Awakening Ritual

The concept of direction seemed to be alien in this corridor. It didn't matter which direction Regis stepped towards; he would always find himself a step closer to the window of light. The last time that he had entered this mysterious space was just the previous day when he had succeeded in reaching the window or rather the door of light.

But he couldn't step past it. Something invisible prevented his way forward. Regis could feel the invisible barrier loosen up the longer he stayed in contact with it, but it still drained his stamina by just remaining in contact. The stamina consumption from remaining in contact with the barrier was even greater than the stamina consumed for moving forward in the Ageris den.

Sweat accumulated on his forehead and began dripping down his chin as a small stream. Regis resolutely kept both his hands in contact with the invisible barrier despite his breathing getting heavier every passing second. After standing around for nearly half an hour, Regis felt that the barrier was on verge of breaking.

With renewed energy, Regis pushed both his hands forward. There was a slight resistance, but it was weakening with time.

'Crack! Kacha!'

The barrier finally shattered. Light was reflected in multiple directions by the fading pieces of the barrier, giving the illusion of multiple pieces of glass suspended before the bright source of light.

The light from the door faded away with the barrier. Regis couldn't help but focus all his attention on these fading pieces and failed to notice the change that was taking place all around him.

When he looked away from the last piece, all his surroundings had changed. The path that had appeared to be few meters both in length and width was now replaced by a wide cave with a large hole in the roof. White light, most probably moonlight fell down from the roof of the cave and illuminated the entire cave.

Regis turned around. The door that led him here had disappeared. Looking around, Regis realised that he could not see the ends of the cave. The light that entered the cave illuminated his surroundings and a particularly clear beam of light fell on an elevated part of the cave. Regis could not see what was on that elevated platform, he could not take his eyes off the beam of light.

'Thump!Thumpp!Thumpp!.......'

A strange sensation rose inside his chest and Regis could hear his heartbeats. It wasn't his heartbeat getting agitated, rather Regis could feel his senses getting overly focussed. This feeling went away when he took his eyes off the beam of light.

There was something up there that was attracting Regis or rather the mystical element fused with his body. Regis slowly started moving towards the elevated platform. It was rather tall, nearly twelve meters high and there were no stairs or other means to reach the top. Regis could only climb up the inclined rock which hosted the platform at its top.

It didn't take him much effort to reach the top of the structure and it was only after he reached there that Regis realized that the platform was also rather vast.

'Something about the geometry of this cave is messing with my perception of size.' He could only blame the geometry of the cave.

Regis faced the direction where the beam of light was falling. Right before him, there was a group of creatures that had gathered together and basked in the bright moonlight. The feature that drew the most attention was not the razor-sharp claws or canines, instead Regis was entranced by the reindeer horns that adorned the heads of the creatures.

The horns reflected the moonlight and appeared to be made of sparkling silver metal.

Despite their sharp senses of smell and hearing, the arrival of the newcomer did not garner any special attention from the pack. The group of more than fifty wolves looked at Regis as if he was one of them and they were used to his presence. The honeyed yellow eyes shone like miniature suns on the pitch-black bodies of the wolves.

Despite that, Regis did not lower his guard. He could feel it. The wolves before him were no ordinary creatures. There was a distinct bending in the natural mana as it flowed around the group, especially around the antlers. These wolves could use mana.

'So, these creatures are the essence of the mana type mystical element that is fused into my body.' Regis did not need anyone to tell him that. The heightened senses and the feeling of familiarity that he felt while looking at the creatures was proof enough.

Still sensing no hostility from the occasional passing gazes that came his way, Regis decided to move closer to the pack. He was very careful while approaching the pack and was ready to fall back at moment's notice, but nothing happened as he inched closer.

When he had reached within touching distance to the nearest wolf, Regis suddenly felt a slight tremor in his senses. A howl was conveyed to him, not from his ears but directly into his mind. A change also took place in the wolf pack. The wolves all turned towards Regis while a few moved aside, clearing up the path that led to the center of the group.

Regis flinched due to the sudden change following the inexplicable sound but did not back away. There was no hostility from the wolf pack. He looked forward along the path that had been cleared between him and the canter of the wolf pack. There was no need to speculate what this gesture meant.

At the end of the path, Regis' eyes fell on the most majestic and beautiful wolf of the pack. It was a large wolf that should stand more than two meters high. The pitch-black fur was adorned with very small white spots that made the body of the creature resemble the night sky while the antlers shone like the moon itself, creating a spherical radiance around the wolf.

'That one seems to be very strong.'

Regis treaded slowly along the path that had been opened up by the wolf pack. He reached the center and stopped just before the large wolf. While sitting down, the height of the wolf still reached Regis' shoulders. The wolf looked at him for a few minutes without any ripples in its calm eyes and then got up.

It turned back and began moving in the opposite direction to Regis. Sensing that Regis hadn't moved from his position, the wolf turned its head and looked into Regis' eyes. Understanding what it meant to convey, Regis followed behind the large wolf. The other wolves moved aside to create a path for the large wolf and Regis.

Regis followed behind the wolf for some time. They left the pack behind and reached a large uneven shaped rock. Regis followed the wolf inside a large opening in the cave. There was nothing inside the cave, but it felt oddly comfortable. This smaller cave was full of rocks the size of a human that were partially buried into the ground. The wolf stopped before one such rock.

'That rock feels a bit familiar but I can't remember what it is.'

While Regis skimmed through his memory to find what the rock was, the wolf raised one of its forelimbs. Regis looked at the actions of the wolf curiously.

'Shinggg!'

A white line was drawn in mid-air. Regis' gaze altered between the wolf and the white line. The upper half of the rock slid off.

'Strong and precise. Its claws didn't even touch the rock, but that thick rock was cut into two.' The cut was unusually clean. Regis was awed by the precision while the wolf didn't wait to look at his expression.

A small fountain of red liquid emerged from the rock. The area covered by this fountain was very small when compared to the circumference of the rock.

'That looks like liquified mana, but something mixed inside it gives it the red color rather than the colorless form.' Regis understood the sense of familiarity with the rock.

The wolf raised its forelimb and placed it on the fountain. Its antler glowed. When it removed its paw from the rock, nothing remained of the fountain, there was only a small cavity in the rock where the fountain had previously been. The wolf proceeded to touch the now reddened paw against Regis' chest.

Regis felt a strange heat rise from his body and move towards his chest. He wasn't just feeling it, his skin was drying at a visible rate at the spot where the wolf had placed its paw. The antlers of the wolf shone much more brightly than Regis had seen them previously.

This did nothing to reduce the feeling of heat moving through his blood, but Regis somehow felt a slight comfort in midst of the itchy feeling. The paw stayed on his chest for a few minutes and the red mana liquid had drained from the paw and entered Regis' pores, the ceremony was over.

The wolf showed a slight change in its expression which looked like a light smile to Regis and lowered its head to place it on Regis' head.

'Does it think of me as it's child?'

Regis was bewildered. The wolf slowly raised its head and led Regis out of the rock and back to the place where the entire pack had gathered. It took its spot in the center and began absorbing moonlight in its antlers that had grown a bit dull after the ceremony.