The Ritual

Four years ago

The sun was starting to set as Kazuki and Daichi neared the end of their journey. Kazuki was ready to collapse from exhaustion.

"What's with this guy?" Thought Kazuki as Daichi nimbly sprang over a tree stump. "He's not even slightly out of breath!"

The old man walked out into a patch of open ground, followed shortly by his staggering pupil.

"We're here." Daichi declared, raising his arms in a 'ta da!' fashion.

Kazuki looked around blankly. "This is it?" He panted.

Daichi smiled and clapped his hands. Suddenly, the ground shook as a ring of eight stone pillars rose from the ground on the edge of the clearing. With a second clap from Daichi, the earth in the centre of the clearing split open, revealing a high marble pedestal which rose through the crack. Kazuki stared at Daichi in confusion. The old man simply raised his eyebrows at him.

"Stand there." He instructed, indicating the pedestal in the centre.

Kazuki looked at the pedestal and the surrounding pillars. "Erm…" He mumbled hesitantly.

Daichi looked at him sternly. "Do you want to back out?" He asked mockingly.

Kazuki sighed, knowing that the old man had him. He reluctantly clambered onto the pedestal. As he stood there on the high pedestal, Kazuki felt extremely vulnerable. Daichi silently took his place between the two largest of the outside pillars. He took out a large cylindrical case from his bag. Opening it, he revealed a long scroll inscribed with strange looking symbols. Kazuki shuffled his feet nervously.

"If you are ready…" said Daichi, flexing his fingers over the scroll, "We shall begin the ritual."

Kazuki gulped and nodded. Daichi carefully unrolled the scroll, moving around the clearing until it formed a circle surrounding Kazuki. With a typical elderly moan of pain, Daichi sat cross legged beside the scroll, on the outside of the circle. He straightened his arms and took a deep breath. When he was ready, he closed his eyes and began making hand signs. The signs were so impossibly complicated and fast, Kazuki barely saw Daichi's hands at all; just a blur. The sequence of signs was extremely long as well. All of a sudden, the pillar on the right of Daichi lit up with ethereal green light. To Kazuki's alarm, the adjacent pillar on its right lit up a few seconds later. Kazuki glanced back at Daichi; he was still furiously making hand signs, eyes closed and making no other movements. Kazuki watched as, one by one, each of the eight pillars lit up with the strange green light. The circle complete, the symbols on the scroll lit up too and, before Kazuki's bewildered eyes, left the paper and formed a ring of glowing characters circling Kazuki. Without warning, the pedestal Kazuki was standing on lit up with the same light. The stone suddenly became very hot, but Kazuki was unable to move his feet to avoid them burning. Kazuki watched as the circle of floating symbols began to revolve around him, slowly at first, but then quicker and quicker until all he could see was a single band of green. Then, with a load roar, the circle suddenly tightened and zoomed into Kazuki. With the force of a charging elephant, the ring crushed him.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Kazuki had never felt so much pain. It felt like his insides were being forced up through his gullet via a giant rolling pin. The colours around him changed from green to blue, and all of a sudden the pain stopped. A great weightlessness descended around him as he opened his screwed up eyes. He had become a dolphin, swimming in the bluest sea he had ever seen. He saw shoals of rainbow fish scatter at his approaching, their multi-coloured scales casting rainbows through the water. His heart filling up with joy at the beauty of it all, Kazuki flicked his tail and shot up towards the surface. The dolphin burst out of the water into the bright sunlight, Kazuki's streamlined body seeming to sparkle with colour. Kazuki was happy as he had ever been. But the expected impact of dolphin and water returning to each other's company did not occur. Instead, the sensation of flying remained and Kazuki realised he was no longer a dolphin. He was now a majestic eagle soaring above the clouds. The thrill of it was exhilarating. The turned his head to either side, scanning the skies. He was the only creature in sight. Kazuki looked up at the sun and stars, awed by how close they seemed. It was like Kazuki could just fly straight to them, and actually, he considered doing just that. But instead, he tucked in his broad wings and plummeted down through the clouds. Kazuki was lost in the sensation of the air rushing past him and once he had cleared the clouds he could see the ground far below him. He marvelled in the fact that he could seemingly see across the entire world. As the came nearer to the ground, he could see individual cows grazing in the fields. One of them looked up at him and Kazuki saw the shine of its small eyes against the sun. Suddenly, Kazuki became aware of just how close to the ground he had got. He tried to pull up, but he was going far too fast. For the first time, the eagle felt fear. Kazuki screwed his eyes up as he hit the hard ground.

