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SOLO 1 : The Moon and The Sun

They had awoken him earlier than normal; he knew this for several obvious reasons. One, they always let him sleep in and wake on his own. Two, there was still sunlight sneaking through the closed darkened drapery. And three, tonight was the night they’d been raising him for, the night when the full moon would disappear before their very eyes. Tonight was the night the prophecy would be fulfilled, the once in a lifetime occurrence that many were blessed to experience. No doubt they had roused him from his sleep for preparations, there would undoubtedly be many. Qoraekai hadn’t expected that they would begin so early. From the amount of stifling heat and light seeping through the drapery he guessed it was about mid-day which mean there were many more things to be done than he had originally believed. Even through the unbearable heat, his pale naked flesh rose in goose prickles. Others might have tried to hide themselves, but not Qoraekai; he walked proudly through the halls behind the Oban woman who was there for, most likely, more than leading him to his bath. A once in a life time celestial event warranted extra protection and watchful eyes. For the sake of all Oba, his faction told him, they must not fail.

Qora had allowed the servants, not slaves anymore, to bathe him. He never really had any problem with their freedom, they were happier now which meant their work was better. They were still people after all, some had been around him for his entire life; some had taken care of him and some had taught him. Some of the faction didn’t like his carefree attitude towards them, but it didn’t matter. As his mind wandered, a small irritation floated to the forefront of his mind as his body relayed information. In the faction’s earnest haste to begin preparations, doing so during the day made him more than uncomfortable, it made him vulnerable, and in a similar way to the Matori, the sun made him like a slave. The bathing room had a window at the apex of the roof, one that was nearly impossible to cover. His skin showed his irritation as it slowly began to redden more than what a good bath normally produced. His eyes began to squint as he tried to wait patiently as oils were added and powders were sprinkled but the sun’s harmful rays were beginning to be too much for the young albino, especially when reflecting off the water. ”Could we hurry this up please.” Qora said harshly when he could no longer tolerate the discomfort. The ritualistic practices would not be abandoned, but he took pleasure in the increased working speed of the servants. By the time he was allowed to exit the bathing pool, redness had settled on his cheeks and shoulders which were accompanied by a steady throbbing headache.

With patience wearing thin, his wet foot tapped noisily on the stone flooring as they toweled him dry. At the end, though, he snatched his clothing away from them and dressed himself far quicker than they would have done. The sleeveless dark red shirt laced up the front making it a stark contrast to his bleached skin. It was paired with rather tight brown pants. And ever present was his trusty cloak that had protected him many more times than he could remember. Finally clothed, he automatically moved to the next order of business. ”Food.” He ordered, at his wits end with the procedural morning. Disapproving gazes met his as he finally sat down and began to eat his meager breakfast of mixed fruits. Honestly, he was surprised they hadn’t decided to make him fast! The food was quickly devoured, much to Qora’s displeasure, which was only furthered by his religion instructor appearing to teach him, for probably the thousandth time what to expect for the ritual.

The ritual itself was fairly simple: chanting, food, more chanting, bloodletting, chanting, sacrifice, and then the transformation. He had been told about everything many times before, so many times he could practically mouth what his instructor would say, and yet his part was relatively simple. All he had to do was repeat the chants, partake in the food when offered, and then try not to make any noise as they carved crescent moons into his hands as they collected the blood to bathe the perzi that would be sacrificed. After that, his transformation was supposed to happen. They said Ubeli would return his pigment to him, which Qora wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but he would also be granted other gifts like speed and strength. That was how they were supposed to know that their offerings to Ubeli were accepted and the ritual was a success. There was one thing Qoraekai wasn’t sure of, what exact apocalyptic events were they supposed to be saving Oba from? Nobody had ever told him and his question was always avoided. Sure it irritated him some, but he had always known there would be some things you just couldn't know.

His instructor stayed longer than Qora would have wished, but it was apparently very imperative that everything go according to plan. And when asked that magical question of “why,” his instructor clammed up and took his leave. If only he had lead with that question, he thought to himself in annoyance. There was still an hour or two until sunset and Qoraekai was surprised to find himself relatively alone. They wouldn’t need him until sunset and there was really only one thing he did in his free time, well, considering there was really only one thing he was allowed to do, and that was train. The way was one he’d walked thousands of times so his mind was free to wander as his methodical steps got him there slowly but surely. The weight of a sword in his hand lifted his spirits and allowed his wandering mind to focus on something and then quickly blanked as all his attention went to the training dummy in front of him as he hacked and slashed away at it. Time seemed to stop as one singular thing held his attention. Suddenly, he wasn’t going to have to endure pain in a few hours, not that it really bothered him; it was just sort of an inconvenience. He always felt at ease when he had a weapon in his hand, though swords were normally the first to be picked up and practiced. It was, after all, the first weapon he learned how to use. Sure he’d learned spear and hammer (though he wasn’t quite strong enough to wield the hammer effectively) and bow which was another he loved, but the simplicity of the sword always kept him coming back.

