Salo is sitting, his back to an granite altar, watching a crescent of boats cross the lake before him. None of them put ashore, but a flock of ravens rises from across the water, crossing the lake with fleet-winged speed and coalescing before the altar into a woman and her four honor guards. Salo stands and bows to her, addressing her as "Irediti Ariishe", the queen of his people.
The queen tells Salo that it's a full moon that night, an auspicious time to awaken; there'll be no turning back once they begin. He briefly wonders whether she's deliberately giving him an out, but realizes his thoughts must show on his face, since one of the honor guard gives him a look of disgust. Instead, he tells the queen he's ready.
The queen gives a long and frankly fairly bigoted speech about how, while normally a man who reached for sorcery would be condemned, she's decided to test the old traditions by allowing it. While she talks, her honor guard sprinkle an alchemical liquid onto the altar, and it erupts into crimson flame. Salo knows it's alchemical false-fire, which tricks the senses but doesn't cause permanent harm. The queen explains, mostly to her audience -- Salo already knows all this -- that the first question for any mystic is whether their mind can prevail over pain. She asks him whether he's satisfied with his Axiom and whether it's an original work of his own mind, and when he affirms both, tells him to call down a redhawk by placing his arms in the fire. Salo is terrified, but he thrusts his arms into the fire with a shout.
The fire may be illusion, but it feels complately real, and Salo's shout turns into a scream. He can smell the burning meat of his flesh, see the bone of his arms exposed, but he grasps onto a fragment of conditioning: the world is immeasurably old and large, and he and his pain are insignificant before it. Just when he's reaching the limit of what he can take, he can feel something stir in his blood, a warm ecstasy that combines with the pain to overwhelm him. He knows instinctively that this is the thing that makes a mystic -- that the agony has pierced the veil of his ignorance and awakened this power within him. He can feel the altar, reaching skyward to announce his presence, and far above, he feels something respond.
The queen tells him to remove his arms from the flames as the ecstacy overwhelms his pain, and as he does, he finds them cold and tingling but whole. There's real approval in her eyes as she turns to continue her speech, talking about redhawks, tronic starbirds who nest in low orbit and by whom Salo will now be judged. She orders Ajaha into position, and Salo into the water to wait for the redhawk he's called.
It begins as a point of light on the horizon, swelling rapidly as it falls, parting the lake as it skims over the surface: a bird with a quadruple wingspan the size of a house, cruel-beaked and horned, shrouded in the flame and smoke of its burning feathers. It takes a step towards him, then another, lowering its head as he kneels before it, until their foreheads are nearly touching. Salo feels the redhawk's heat, but isn't burned; he feels a wave of calm instead, and waits for his shards to appear.
That's when some other presence uncoils from his mind like a serpent and pours into the redhawk, which screeches with fury and impales him with its talons.
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timeasmymeasure
Facing the redhawk for the first time
Date: 2025-01-26 03:37 am (UTC)The queen tells Salo that it's a full moon that night, an auspicious time to awaken; there'll be no turning back once they begin. He briefly wonders whether she's deliberately giving him an out, but realizes his thoughts must show on his face, since one of the honor guard gives him a look of disgust. Instead, he tells the queen he's ready.
The queen gives a long and frankly fairly bigoted speech about how, while normally a man who reached for sorcery would be condemned, she's decided to test the old traditions by allowing it. While she talks, her honor guard sprinkle an alchemical liquid onto the altar, and it erupts into crimson flame. Salo knows it's alchemical false-fire, which tricks the senses but doesn't cause permanent harm. The queen explains, mostly to her audience -- Salo already knows all this -- that the first question for any mystic is whether their mind can prevail over pain. She asks him whether he's satisfied with his Axiom and whether it's an original work of his own mind, and when he affirms both, tells him to call down a redhawk by placing his arms in the fire. Salo is terrified, but he thrusts his arms into the fire with a shout.
The fire may be illusion, but it feels complately real, and Salo's shout turns into a scream. He can smell the burning meat of his flesh, see the bone of his arms exposed, but he grasps onto a fragment of conditioning: the world is immeasurably old and large, and he and his pain are insignificant before it. Just when he's reaching the limit of what he can take, he can feel something stir in his blood, a warm ecstasy that combines with the pain to overwhelm him. He knows instinctively that this is the thing that makes a mystic -- that the agony has pierced the veil of his ignorance and awakened this power within him. He can feel the altar, reaching skyward to announce his presence, and far above, he feels something respond.
The queen tells him to remove his arms from the flames as the ecstacy overwhelms his pain, and as he does, he finds them cold and tingling but whole. There's real approval in her eyes as she turns to continue her speech, talking about redhawks, tronic starbirds who nest in low orbit and by whom Salo will now be judged. She orders Ajaha into position, and Salo into the water to wait for the redhawk he's called.
It begins as a point of light on the horizon, swelling rapidly as it falls, parting the lake as it skims over the surface: a bird with a quadruple wingspan the size of a house, cruel-beaked and horned, shrouded in the flame and smoke of its burning feathers. It takes a step towards him, then another, lowering its head as he kneels before it, until their foreheads are nearly touching. Salo feels the redhawk's heat, but isn't burned; he feels a wave of calm instead, and waits for his shards to appear.
That's when some other presence uncoils from his mind like a serpent and pours into the redhawk, which screeches with fury and impales him with its talons.