Green Skies

Chapter 20

I walked down the street towards the council, a smoker still in hand. A rule was that you couldn't smoke in public areas. So I quickly rubbed it into the ground with my shoe when I saw my grandmother walking towards me.

"Ryver, come. We must get you ready." She rushed me into the council room and forced the ritual outfit into my arms and shoved me into a small room to change.

The outfit was white, preserved green flowers were sewn in. I slipped it over my head. It was a bit big but I wasn't present for a fitting or measuring. The sleeves were long, hiding my hands but it was usually that long. It puddled around my feet. It would be difficult to walk. I put the gold head ornament on which held green crystals that seemed to glow.

I walked out of the room. My grandmother tried her best to keep her composure. "Wonderful. Now wash up. We have five minutes." She gestured to a wooden bowl with a cloth.

I submerged the rag into the water completely and wrung it out over the bowl.
It looked like a mixture of moon and mushroom water though I couldn't be certain. I wiped my face with the cloth and put it back in the bowl when I was finished. I was led to a staircase that resided in the council with my grandmother. We went up to the topmost level.

When we opened the door and exited and came to a large wood plateau. I snuck a peek over the edge. The view was almost better than my secret hill.

It was right under the lip of the huge entrance, giving way to see the sky and the kingdom below. My hill was only on the outside and had the dangers of falling. It was harder to see the town from there.

From where I stood I could see the hundreds, maybe thousands, of people standing below, craning their necks up to see. I spotted my friends in the crowd below. As well as Ozzy too.

My grandmother called me over.

I sat in the middle of the platform on my knees. She kneeled down and handed me a cup of something. "Close your eyes. Blank your mind. We won't have a repeat of earlier now, hm?" I huffed but did as I was told. The ritual began.

She chanted in an old language and threw green petals around me. It was like earlier, except this would be now or never. For a moment I thought I heard her chanting stop.

I listened closer. I heard nothing. I peeked and saw my grandmother looking up. I opened my eyes and looked where she did. The entrance. There was a small figure.
She lit a blue flame in her hand and conducted a small ball of light and floated it up to the figure slowly.

There were only three words to describe what it was. "Tiny horned demon." I muttered under my breath.

It made a sound, between a garble and a laugh. Another one appeared next to it. It too made a sound. Another appeared, then another, with each sound the previous made another one appeared. Everything was still besides the sound of hooves and the things' laugh. The entrance was crowded with at least twenty of these creatures. My grandmother took a step back, hand on her chest.

"My stars," She whispered.

The first one jumped down from the entrance onto the platform. I stood and we both backed up. One after another the creatures jumped down onto the platform, surrounding us. Once maybe fifty of them jumped down there was a loud laugh -a human laugh- from somewhere up above out of view. A bird flew down. An Oriole. In midair it transformed into a woman. She approached us slowly.

"Ryver," she called to me in a rough voice. "It's nice to finally meet you," She smiled in a very condescending manner.