บท 62: Chapter 62 - Face Statues.
Yes master," Raa responded with a bow and left the hut, going to the back where a herd of goats laid in a pen.
From the herd of non blemished goats, there was one that stood out the most.
It had a pair of horns that seemed to have blue spots.
"A worthy sacrifice you shall be," She said before proceeding to enter the pen and carrying the goat which seemed to have sensed it's fate as it began to bleat loudly and struggled while in her hands.
But she did not flinch even for once and carried it with one hand to the front of the hut.
Upon opening the flap, her master was now standing with seven stone statues that bared only heads, each with a different facial expression.
"Now that is creepy as hell!" Shawn exclaimed at the sight.
"The faces of those statues resemble the emotions of people,"
He had an urge to differentiate the expressions and he followed it.
"Let's see here, each of these faces represent boredom, love, happiness, sadness, anger and that grin is mostly depicted for a wicked scheme,"
"You may go Raa, the sacrifices need to be payed," The priestess said, taking the goat from her and now locking it in place.
Raa left the hut and walked quite a distance away.
Then she stopped at a place where the stone statues in her master's hut were but were much larger.
She remained there for a while and closed her eyes, muttering a few words until she felt a soft hand touching the back of her palm.
Wondering who it was she turned her face away, surprised to see a small female greykin looking nervously at her.
"What's the matter child, are you lost?" She said.
The child shook her head.
"Where is your home? What are you doing here when the sun is almost down?"
The child stopped facing her, preferring the face the ground instead.
"My parents told me that I'm old enough to be sent for training,"
"Ahh, I see, you're here to be trained on how to be a priestess, like me too,"
"Luckily you stopped here, it would be trouble if you were to go any further?"
"Young ones like you are not supposed t
The child raised her head and looked at the statues "Why do they all have different facial expressions?"
Raa laughed at her question and then responded with "Have you not heard of the face pantheon?'
The child shook her head indicating that she had not.
"I'll be happy to tell you, just sit down first,"
Soon, they both were on the bare earth and Raa told her the story while the child listened with intent.
"A long time ago, a powerful deity walked the earth, creating the seas, mountains, forests and all that you see then he made the first of our kin, who proceeded to make us.
We call him tultul, the one with the coral beads.
You see when tultul was made, he had been made near the water and was given coral beads when born as a gift.
But he was always expressionless, having no emotion on his face making the deity worried.
As time passed on, more and more of our kind was made and though he carried a nonchalant face, he would fall in love.
At the time he was in love, he had become a very powerful magi strong enough to summon fierce winds and change the weather.
His wife Melut, then bore him a son which made him happy, he partied with people for days at the birth of his first offspring. Soon another child came and then a third one.
But fate would not let him enjoy his worth as sadness and grief came upon him when his first son died due to a disease which even at the height of his powers, he could not cure.
For days he was saddened but his sadness turned to anger when he was told that the second child he had was dead due to the same illness.
He cursed the deity who made him saying "Why make me so powerful if I cannot heal my joy, my first child!,"
And at the height of his anger, he blamed Melut for it claiming that she had not given birth to strong children for him.
Melut already devastated from the loss of her children died in her sleep.
That was the final straw for Tultul who decided to end his life by killing himself with his own mana while standing on top a mountain though legends say it is the one close to our tribe.
But instead of his life journey to come to an end, his mana was taken in by his spirit that lived on and split into six forms, each form having a different expression on the face and each form coming at a different time in the year."
"What do you mean by a different form coming at a different time of the year?"
Raa bellowed out a small laugh "The changes of the weather during the year all represent the emotions or phases he has felt, Still, Love, Happiness, Sadness, Anger and Resigned"
"Since the happiness phase is wearing off, a sacrifice must be made, a goat without blemish on it's skin is killed to appease his spirit and hopefully bypass or reduce the sadness phase,"
Shawn pondered at the words said by Raa "So basically they are trying to appease a bipolar patient nope a bipolar spirit?"
"System, from this Greykins tribe culture, how do the phases work in human terms?"
[Each of the emotions represent a phase of the year usually characterized by weather conditions, food output, birth rate and fluctuating energy levels]
"Energy levels? Now that's new,"
[The still phase which the tribe believes to be the start of the year is characterized by stable weather conditions, also the best season to prepare crops for planting.
A Greykin born during this period is likely to possess either mana or PE but a lower chance of having access to SE.
The Love phase is believed to be the start of the annual rainfall, crops can also be planted during this period and there is a higher chance of a child greykin becoming more of a mage during this period.
The Happiness phase consists of good weather conditions and an average birth rate of greykins. Children born during this phase are more likely to be powerful users of mana.
The Sadness phase brings a shift to the weather as crops tend to be during this time and the balance of energy levels shift to the favor of the physical energy user.
The Anger phase involves very unstable weather conditions leading to destroyed crops. Crops left unharvested tend to die off before reaching the next one.
Unlike the Anger Phase, no child born during the resigned phase has an extremely low chance of gaining access to mana control and weather conditions lesseen in their unstable conditions]
"If I were to add more energy types into the world, there will also be more differences and fluctuations right?"
[Affirmed]
"But what about SE, apart from the still phase you didn't mention it in any other phase?"
[Children being able to use SE is already a rare potential, it is even rarer for it to be paired with another energy type like the ones of priests, so the rarity of it comes during the Still phase of the Greykins]
"I see,"
"Also, is this Tultul available in the higher being recommendation list?"
[Yes]
Without saying another word, he continued watching the Greykins on the screen.
This time, the scenery changed back into the three walled hut where the priestess now stood on the floor.
When Raa had left, she decided to take the goat out through the left door and kill it there.
The blood however, was now gathered in a number of bowls which were in front of her.
She raised her head up, her eyes made contact with the statue in front of her.
The expression on the statue contained a genuine smile and well carved set of teeth.
She raised her right hand and began shaking the metal beam that had beads on.
"Tultul, lord of the six phases, to your statues that stand before me. I say, bless these bowls with your happiness. Let not your sadness bring forth pain to our farms, our crops and our livestock!"
Then she blew the horn and began shaking the metal beam, making rattling sounds as she chanted.
"Tultul lord of the six phases, your smile holds our hearts, your blessings of mana come upon our children, lay your blessings again to our lands and let your undying will of happiness continue to brighten our paths."
The sooner she had said those words, the clouds above began to gather and a strong wind began to blow in the Greykin settlement.
Lightning struck the lands beside the home of the priestess who continued to rattle her metal beam and chanted again.
"Tultul lord of the six phases, why does your anger rattle your heart? Pleas and cries arise from our lips but do you not hear them?
Respond with your joyfulness of heart, the same you used to celebrate your offsprings and let your emotions of pain be drowned from your mind!"
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