"Hazel " king Kasama announced, and immediately the citizens showered the air with yellow paint , repeating the name unison.
That's the tradition for centuries.the third ritual is the feast.
*****
A festive gathering of the citizens took place in the public squares, marked by a shared feast.
A tapestry of movement unfolded in the public squares as some citizens squared feast while other spun into joyous dances.
*******
IN TENEBROUS EMPIRE
A pall of darkness fell over the kingdom. The vibrant decorations were gone replaced by chilling dark embellishments. The people, their face painted with strange symbols, their bare feet on the cold ground, line up in perfect, silent ranks before their king a stark figure on his throne.
The child was held high, as if offered to the sky.
As the child was been held up high,an incarnation flooded the room then a pin-drop silenced descended upon the room one more.
With a slow , deliberate movement, the queen brought the child back to her arms. Then the procession of the dark figures, their garments swallowing the light advanced towards a dark pool; their queen, leading the way.
The pool was not merely still: it was a void, a black mirror reflecting nothing but the inky blackness within.it wasn't the darkness of night, but something deeper , more oppressive, as if the very light itself recoiled from its depths. The surface, undisturbed expect for the occasional ripple from some unseen source, gave no hint of chilling spectacle beneath.
Only when you looked down, truly looked down, did the horror unfurl. Etched into the floor of the pool, barely visible in the dim light filtering from above, were symbols. Not familiar glyphs or elegant scripts, but twisting, chaotic forms that seemed to write the even as you stared. They were a grotesque calligraphy of angles and curves, sharp spikes intertwining with unsettlingly smooth loops, all rendered in a luminescent, sickly green that pulsed with an unnatural light. They weren't merely symbols: they felt like warnings, ancient and malevolent, pulsing with a silent, insidious power.
For those who had never witnessed this subterranean abyss, the effect was unnerving. The unnatural glow of the symbols, the suffocating darkness of the water, the unsettling stillness. It was combined to create a primal fear. It was the uncanny valley of the deep: A sense of familiarity twisted into something monstrous. It was if the pool itself was a living entity, a gaping maw swallowing light and sanity, it's floor a testament to something ancient and unknown. The silent, horrifying scrip promised a knowledge best left undisturbed.
The water erupted in a boiling frenzy as the baby was dipped three times.
"Ael'lorin e'thil'ar, a'thara i'thilar n'ar'th'or'el'al'in, a'thira' in i'lar'en, elthil'al e'n'dir'el i'thilar' in an' dor'el." The king spoke in an unknown language and a red pool appeared.
It says" Lucian"
A whisper echoed in the room, then another, and another until the room was filled with echoing whisper.
With a swift, coordinated movement, ten people fall to the ground.
The room dropped silent if not all will be gone.
"How dare you, ignorant and uneducated immortal, presume to judge the great one's choice of name " king tharros said glaring at them, his voice cold and sharp.
The guard from the side are ordered to throw the bodies inside the red pool which they swiftly do as commanded of them.
"He shall be called Lucian" the king declared and the men repeat the name after him.
*****
The name of the child was announced to the empire . A whirlwind of rituals sweft through the kingdom, each giving way to the next until dawn.
For some reason, the flowers bloom at wrong season, fresh air and nice weather just filled the country when is supposed to be the order way round. The whole country is supposed be dark, wild wind, strong rain and everything supposed to be suffocating but nothing of that sort.
And everyone in Tenebrous empire is suspicious and searching for answer but nothing was found, seeing or hiding.