//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Training // Story: The Gift // by The Accursed One //------------------------------// The Gift Chapter 2: Training By The Accursed One         Straining and with sweat forming on my body, I concentrated and put my mind at ease. The latent energies of existence surrounded me as I started crossing into the fourth dimension, that of time. Stepping through the boundary between this plane and the next, I finally could time-walk! Visions of past, present, and future danced before me as I searched for the right moment to cross between dimensions again. Finally, it appeared: the time between the bars opening right when I arrived and when they closed again. Oh, how I wish I could just get used to this time travel already! My teeth are probably going to be worn away by the time I actually get this ability mastered... But anyway, the bars opened in front of me as I walked through the gateway. Light gave way to darkness as I looked down a staircase leading from that portal to the outside world. Thankfully, time-walking keeps me in the same place no matter when I go. Coming back to the time I left behind, I was delighted to see the master of the Gift standing on the other side of the gate from me. “Tempo Kairos, you have taken your first steps towards being able to use your Gift at will. Now, please open this gate using the lever on your left so I can show you your next lesson,” he said to me. The gate opened as I stood aside to let the elder pass. He lit a torch and we descended into the cavern below. Stalagmites and stalactites filled the area, but there was one odd thing about the place. There was a font in the center of the room, filled with… was that blood? “Welcome to the altar of the gods,” my teacher said. “Here, we worship in hopes that our Gift passes on to each successive generation of groundshapers. In this bowl here is the blood of the day’s animal sacrifice. Everyone must drink from the bowl to greater his connection to the gods and the harmony of the universe. Fret not, apprentice, for we all have done it. It is not as terrible as thought to be.” No matter what he said, I’m still uneasy about this whole drinking blood thing. Most ponies would be quick to pass it off as a tradition of our ancestry, but that just doesn’t seem right. Such a ritual wouldn’t fly in today’s society, and I sure as hell know that the ancient ones were vegetarians like the ponies of today. “Excuse me, master Nacah? Just what exactly is this for?” I asked, hoping for a legitimate response and not the same bull he just spouted. “Listen, young one. This tradition is as old as the gods themselves. They taught the mortals how to live off of the quite arid land by using our ability of food production, and they taught us how to worship them. The gods’ ritual is our way of honoring them; we kill an animal, usually a chicken, and its blood connects us to the gods through their creations. We know not how this world works, but this ritual brings us closer to that unattainable goal,” said Donum Nacah, the master of the Gift. “In my time, we have no rituals for our gods. Our gods, our rulers, are the immortal Princesses of day and night. Celestia and her sister Luna, the rulers of present-day Equestria, are physical beings that demand no sacrifice. I’ve read up on the old gods, and the records show no such blood ritual. Seriously, something’s up here.” “Excuse me, mister Tempo Kairos, but you have it all wrong. We honor the gods in the old way, for our tribe predates your written history.” “Whatever,” I said as I turned away from Donum, heading out of the cave to start training to time-walk between millenia as opposed to mere days. This power I have is seriously annoying, and I’m only getting in control of it so I won’t jump between eras when I’m in the middle of something important. “Young one, you have yet to realize your full potential. The blood ritual increases your Gift’s potential. You must drink it if you wish to return to your time as anything but a skeleton,” my teacher warned with a grave look on his face. I knew there was no way of getting out of this now… I turned and walked back down the many stairs into the slightly dark cave, lit only by the light of the moon and the torch on the stairs, where the altar stood. I hadn’t paid attention to its intricacy the first time, but now that I’ve seen it again, it looks quite exquisite. It looks like a bowl held up by the outstretched wings of two pegasi, sort of like if they were moving it like a cloud. Of course, it was filled with blood, but the design of the altar itself looks positively amazing. The dark red blood of a chicken filled the granite bowl about halfway to the top. I gulped audibly as I realized I just sealed my fate: either drink from the bowl and return home, or die here, never to see my friends and family again. On one hoof, I can drink blood and go against everything I’ve known just to return to my rightful time. On the other, I can refuse to drink and stay here, living among the tribe until my end comes. Honestly, this decision is obviously one-sided. “I guess you win, teach. I’ll drink the blood.” “I thank you, Tempo, for choosing the right side in this decision," Donum replied as he lifted a cup off of a rack on the wall. Just the sight of the cup dipping into the blood made me shudder in fear. Apparently the elder gods have a plan for me that connects through this blood, but I can't really say anything for either side. Donum handed me the cup of blood, telling me to drink. So I did, disgusted at the metallic, salty taste of blood. I tried making it go faster, but it seemed like a century before I was able to choke it all down. My vision started distorting, slowly turning black while my stomach turned circles around itself. "M... Master Nacah? Why do I feel so... weird?" "Sleep, young one. Sleep, and you will learn..." Those were the last words I heard before my vision went black and I felt myself collapse onto the ground.