A light sheen of sweat had appeared from his work out and his breathing became a little ragged, but not so that he didn’t notice when another had entered, he simply didn’t want to pay attention to them. "You shouldn't have done that, Qora honey. Now they're going ot have to bathe you again and hope it doesn't put things off schedule." His mother said in a somewhat disappointed tone as she made a motion that clearly said it was time to stop his practicing and go bathe again. Grudgingly he complied and went along to the bath again to sit through all the oils and scrubs. At least they dressed him well again. But it seemed they weren't sure, again, that he knew what to do. It was like his morning repeated all over again from the bath to having to listen to the ritual instructions. It seemed they weren't too fond of going for the third time so the ushered him to a small room with nothing but a small table and chairs. The good thing was that a lot of time seemed to have been wasted and the ritual was supposed to start soon. Qoraekai rubbed his palms in apprehension, its like they knew what was going to happen to them and had preemptively started to hurt.

He had to admit (only to himself of course) he was a little nervous and scared. This was the night they had been waiting for since, really, even before his birth. It was the reason he had everything he ever wanted and the possibility of failure terrified him. The minutes ticked on, each one seeming an eternity until finally his instructor motioned impatiently for him to come along. Sighing, he started at a quickened pace towards his instructor who led him through twisting tunnels way further than he had ever been allowed to go. The fact that they were going up was interesting to him, perhaps there was an opening at the top where they did their rituals?

Qora would find out that he was, indeed, correct but it was way better than he could have imagined. The floor was smoothed rock, free of any cracks or imperfections yet there was a perfectly circular pool in the middle that was beyond beautiful. Combine this with being under the clear sky riddled with stars it was almost magical. The eclipse was about to happen, which would explain his instructors haste.

They began the ritual right before the moon started to turn red. Boring Boring Boring, repeat this repeat that. Qora thought at the start as there was only lots and lots of talking on their part and repeating for him to do, it was all pretty boring despite the amazing view. At least it was time for the food! Some fruit was sliced in half, and then one of the halves cut in multiple pieces. The other half was given to him, while the smaller pieces were distributed around to the people who had gathered for the ritual. It was all really kinda weird, Qora thought, but if it was to fulfill the prophecy he was supposed to then he kinda had to do it. After the small bit of food, which was kind of sad to Qora, there was so much more chanting. The moon was about 3/4 of the way red now, and there seemed to be a certain urgentness around him.

They motioned for him to step forward and he knew what part they were on, it would be the most difficult part of the ritual. Two priests took one of his hands each and held them over bowls while others grabbed his wrists just in case he tried to move. He wouldn't, he knew he wouldn't, but they didn't seem so sure. As the knives were inserted into the meat below his thumb, his teeth clenched but he forced his eyes to stay open and his hands relaxed. They were to keep their cuts shallow to avoid any major damage to his hands and if he made his hands tight it might force them to accidentally cut deeper which wasn't something he wanted. Finally, after several agonizing minutes. A crescent moon was carved into the heel of his palm. The motioned for him to rinse his hands in the pool before they wrapped his hands up. Apparently they had no intention of stopping the pain as they hadn't applied anything to them before wrapping them. Nevertheless, he stepped back and watched as they dumped one of the bowls into the water, making it red like the moon, and the other over the perzi. He was feeling a little light headed, which could be expected, so it didn't take much for him to avert his gaze to the moon as the animal was sacrificed. He couldn't, however, keep from hearing the noises. His stomach turned but he refrained from anything he wasn't supposed to do.

Now it was time to wait. He kept looking at his arms expectantly. No one had said how long the transformation was supposed to take to happen, it was supposed to be instantaneous he thought. His eyes looked up to the moon, the redness was already fading, and it seemed to be fading quickly. Qora's heart beat raced, as if it were trying to force his pigment to return on its own in its own race with the moon. But the redness faded and instead started appearing behind them on the horizon, the sun once again scaring the moon away. All the Crescents began whispering and staring at him. If his hands weren't in so much pain they would have been clenched to stop their shaking. His instructor and one of the higher faction members were hunched over, furiously whispering back and forth with the occasional look over at him to see if he had changed. Alas, he was still the same, even as the sun began to rise and began making Qoraekai uncomfortable. Which no one seemed to take mind of.

