Chapter 1
The Branding
Screams resounded, as skin was burned.
All morning, the air outside the Sanctuary rang with cries. howls of pain and terror as one by one, the Mark was burned into the back of the youths hands. These were the chosen. Thirteen were selected from the city of Virelia. Twelve of them would walk the path of the Crucible, and ascend to greater heights. One would die to honour the gods.
He had expected to be that one.
He had always been the weakest of them.
They were not wrong, he was weak, very weak.
It was not his fault, he had been living in the streets his whole life up until last year. It was then that they took him in.
The High Voice stood above them, cloaked in shimmering white and draped in golden chains. She raised the iron sceptre for all to see, its tip glowing with a divine symbol. The symbol looked like a circle, out of the circle twelve spears pierced. This was the holy seal of the Pantheon. The crowd knelt in reverence. The boy stayed silent, what reason had he to kneel? What had the gods done to help him?
Nothing. They had done nothing.
'yeah sure, they are gods and have priorities. Still could they not have saved my family? Or help me when I was beaten? Are they going to just sit on their thrones and look down on me forever?' Kale thought
He gritted his teeth and knelt with the twelve others
His name was Kale, though he barely remembered it anymore. He was an orphan warded by the God of Mercy. One of thousands; that were resting under the roof of the sanctuary.
He closed his eyes as the heat drew near.
And then it burned.
The branding iron hissed as it touched his flesh, yet Kale did not scream.
The Mark sizzled into his skin, and with it, something else. A pressure, a weight, like a thousand eyes had just opened and turned their gaze on him.
Something twisted in his stomach.
The iron pulled away. The branding was done. Kale's legs shook as he stepped away from the altar, one hand clamped over the back of his hand. But there was no pain, only a throb, and a whisper. Something old and cold.
He was the last of the thirteen to be marked.
Kale stared coldly at the High Voice and thought:
'That bastard is supposed to be the voices of gods on earth? Ha! What a delusional bunch these people are. Look at the crowd smiling, twelve of us will return; but they don't care about the one who will die… The one who dies are probably just to weak, that's what they think isn't it? Hehe, the bastards are happy to send us children to die…'
Then after a few moments of silence the High Voice finally spoke:
"My dearest chosen children! The mark of the gods have been set, and the gods cast their gaze upon you. The gods will send you to the Crucible where you will face danger and the like, and then return in triumph with thebpowers of the gods in hand!"
The High Voice took a deep breath, and raised his voice so that the whole crowd could hear him:
"The blessings of the divine flows in your veins! You will meet the creatures of the Cursed Horde, and you will slay them! Luck be with you, young ones! For tomorrow you will be sent to the crucible!"
***
Kale was laying in his bed in the dormitory as he heard a voice whispering:
"Kale? KAAALEE? Can you hear me? Wait, are you asleep?"
Kyle tried to ignore the voice, but it kept on going. Eventually he gave in, and said:
"YES, kai? What is it?"
A crashing sound resounded in the dormitory, then he heard kai say:
"Ouch! Kale, you scared me! You cant talk that loudly at night! I fell out of the bed!"
Kale giggled a bit and said:
"Sorry, what did you want?"
Kai was the first and only friend that Kale had made in the sanctuary. He used to have some friends on the streets, but they were probably all dead by now. Most of the people on the streets didn't live to see twenty. Kale was seventeen so if he was still on the street he wouldn't have long left to live. Luckly he was taken into the sanctuary. If being surrounded by crazy people worshiping the bastard gods like all the time could be called lucky that is.
Kai, was silent for a moment as if contemplating what to say. Then Kai asked:
"Kale, are… are y…you afraid?"
Kale didn't answer and let Kai continue
"I mean, are you scared of the Crucible? Do you think you will return?"
Kale thought for a bit about the question and the nature of the crucible before answering Kai.
'Afraid? Am I afraid? I don't know… I don't want to die, but maybe its for the best? Let me review the situation for a moment. Ahh, yes. From what i know, it is a kind of dimension that exists in the past. About ten thousand years or so in that past in the world of the gods . The stories I have heard says that it was the time when the gods were cleansing their world of evil. I think it was called The era of cleansing?'
He thought a bit more
'Anyway it is where the thirteen of every sanctuaries in every city is sent to survive; and when they return, one of the gods will give them powers. Still one of the thirteen is destined to die in the name of the gods… It will be me wont it?
Kale finally answered:
"No I am not afraid, but I dread the thought of dying… as you know every year, all the chosen get sent to the crucible at the same time. At least that means that I have the ability to meet others and work with them to survive."
Kale let out a sigh, and said:
"I doubt that I will survive, but I will at least try."
Kai was silent for a moment. Kale could swear he heard the sound of sobbing. He then heard kai say with a lowered voice:
"Please survive Kale, don't die… please…"
Kale stayed silent and didn't answer. He didn't want to answer if that meant that he had to promise to stay alive. For he couldn't promise what he didn't think he could uphold. For a while silence filled the room of the dark dormitory. Then the voice of Kyle said:
"I cant promise anything Kai, but I will try, that I can promise. Now go to sleep you knuckle head! Sleep is important!"
" Good night kai…"
"Kai answered soon after: Good night Kale"
And just like that they both fell asleep.