Kazuki opened his eyes and found he was still alive. He looked around him and saw a field full of fluffy white creatures. Kazuki realised he had become a sheep! Not the most exciting animal to be, but that was not its lure. The point was the rugged simplicity of life. Contented, Kazuki reached down and munched on some grass. The melancholy of sheep life quickly passed and Kazuki's vision suddenly narrowed. The fields of sheep disappeared and Kazuki found himself staring at a lone gazelle, grazing on an open savannah. Kazuki looked down at himself and saw a mass of spotted fur. Kazuki was now a cheetah! He turned his attention back to the unsuspecting gazelle and was puzzled to find drool dripping from his open jaws. A strange rumbling resonated through his feline belly and Kazuki realised he was starving. He narrowed his eyes at the helpless gazelle, instantly knowing what to do. He leapt at the animal. Kazuki was almost on it before it sensed him and his claws barely missed the gazelle's neck before it sprinted away. However, Kazuki was not going to give up and so he gave chase. The gazelle was running for its life and Kazuki could smell the sweet stench of terror on its breath. With a predatory grin, Kazuki knew he had the creature. Giving one huge leap, the cheetah got a hold of the gazelle's rear legs and knocked it to the ground. Before it could get back up again, Kazuki was on top of it, pinning it down. The doomed animal bleated in terror as Kazuki stared hungrily into its tiny black eyes. He licked his lips and sank his sharp teeth into the flailing creature's neck.

Daichi viewed the ritual with a sense of apprehension. He continued making hand signs at a blinding speed and by now his fingers had begun bleeding profusely. Daichi, however, gave no sign of discomfort. The glowing light had turned yellow, showing the old man that Kazuki was almost on the last step of the ritual. But he knew that the final stage was the one that proved the most dangerous to the participants. Daichi remembered how he had barely made it through with his sanity intact. But he could do nothing to help, so just continued to make hand signs and pray that he wouldn't lose another pupil…

Blood rushed down Kazuki's throat. He greedily gulped down the raw flesh of the gazelle's neck. The creature was still struggling under Kazuki's powerful weight. With one swift movement, he raked a claw through its jugular, spraying red blood everywhere. The gazelle shuddered one last time and fell still. The cheetah flicked its tail in satisfaction and resumed devouring the body. It had felt wrong when he had first bit into the neck, but he had quickly got over it as he allowed the thrill of the kill and the taste of the fresh meat to wash over him. Now that he was used to it, Kazuki was gorging happily. In fact, he couldn't seem to stop… The salty taste of the blood and the tingle of adrenaline filled up his senses and his heart began hammering in his chest. Still he carried on wolfing down the meat. Suddenly, as the overwhelming rush reached its absolute limit, everything turned red. A massive, primal roar exploded out of Kazuki, enveloping the entire savannah in a red haze. The gazelle corpse was incinerated in a huge wave of fire bursting out of the ground around Kazuki. Kazuki let out an animal scream as the flames enveloped him. He scratched at his face with his hands, but only succeeded in leaving deep, bloody scars down it. He looked down at his hands and saw sharp claws protruding from his fingers, now drenched in his own blood. The pain flooded his mind, preventing any logical response to the pain of the flames and gashes. Kazuki just kept on roaring and screaming. Suddenly, a smell wafted up to his nostrils. The smell of other creature's flesh. He charged blindly in the direction of the smell and blundered into a herd of startled deer. With a brutal roar, Kazuki grabbed hold of one of the terrified animals and ripped it apart with ease. He wasn't even bothered about food this time; his only wish was to kill, to repay his own pain with that of other creatures. The animals around him scattered, running around him in a blur of various shades of hide. It was not just deer this time, but other animals. Rabbits, cows, buffalo, Kazuki lashed out and slaughtered them all, neither knowing or caring why he was filled with so much rage. He casually continued ripping apart animals left and right until he saw a new creature he hadn't killed yet: a human. But Kazuki didn't care what it was; racial ties meant nothing to him now that he had become a beast, an avatar of pure animal instinct. He was far past returning to his humanity. Murder on his mind, he advanced on the defenceless human, who stared at Kazuki blindly. Suddenly, he felt a pressure on his left arm. He froze. Someone had poked him. Furious at this insolent act, Kazuki whirled around, claws and fangs bared. He stopped and looked down at the seemingly tiny human standing in front of him. Dressed in black, with short silver hair and unusual purple eyes, the young girl waved at the huge monster. Kazuki sneered and raised his brutally deadly claws in anticipation of one more kill. The girl looked him in the eye and poked him again in the chest. Suddenly Kazuki felt a tear slide down his cheek. He glanced at his raised claws to find they had been replaced by the harmless digits of a human. He turned back to the girl, know at level. They smiled at each other.

"Thank you." Said Kazuki before turning towards the first human, who he now recognised as his master, Daichi.

He walked calmly towards the old man, who smiled and held out a gnarled hand. Kazuki took it, not as a murderous animal, but as a human.

Daichi didn't like the look of what was happening. Kazuki was foaming at the mouth and thrashing wildly in the grip of the chakra ring. There was very little time left and if Kazuki didn't regain his humanity before it finished, he would be lost forever. Suddenly, the old man ran out of hand signs to make. With a sound of a vacuum cleaner turning off, the glowing light dissipated. Kazuki fell to the ground in a heap. Daichi approached his still form cautiously. He eyed Kazuki suspiciously as the boy rose to his feet, eyes still closed.

"Kazuki?" The old man questioned anxiously. "Are you alright?"

The corners of Kazuki's mouth twisted into a smirk. His eyes slowly opened and locked onto Daichi's. Daichi gulped as he gazed into the boy's eyes. They danced with ethereal light and changed colour in a way that anyone looking into them would always be wondering whether they were imagining the changes. Daichi gaped at him.

"It worked!" Thought Daichi, staring at what he had created. "But what exactly have I unleashed?..."