Initiation

I spent the next few days not really worrying about that decision, since I had already made up my mind. Three days after I’d first stumbled onto the secret society that called itself The Masked Order, I once again found myself in that alley for a second time.

I couldn’t see a door anywhere, but I then took out the key that the woman had given me. Come to think of that, she hadn’t given me her name yet, so I decided that I’d ask for it when I got in. As soon as I held the key out in the palm of my hand, a strange aura started glowing around it, and then a small beam of light erupted and struck the wall facing me, causing a steel door to appear.

There appeared to be no locks on it, however the door automatically opened when I poked it with the key, as if it were magical….well, it was, but that wasn’t the point.

I once again walked down those stairs, but this time I was on my own.

As I reached the bottom, a few of those cultists turned to stare at me, so I looked away and immediately made my way over to where that woman was, and sure enough she had been seated in the exact same place as last time, wearing the same coat.

“So, you’re back, huh?” She immediately sprung up after seeing me make my way towards her. “So, what’s your decision?”

“I’m in!” I answered without hesitation, prompting her to facepalm.

“Idiot, I’ve warned you over and over again that this is no place for a child like you!”

“I’m not a child! I can help!”

“Seriously, why are you so obsessed with this? It’s kinda weird, to be honest.”

I failed to answer her.

“...Alright, tell you what.” She proposed. “I’ll test your potential, and if you get an above average score, I’ll let you join us. And if you do, that’s when I’ll explain everything in complete detail, deal?”

“Okay! What’s the test?” I replied enthusiastically.

“Follow me.” She motioned, and walked over to one of the cultists who wore the robe, and sat against the wall with their hood up.

“Yo, Cass.” The woman said. “Hand me the hourglass.”

“Sure, right here.” The woman took an hourglass out of her robe and handed it to the woman.

I could already tell that this wasn’t a regular hourglass. The two globes were encased inside a golden frame that had strange symbols inscribed on it, that I couldn’t make out. But what stood out the most to me was the sand: It was of a purple color, exactly the same as that of the robes worn by most of the members of the order. The purple sand glowed majestically, as if it were something awe inspiring to look at.

The woman then took a seat on the floor and crossed her legs, holding the hourglass in the palm of her left hand. She then motioned for me to sit right across from her, which I did.

“A bit closer.” She said, and I obeyed. “A bit more.”

She kept telling me to edge closer until my knees were almost touching hers, then she held out the hourglass to me.

“This, kid, isn’t your typical, run-of-the-mill hourglass, alright? It’s what we use to test potential recruits to our cause, and determine their capacity to assimilate magic.” She explained. “This isn’t a difficult task to accomplish in the slightest, all you have to do is to hold it with both hands, flip it, and simply try not to let go until all the sand has completely transferred to the other globe.”

“Wait, that’s it?” I asked, confused. This didn’t seem like a tall task at all, in fact it seemed like child’s play.

“Just wait and try it for yourself!” She laughed. “Everyone has the same reaction as you, but no one understands until they actually start the test!”

“So, it starts when I flip it?”

“Yup, whenever you’re ready.”

I flipped the hourglass, and the sand started pouring from one globe into the other. And then, I instantly knew why she had laughed at me. Pain flared through my head, throbbing like it was about to shatter into a million pieces. I stopped myself from crying out in pain, but I knew it wasn’t any hallucination or something of the sort when I lowered my head and blood started dripping from both my nose and my mouth.

It took everything I had not to instantly let go of the hourglass only seconds after I’d flipped it. My hands were burning, I resisted the urge to clutch my head as hard as I could, and worse, it felt like the more time passed, the worse the pain got. Every second that passed made my head feel worse. Tears flowed down my face, mixing with the blood that had already escaped my mouth.

I didn’t know what the woman was doing, all I knew was that she was there, waiting patiently, as this was probably something that she’d gotten used to. I tried to open my eyes to see how much of the sand had transferred, and it was a huge struggle to do so. When I finally managed to do so, I looked at the hourglass and realized in horror that barely any sand had passed through and I was already suffering excruciating pain.

Hold on, hold on, hold on….hold on! Don’t let go! Don’t let go…

I focused my remaining will on holding on tight to the hourglass, fighting my hardest to keep my hands from letting go.

My fingers felt like they were about to explode, my head pain worsened with every passing second. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore: I let go of the hourglass and immediately started throwing up violently on the cold floor next to me, dying it completely red. I clutched my head and started sobbing, before throwing up once again seconds later. I curled up in a ball, before realizing the pain had started to subside.

“Congratulations.” A voice above me said. “You are now the newest member of the Masked Order.”