Kale found himself in pure darkness. Above him, a tree stood. Charred black, cracked by lightning, its branches twisted like spears. Beneath its roots lay a pond as black as ink. Roots big as a dog, twisting like slithering snakes.
Well at least he thought it was as big as a dog. He had never actually seen one, but he thought that it was a good comparison.
As he walked towards the tree he felt the darkness around him become even more profound. He tried to reach the tree but had to cross the pond that was as black as ink to reach it.
He hesitated for a moment before walking into the pond, he felt the cold water on his body. The water clang to his body like cold arms. When he was almost halfway through the water he could see the silhouette of a dark figure under the tree. He tried to focus his vision on the figure when something interrupted him.
He looked down at the water
What he saw terrified him, he tried to rush to the tree so that he could get to safety. But it was to no avail. What he saw was the water for the pond turning red with blood, and pale hands rising from the water gripping him tightly.
He let out a scream and tried to wrestle out of the grip of the hands. The hands did not let go of him and instead gripped him even harder, by now dozens of hands held on to him. Not knowing what else to do, Kale let out a feral growl and sank his teeth into the hands. Blood flowing from his mouth and the cracking of bones and teeth surrounded the pond.
Kale were like a feral beast, clawing, biting and doing everything he could to get away from the hands. But it was to no avail, eventually the hands reached his face. He felt as the hands griped his jaw and all other passages in his faces as a hold to grip onto. Even one of his eyes got gouged out. When the hands finally had enough grip they started dragging him down under the water. He struggled and screamed. Terrified screams of agony were drowned in the bloodred water as his head sank under.
"AHH! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
His head sank underwater as the water bubbled from his screams.
When Kale opened his eyes, he realised that he was in the dormitory and had just had a nightmare. He was full of sweat and pale as a ghost. He heard the familiar voice of Kai say:
What happened!? Are you okay?!
It took Kale a few moments to realise that his scream must have awoken Kai. He let out a sigh and took a deep breath, and said:
"Sorry Kai, I just had a really, really bad nightmare"
He let out he long sigh, and felt a shiver run down his spine thinking about the nightmare.
'But what was that silhouette? no matter...'
After telling Kai the details of the nightmare he asked the time.
Apparently it was morning.
At least that meant that he didn't have to revisit that nightmare. He got up from the bed, and dressed himself. About an hour later, breakfast was ready; and a crowd of teenagers rushed to the cafeteria. After getting a tray of food, Kale sat down next to kai.
This was his last day on earth, before traveling to the Crucible. The thought of the Crucible quickly disappeared from his mind when looking at his tray. On the tray laid some brown sludge and a piece of dry bread.
'Really? I am being sent into the Crucible and this is what they serve me!? I am a Chosen one dammit!' Kale thought
He let out a frustrated sigh and began eating the sludge. It wasn't really to bad, but the consistency was terrible. But it was easy to produce and it has all the proper nutrients that we need.
Kale couldn't help but let his thoughts fly
'What does pancakes taste like? I have never had it but heard it tastes divine. Ohh the things I would do for a pancake…'
When he finished eating he stood up from the table and put the tray in its shelf. He then walked towards the balcony to get some fresh air. He had about thirty minutes before had had to meet with the other twelve, and then head to the Crucible. So he took those minutes to breath the air. It wasn't the cleanest air, but it was better than the streets he lived on in the past.
After a while he stepped away from the balcony and said his goodbyes to Kai. The knuckle head began tearing up, but in the end they gave each other a hug and Kai set him off.
Kale walked towards two big wooden doors, the doors must have been alteast four meters tall; and on its sides stood two guards. One had a tattoo of the sun on his forehead and the other had the moon. They were not very menacing, but Kale knew that they were powerful. They were guardians after all.
Kale couldn't hep but think that, Maybe he could become one of them if he managed to return and earn his powers.
But that was not likely…
The guardians opened the door and let him in after sizing him up and down for a while.
He stepped inside the room and met the other twelve souls that were going to be sent to the Crucible. They looked existed when compared to him. They had good reason to, for they weren't weak like him
The High Voice glanced at Kale, as a smile grew on the High Voice's face she spoke and said:
"Ahh! Kale! Welcome young one. Sit down, please, for I am about to inform you off a few things"
Kale sat down with the rest of the twelve and listened to the High Voice talk about the common knowledge about the Crucible. But then she finally got to the end of her speech and said:
"So, twelve will survive, one will die. When you return each and every one of you will be chosen by one god that gives you your power and tattoo. So I wish you luck! You will go to the crucible in five minutes. Talk to each other and say your goodbyes. Oh! And remember to support each other in the Crucible. It is easier that way."
Five minutes passed, but nothing happened.
Kale looked around in confusion, and just as he was about to ask the High Voice what was going on; a bright light flashed and everything became white.
The Crucible awaited.
Author's note:
Hey everyone! RivenFall here; but you can just refer to me as RF.
This novel is the first step on my adventure to persue my passion, which is writing.
So i hope you all will be patient with me and support me by reading my novel aswell as coming with feedback so i can improve my writing skills!
I hope the journey of Echoing Remnants can ignite some spark of "wishing to read more"!
If there is anything you are wondering about then you can just comment it, and i will try to respond as soon as i can.
I will probebly make a few more notes here and there, to fix up in misunderstanings or the like. I dont know yet XD.
I will not be giving out a new chapter every day, but a some here and there.
That was all for this time dear readers!
See you later!