Judgement Day (II)

His hands bound with leather, James was slowly marched along by the entourage, drawing the attention of the tribespeople as the majority of the tribe gathered in a crowd around the focal point of attention. The Cloud Swallowing Circle.

The crowd's mumbles and expressions conveyed a litany of emotions and views as James slowly made his way to the centre: some showed pity, imagining the fate awaiting the poor boy, many of them with their hands around their children as they prepared to shield them from the ensuing gore; others showed a look of interest, mainly constituting the minority of the tribe that were unaware of James' "crime"; but the vast majority showed expectation and held sneers on their faces, believing the "spy" to deserve everything coming to him.

Many members of the tribe had lost family and friends to the Purple Cloud Tribe. Many thought this to be the best fate one could hope to achieve once caught in their grasp as tales of inhuman torture and sex slavery were not uncommon. This group were anxiously awaiting the scene of James' painful demise, hopefully quelling the grief, and anger in their hearts by just a bit.

Turning to face the crowd, just as James arrived and was forcefully knelt on the stone circle, Elder Moon's voice boomed across the crowd, silencing it instantly. "My brethren, we stand here today, to put this young man on trial. He was found in our territory, armed with this weapon!"

Pulling out the knife and unsheathing it, the polished stainless steel glinting as it caught the evening light. 'When you put it that way of course I sound like a criminal…" complained James in his head.

"Regardless, he was caught" continued Elder Moon, "And now he faces judgement by the highest order of our tribe - our ancestral treasure the Cloud Swallowing Circle!"

Cheers erupted from the various members of the crowd, echoing from all sides in James' ears; the warrior who initially jabbed James with his spear also cracked a smile of satisfaction at his prisoner for an instant, quickly composing himself and putting a straight face back on - but the glint of expectation remained in his eyes.

"With nothing more to say, let us commence" concluded Elder Moon, pointing his hand forward and prompting the warriors to step off the circle, each marching out and surrounding the circle equidistant from one another.

Elder Moon himself stepped outwards, turning back to face James, the latter maintaining a look of nonchalance. "The newborn calf does not fear the tiger, the ancestors were truly correct" thought the elder to himself, muttering an old proverb to himself whilst shaking his head.

Steeling his expression, his eyes betraying the sadness he felt at the thought of killing this child, Elder Moon shouted "Begin!". The 10 warriors simultaneously slammed their spears into the edge of the stone circle, a loud boom echoing through the entire clearing like rolling thunder as ancient runes burned themselves into the stone, flowing and connecting from the base of each spear as if an invisible brush were carving them into the stone with ink made of molten magma.

Throughout this process James portrayed no emotions, his focus hanging on the runes quickly instantiating on the edges of the circle. 'Array runes!' thought James to himself, recognising the general structure and familiar shapes from his travels into the seemingly inaccessible library in his mind.

With the 10 sets of runes connecting in perfect synchronisation, a flash of sky blue light shot up from the edges of the Cloud Swallowing Circle, forming a translucent curtain of light, stretching as far as the eyes could see as the warriors quickly removed their spears from the sunken platform.

The slower warriors, not removing their spears fast enough, had the bottom portions of their spears eviscerated, a hint of burning wood wafting through the air as they quickly jabbed their spears into the dirt to kill off any embers and turning their heads to the circle, not wanting to miss a second of the action.

Inside of the circle, James saw a similar sky blue mist to the one surrounding the elder rapidly approach him from the edge of the circle, rolling over itself as if it were the tides of an ocean storm. There was a difference however. If the mist surrounding Elder Moon could be described as clear water from a babbling brook, the quickly encroaching mist surrounding him could only be described as a mud-filled tsunami! A thick, viscous gas tumbling towards him with no signs of slowing down!

To the average tribesperson however, this was invisible, the only reason James could see it was his trait - Analyst - providing him the innate ability to visualise energy. The only signs that the tribespeople could see of the goings-on within the curtain separating them from James were his panicked expression, and his messy hair blowing in a seemingly non-existent gust of wind, as his body was engulfed in the turbulent energy within the array!

Seeing this unexpected phenomena, the crowd grew curious expressions, muttering and hushed discussions spreading like wildfire within the crowd. There was however, one notable exception: Elder Moon. His face filled with visible shock, his eyebrows raised and even his jaw swung open slightly as he clearly recognised something that not even the warriors did and thought to himself: 'Maybe boy isn't as simple as a spy after all…'.