Right of Passage: Chapter One

In Zawela, children were more than just humans meant to carry on family names and extend generations. They were the soil upon which the land bloomed. Azraku and Kezuma, the father and mother gods of fertility, established a pact with the first Kings of the Six: a gruesome ritual to select the children with tala bright enough to produce the next generation. Zawela was an unusual planet. Unlike its brothers and sisters across the galaxy who were breathed into existence by different gods, Zawela was born from the destruction of the Old Earth, a misfit produced by the worst cataclysm the universe had ever seen. By the Laws and Rights of Generations, Zawela was not supposed to exist. Yet, it did: an orb of violent reds, golds, and greens that produced a race of people whose physical beauty, barbaric strength, and vast range of skin colours put inhabitants of other planets on edge. Zawelans were born with Tala, a spiritual essence embedded in their souls. Tala was responsible for the strength of the body, the soundness of the mind, the colour of the skin, and the reproductive ability of the entire planet. Tala sustained Zawela. Its strength varied from bloodline to bloodline. Those born with strong Tala had bright markings on their skin that came in after a person had lived fifteen Night Suns. No markings after the fifteenth Night Sun meant the unfortunate soul would be... discarded. Since Zawela fed on the Tala of its inhabitants, those born without it did not live long lives. Tala was life. To be born with little or no tala was the same as a death sentence. Those who had enough Tala to live and keep the planet alive were subjected to a Journey of the Waking, a treacherous walk through a forest whose grounds caused unimaginable pain to the bodies of those walking through them. If one could survive walking through the forest without shedding a single tear, the quality of their tala was deemed strong enough to produce children who would be born with enough of it to keep the symbiotic cycle of life going. Being unable to resist the pain of the forest and shedding a tear meant summoning the Naru-Kai, vicious beasts who fed on flesh and tala. Very few people who broke under the forest's pain lived to tell the tale. Nayeru, Feyni, Tzhu and Oruvashi were youngsters born to prominent houses in Esheru, one of the six kingdoms in Zawela. They had each seen fifteen Night Suns and their skins were adorned with bright gold markings. Their sires spent a great deal of time preparing them for this ritual, educating them, by way of aged scholars and spirit guides, in ways to manipulate their tala to ease the pain of the forest. Now they stood at the forest's edge, surrounded by the representatives of the crown who were positioned at the entrance and exit of the forest to make sure no one cheated the ritual. "Do we really have to do this?" Nayeru asked as he pulled some of the locs that fell over his face and bound them with a string. Feyni shot him a glare and motioned towards the King's aides standing a foot away. Questioning the Journey of the Waking was a stupid thing to do in public. He hissed and fastened his belt. Oruvashi and Tzhu emerged from the makeshift room they put together to change into their kalks, bright silk garments with thigh-high openings that allowed for a wider range of movement for the journey ahead. Four of them knelt before their sires and mothers, who stood with the king's aides to be blessed before moving to the entrance of the forest. "Who's going first?" Tzhu asked. Feyni, proud, stubborn, and ready to be done with the whole thing, entered the forest. The others watched his face, searching for any sign of pain. They saw nothing and stepped in with him. They took a few steps, bracing for pain, and felt nothing. "My sire said it creeps up on you with each step. Let's go," Feyni said. For an hour, he led the group, walking through paths marked by others before them. Then Nayeru winced, stumbled, and grabbed Feyni's arm for support. Feyni groaned, pulled away, and let him fall. The pain had come. It started as dull aches, creeping up their legs as they walked. "I heard it gets worse once it gets to your waist. Is it true?" Oruvashi asked, helping Nayeru up. "It is. The pain will make the journey feel longer than it really is, because the forest is small. We have to keep moving," Tzhu replied. They walked for another hour and stopped at a large kamba tree to rest. "This is insane. Why do we have to go through this?" Nayeru muttered, rubbing his thigh for some relief. "You don't plan to marry and sire your bloodline?" Feyni asked, irritated. "Not particularly. I'd rather serve at Kezuma's temple," he replied. Feyni scoffed, disgusted. "A man who would rather serve a goddess than build a family. Pathetic. Kezuma's whores are nothing to look forward to." "Watch your mouth, Feyni! My mother serves Kezuma, and your sire works for mine. I am of the mind to report you when we get out of here." Oruvashi snapped. Feyni rolled his eyes and bit back a retort. They walked and walked, till the pain became too hard to ignore. Nayeru limped, Feyni's proud strides were reduced to heavy steps, and Oruvashi and Tzhu held on to each other to keep from falling. "How much longer till we get to the end?" Tzhu asked. "Three hundred paces... or less. My sire said to keep an eye out for an arrow mark on a kamba. That's how we'll know we're close to the exit." Feyni said. "There are hundreds of kamba here, and none of them are marked," Nayeru said. Feyni pointed at a tree not too far away. "That one is, and it's an arrow. Let's go" Oruvashi sniffed, and everyone froze. Her eyes were wide, and her lips trembled. She was about to cry. "Don't you dare! Are you trying to kill us?!" Feyni snapped and groaned. His dark purple skin throbbed and reddened with pain. "Please, don't let them fall. You will summon the Naru-Kai," Tzhu pleaded. Nayeru held her hand. "Focus on your tala instead. It will distract you." She tried to, but the pain was too much. "I c-can't. It hurts so bad." A hot flash of pain shot through her back, and she cried out and dropped to her knees. A tear rolled down her face and dropped on the ground. Almost immediately, a guttural animal cry rang through the forest, rattling the trees and frightening the twinkle birds. "Dak!" Feyni cursed. The Naru-Kai were coming.