TALE OF RAPHAEL

D-DAY

Once every three hundred years a blood moon rises and the coming of age ceremony is held and the younger generation of each species on the island would partake in the ceremony as they transition to adulthood. The blood moon was not natural but brought about by ancient magic and carried a certain purpose that only the nobles kept to themselves and father had explained it all to me. The ceremony entailed bathing in the ancestral pond that was entirely made of the progenitor's blood as a form of baptism .

The night was filled with noise everywhere as everyone headed to the ancestral temple where the blood pool was . The ancestral temple was a restricted area and was only open to the public during the blood moon.When midnight arrived and the blood moon was at its peak the real ceremony began and one by one those of the present generation bathed in the ancestral pond but not many could stay submerged for long since the hidden effects of the ancestral pond were awakened under the influence of the blood moon. Few of the nobles and those high in the hierarchy of the different species knew of the hidden effects of the ancestral pond and their children tried their utmost best to remain submerged longer as it would provide better results.

I remember father explaining the hidden effects of the ancestral pond . The ancestral pond under the blood moon could awaken one's bloodline and purify it and the longer one stays in it the purer their bloodline becomes making them stronger than others in their species . Those who manage to cross the ancestral pond their bloodline is fully awakened and purified totally and that was my goal.

As fate would have it I was last and it was finally my turn. As I stood in front of the golden white blood pool I could hear my heart racing for the first time in a long time. Was I nervous, no it felt more like fear , fear of the consequences to follow once I cross the ancestral blood pool but I dismissed such thoughts be it a precognition or not . I who was the strongest of my race had nothing to fear and with that I took my first step in the blood pool. I could tell the others felt pain the longer they stayed in the ancestral pond but for me I felt no pain bit instead felt a strange resonance with the ancestral pond. With each step I took crossing the ancestral pond I felt my blood boiling but it felt comfortable more than pain inducing.

As the resonance became stronger my precognition and fear grew and as I neared the end of the blood pool I to feel strange it felt like drowning and not drowning at the same time . I remained stagnant at the end point of the blood pool as my consciousness drifted in a never ending darkness. Time felt like it passing in an instant, had it been centuries in

this never ending darkness I couldn't tell.

" Where am I, I couldn't tell . I was in a state of floating and sinking at the same time . Even though I could not tell where I was ,everything on the outside was crystal clear to me. The happy murmurs between my siblings , the worried cries from my mother and father who jad mixed feelings. I could feel my body being moved from the ancestral pond to my living quarters and my mother's tear hitting my cold skin as I laid on my bed. "Son ,please wake up . I will be a better mother ,I promise . so if you ca... The word seemed to not reach me as time passed and my consciousness drifting deeper into the never ending darkness. I wanted to reassure my mother that there was nothing wrong happening but it seemed that would be a lie as I precognised.