Chapter 92: The ritual (6)
"Everyone alright?" Sylara asked. "I should have probably warned you earlier."
"I’m okay." Isara rubbed her eyes. "What was that?"
"The end of the ritual - and the reason I put up the protections and wards in the first place, if I didn’t the explosion would level this entire building, and a pillar of fire would reach the sky announcing to everyone Calen’s existence."
"Good call..." She moved closer to the circle. "How long before he wakes up?"
Calen was currently floating mid air with closed eyes - the agony of the ritual was absent from his face, but so was any other expression, giving no indication as to what he was experiencing now.
All in all he didn’t look much different than before the ritual, except one thing - in the place where his heart was, a subtle glow emanated from beneath the clothes, pulsating in the rhythm of his heartbeat.
What was even more puzzling was the behaviour of the flames in braziers - they calmly raised and fell, imitating the unconscious Flamebearer’s breathing.
"To be honest I’m not entirely sure, he went through ritual much quicker than anyone before him, and I can’t say whether it will shorten or extend the recovery time."
"What about Auren? Didn’t the flames hurt him?"
"You can check yourself." Sylara motioned at the place where they have left the wyrm.
There he was - a ball of black scales, sleeping soundly as if nothing happened. Although now that Isara looked at him, something did happen: the wyrm grew significantly, the previously cat-sized reptile was now bigger than most dogs, and his scales carried a hind of gold at the end.
Additionally, on his head a small pair of horns was now visible.