He picks up the swords, still chuckling, and joins the other two for the cleansing of their young selves.
They all look eager to take the next step towards the future, while Venshind is also still fuming over his kezhan taunting moments ago.
They all gather in the center of the hall, placed on top of a giant symbol of Qitor, where the ritual guide chants on the side.
A flame circle surrounds the symbol of Qitor while the three remain sat down in the middle, all holding their weapons.
The air thickens with ancient energy, humming softly beneath their feet.
A deep blue flame bursts out under them, causing the hall to glow a light purple, while the three stay unmoved.
For 10 minutes, the spectators keep their eyes locked onto the participants as if they were intensely awaiting something.
The three in the middle look extremely distressed and uncomfortable at this point, but finally, something happens.
The moment the crowd was so eager to see: the first young dragon finishes their world core — it's Narci.
Elemental energy fills the room as her Deiju is completed, followed by a boom that shook the kingdom.
Narci walks through the fire looking more gorgeous than anyone could believe.
She now walks at 6'0 and has incredibly toned muscles that compliment her new adult figure.
Two spectators in the crowd look on with disbelief at the now 22-year-old new kin member.
"Oi, I know she was the first to complete Deiju, but wasn't that a long time for the average dragon? Usually only the elite and most powerful of us take barely over 8 minutes, but hers took a little over 10 minutes to complete. Her cores must be saturated with energy, especially since her final core shook the kingdom when it opened up,"
said spectator 1, leaning forward in awe.
"No kidding, and look at Arsheo's and Venshind's — they've been at it for about 15 minutes at this point. No wonder they're considered candidates for kingship. I wonder how big they'll be when they walk through the fire,"
said spectator 2.
Another 10 minutes of piercing gazes from the crowd, and they finally get another reaction in the circle.
This time it's Venshind who's birthed from the sacred flame.
The violent reaction of Narci's Deiju was by no means something to scoff at; however, it was a mere sound and tremor compared to Venshind.
The talented young dragon was reborn to thunderous rumbles and violent shaking that felt like it would level the building.
Dust drifted from the ceiling as stone pillars groaned under the pressure.
He emerged from the flames — a 6'4, immensely muscular, and steeled dragon.
There was no doubt he had surpassed both his father and the king in stature and elemental prowess, making him the strongest in the kingdom at this point.
But there was one more dragon still participating, and he has the most elemental potential of all of them.
The crowd is now as attentive and eager as ever; this group of young dragons have made history with the pure elemental strength they have.
Twenty long minutes later, the fire circle starts pulsating, causing the crowd to watch so intensely that they don't even blink.
The two who finished, now appointed Qitoran sergeants, watch their fellow kin closely to see the effect of his Deiju.
The flames pulsate more rapidly than before; it's now been 5 minutes since the start of the irregular activity of the fire.
Whispers ripple through the spectators, hushed and trembling.
Five minutes later, the crowd is blinded by elemental energy that is as bright as the sun.
They can't see a single thing and start to get restless.
Has Arsheo walked through the fires?
Is this his elemental energy?
They could do nothing but wonder for the next 2 minutes until their eyesight returned.
They see no change in the pulsating circle of flames, but the blue flame in the middle is now raging uncontrollably.
The crowd starts to sweat from the wild flames while the ritual guide scrambles to control the situation.
Venshind and Narci still wait patiently for their kin's Deiju to complete, both visibly concerned and ready to jump in at any moment.
Heat rolls off the flame in waves, twisting the air.
A couple minutes later, the entire ground starts to move, tossing spectators around the Great Hall and causing damage all over the kingdom.
For 10 whole minutes, the people of Qitor genuinely thought the ground was going to rip apart and swallow their home in an instant.
When the crowd was about to flee, they heard a giant crack as if lightning struck each individual person in the hall.
When they all turned their attention towards the middle of the room, the fire all stopped at once — almost like it kneeled to the newly reborn Arsheo.
A silence so heavy it felt sacred settled over the hall.
The scene was unbelievable, even to the people who just saw it happen in front of them.
The now 6'8 Arsheo's physique had looked much more impressive before.
He now had giant arms with muscles that looked tougher than the finest iron and legs that looked like they could crush the ground under him.
He grew so much that he tore right through his ceremonial robes.
He looks up as he stands to walk through the freshly suffocated fire.
"Why are you all staring at me like that? Did I grow ugly as I aged or something?"
He now looks toward the now adult Narci and Venshind.
"You guys look good! Hey, can you tell me why everyone is looking at me like I just killed their eteraeum?"
The two look back at him dumbfounded and lost.
They have no clue what to make of this situation.
"Oh come on! Not you guys too! It's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you, you know!? And who made this gigantic mess while I was going through Deiju!? When I get my hands on you, I'll fix that destructive behavior of yours! You hear me!?"
The three emerge from the fire, bonded to their weapons, world cores unlocked, and head back to Arsheo and Venshind's draem to recover from the energy shock from Deiju.
Naturally unlocking one's cores over time leaves no side effect because they gradually gather energy until each core is formed one by one, unlocking their world core.
However, the Deiju Drathar forces energy through their body to build the foundations of their time cores all at once, so the rebound is said to feel like hours of sitting in a furnace.
Their bodies ache with a deep internal heat, a lingering throb under every breath.
They have to relax the rest of the day to let their energy settle down, so Arsheo asks Narci if she wants to go to their draem since she just arrived to Qitor and hasn't gotten a place to relax properly yet.
The offer hangs warmly in the air, a quiet invitation after a long day of chaos.
When nighttime falls after the Deiju Drathar, they start the tradition of Trivaan Noxil Zerathil Deiju.
In Alnirian, it means the three-night feast of aging, and it's three nights of feasts celebrating the new adults of Qitor.
This year was sort of special because of the strength of the new adults.
Lanterns ignite across the kingdom, casting golden trails of light through the streets, signaling the beginning of celebration.