the Christening by Rachel Rener

Author:Rachel Rener
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: suspense, young adult, contemporary, magical realism, trilogy, magic fantasy, fantasy female, powerful woman, romance modern, 5 elements
Publisher: Rachel Rener

Chapter 18

As the sun dipped below the horizon of the disconnected world above, I once again found myself in the Asterian Order’s colossal, pentagon-shaped arena, a thousand feet below the city of Istanbul. Only this time, I was to be the spectacle while five thousand sets of eyes stared down at me from the packed balconies above. From a dark, safely-concealed corner of the stage in the center of the arena, I half-listened to the Magistrate’s speech, which extolled the endless virtues of his dearly-departed Prelate Kaal as well as the beautiful ceremony that had been held in his honor earlier that morning. He then took a quarter hour to welcome Kaal’s “worthy successor,” Terry, to the illustrious Inner Circle, stating what a proud and virtuous gentleman he was.

I kept waiting for Barish to acknowledge Darius’ death, to pay his respects to the man who lost his life while trying to prove his worth to the Inner Circle – but he conveniently failed to mention how Kaal’s seat had been won in cold blood, never once uttering Darius’ name. I silently railed at him for the intentional omission as I stared at the place where Darius was killed – just there, a dozen feet away from where Barish was giving his speech. Of course, there was no sign of blood or scorch marks on the ground below the stage we shared, no clues to tip off the packed arena that anything unusual or sinister had taken place in that very spot, less than twenty-four hours earlier. The Inner Circle had effectively ensured that Darius’ untimely, senseless passing would go altogether unnoticed by the Community that night.

But all of that is going to change after today, I consoled myself, recounting all of the provisions I would introduce to ensure that nothing like that would ever happen again.

As Barish spoke to the hushed crowd of Elementalists, his voice amplified by Wind, his features perfectly captured by the narrow spotlight that shone on his face from above, I did my best to blend into the shadows, knowing that it might very well be the last time I would be able to do so. My role on that stage had not yet been touched upon, though I already felt the thousands of curious, inquiring eyes straining in the darkness to make out the silhouetted figure lurking in the Magistrate’s shadow. I felt as though the stage might give way at any moment, dropping me into a pit of lions like they did to gladiators in the days of ancient Rome. I forced a mouthful of air into my compressed lungs as I looked around the packed arena, almost wishing that the stage would give way – anything to avoid his next announcement, the real reason every able-bodied Elementalist in the world had been summoned there that night.

The ceremonial torches on the wall blazed with the five colors of the Elements, illuminating the faces of the twenty-seven sub-Prelates who stood as both strategic guards and glorified figureheads at the base of our platform.

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