

“Wait, please, I want to know more about you,” Tess said, holding out a hand without realizing the flame would slip from her fingers. When the firelight hit the ground, it burnt out, and Tess was left in the dark once more.

“Please?” Tess pleaded once more, “You know something about me. I need to remember.”

Tess awoke with a gasp. Color and life had returned to her sight and she looked around to find herself right where she’d been during the ritual. The mud and silver were gone. The white powder had burnt away except for a few small piles here or there, forming dots along the platform. 

“Where did he go?” Tess gasped, looking around with a dumbfounded expression.

“Who?” Joyona, of all people, responded.

“The.. the Thing I saw. With the white eyes,” Tess insisted.

Gwendolyn and Mairaela both shrugged at one another.

Ulrich, however, was focused intently on Tess’ words. “You saw something?” The old man asked. Tess nodded her head vigorously, and Ulrich rubbed his chin through his beard, “I’ll have to check the library. That should not have happened.”

Gwen reached out toward the man and asked, “What about her gift?”

“What gift?” Ulrich said, gesturing to the platform that Tess sat upon, “She does not have one.”