“Asen, son of Armeer. are you prepared for your sacrifice?”

Really? was that what he was being asked? how could anybody be prepared for this, who would even consider preparing for the seal sacrifice? but Asen knew he had only one response to give, and he had to follow his fate.

Asen lifted his chest, locked eyes with Priest Sarmist and spoke loud for everyone gathered to hear “i am ready, send me out to appease Orunthal and aid Sacari.”

those were hollow words that held no weight in Asen’s heart, he spoke them because he had no choice. The Seal Sacrifice was a barbaric ritual that asked one boy who would complete his seventeenth year of life the same day of the moons alliance to be sacrificed to the gods. so here he was the only boy in all the eastern dominance eligible for the Sacrifice.

Priest Sarmist raised his hands high toward the sky and shouted to the setting sun “thank you great flame for your light! now set beyond the horizon that we may speak with our gods!” this had been timed perfectly. as Priest Sarmist spoke this line the last sliver of light sunk behind the world and the two moons high in the sky immediately shone brighter, reflecting the light of the sun that could no longer be seen by Asen and the town. the two moons reflected the sunlight differently, one moon cast a soft orange glow while the other shone a muted purple light. this night the moons crossed the sky perfectly aligned. the smaller orange moon partially covered the larger purple moon throughout the entire night. it was seen as a night that the two brother gods were at peace. and so the Church of the Via Crucia encouraged small towns to sacrifice an eligible boy to the gods that they might give good fortune to the land.

Priest Sarmist continued his speech “to the people of Vire’s Hollow, pray to Sacari this night in thanks for Asen’s sacrifice, this boy has given up his destiny that we may have ours.” Asen’s blood began to boil, he hated this town, the people were cruel and selfish, he had found hope in leaving to pursue a woodworking career, but now he died for his worthless neighbors. Sarmist kept speaking “Asen, my boy. Your family will be blessed in your absence, you’re name will be remembered and cherished…” Sarmist continued on longer than necessary, and Asen ignored it. he was bitter, the town wasnt all terribly, but in this moment he couldnt hold back his anger, nobody spoke up for him, Cowards. Asen’s mother could be heard weeping, powerless to stop the ritual. and as Asen was lost in thought he realized the crowd and Sarmist had fallen silent. 

Surprised he snapped back to attention and looked to Sarmist, the priest nodded toward the path. thats right, this wasnt a sacrifice of spilling blood, Asen would walk to the rim and cast himself off. the town waited expectantly for him to depart, dressed in ritual robes Asen made his way forward toward Priest Asen and the beginning of the path, as he drew close to Asen the priest began to mumble a prayer. Surprising even Asen himself he turned to the Priest and Whispered so only he could hear and Asen in low tone spat “remember my face, it will haunt you until you die” and turned from him marching onto the path toward the rim.

This path had no name, it was hardly ever even reference, what was relevant is it took you to the rim. From Vire’s Hollow there were two ways to go to the rim, either the 1 mile straight road that most miners took or the foot path that wound through the woods and ended at a small outlook over the rim, as Asen’s mother liked to call it, the scenic route. well thats where he walked, the scenic route through shadowed trees, the combined light of two moons casting beams of red light through the trees. Asen took his time walking to the rim. he thought long and hard about the betrayal of the town, and how a stupid prophecy could instill thousands of years of tradition, all leading a neighbors to turn on each other and for a boy to jump to his death. 

Asen had his doubts if the gods above were even real, but real or not, Asen would not leap from the rim. and as the 30 minuets passed that it took him to walk to the overlook he was determined, he would not jump, he would not die for some make believe gods, he would run and leave this life behind, his home didnt want him, so he wold leave them, and he would make sure they regretted casting him out. 

determined and defiant Asen marched the last stretch of the path, leaving the woods and striding to the edge of the rim. he took in the sight and looked over the view beyond the rim. in the red moonlight Asen could see far below into the canyon known as The World’s Wound, a bit dramatic and usually referred to as the great valley or the rim. and here he was, standing over a cliff that dropped so far no person would be bale to know if he jumped or not. Tradition said that the sacrifice would throw himself from the cliffs edge and if he was accepted the moonlight would carry him upward until he met the God Sacari at the horizon. that or the sacrifice would fall to their death, neither could be confirmed and the town would never know what happened to him. 

he swore under his breath “moons, i hate this” he began to turn away from the ledge then heard a gasp from behind him. he spun and was shocked to see three people standing there, in shock he nearly stumbled right off the cliffs edge, barely keeping himself upright he crouched in a strong stance, fearing these people were here to ensure he jumped. then one spoke up “Dont jump Asen!” the voice was frantic and concerned “this is crazy”

“Cobin?” Asen couldnt believe it, Cobin had never been nice to him.

“yeah” Cobin’s voice was unsteady and revealed he was equally shocked to find himself out here. “listen Asen, after you left we got to talking and just couldnt believe it, the whole town sent you out here to die. its insane.”

“so what? why are you out here?” Asen stood dumbfounded on the cliffs edge, Cobin was less then an acquaintance, they had practically been enemies for years, always competing for popularity in town. 

“Asen we aren’t sure why we are here, we just dont think you should jump, its not fair” this time Halver had spoken up, the shortest of the three boys but also the strongest, he had grown up working in his fathers forge and hard arms like a golden bear’s.

Asen was so unsure of what was happening “so now what? i cant go back? besides i wasnt going to jump anyway.”

the third boy spoke up “you werent?” it was Edric, Asen could have guessed that, those three were always together. 

“no i wasnt going to jump” Asen’s confidence was growing “im going to run, leave this town, but you guys cant tell anyone, they’ll come looking for me if i dont complete the sacrifice”

“Actually, we were thinking of coming with you” Cobin replied “the three of us found out last week our parents want to ship us off to train at Audax.”

he was cut off by Edric “practically being sold into Slavery” and it was, Audax offered a generous sum of money for every year a boy served in their military, and often families were more then eager to send their boys off. this news surprised Asen but it made sense, the town hadnt been doing well and most families were harvesting less and less. but Asen didnt want these boys along.

“you can run away, but you cant come with me” Asen hated the idea

“why not?” Cobin stepped forward lowering his voice “look Asen, we have never been friends, i get that. but Vire’s Hollow is our home and it has rejected all four of us. we have grown up contributing to this town and they betray us by being cowards and throwing us out. we realized that so we came after you.”

the words hung in the air and as much as Asen didnt want to be with these boys, they were right, Vire’s Hollow had rejected all of them, it seemed fate was sending them out together.

“ok, for now we can travel together, but this isn’t permanent. we will have to stay away from any towns for some time, people will be looking for you three and we will need to let news of your disappearance die down. so for the next few weeks we can stick together.” Asen stuck his hand out to Cobin “deal?”

Cobin clasped Asen’s hand and shook, smiling he locked eyes with Asen “deal”

“Lets get out of here then” Edric was all to eager to go, and so they did. walking east along the rim.