The Ceremony

The Ceremony
The three of us walked out of the packhouse in a trance-like state.

The daytime was turning into dusk which left a pink and orange glow over the outside world, and the air was beginning to feel cooler on our skin as we made our way to the clearing.

I had the stone in one hand and the pot in the other, making me feel more aware of the tension in my knuckles with how tightly I was gripping them.

We hit the treeline and glided through the orchard until we stepped into the clearing where we were met with a collective gasp.

I looked immediately at Grace who was looking at me with her eyes wide, and I noticed that she had a soft glow around her that made her look angelic. I looked down at my own hands and noticed that I was radiating the same soft glow as well.

As I walked towards Tarquin, I took in the clearing around us. There was a huge bonfire, placed in the middle that was crackling away happily. There was a crystal bowl placed in front of it with the water that had been collected inside and I noticed that it was beginning to glow softly as well. Tarquin was standing beside it, in similar dress robes to what Grace and I were wearing and everyone else was standing around the outskirt in a semi circle that was facing us.

Tarquin held a hand out towards the pot of white as we reached him and I gently placed it into his hand. He didn't waste any time in opening it and beckoning Grace and I closer until we were closer. He wiped his painted white thumb over our foreheads in a line and dotted four dots down our cheeks to the soundtrack of the crackling fire.

"Shift now, everyone - it is time." He said towards our friends and family and they quickly complied until we were surrounded by the wolves of our loved ones.

"Grace and Aurelia, I need you to both face each other, hold your arms out and put your palms together to unite our ancestors." He directed, holding his hand out for the stone. I passed it to him and Grace and I took our positions.

"Hear us Ancestors, Hear us Goddess. We are here tonight to finish what was started at the beginning of time. We humbly return to you the stone of the Moon Goddess as our shift has ended. Your children are ready to walk forward. Guided by only what is on the inside of us, and not what is on the outside." Tarquin's voice boomed out across the clearing, making me jump a little.

He placed the stone on the ground in the middle of our feet, rubbing it gently across the ground.

"From the Earth, We return this to you in the place your first child was born."

He then moved it across and sat it in the bowl of water, the dirt that had attached to the stone disappeared into the water, but it was still as clear as before.

"From Water, We return this to you to be carried gently home."

He then stood up from where he was kneeling and held the stone, centred above our heads in between where we were standing. I could feel Grace beginning to tremble, her palms starting to struggle to stay connected to mine and I saw her eyes wildly looking at the stone held above us.

"From the Air, May you hear the howls of your children."

On queue, our friends and family threw their heads out and let out loud howls, which echoed in the distance as more wolves answered their calls.

Grace was shaking harder and harder and I tried to talk to her using my eyes, hoping that I could calm her even though I was confused with what was going on in her head, but she wouldn't move her eyes from the stone.

"And with Fire, we open the portal under this full moon to return the stone to home."

Tarquin turned as the fire grew suddenly and the flames took the form of a wolf. Everyone's eyes were on the fire and Tarquin, in awe of the sight before us, but Tarquin stepped even closer to the flames and held his hand out to give the stone to them.

Then mayhem hit.

"My family didn't die for nothing." Grace screeched manically as she broke our hold and lunged towards the stone in Tarquin's hand. Brayden's wolf jumped forward to his mate and Tarquin threw the stone into the fire which grew even bigger.

Grace leapt into the fire trying to reach the stone and then the clearing went dark. It all happened within a second.

Braydon threw his head back and howled in pain at the loss of his mate as we all stared at each other and the spot where the fire was. It was as if a fire hadn't even been burning a few seconds ago and there was no sign of Grace or the stone.

Malachi was the first to snap out of it and raced over to Braydon, laying his wolf down beside him in comfort.

I turned my attention to Tarquin who was frozen in his place.

"Wh-what happened. Where did Grace go?" I asked with a trembling voice. He looked at me, still frozen and something snapped.

"Where is Grace!?" I yelled, something finally snapping inside me and he came back out of his trance.

"She's gone. She went through the portal to the Moon Goddess." He whispered in shock.

Braydon and Malachi shifted back, followed by everyone else who were frozen in their spots.

Braydon was shaking and crying, and Malachi had him wrapped in a hug as if he was trying to hold his friend together.

"Th-the mate bond. It snapped. Sh-she's gone." Braydon sobbed and I could feel my own heart breaking alongside his.

"I'm so so sorry Braydon." Cora said as she knelt down on his other side.

"I could feel her during the ceremony, she was getting more and more anxious and then she couldn't stop feeling that her family died from nothing. She only tried to stop the ceremony, she wanted to continue protecting the stone so that they didn't die in vain... but she's gone." He continued sobbing.

"Braydon, they didn't die for nothing, she knew that this was the wish of the Moon Goddess and it's our fault for not keeping a closer eye on her. She's been through a lot and we put her through a lot in such a short period of time. I'm so sorry." Malachi whispered, looking absolutely shattered and I longed to go and comfort him, but his friend needed him more.

My heart twanged with a new wave of pain, knowing that he was right with what he said though.

We were so wrapped up in what was going on and what we needed to do that we didn't look out for our friends.