Amgyptapan

Chapter 5: The Ceremony

As Nothile returned his borrowed Sais to their true owner, Sashe said in awe, "That was incredible! Not even my uncle Shalom can triumph in a duel against her! How did you do it?"

"I just noticed that she moved and fought in patterns. Once you find the current pattern, you can defeat her." Nothile disclosed.

"Patterns, huh? I will have to remember that." Sashe mused.

Nothile noticed that that Drid was talking to Insha of what she wanted for her special ceremony. Insha merely nodded to her suggestions. Nothile wondered why being forced to rid yourself your inner purity was a big deal. Sashe noticed that Nothile looked confused.

"As you clearly know, humans and demons do things differently. For example, losing in a training duel in front of an audience is a shameful act. It is also shameful to remain pure after coming of age. The Ridding of Purity ceremony is a public act not for humans to witness." Sashe explained.

"I guess I can understand the part about losing in a duel. However, why is remaining pure shameful? Why is a Ridding of Purity ceremony not for human eyes?" Nothile questioned.

"To answer your first question," Sashe replied, "No demon wants to rut with an inexperienced demoness. And as for why the ceremony is not for humans, well, to put it lightly, demons tend to participate from the stands. Mated couples participate only with their partners. Unmated demons get to have multiple partners. The basic idea is that it turns into an orgy."

"I am not familiar with your term 'rut'." Nothile said.

"That is to be expected. Our term 'rut' is the act of multiplying with the one best suited for us, making a child." Sashe explained.

"Our term in Egypt is 'have relations with'. This is another thing that streets demons apart from humans?" Nothile asked.

Chief Shalom placed a hand between Nothile's shoulders and told the younger, "For your accomplishment, you have won the respect of me and my tribe. Except for my daughter, of course! She has always hated defeat, more so than the rest of the tribe, in fact. I apologize for my rudeness up to now, but what is your name?"

The High Priest answered, "I am called Nothile."

"If you like, you can see the ceremony for yourself." Chief Shalom premised, "I have spoken to your Pharaoh. He has given his permission for you to attend if you wish to."

Nothile admitted, "I suppose it would be alright, as long as it is for educational purposes that I attend."

Nothile was only wearing his linen cloth. He had been told that anything more might seem offensive. He followed Chief Shalom and Serina to another, smaller arena than the one he saw two evenings before. The stands surrounding the arena had railings where the stone ended that were about three feet in height.

In the arena, a bed-like alter with chains attached stood in the middle. Not far from the alter was a wall with chains high above. In another direction, there was a duo of railings. The higher railing was about a foot and a half taller than the smaller, which possessed only chain cuffs opposed to the length of chain for the bed and wall before ending in cuffs, to make up three feet in height.

Serina stood next to Nothile. Her father was with a demoness that was clearly not of the same species of demon. The distance between the Chief and his daughter was about twenty feet. The demoness and High Priest were, for all intents and purposes, on their own to witness the ceremony.

Drid was brought into the small field by two demonesses. She wore a short white dress that seemed to be made of silk. Nothile wondered what the point of wearing a color that you can see every impurity to the fabric was. The two demonesses took Drid to the wall and chained her to it.