Suddenly, he was grabbed by the arm and hauled back down the winding pathways to his rooms where he was thrown inside and the door was closed behind him It appeared he was under watch and wouldn't be allowed to leave. At least until about six hours later when it became apparent his skin wasn't going to change. They had done something wrong, or they had the wrong person. Either way, it hadn't worked and they were furious. His parents seemed to be okay with the faction though they weren't okay with him. They threw him a bag and his cloak and drug him by his arm before throwing him out of the faction base right into the heat of the day. "What a waste." The guard said as he closed the door behind him, leaving Qoraekai all alone.

2279 words

Class Quest Solo

Things had been well, and going well, and better every day. Qora was feeling like his old self again, which maybe wasn’t the best thing as he didn’t always have the best habits and attitudes before the tragic event he really didn’t like to think much of. He really didn’t have much to be upset over anyway now did he? He got the girl, the amazing girl, and she made every day of his life worth going on. Qora did have a sinking feeling however, that he really wasn’t going anywhere. Sure they had traveled a little bit but in his life and path he wasn’t going anywhere. He was really kind of in the same place he was before just with different people. Granted the people he was with now were much much better than the others. It was why he was out so early, it was a time that had begun to feel comforting to him. Catching the moon dipping under the horizon and the sun coming up began to be a habit and made him feel better for whatever reason. He made his way over to the market where the usual hustle and bustle was already well in progress. Mostly it was vendors setting up their wares but a few people were here for the stalls that sold food, wanting to get the freshest product possible, which he could understand.

His eyes scanned the stands carefully yet he didn’t see the one he was looking for. It was the couple his eyes sought. He had finally gotten somewhat practiced with the small knives and really wanted to compliment them. They had been so easy to learn and the weight of them was just perfect. Complimenting their craftsmanship was one thing that had been on his agenda for the day but it seemed it would have to wait for another day as they either weren’t there or hadn’t arrived yet. It did leave room for his eyes to catch something though, it was just the smallest of movements and quite frankly Qora was surprised he had seen it with the rising sun irritating his eyes. The poor soul just kept walking and didn’t even notice the small pack from their waist was gone. He wondered when they would figure it out, it didn’t really matter anyhow as the oban was already taking action. Hood up, hands ready, soft feet.

Making it through the crowd with relative ease, the thief was nowhere in sight. His eyes searched but were unreliable with the rising sun. He knew he needed to rely on his other sense so he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing which after doing so...still had nothing. Kicking the ground in his frustration was when he noticed the earth was soft and dust flew when he kicked it. The merchants wouldn’t have gone off the road so all he had to do was find a set that went off into the brush! He got down lower to the ground and looked all up and down both sides but still the thief eluded him. If he were this thief what would he do? The thief hadn’t been caught...the woman hadn’t even noticed that her bag was gone which meant the thief might still be in the market.

Qoraekai knew what he needed to look for. The person had been either a flat female or slightly curvey male, he appeared either leaf or wind. It seemed like they had rather plain clothes which was what allowed them to slip so easily into the crowd. He weaved his way back through. He had just made it to the outskirts when he felt his cloak move yet there was no wind. His left hand grabbed his knife and his right grabbed his purse. Turning swiftly, he noticed the intruder was the one he had been looking for, in the same position. Red eyes narrowed and were matched by pale green ones. The hair was lighter than he had seen for leaf but maybe he was one of the mixed breeds. ”Arlinio*.” That word only made Qora’s eyes narrow further. ”I thought they were done with me.” Qora said tensely. They were close together so their knives were fairly concealed but they still started to draw attention to themselves. The other shook their head while eyeing all those around them. ”Come.” And as quickly as that the other disappeared again. But this time Qora was ready, he kept his eyes on the light brown hair. They led him outside of the market to a nearby copse of trees. His hands were always close to his knives and purse, not wanting to get caught off guard. There could be more of them, surely there wasn’t just one. He also found it odd they were out during the day unless they knew he would be out here, which meant they had been observing him. That thought put him on higher alert. What if someone was near Irro? He never doubted the Crescents to do whatever must be done.

