The Prophets' anointment exams was a sort of celebration for prophets and an initiation into prophethood. It was also a programme to group prophets for better management and order throughout the Lokahs.
After prophets had been anointed, they would become part of the rest, the organisation of prophets, the Aequus. And as members, those Prophets, in their groups would engage omens together then report back to the temples/ headquarters of Aequus, exchanging achievements for rewards that would make it easier to engage even worse omens.
Although there are prophets who do not take on omens, being anointed was still a must. The gods had blessed those people with Totems to roam the stories of the Realm. And if they didn't want to, well, their Totems would be put to work regardless.
Should a prophet fail to arrive on time on the day of their anointment, they would just have to become Solo prophets while they waited for next year. But that is a lot worse than it sounds.
——
Atop a pyramid with stairs on its surface all the way to its top, was a wide brown portal. By now, most of the prophets who had come for the Anointment had gone through the portal, so there was plenty of space for both Ikky and Izel to run. Late as they were, it was a bit reassuring to see that there were still some prophets around.
As soon as they reached the top, Ikky turned his eyes back to the foot of the pyramid temple, watching Yaga carry a cylinder with her on her plate as she flew towards him, while another container floated beside her; presumably being carried by Izel's Augur spirit— since one's Augur spirits usually can't be seen by other people.
Soon, both Izel and Ikky were now holding what seemed to be cryptexes with 7 discs worth of combinations. It was simply a cylinder with 7 rotary discs around it, having small symbols being written all over. The discs could then be rearranged so the symbols would align with each other, creating a password that would then open it.
The password was often always the candidates' name, so the challenge for Ikky here was finding how exactly he would fit his entire name in only seven slots worth of letters.
"Just pour your spiritual essence in and it'll click on its own. I'll see you in there." Izel gave him a clue and waved him good bye before bursting into smoke.
"Riiiight."
Ikky waved back at nothing.
Minutes passed and the prophet at the bottom of the pyramid turned her head to face the portal, watching as people ran past the same strange looking man. At this rate, he'd never get in on time.
"Ugh!!!!!!!!! I was beginning to think this year's new bloods wouldn't give me any trouble. But of course there's that guy!" She looked into the box of metal cylinders beside her and then turned back at the tall stairs of the pyramid. Cursing through her clenched teeth, she straightened her blue uniform and walked up the stairs to help the idiot.
The man himself was on his butt, sitting on the floor and biting the lid of the cylinder to see if he could force his spiritual essence in. Somehow, this was an even harder task than trying to pull out the Knight's sword from inside his body.
"Hi!"
Just then, he'd heard a voice, the sweetest sound he'd ever heard. That tone definitely could not have been directed at him. But realising it in fact was, the young man already knew something was wrong.
"Are you having problems with your Title piece? Let me help." This woman had the friendliest smile on her face as she kept down to his level and held out her hand at him.
Ikky was at a loss for words.
Seeing as he just kept staring at her without a single peep coming out of his mouth, she laughed, grabbing a hold of both of his hands and wrapping them around Ikky's Title piece.
Her eyes widened a bit as she complimented, "Woah, your essence feels really cold— but not in a bad way I mean.
"Ugh— ugh— you're welcome to my—" He froze. His first sentence was already ruined. But not he could still save it. Ikky tried,
"... To my room upstairs."
"..." Ikky's voice wasn't the most subtle, so even the other Prophets heard that.
"I— I mean my boss's room— spare room in the shop. They have their own separate house, so I get the room to myself." He kept going. " I'm kinda homeless but not roofless."
He could sense from the expression of everyone around him that this conversation was beyond saving. Oh but he still tried. He tried his best.
"What I'm saying is, you— you won't feel cold under my blanket. I lock the windows."
"Uh hum!" One of the prophets in the awkward atmosphere cleared his throat before bursting into smoke. Others were not far behind.
But,
"Hmm, I don't know~" The woman surprisingly seemed like the only person here who didn't look like they would throw up after listening to all that garbage.
