The Light Side Of The Crystal

1. The Ritual

Hey, guys!
Thank you for giving a chance to my book. It's the first thing that I'm writing in English. So bare with me, but I promise I will try my best to write it correctly.
First thing, I got so many things planned for this story and I know it doesn't make any sense at the beginning, but I assure you the more the story progresses and with every new chapter, things will clear out. Valeria is just as much in the unclear as you guys are. :D
I will be glad to read your thoughts on it.
And without any further ado The Ritual.
Enjoy!

The stone corridor was barely lit from the small lamps that were hanged on the wall. My footsteps echoed through, showing how silent it really was. I was walking confidently, but on the inside, I felt nervous and scared. All of my senses told me to run and get the hell out of here. But the other half of me, that is tired of being scared and running, kept pushing me forward. I was wearing a white strap dress that was just above my knees. It was quite chilly, considering that I was in the basement and there were no windows here. My brown hair was falling freely on my back. Why white? I had to ask myself. Like they were going to sacrifice me, and maybe I wasn't that far off. But I knew they won't harm me.
I let out a heavy sigh and went through the arched door at the end of the corridor.
The two figures, who were already there, turned around at my appearance. The room was big, made out of stone as well, with a high ceiling. The only light that lit the room was coming from the candles that were placed in a circle on the floor. They cast shadows over the faces of the present but I could still identify them- one being a female and the other one male. I didn't need light to know how they looked. Emilia was tall and slim. She has long curly black hair and green eyes. She always wore heels that made her, even more, taller and fashionable clothing were a must with her. I was kinda envious of her that she knew how to dress nicely. I liked wearing skirts and dresses, it just felt like I was trying too hard and instead I just wore jeans and a T-shirt because It was more simple that way.
Beside her was standing Chris, who was stunningly attractive with his blond semi long hair and bright green eyes. He was tall, build and with that charming smile he could make the legs of every girl shake. If every group had a joker, that would be him in ours. He always told jokes and inappropriate comments that made me very uncomfortable around him.
From the light, I could barely see their smiles, but they were there, reassuring me that everything will be okay.

"Hey, guys" I spoke unsure and worried. Emilia immediately picked up my concern and made a step forward to me.

"Hey, don't worry we all have done it" But I was worried, I was scared. They had been preparing me for this, whole week. Still, they gave me a minimum information for what's to come. They have some kind of a code, which is: not telling the noobies too much information that can interfere with the ritual, that is about to happen.

"Yeah what is the chance of you actually becoming a forsaken?" asked rhetorically Chris with a mockery in his voice. I looked at him scared and even more confused. What was a forsaken? I was about to ask but Emilia interrupted me.

"Chris!" yelled Emilia and smacked his shoulder. "Don't scare her more! Don't worry Val. There is very rare chance of that actually happening. Besides, we are ninety-nine percent sure that he will like you." she tried to reassure me with a soft smile on her face. It wasn't very reassured, but I tried to make the situation better by making a joke. Maybe that will make the situation lighter than the room we were in.

"Ninety-nine percent ?!" I pretended to be shocked. "what about the other one percent?"

Chris laughter filled the room.

"See if you can still crack a joke, then you're fine." said Emilia, just when another voice spoke coming from behind me.

"Okay, Valeria it's time" I didn't have to turn around to know who's voice that was, but I turned anyways. Leaning on the arched door was Richard, who was the mentor here. He looked like every librarian does. With messy brown hair, brown eyes, even a beard. He wore glasses that made his eyes look bigger. He was dressed in brown jeans and buttoned white shirt, sometimes he even wore bowties. If you have questions about pretty much everything he is the person to ask. If he by any chance doesn't know the answer, he will be sure to read about it and tell you. He wasn't that big of a help this last week, tough. I had and still have so many questions that he refused to answer and if he did, it was just in one word.

I swallowed hard and the uneasiness took over me again. I was feeling nerves and my hands started to sweat. It was happening. Emilia made her way to Richard but didn't miss the chance to smile at me reassuringly. Chris came after her, pulling me into a hug. For a moment I let myself relax into his embrace.

"We will be right here waiting for you, you don't have to worry about anything" he whispered in my ear. I only nodded, he pulled away and I immediately felt the warmth of his body disappearing. I felt alone even when my friends were standing just behind me. I looked at them, Richard nodded his head for me to continue. I turned my back on them and forward to the ritual. There were two circles drawn with chalk, the smaller one being in the big one and just between them, there was some kind of strange symbols that were unfamiliar to me. And just around the bigger circle were the candles. It is a ritual that's for sure. The thing that bothered me was the lack of information. I trusted them, even if I met them only a week ago. They wouldn't just let me go through something that would kill me, would they? I knew the basics of the ritual. Go in, meet Heagn, receive your Powers and get out. It sounded very easy, but then I felt scared. They didn't even tell me what kind of Powers there are, because if I knew It would interfere with Hegan's decision about me. So here I was completely in the dark going into something I wanted but didn't fully understand.

My heart started racing the minute I set foot in the small circle. At first, nothing happened. I looked again at my friends at the door, but their figures became smeared like they were underwater. A black fog started to fill the room, becoming more thicker and thicker stopping me from seeing anything. Gradually everything around me fell into darkness. My feet started to shake and felt like my heart will rip out from my ribcage. I felt scared and I couldn't see anything. Panic took over me as I began turning around hoping to see something, anything. But all I saw was blackness. I felt trapped and by this time I kept asking myself what I got myself into? Suddenly a black figure emerged from the darkness. He was wearing a black robe, his face was hidden from a hood. Only his bright gray eyes were visible. His robe was so long that it felt like he was floating or he didn't even have legs. It was strange how everything was black but I could still see every little detail on him like there have been some kind of light that is casting shadows on him. But there was none.

From looking at him I didn't felt when I calmed myself. What was I doing? I should be scared, I should be trying to escape. But I wasn't. I was just standing there, admiring.

"Ahh...a new child" he spoke with deep voice that echoed through and in the same time it felt like it was in my mind. "come forward my child lets see what you shall be"

I made an uneasy step toward him. He rose his ghostly hands to me and I felt him placing them on my temple. I felt a little pain where his hands were, but it was bearable. His bright eyes looked at mine like he was watching through my soul.

"Hmm...books" he spoke again after a long silence. "fire...interesting..."

I knew that he chooses your powers depending on your personality, something that will suit you, but I was confused. I loved books they were my life, but I wasn't sure how books can be a power. But he continued murmuring something more to himself than to me. After a few minutes, his eyes started to look like they were burning in gray.

"That shall be it!" determination in his voice. As soon as he spoke the words, the headache that was slight at the beginning, started to increase to a point that I could barely stand it. I screamed in pain. Tears started to fill my eyes and fall on my face. The pain was so uncomfortable I didn't know how I was able to stand on my feet all by myself. Maybe if the ghostly figure wasn't holding me I would have been on the floor by now. I wasn't sure how I didn't faint from the pain and quietly I was praying to myself to faint so I won't feel it anymore. For a moment the pain was quieting down and hope ran through me that maybe this was over. But just when I relaxed the pain shot through me again. I screamed again. I started to feel lightheaded and black spots covered my vision of the ghostly figure. I kept screaming but it all quieted down as I fell into darkness.

I was awoken by a scream. It took me a while to understand that it was me who was screaming. The awful pain kept holding me. It felt like my skull is being ripped, my throat was hurting from the screaming I have done. But I couldn't stop screaming the pain was just too unbearable. My vision was blurred from the tears in my eyes. All I wanted was for it to end. I begged for it to end. And it did, as everything around me fell into darkness again.