The Prophets' anointment exams was a sort of celebration for prophets and an initiation into prophethood. It was also a programme to group prophets for better management and order throughout the Lokahs.
After prophets had been anointed, they would become part of the rest, the organisation of prophets, the Aequus. And as members, those Prophets, in their groups would engage omens together then report back to the temples/ headquarters of Aequus.
Although there were prophets who do not take on omens, being anointed was still a must. The gods had blessed those people with Totems to roam the stories of the Realm. And if they didn't want to, well, their Totems would be put to work regardless.
Should a prophet fail to arrive on time on the day of their anointment, they would just have to become Solo prophets while they waited for next year. But that was a lot worse than it sounds.
——
Atop a pyramid with stairs on its surface all the way to its top, was a wide brown portal. By now, most of the prophets who had come for the Anointment had gone through the portal, so there was plenty of space for both Ikky and Izel to run. Late as they were, it was a bit reassuring to see that there were still some prophets around.
As soon as they reached the top, Ikky turned his eyes back to the foot of the pyramid temple, watching Yaga carry a cylinder with her on her plate as she flew towards him, while another container floated beside her; presumably being carried by Izel's Augur spirit.
Soon, both Izel and Ikky were now holding what seemed to be cryptexes with 7 discs worth of combinations. It was simply a cylinder with 7 rotary discs around it, having small symbols being written all over. The discs could then be rearranged so the symbols would align with each other, creating a password that would then open it.
The password was often always the candidate's last name, so the challenge here was finding the code behind those symbols and how they could be arranged to spell out the last names of the prophets who were holding them.
There were symbols of animals, plants, and even patches of plain colours.
Since both she and Ikky had the same last name because of their orphan background, and Izel had done this before, she quickly finished with hers and turned to help Ikky.
"Ah. Seems like you've figured it out." Izel slapped his back, having noticed that Ikky had already finished his cryptex.
She opened hers from the lid and pulled out the paper trapped within it.
"You take this, and leap into the portal, right? Then the info in this paper goes into your brain. It's a great hack." She winked before running head first into the portal.
"I'll find you!"
"Yeah, same."
Ikky waved, giving his cryptex another pull. It didn't open. With a grim look on his face, figuring out what the cryptex was insinuating, he turned its discs again.
"Screw this?" Cursing, he proceeded to change the name from, 'Summers' that he had formed with the cryptex's symbols.
"Haa! How do I spell an eight lettered name with only seven discs?"
Time was running out, but luckily, Ikky found a way. He replaced the single lettered symbols with ones that had more alphabets in one symbol. Like how the symbol of a circle with fire around it could be interpreted as the three lettered word, 'SUN' or something similar, giving Ikky more space to squeeze in the extra alphabets.
When he made out his correct last name, the cryptex finally opened.
"Piece of junk." He scoffed before walking into the portal. "Why is this even necessary?"
The prophet at the bottom of the pyramid turned her head to face the portal as the last prophet walked in. She was the person who had been handing Augur spirits the cryptexes for their prophet partners.
Just then, a small spirit with the appearance of an old English scientist, at the portal flew over to her side with his body shaking with curiosity and excitement.
"What?" She asked, her body radiating negativity, a stark contrast to the spirit in front of her.
"I saw it! I saw it! The person who went through that portal just now was a ——!"
The prophet scoffed.
"Yeah, dingus, she comes here every year for the past three, and doesn't walk out with any group. Tch! Damn brats like her only give me more work." She said with resentment.
"... And that man." She added, biting her finger nails, with her cheeks turning red with anger.
"No no no!" The spirit covered the woman's mouth. "It was another one!"
The prophet looked at the shaky spirit. "Another one... with that clan's name?... You must have hit your head."
The frustrated spirit suddenly started pulling on her hair, claiming he was telling the truth, while the woman kept refusing to believe him.
There was quite a solid reason for the woman not to believe the spirit. But whether what it was saying was true or not, it wasn't any of her business.
Although the talk could make for some interesting gossip.
##################################
[A/ N: I'd advise to at least skim past these rules for better context.]
[The Rules And Guidelines Of The Anointment Exam:
1. Prophets, new and Solo prophets who participate are thrown into a Haven in the Realm of Augury for a month. They can only pass if they are members of a group.
2. Already grouped prophets that choose to disband and participate in the anointment again do not enjoy surplus benefits, nor suffer disadvantages from the others.
3. Only the Augur spirits given the cryptexes can hold onto them. If their prophets do, their participation in the exams will be suspended for fourteen days.
4. Prophets should tackle and fight each other for the cryptex of other prophets. Killing is prohibited and can be punishable by death.
5. If a prophet manages to touch the cryptex of another prophet, they can link it to theirs to get the captain title.(Except for a case where rule 7 is in effect).
6. Prophets who have their cryptexes captured will still hold onto them, however the symbols on the cryptex will all be the same, to indicate.
Those who have captured more cryptexes (captains) will only have the number of cryptexes revealed above their heads after accepting challenges. They will also only hold onto their own cryptex.
7. Those with lesser numbers of cryptexes cannot recruit those with higher numbers even by touching their cryptex. They can only challenge them to a one on one battle where the winner takes all.
8. Defeated prophets will have a summary of what they can do (totem and ability) revealed simply only to the one who defeats them.
9. Those with captain titles can choose to recruit people with lesser cryptexes than them into their group. But only with consent.
10. Those who do not possess any cryptex can not challenge anybody to a one on one fight, and can also not refuse an invitation to an existing group.
11. The challenger and the challenged can both pick other members of their teams to engage in the one on one fights instead of themselves.
12. The winning captain of the one on one fight can take any amount of teammates from their opponents, or just seize all their cryptexes and scatter the losing team.
13. Suspended Prophets can still be targeted and may roam the Haven, although they cannot form groups, join them or challenge others.
14. There are no limits to how many cryptexes a prophet can hoard, but there are limits to how many people will be in a single team. The minimum is four and the maximum is nine.
15. If a captain with four or more teammates lasts seven days without recruiting or losing members, they and their teammates are taken out of the Haven immediately to become a registered group.
16. After a group has exited the realm, their cryptexes are taken, before being dropped from the sky individually and in random locations in the examination haven.
17. The first person to touch a cryptex that drops from the sky, or lands in a random location owns it.
18. ONLY prophets with zero cryptexes who pick up air dropped cryptexes, have 36 hours of invincibility, where their cryptexes cannot be stolen.
19. Groups that pick up air dropped cryptexes can extend their time in the Haven by 24 hours per cryptex captured.
20. If there are still those without cryptexes or teammates after the time duration for the exam is over, they fail and become solo prophets.
21. Once a person has been admitted into a group, they cannot be kicked out by even the captain.
22. The size of the Haven will reduce gradually towards the center.
23. Prophets will be dropped at random locations, and will take on unrecognisable forms.
24. Food and other necessities may be gotten by hunting down Sprite spirits.]
##################################
Additionally, Solo prophets have to join temporary groups if they wish to enter an omen.
Or they can choose to enter a deal with Aequus so they do not have to enter omens but are compulsed to lend their Totem's powers to Aequus. These are called Dormant Prophets.