Cursed Times - Only Yesterday! Sequel to Wattys 2015 winner!

Chapter 14: Trueth - A Wake

'Nothing, there is absolutely nothing here.' Rani-Ra had slumped on a stool, so dishevelled she looked like a caricature of her usual graceful self.

Their quest had started on a positive note. With Seisi's help, the search had not taken all that long, the professor had located all the texts describing the holy rituals in one basket. It had not contained that many documents either.  Also, most of their noble cousins had stayed behind to help The information the containers had yielded, however, was as clear as it was devastating. After only a couple of hours, they were out of options.

Trueth closed her eyes and massaged her temples. 'Have I misunderstood things or is that bloody Blessing a tea party compared to what is going on in the universe? I mean when somebody gets shoved out there?'

Seisi refrained from making any comments. That was wise of him, given that right now Trueth would gladly rip anybody to shreds who dared to cross her path.

'So you really teleport your candidate into outer space and explode his ba into millions of soul splinters?' she asked. 'And the shadow has the honourable duty of collecting the bits and pieces? Until he has assembled enough of his champion's personality so that he or she remembers who the heck they are?'

Seisi still said nothing.

'How can they survive out there in the first place? I mean, talk about hostile environment,' the professor wondered. Exhaustion had drawn grey lines into his friendly face.

'Oh, I'm sure that's no problem,' Trueth said. 'Some mega-monster Hide of Taurit spell and Bob's your uncle. That's what you used to survive in the Nile, I suppose?' Trueth felt like shaking Seisi. All this was not his fault. But he was the only one of these anointed lunatics she had at her disposal.

He nodded once.

Trueth slapped the scroll she was holding onto the palm of her left hand. 'And the shadow uses all his life force to help his champion, so at the end we have one newly minted high-priest and a corpse floating in outer space. How do you deal with the shadow's body, just out of interest? Do you send somebody from the lower ranks to collect the spiritual space debris?'

Seisi sighed. 'This is not what happens.'

'Then what does?' Trueth screamed.

Ranofer made soothing motions with his hands, but she could not care less. 'This is so completely nuts... .'

Seisi twirled a scroll between his long fingers. 'I understand you do not approve of our ways. Neither do you comprehend the motives for our actions.'

Trueth snapped. 'Correct. I have no idea what you guys are on about. And I don't think I want to know.'

'How does the new high-priest then get back here?' Ranofer asked. 'And what happens with the ba of his shadow?' As worried as he was, he still showed the instincts of a scholar.

'If Metjen made it, for I think this is why you are asking, he would just mind-shift back to the temple,' Seisi explained. 'For the prophets, this is easy to do. As to the shadow, for a while his ba remains in the mind of the high-priest he helped create. He becomes an internal counsellor until he leaves for the Fields of the Rushes. Being a shadow is a great honour. Your name is recorded together with the new high-priest's and kept forever.'

'I would imagine being the high-priest is an even greater honour, that's what my boy would want,' said Metjen's mother in an unsteady voice. 'He would finally have his own temple to run.'

Seisi regarded her with a tender expression on his tired face. 'How I wished it was so. He would bring a breath of fresh air—'

'—You mean a hurricane?' Rani-Ra slumped in her chair. 'Sorry, force of habit.'