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THE Hallowed kneeled in pain and concentration. To be Hallowed was to be touched by the Divine, leaving behind a burning spark fissured to one’s soul. To truly commune with the Divine, one must abandon their identity, their name, and any attachment to this life. He peered into the sky, anxious and filled with awe that his sacrifice finally would give him his reward. It was time to speak with the gods.
Queen Ceres nibbled on her nail. Even though he was the most powerful Hallowed in Manor Saffron, the Queen still shifted her weight and didn’t seem to be able to hide the anxiety streaking lines across her face. “How long does it take?” she blurted.
The Hallowed relaxed his shoulders and regarded her with trained patience. “Majesty, you have bid me to do the single most important undertaking of my existence. Commune with the Divine is not something to be rushed.” He placed his hands palm up on his thighs. “Much less when the command comes without any warning or sense at all.”
Queen Ceres glowered and slapped her hand against her leg. The turquoise blue of her dress shimmered in the dying light. “Enough. Just get on with it.”
The Hallowed resisted the urge to roll his eyes and regarded the unused corner of the gardens that she had insisted they use for this attempt. Normally, he would have traveled with the Queen and an entourage to the capital, gathering support and well-wishes for such a monumental endeavor. Instead, he sat behind a row of shrubbery with only the Queen’s ladies for an audience.
The girls weren’t here to appraise his long-awaited reward, nor acknowledge his sacrifice of identity to reach this point. They were here of necessity and held up a long, weighty mirror. Their thin arms strained to keep it angled at him.
The Hallowed took in a deep breath and gathered his energy, not yet ready to look at his reflection.
As he hummed, a warm and dusty glow swirled on the ground. Queen Ceres straightened and watched him with wide eyes. Her own Acceptance reacted to the power of the Light. The long stretch of Divine Material embedded into the skin of her back enflamed, reflecting its golden spirals in the mirror.
The tension grew, and with it the winds picked up. The servant girls were well trained, and stood fast against the stinging onslaught as heat embroiled in the corner of the secluded gardens. Light emanated not from the falling sun, nor the rising moon, but from his own form which kneeled on the marbled path.
Queen Ceres dared to step closer. The Hallowed’s senses were alive and he could feel those around him. He became the maidservants as they trembled, their arms burning as they kept the mirror steady. He was the Queen as her glistening heel felt the heat that burned through the ground. The connection between Terra and the Celestial plane was thinning. It was nearly time.
The Hallowed shot open his blazing eyes, searing anything his gaze touched. His mouth slacked open and he was nearly overwhelmed by the power. But he managed to swerve his gaze to the mirror. The servant girls crouched behind it and muffled pained cries. He reached out toward the rippling surface, his portal to the other side.
The instant his hand touched the glass, his spirit detached from his flesh. His body remained motionless. His finger was outstretched and stuck against the mirrored edge. The world had frozen in time and only the Hallowed moved on, knowing full well that this was the moment he had trained his whole life to achieve and he would live and die by the sharpness of his focus.
While his body was left behind, his soul soared into the heavens. He did not pause at Celestia’s gates. No, that was not the true Celestial realm. Even as it floated among the skies and hosted its angelic ward, it was nothing more than a city. The place the Hallowed sought was beyond such petty creatures. He did not give it another passing glance as he ascended.
The clouds gave way to deep blue, which then turned cold and dark. Through the boundary of world and space the Hallowed’s soul speared to the other side. The world around him erupted in Light. He fell to his knees, bound to a temporary ethereal body. Pain was nonexistent, and the only thing that kept him low to the burning ground was his own apprehension and fear.
Then he felt them watching him. The ancient creators of all that was and all that will be. They did not speak, but he could sense their commune with his soul. They spoke with emotions that transcended anything he’d ever known.
He shuddered against the foreign invasion of his mind and focused on his purpose in coming here. “I come to you, oh Holy Ones, for the sanctioned quest of Manor Saffron.”
The Divine understood his intent, and he didn’t truly need to speak his mission with words. But he clung to what he knew and could not fathom to remain silent, feeling their will roil around in his head.
They awarded him with mercy and retreated their overpowering voice of emotion. The sensation eased and he dared to look up with his golden eyes to those he had dreamed of meeting for so long. He cried unashamed as his gaze fell upon the creatures. They stood tall as the citadel, their glowing, ancient frames towering over him shedding Light and love. Not a single shadow remained in their presence. The Hallowed raised his hands in reverence, nearly forgetting why he was here.
Your time is short, our child. Speak the name and we will answer.
They did not have to reach him with words, but they seemed to know he desired to hear their voices more than anything else. He smiled and struggled to remember his mission.
“Azrael,” he whispered. He trembled, nearly swept away with reverence. “If she would become Queen, would you honor her with your Divine gifts?”
The Divine stilled and their tumbling, golden robes flared out as they considered his request.
He froze, realizing perhaps it was a mistake to offer a hybrid. Would they be offended? Of course they would. What had he been thinking accepting the Queen’s request? The Divine would smite his soul in this very place.
A hybrid? they asked, seeming more curious than outraged.
He bowed his face and pushed his ethereal head to the blazing floor. It did not burn him, for he did not have skin to burn. “Forgive our ignorance, oh Holy Ones. Our Lady, Queen Ceres, has prayed to your wise council and knows not how to proceed. She must know for sure. This is her command to my servitude. I must obey my purpose.” Perhaps it was childish to point his finger at the Queen for offering a hybrid, but it was true. All he wished was to bask in their presence, even if for but a moment.
One stepped forward from the many. The Hallowed cowered as heat blazed the ground a fiery red. This was it. He was not only going to die, but cease to exist. His very soul would be given back to the grains of creation as if he’d never been born at all.
Submit the hybrid to the trial. If she can overcome the Darkness, she will receive the Light.
The voices were not many, but one. The Hallowed waved out his trembling hands as relief filled his ethereal chest.
“Thank you for your council. We forever heed the wisdom of our creators.”
The Hallowed reached for the dwindling thread back towards his body. Yet when he found it, the thread was frayed and tiny golden wisps dwindled into the Light, threatening to disintegrate completely. He’d been here too long.
He didn’t hesitate and grabbed onto it with fierce certainty and retreated back to his body. His ethereal form unfurled and puffed out of existence. His soul scrambled back on the path to his fleshly cage, surging only a breath before the fraying thread. He blurred past Celestia and past the clouds until he was close enough to see the gardens again.
He slammed back into his body. The shockwave pulsed out and time unlatched from its lock. The mirror shattered and the glass shards sizzled into nothingness in the air.
Queen Ceres threw her hands up to protect her face. But her own Acceptance kept her safe from the heat of the Hallowed’s return. She must have expended the effort to reach out and protect her maidservants as well, for the only evidence of their near graze with death was the blackened edges of their silk dresses.
The Queen snapped her gaze to the heaving Hallowed. He clenched his hands over his throbbing head and cried unashamed. Even though his body screamed with agony of the separation, his soul ached even more to be separated from the gods.
“And?” she urged. Her concern roiled around in his head, a mere echo compared to the Divine’s emotion.
He looked up at her and was startled by the sight of the world tinged with grey. His normally Light-filled vision had dimmed to what must be normal, human sight. He ran an index finger over his cheekbone, not daring to touch his blistered eyes.
“Yes.” He pushed the word out with a coarse breath. “One said yes.”