Kei felt the scornful eyes of all the audience fixated on him waiting for his answer . He pinched himself hoping it was a terrible nightmare but it was bare naked reality.
Kei made up his mind and shouted " I have not used any spell or charm , I don't even know to use them, I just drank the blood from the flagon and felt unconscious with pain. When I woke up , before I could even had a look upon myself, the door was opened and I was brought out here "
" Liar ..throw him in the jungles ….behead the bastard.." another round of hateful words was thrown towards Kei from the rakshasa audience, both from the nobility and the commoners .
"Stop this instant ! " Lymic' s angry voice reverberated causing pin drop silence .
"Kaiser , after bestial awakening a rakshasa not only undergoes bodily changes but also acquires certain domain affinity which shapes their future , that completes their true awakening .
The second part of the ceremony is where we check these affinities of the newly awakened and assign them to the training temples. Any newly awakened adolescent cannot be devoid of any affinity . You can change your appearance through spells, but you cannot feign domain affinity if its not acquired through the awakening .
You better be ready for the gruesome torture you are about to face if you have lied but for now take a seat anywhere in the first three floors " Lymic said looking towards Kei.
As the dais landed back on the ground floor, Kei moved up the stairs and sat on a secluded empty spot on the 1st floor . From the 1st till the 3rd floor the seats were occupied by the rakshasa adolescents who had successfully awakened their bestial bloodline and were awaiting their affinity test .
"Guards prepare the stage for the affinity test " voice of Cecil, another high priest , echoed .
A black veil of about twelve feet high ,covered at the roof ,suddenly surrounded the ground floor , nothing could be seen from outside .
After a minute or two the veil disappeared and the ground floor came in view.
The open empty space was now covered in glass bearing the resemblance of a giant oval shaped mirror placed on the ground level horizontally , the circular dais had vanished and in its place there was a stand, with a crystal skull, on it placed at the centre of the glass floor . Surrounding the oval shaped glass floor there were seven chairs placed at a distance from each other with one corner kept open where a stair was placed for the candidates to get on the glass platform.
"Everyone , the stage has been set , now, all please rise and welcome the grand clerics of the training temples " Lymic' s voice echoed across the amphitheatre and all rakshasa's stood up. Kei also stood up , his curiosity about this world had started to precede his worries about the coming test .
Black smokes started manifesting in front of each chair, placed around the oval glass platform ,and as the smoke cleared all the seven chairs were seen occupied by the grand clerics. Each wore a colored apparel and a hooded garb covering their faces.
The grand clerics were rakshasa's who were the heads (principal) of their individual temples where they trained newly awakened rakshasa's as per their domain affinity .
All temples housed different teachers from different origins ,apart from the people of the rakshasa's clan ,where the adolescent rakshasas were trained until they reached grandmaster level .
The grand clerics themselves were at peak ancestor stage in their respective domains.
The seven temples were namely Temple of Aquan, Temple of Auran, Temple of Ignan, Temple of Terran ,Temple of Inmortui, Temple of Bellicus and Temple of Caedis. The temples were scattered at different locations on the Black Earth .
As the seven grand clerics chaired , the rakshasas on each floor also took their seat . As Kei took his seat , he felt a pair of eyes watching him . Kei , under the pretense that he was unaware of it, normally looked towards the upper floors . He eyed through his corners and found that one of the hooded grand clerics in a dark purple apparel was watching him closely .
" Everyone let us commence with the second part of the awakening ceremony, let the affinity tests begin". Lymic' s voice reverberated .