HARANYA part 2: Firran (eng) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 1: Falcorth

A light breeze rose in the plains of Falcorth, caressing the grass of the wild meadows and making the trees dance. To the east behind the mountains, a faint glow began to dawn as the sun prepared to flood the meadows with its burning rays. In each tribe, young Firrans were already getting up to prepare themselves conscientiously. It was not a day like any other, no, this day was special, even crucial. The time had come for them to take the Bejant trials, an initiation rite that had been obligatory for millennia, symbolising the passage to adulthood.

One of the participants of the Whisperwind tribe, who had already been up for a long time, had climbed a tree to admire the sunrise on her native plain, her last sunrise as a 'kitten'. Impatient, she hadn't been able to sleep a wink in the night. She waited with excitement for daybreak so that she could begin. She had been watching her elders go through the tests for years, and today it was finally her turn.

A voice she knew well brought her out of her reverie.

"Here you are at last, Fenglong! I've been looking for you for a while."

- "Lifeng!" cried the interested party joyfully. "At last you're up, you lazy cat!"

Fenglong jumped from her perch and landed with the suppleness known to felines. She dusted off her white coat mottled with brown and put her ice-blue dreadlocks back in place. She then turned her deep blue eyes to her twin brother Lifeng, who watched her do it with amusement.

"All good, princess? Are you done? Come on, there's still an hour left before the start of the Trials. Let's take the opportunity to warm up properly."

An hour later, the sound of a foghorn sounds across the plain, calling the young Firrans to join their respective Mahra, or clan chief. As the events always take place at the foot of the Nascent Cliffs on the plains of Falcorth, some had had to travel from very far away with their tribal chief. The twins, for their part, lived right next to the cliffs and had the comfort of being able to spend the last few nights with their families. Their mother eagerly left the family tent. The beautiful Firran with her immaculate coat was trying to catch up with her two kittens.

"Children, please wait!"

- "Mummy, hurry up, we're going to be late" Fenglong complained.

- "Just a moment, it's important" the mother promised. "Here, this is for you."

She handed each of her children a small transparent semi-precious stone, each attached to a leather thread.

"These are your wind stones" explained the mother. "Lifeng, your father's and Fenglong, mine. They will bring you luck in your Trials and throughout your life. When your children themselves take their Bejant Trials, you must pass them on to them."

- "Thank you, Mama!"

- "We will take great care of them."

The two young Firrans hung the jewel around their necks, before leaving their mother to run away, on all fours to go faster, towards the meeting point.

"May Tahyang watch over them" whispered their mother, watching them leave.

Fenglong and Lifeng ran to Mahra Abaran, the chief of the Whisperwind tribe, joining a group of friends who were the same age as them and whom they had known all their lives. Three drumbeats were struck to request silence from the audience.

"Welcome everyone!" the Mahra shouted out, spreading his arms wide, exposing the clothes and decorations of a male of his rank. "The reason we are gathered here today is to enable you to take, successfully I hope, your Bejant Trials. These tests will take place in four stages: first of all, the easiest one, the snowlion archery. A course of targets has been set up in the plain to the west of the camp, you will have to shoot an arrow in each of them trying to make the best score possible! For those who do not have a snowlion, we can lend you one. And those who do not know how to run up, please note that the shooting points as well as the time are counted. The second test is at the foot of the Nascent Cliffs. You will have to face a firran warrior in battle. You will use sticks of different sizes symbolising different weapons: spear, sword, dagger, they will all be pieces of wood because the aim is not to kill each other. The time of this event is limited, you must put your opponent in a state of sudden death. Third test, the ascent of the Nascent Cliffs. At the top are the wind elementals, the Windspeakers. You will have to eliminate one of them and take its wind talisman. Finally, the last test, that of the God of Wind himself! Now you can begin. Please start and continue the trials when your name is called. May the wind sweep away your coat, and may the meat fill your stomach!"

With these words of encouragement, the young Firrans took their place on the starting line with their snowlion for the most part. The two twins each had their own. Lifeng rode a black lion with red spots, the most characterful and often the most difficult to control while Fenglong had a white one with bluish tints, almost matching her own coat. The two youngsters had had them when they were still lion cubs, and had tamed them themselves, making them faithful companions.

Already in the saddle, the twins waited patiently for their turn. After a few minutes of waiting, which seemed to last an eternity, one of them was finally called.

"Lifeng of Whisperwind!"

The sibling male then stepped forward with his snowlion. He glanced defiantly at his sister, who was sulking, her arms folded over her chest. Under her saddle, her lion was also starting to paw at the ground.

"Quiet Windblow" she whispered, stroking the animal's mane. "We're going to go, too."

Or at least she hoped so. The Bejant Trials were actually held over three days, so that all the Firrans from all the tribes could take them one by one. Fenglong could not bear to have to wait for the second day. Even less so on the third day.

Fortunately for her, she was finally called an hour after her brother. They had thus been separated by about ten other competitors, certainly to prevent them from pairing together during the Trials and helping each other. Fenglong thought it was stupid, because they were both too proud to think that way. On the contrary, she would have liked to be able to leave right after him and arrive before him.

So Fenglong threw Windblow, her snowlion, at full speed on the shooting course. She grabbed her favourite bow, the one her father had custom-made for her when she had grown up, and took three of her own arrows from her quiver, which she had made herself so that they could shoot through the air faster. She didn't miss a single target, putting almost all of her arrows in the centre. Whenever she couldn't, her brother's was in the centre. She counted the targets: ten. She put five right in the bull's-eye, the other five had been marked by Lifeng. She arrived at full speed towards the eleventh and last target and aimed at the centre without hesitation. Her arrow went through another one to reach the middle: she burst out laughing when she saw that the arrow she had shot was, once again, that of her twin. With six of them in each, they were tied on this event; it remained to be seen whether time would decide between them.

