Taitenschild

2-2 || Blood and Water (Part II)

The Initiation was supposed to be a celebration. Held on the day of the summer solstice, it marked the coming of age for the eldest rank of warrior-trainees each year. They'd be acknowledged as adults, made soldiers, shieldmaidens, or – for the rare few that undertook and passed the Rite – Titans. But the preparations for the Rite were more akin to those of a funeral rather than a Feast, likely because that was how the Rite usually ended: with a bunch of body parts that were barely recognisable, tossed unceremoniously into a grave that had been preemptively dug.

If the Claimant survived but was maimed, then there was a good chance their future as a soldier was lost. In the eyes of the Seren, a clan member who could not fight, or was deemed too weak to be able to, might as well be dead, as stripped from the Warrior caste and thrown into the ranks of the helots, where they were forgotten and forced to serve.

Of course, there were exceptions. Thearris Ulfredschild was one of them. He'd lost his arm and his eye during his Rite, but could still best most of the soldiers and shieldmaidens in the village without them. If anything, his brush with death had made him even more ferocious. He'd emerged from his battle victorious, taken the title of a Titan, and been gifted with a warhammer engraved with the head of a lion. A gift he had put to good use when the previous Tyrant of Soldiers had withered and the soldiers, shieldmaidens and Titans had vied to take his place, permanently dispersing any doubts about his capability when he claimed the mantle as his own.

His son, Regis, on the other hand, was an anomaly. Unlike the weak and the crippled in the ranks of the helots, Regis was perfectly able in body and soul, more than willing to beat his fellow Seren bloody when provoked, and as far as anyone knew, he had yet to suffer defeat. Yet, he had voluntarily withdrawn from his Initiation to assume the lesser duties of the Clan Mothers when Aramir was born. Such a thing was unheard of – particularly amongst the men.

It had been a sacrifice, and Aramir knew it. But Thearris's path was the one that the youth sought to follow – hopefully with one more arm and eye than his grandfather had ended up with by the end of it. He was determined to do what his father could not. He would live up to the expectations of his grandfather and the Clan and prove that the blood he had inherited was not that of a coward, but a warrior.

But even on the day of the Initiation, his father still did not approve of him undertaking the Rite.

Regis was pacing an endless circle around the candle-lit Chamber of Vigil, deep in the depths of the Temple of Aeon, where he, Aramir and Eliah, would keep watch until dawn, as was tradition for the families of those who underwent the Rite. A dark expression clouded his face as he watched Aramir kneel in the centre of the room and attempt to etch the intricate design worn by Taiten onto his skin with the aeonite-infused warpaint worn by the Titans.

Regis sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He'd spent more than half his life raising Aramir, trying to make sure the boy wouldn't blindly follow the Teachings like his mother and his grandfather had before him.

Somewhere, somehow, something had gone wrong.

Eliah fidgeted as she sat next to Aramir and watched her foster-father make his tenth round of the room. His anxiety was catching. 'Um... Regis? Maybe you should meditate.'

'I'll meditate when the vigil begins,' he snapped.

The girl flinched and shrank back. 'Okay...'

A sheepish look spread across Regis's face. He sighed. 'My apologies, Eliah. I don't mean to take my frustrations out on you. They're meant for him.' He glowered at his son instead. 'It's not too late to withdraw, Aramir.'

Aramir rolled his eyes. 'You're worrying too much, Da.'

'I'm worrying just the right amount, thank you! Unlike you, boy, I've seen what Fal'mor do to people. You think Thearris lost his arm and his eye to the Fal'mor? No, he did not! He cut off his own arm and yanked out his own eye to prevent the spread of blackblood. If he hadn't, he would have disintegrated from the inside out. And I had to sit there and watch all of this happen! You think I want that happening to you? You think your sister wants to watch that happen to you?'