Xelqua Rising || The Lost One AU

15.The Rituals

How long had it been since he had gotten here? Grian did not know. He had found himself falling so deeply into the routine of learning, dragging Miesall into goofing off and sleeping that he no longer had a clue. Before he knew it, he had become so good at Language to the point of being almost fluent. Had that much time passed already?

Nowadays (Er, just now because days did not exist), he did not think about his old friends very often. The thought of him being torn from them wasn't quite as heartbreaking to him anymore, although it still made him very sad and nostalgic. These spells never lasted long, his thoughts always seeming to be redirected back to the one Watcher that had shown him kindness here.

Upon waking, he automatically walked straight to the lecture hall. Miesall had stopped coming for him some time ago, knowing that Grian knew the routine by now.

After opening the door, he expected to see the usual sight of the curly-haired Watcher writing on the board or flipping through the holy book. What he was greeted with, however, was quite different.

Nearly every seat — around 50 in total— was full. Symus stood in the center of the room. They were all staring at him, which coupled with the fact he had no idea what was going on, made him kind self conscious. No one spoke.

"Hey...?" He said slowly in Language. "Did I catch you at a bad time...?" He looked around the room, finding that Miesall had taken the seat he himself usually sat in.

"No, no, boy... see, we've been expecting you." Symus said with a grin as the blonde walked up to him. He wrapped his arm around the small male, locking him into place. Grian's eyes darted around, trying to figure out what was going on. He kept looking back at Miesall, who now had adjusted his chair to face the opposite direction from some reason. The silence was now almost deafening considering that there was so many people crammed inside of the usually empty space.

"You have...?" Grian asked at last, wanting Symus to continue.

"Yes, we have." The Watcher replied, tightening his grip. "You have been among us for some time now. While you were unconscious, the Great Ones have informed us that you are ready."

At first, Grian didn't understand what the Watcher was talking about. Then as he recalled why he was here in the first place, he couldn't help but feel a bit foolish. He had been here just long enough to almost forget: him coming here was not just to learn Language or memorize passages from The Book of Vision. It was to become one of them— a Watcher, himself.

He suddenly felt nervousness quickly rise up in his chest along with a bit of nausea. How exactly was he supposed to become one? Was he actually just going to suddenly sprout six pairs of wings spontaneously?! That did not sound pleasant!  "I am...?" He asked, swallowing hard.

"Do not fear, pitiful human. This is a glorious thing! You will have approximately ten times the brain capacity of any human and you will be more powerful than you can even imagine! You will be able to see virtually anywhere in the universe! You will be able to fly! There is absolutely nothing to be worried about." Symus replied. Following his response was a murmur of agreement from the others. He hadn't realized it, but there was a single Watcher that not joined in, the one who pretended to look away. Grian was too caught up with a flood of emotions and anxieties to notice.

His argument is quite logical, Grian thought. The thought seemed to appear out of nowhere, and didn't quite match his mood. He had been human his whole life— it was natural to be attached to such a familiar body as your very own. But what had I expected when I came here? This is what I agreed to do, isn't it, he thought.  He sighed in agreement with... himself? Was that a thing you could do? "Alright..." He said, shifting a bit uncomfortably.