After collecting her score and time at the end of the archery event, she quickly arrived at the foot of the Nascent Cliffs. She descended from her snowlion with a smooth salto, to show off. She still bowed to the master of the event and introduced herself.

"I am Fenglong of the Whisperwind tribe! I have just successfully completed the archery event and I have the approval of the first master of ceremonies to take the second one!"

- "Very good, Fenglong. So now, what weapons do you choose for this fight? Spear, sword or daggers? You can also choose to use a shield with the first two. But I suppose you'll choose the s-"

- "The daggers!" cut the Firran.

- "The daggers, really?" the master repeated. "Usually, good archers choose -"

- "The spear, because it's a distance weapon, I know" cut the apprentice again. "Can we move on to combat now? I've learned my lesson well, there's no need to make a fuss about it."

- "All right, then... Warrior 506! Places!"

Fenglong observed the Firran warrior advancing. He was the same size as her brother, perhaps a little more muscular. He was a large, charismatic male with striped red hair. Judging by his clothes, he came from the Oxion tribe in the west of the region. She was a bit surprised to see a warrior from this clan, knowing that a group of Harani terrorists had apparently established themselves near their camp and were attacking them regularly. But helping the young Firrans to pass their Bejant Trials was such a great honour that some warriors had been able to take over the guard during these three days. Fenglong then detailed her opponent's equipment. He had opted for the longest stick, the one representing the spear, and a shield. It was the perfect opposite of her daggers. The young Firran smiled happily. It was going to be a tough fight and that's all she was expecting.

Fenglong bowed politely to greet her opponent, who did the same. Then they took their places and the master of ceremonies sounded the starting signal. The Oxion warrior therefore charged with his spear, which Fenglong skilfully dodged, managing to hit him in the flank with her stick. Of course, in real conditions this would not have been a fatal blow at all. So the battle continued. They often took turns leading the assault, appearing to be at the same level. But the young apprentice was not at the end of her resources. After a skilful feint, she jumped over her opponent, doing a pirouette. The warrior, stunned, had no time to react as the Firran had passed one of her sticks under his throat.

"Sudden death position!" exclaimed the master of ceremonies. "Fenglong won it hands down!"

Once again, she bowed down to her opponent before running away at the start of the next race, at the foot of the Nascent Cliffs. When she was given permission, she started to climb the rock. The climb was very difficult, but she climbed without any apparent difficulty. Once at the top, Fenglong lurked against the rock so as not to be spotted. There were still many Windspeakers. These wind elementals were generally not very violent or aggressive, but they were to be beware of. Elementals, whatever their nature, were difficult creatures to beat. How do you catch or pierce a body that is only made up of draughts?

Fenglong, still belly down, grabbed her bow and grabbed some of her arrows that she had made specially to fight the wind elementals. What these arrows had in addition was a small flute hanging on the side of the stick. When the arrow was thrown, the air passing through the flute made the flute whistle, while at the same time deflecting the currents in different directions after its passage, which usually caused the elementals to burst. She aimed at a Windspeaker close to her and quiet, then shot her arrow. The arrow pierced the elemental and it exploded, creating a small tornado. When the wind died down, Fenglong rushed to the very spot where the Windspeaker had previously stood to retrieve its talisman. Once her mission was accomplished, she descended the cliff by the other side and handed the stone over to the master of ceremonies.

"Very good work. Now you have to go to the entrance of the Whisperwind's camp. There is a Circle of the Wind, where your final test will take place."

Fenglong whistled to call her snowlion back to her. Climbing on the snowlion's back, she set off at full speed towards her own camp. She soon saw the Circle of the Wind, around which stood eight high carved wooden posts, each with twelve buffalo horns, with a high totem pole at its centre, consisting of a ninth post with thirty-six horns symmetrically positioned, surrounded by three wooden pillars forming a triangle. The posts around it were connected to the central one by long, thin ropes from which hung pieces of white cloth that danced in the wind. A white circle with a magical appearance was drawn on the ground, with numerous drawings and inscriptions within it. Mahras from different tribes were present near the circle. Fenglong saw Lifeng further away, discreetly watching his sister's last trial. The young Firran jumped to the ground and bowed to the clan chiefs.

"I am Fenglong of the Whisperwind tribe! I passed every test in the time allowed!"

Abaran, the Mahra of her tribe, came towards her.

"I am very proud of you, Fenglong! Now you have the ultimate test. Take this flag and plant it in the Circle of the Wind to summon a Wind Guardian. You will have to defeat it in a single fight. If you are indeed a child of the God of the Wind, then you will easily win."

Fenglong then grasped the flag handed to her by her Mahra.

"May Tahyang protect you!"

The young Firran greeted her leader, and solemnly stepped forward into the circle of invocation. She drove the wooden pike into the ground with force and moved back a few steps. The flag flew through the air faster and faster, a whirlpool of wind forming around it. Fenglong watched the Wind Guardian materialise before her eyes. It was similar to the Mountain Windspeakers, but three times bigger. She immediately drew her bow and quickly grabbed three whistling arrows that she fired one by one at phenomenal speed, reproducing this several times, running in a circle around the spirit. The latter had no time to react, and soon exploded, creating a tornado. It was much more powerful than those produced by the Windspeakers, and Fenglong, surprised, fell to the ground but leapt up again. The Guardian of the Wind had been defeated. She retrieved the talisman released by the spirit and headed back to her Mahra.

"Fenglong, you have overcome the Bejant Trials with an incredible speed, and this last event has proven that you are a child of the God of the Wind. I give you this present as a token of my gratitude. You are now an adult and I am proud to count you among the Whisperwind!"