She continued, "How about we get to know each other well first. Do you have a storage talisman on you?"
Ikky didn't hesitate to pull up his sleeve, revealing a long intricate line of golden markings on his entire left arm. He pointed at the big star shaped flower behind his palm and said,
"It's here! A Charm Smith had it built in with my charm."
Now she was genuinely surprised.
"Such a complex design! Where did you get it?"
Ikky felt a strange prideful feeling churning his stomach. He possessed something someone else envied for the first time in his life.
"I'll take you!" He beamed. But then remembering the price of this thing, he sighed in dismay.
Seeing such a look on his face made the woman come to a conclusion that the charm had a complicated story behind it. That was believable. She had not seen such fine work in a long time, so of course there was some big story behind it.
She tore a piece of her blue uniform, squeezed it tightly with a fist full of spiritual essence and then gave Ikky to put the cloth in his charm.
"When the exam is over, you can find me by the feel of my essence."
"Ah." Ikky shook his head. Well, there goes that. He definitely did not know how to do that.
Fortunately, his spiritual essence problem was exactly why this prophet had approached him.
"Right, you can't control your essence properly, can you? Well, I can do you this favour in exchange for the information of your charm smith. " She sat more comfortably on the ground in front of him and clasped his hands around the Title piece.
"Here's a simple trick I learnt from my teacher some years ago. Pay attention... to what you feel..."
———
This little examination the Prophets would have to partake— in fact, the entire anointment exams was barely any arrangement that served purpose to the Prophets themselves. Its primarily use is as a means for the clans of nobility to expand their reaches, power and influence.
To test the talents of the newly ascended Prophets to be harvested, the first thing the system mandates is that Prophets poured as much essence as was needed to get the important details about them, into their Title piece. That is, the essence of their Totem and Virtues itself. Should a Prophet fail to comply to the terms of filling their Title piece, they would not be granted a chance to participate in the anointment and would be cast aside as solo Prophets.
"What are those?" Ikky asked.
He and the Prophet in charge of monitoring the Title pieces had spent nearly an hour without any progress.
The woman grimaced in thought.
'No one could possibly be born this talentless!' She knew for a fact. Ikky's Virtuous essence was the most apparent throughout the expanse as far as her sight could reach. So talent was not the issue here. Not to mention,
She took another glance at his arm. 'That thing also can't be just for show. He must be someone important. Maybe even a member of a High clan. And if that's the case..."
"Solos are just hired help." She answered his question without much thought before asking,
"There might be a way to get you through the portal but... Would you mind me asking what your name is? Your actual name?"
"Ik— well. It's Equinox Summers."
The woman's eyes had opened wide with expectations, only to be disappointed at the mention of his surname.
"Summers, not Summer? Oh wait, never mind, the King has no direct descendants anyway." She sighed before shaking her head.
"Unfortunately, besides you being able to fill up your Title piece, there's no other way in."
"What?" Ikky shook. "But I thought— wait, you mentioned something just now about —"
"Solo Prophets? Like I said, those are more of hired hands, or rather... expendable ones. Public use prophets like those only take missions with random teams, so it's very risky. Not to mention, even their Totems become items that can be leant. In this case, the term solo is just another way of saying abandoned."
Ikky's eyes opened in surprise. Totems can be borrowed? But then he shook the thought out of his head. This wasn't what he wanted to know right now.
"You asked me for my name for a reason— said it could get me in there. Please, what do I need to do?"
This matter had become something even this jaded prophet had found herself engrossed in.
'Why didn't Teacher's technique work? Earlier, I could feel his essence rushing into the time piece, only to get pushed— or maybe... sucked out? Hmm..." She turned to look into the man's eyes, but really could tell that he was very worried and confused as well. So he himself couldn't possibly be what had kept sucking his essence out of the time piece.
'Perhaps that's not the problem either.'
"Ask her, child. Tell her to show you the method she spoke about— the one that will permit you a pass without having to participate in this scandalous ritual."
Yaga advised.