Once under the shade his eyes adjusted quickly in the low light and found out he wasn’t wrong. There were three, all of different origins but none familiar to him. He reacted instinctively, hands drawing his knives from their respective sides in a quick and simple down/up motion. He didn’t use the standard grip and found this much more comfortable, but now wasn’t about comfort, now was about defense. One of the younger ones appeared to be going for their weapon as well so he struck. Left hand swing out from left to right but was intercepted by the one who had brought him. It was then that he noticed the outstretched hand of stopping the younger one from drawing their weapon. So it was Qora who had struck first. ”We do not wish to fight you, Qoraekai.” They addressed him by his name, he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Qora brought back his arm but didn’t leave his defensive position. ”They kicked me out after the ritual didn’t work if you hadn’t heard. What do you want?” He said bluntly. Almost as a reminder his palms started to itch where the cuts had healed.

The one motioned for him to sit but no one else was so there was no way he would. Ubeli grant him strength if this should turn into a fight. The larger oban male spoke now, ”Your choice boy. We’ve come to find you because the state of the Crescents is rapidly declining. Some don’t agree with E’iren’s treatment of you despite the ritual. Your parents among them.” That wasn’t really something Qora believed. His parents had been so engrossed by the leader he didn’t think anything would change their mind. The first leaf spoke again. ”It’s true!” They said earnestly, Qora thought he now detected a slight feminine tone but wasn’t sure. There seemed to be a collective sigh among the three. The younger one, who almost appeared to be the leader stepped from the shadows now. He was Matori, which somewhat shocked Qora, he hadn’t thought the Crescents would allow a Matori in. ”People aren’t believing E’iren as they once did. He’s become secretive, even more so than before, and people are wondering if he’s hiding somethin’. Somethin’ Em’ko might have stumbled upon.”

The leaf began to fidget now, as though they had information they didn’t really want to share. ”Continue. You’ve got me interested now at least.” His posture relaxed in the slightest which seemed to give the leave encouragement. ”I..was cleaning. I had just been accepted so I had a grunt job. I was in the library because I love books and I was taking my time and dusting every book so I could look inside and read a little. I pulled down a large book on the History of Oba, one of those multi-volume ones that the Crescents have like a kagillion copies of. It felt awfully light for such a large book so I opened it and the middle of the pages had been cut out and a smaller book was inside. I opened it to near the middle and started reading. I believe it was when he found your parents, Q’ai. I heard footsteps so I had to hurry, it said something about finally making them believe. I...it seemed like some sort of journal. I couldn’t read more though because E’iren came and assigned me to another task.” The voice was definitely feminine in nature Qora concluded but frowned at the use of his shortened name as the Crescents had a habit of doing.

He straightened. Curious finding he had to admit. Was it E’iren’s journal? Did he really have some secret he was hiding? This group seemed to think so. ”So what do you want me to do? Why come to me?” The trio looked among each other and it was the Oban that spoke once more. ”We want you to break into the Crescents and steal the journal so that we can help rebuild the Crescents.” Instantly Qora was shaking his head. ”No. No way. I’m not going back there. They made me cut myself for the sake of some prophecy. Why me anyway? There are thieves much more skilled. You, Em’ko took that woman’s purse without her knowing. I’d be noticed instantly. You three are already on the inside.” ”Its for entirely that reason why you’d be the best. We don’t really want to compromise our position so that E’iren doesn’t suspect anything as we start spreading whatever truth you find. You’re the one because you already know the Citadel and know the best routes to take.” ”Please? For everyone and your parents so to avoid any kind of cruelty E’iren might have in store for anyone else?”

Qoraekai sighed, what they were saying made sense and he did want to keep anyone from enduring what he had. ”Okay. But give me the purse. And I’ll do it in my own time when I get there. But I will do it.” The group smiled collectively. Em’ko threw the purse his direction which he caught in his left hand, barely without cutting it. ”Ziry kivio dārilaros issa**.” Qora shook his head and left the little group of trees, no longer worried about an attack. He found his way back to the woman who he could now tell was fairly young of wind origin. ”Ma’am, I caught the one who stole this from you. I believe it still has everything in it. I didn’t look to protect your privacy.” The woman smiled and accepted the purse. She opened it and withdrew a bit of fabric with a pendent at the end. Qora also heard the sound of coins. ”Why thank you, Arlinio*” She said with a smirk as she placed the crescent moon necklace around her neck and vanished into the crowd.

*one who changes, becomes different, high valyrian from Game of Thrones
**He is the prince that was promised. High Valyrian from Game of Thrones

((Qoraekai is forced to face his old demons once more but it seems there's more to his story than he originally thought. Qoraekai is faced with a decision on whether or not to punish all of the Crescents when really he knows they were just following the leader, E'iren. This also sets up Qora's next plotline of traveling back and now using his craft to find out more about the secretive leader and try to help the Crescents.))

Word Count: 1921