Human Training 101
FleetusMcGee posted in Rituals And Traditions
The metal block was cold. Frigid against my bare skin. I could feel the goosebumps shiver down, then back up my body in quick succession. I wasn’t used to looking around the room when lying down, I was used to standing. The ground seemed like a far-away memory. The walls were like ghosts in my peripheral vision. The ceiling was the only reality now. The ceiling and the icy slab against my skin.
I jumped when the door creaked open, as it sent a rush of warm air along me, and goosebumps, once again, racing along my nerve-endings. The people who entered didn’t talk, silence was part of the ceremony, and I knew the rules. I used to be one of their cloaked figures.
Reflex makes my head turn to look at them, at the heavy, luminous white cloaks, the stark alabaster hoods covering every one of the individuals’ anonymous heads. In the hand of the leading figure is a dazzling and sharp-edged dagger. In all the years I’d been a part of the small group of leaders, never had I seen the dagger up close, yet now, from this angle, I could see the ancient markings engraved into the shining silver blade. I can make out the precious stones embedded in the hilt through the long, boney, pale fingers.
If I hadn’t seen the ceremony before, it would have been slightly creepy.
Yet, after they gathered around the board, the man with the dagger gently laid a hand on me. I wasn’t sure where because it felt like the hand was touching every inch of my shivering body and immediately I calmed and lay motionless beneath the fingers. Slowly, I could feel energy bubbling at his fingertips, swelling until it began dropping like beads onto my bare skin and sinking through my pores. My skin began to crackle and surge. Lightning shot in front of my eyelids and fire through my stomach. I couldn’t tell whether to be sick or excited.
It felt like hours, even days, had passed before the feelings died down and gentle ripples, like a soft ocean current, lapped through me. Although I knew, from watching the procedure dozens of times, that it had not been days, or even hours, but only a few short seconds. I knew what would come next. Yet it was the part that scared me beyond the point of basic fear, because as soon as that blade came down, I didn’tknow exactly what would happen. I didn’t know what the second stage would be like. I squeezed my eyes closed in anticipation and waited. I heard the swish of cloth as the sleeve lifted. I waited, my body tense with fear. Another swish.
I thought I would cry out, that lightning pain would surge through my body. But it never happened. One moment I was lying on the metal table, the next I could feel a throbbing pressure against my head. I pushed myself against it, wondering what it could be. Suddenly, a gust of cold air rushed over me. It stung all the way from my head to my toes. There was a soothing hand on my shoulder. “Welcome initiate, to the contra-world.” I felt myself smile weakly and opened my orbs to look at the rich new landscape around me. “Welcome to Human Training 101. You are about to be taught the way to behave in the third world: Earth. This is Limbo. This is the beginning. Welcome human-to-be.”
I smiled. Humanity. The greatest of all three worlds. I followed where the Contra-human lead.
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