Rite Of Passage

As the tribespeople stared on in confusion, James' panicked face warped in pain as the thick, blue gas completely enveloped him. The gas swirled into vortices as it collided with itself, twisting into turbulent flows and shifting around at random.

The pain began as the turbulence subsided. The previously mist-like gas condensed itself into flowing spirals, coalescing with one another and thickening to the point of near solidity - actually becoming visible to the tribespeople with their Clear Sky Pupils granting them above-average perceptive ability - eventually coming to a stop before his forehead.

The mist, now condensed into a solid, sky blue needle glowed with an intense aura of light surrounding it. Hovering in the air, gently undulating up and down on its own, it paused there for a moment, seemingly waiting for something.

On the sidelines, Elder Moon's shock had progressed further to complete disbelief; he couldn't believe the sight in front of his eyes, rubbing them several times and looking back up at the scene in front of him, even pinching his throat and feeling the pain course through didn't throw him out of his stupored state.

A call rang in his ears, "Elder… what the - I mean… What are your commands!" saluted Commander Oak hesitantly, nearly tripping over his words. Elder Moon was finally snapped out of his daze, clearing his throat with a cough, and quickly suppressing the embarrassed look taking over him.

"It seems to be that the Cloud Swallowing Circle has initiated the Rite of Passage…" said Elder Moon, mirroring the hesitant uncertainty shown by his subordinate, unsure of what to do next. This simple declaration had a profound effect on everyone present.

The hushed whispers of the crowd instantaneously evolved into louder cries of shock; those of the crowd initially hesitant about the execution showing looks of relief as they uncovered their children's eyes - the children excitedly running to the front of the crowd to get in on the excitement.

Behind the crowd, a deep voice yelled, "Do not panic my children. Who are we to question the judgement of the ancestors?", instantly quelling the bubbling pockets of chatter popping off throughout the gathered tribe.

A smile adorned the faces of everyone present, including the warriors and Elder Moon, each and every member of the tribe present respectfully turning and half-kneeling on one leg to the source of the voice, jubilantly chanting in unison: "Welcome back Chieftain Sun!".

Still slightly pained from the pressure emanated by the solidified needle of energy only tens of centimetres from his face, James struggled to turn his head to face the tribe's chief also. Initially thinking he'd been shocked enough for one day, James' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he recognised the old man in front of him, now staring back at him with the same deep stare and unfathomable smile upon his face as before - the old police officer!

Walking towards the circle, the crowd quickly split around him like he was Moses traversing the Red Sea, the old chief continuing to smile as he walked towards the endlessly tall curtain of light, the tribe paying full attention to the goings-on, the muttering and mumbling from before completely stopped by this point.

"I see we were fated to meet once more" said Chieftain Sun, an amiable tone in his voice, adding to the confusion of the tribe as yet another unanswered question popped into their minds, 'How does the Chieftain know this boy?'.

On the other hand, James' already quite-certain guess about the chief's identity was ratified, but instead of providing him with answers, James only had more questions in his mind. "Elder Moon" spoke Chieftain Sun, the elder quickly saluting and responding, "Yes Chieftain!"; Chieftain Sun continued, "Finish the ritual", prompting Elder Moon to pull out the knife Commander Oak had confiscated from James, and making a small slit in the index finger of his right hand.

As drops of blood coagulated onto the tip of his finger, Elder Moon circumnavigated the perimeter of the circle, flicking 3 drops of blood onto the curtain, forming an equilateral triangle of blood. As the third drop of blood landed on the curtain, sizzling away into nothingness, the needle suspended in mid-air in front of James' forehead quickly darted towards him, piercing his forehead.

No blood was drawn, no skin was pierced, but the long blue needle slowly drilled its way into James' skull. After entering his body, James felt a simultaneous burning heat and freezing cold envelop him, these uncomfortable opposites perfectly mingling in his body and passing through his body, reconstructing its composition as the energy violently raced through his blood vessels and arteries, through to his capillaries, only stopping in the wake of the blood brain barrier.

The energy that reached this point seemingly dissolved from its semi-solid form back into a gas, permeating through every cell in his body and forming a route directly to his eyes. Through this entire process James screamed in agony, the pain of his body being simultaneously destroyed and recomposed at a cellular level also forming an unscratchable internal itch that pervaded his entire being.

From the point-of-view of the tribe, his skin seemed to be glowing a deep blue, as if they were staring into the endless sky stretching above a vast desert, clouds of ash-gray mist periodically streaming out in great plumes as the impurities accumulated from years of breathing polluted air and various other sources expelled itself from his body.

Finally, as the last remnant wisps of sky blue energy distributed into his eyes, the feeling paused. Only momentarily. After a brief fraction of a second of respite, James' screams became orders of magnitude more intense as his eyes began to dissolve into a whitish-gray fluid that secreted from his eye sockets, rolling down his face in 2 macabre streams and evaporating into steam as they rolled off of James' chin; his vision slowly dissipated into a black tunnel.

Just as he fell into despondence, all hope lost, an all-too-familiar itching sensation pervasively attacking from the deepest points in his eye sockets as a new set of crystal clear eyeballs, adorned by jewel-like deep, blue eyes.

Blink. In the literal blink of an eye, his vision was restored.