Free Monthly #30 Cin'Aps (Part 3: The Ceremony of Passing)

The Conclusion and The Ceremony of Passing

Introduction

Welcome to the continuation of Cin’Aps, where something strange is happening at the top of the mountain!

This is Part 3 of 3 and you’ll be able to check this link to find the whole story as it drops!

Cin’Aps (Part 3: The Ceremony of Passing)

Dad cautiously led us through the ruins as his assistants watched for signs of the figure I’d seen.

Dad hushed Debby and Jen after Debby said, “How did they get here though?”

Debby folded her arms as we strode across the ruins to the cave. Seeing her mutinous reaction from the corner of his eye, he answered her question. “I don’t think they ever left here.”

“Come again?” Debby’s eyebrows rose. “You telling me they’re thousands of years old or something?”

“Not exactly.”

“HEY! Hey guys! You’re here!” Paul’s voice caused everyone to spin as he came into view at the entrance to Cin’Aps. The colossal boulder that blocked us in was no longer there. The moss on the ground was gone and the ruins were no more. Between our group and Paul, a dozen stone buildings stood erect with wooden doors shut and pottery of all varieties in the street. The mossy stone we had walked on had transformed to smooth stone etched out of the side of the mountain. As I surveyed the buildings, I realized they too were not built but cut out from the mountainside.

“Paul? How’d you?” Oliver began before clamping his mouth shut and his bewilderment grew as he realized something changed.

“It’s a time device!” Paul exclaimed as he rushed to us. “It’s a device that allows you to travel through time.”

“Oh?” Dad replied absently as he glanced around. “So you took us back in time then?”

“Back? No. Into the future.” When no one responded to his excited response, he elaborated making wild gestures with his hands to emphasize his story. “I realized that with manually adjusting the frequencies of our radio transmitter I could stoke reactions from it. From there it was a matter of automating the trial and error sequence to see what would happen at different frequencies while I waited for our visitor to—uh—visit. It glowed and next thing I knew our tent and things were gone. The weather is less chilly, notice that? That’s because we’re in the future. Two hundred years I think.”

“How do you know that?” Harry’s eyes furrowed in mounting confusion. I could tell anger was close to emerging.

“Because I saw the sign that explains what happened near where our tent used to be and read it. We all disappeared two hundred years ago. No one knows why, and no bodies were ever recovered.”

Jen was disturbed and I moved closer to her and her lovely hair. I held her hand to show she was not alone. It wasn’t a romantic gesture of any kind, but a reassuring one. She grasped desperately until her iron grip made me wince. The things we do for love.

“We’re late to the ceremony.” Father stated.

“Yes. Let’s get to the chamber.” Andre added. “There’s no room for being late for this.”

“Agreed.” Finn said, already striding through Cin’Aps to the chamber entrance.

We followed him and entered the dark ceremonial cave. Sconces were strewn throughout the hallway as we progressed without speaking to one another. I looked down and saw my clothing had changed—or had it changed at all? I always wore white garments. Jen glanced at me and smiled. She too wore white. Her red hair lay divinely on the shoulders of her dress. We smiled at one another and kissed as the din of singing could be heard down the hallway.

“Enjoy it now, friends, enjoy it now.” Oliver said softly. Or was it Oliver? The name to the voice felt foreign. Aceitunan sounded better. It sounded right. That was what his name was.

“Wait for the rest to go through.” Father halted, holding a hand up to ensure ChaninFanta and I didn’t enter the chamber where the singing emanated from.

When we were alone, Father turned to me. “I’m proud of you, my son, my Puka-Manakuq.”

“Anything for us.”

“And you, I cannot forget you. ChanFanta, our Chanin Fantasma. You will be remembered above all.”

Chan-Fanta smiled and kissed father on the cheek. “It is what it is.”

“I will see you in a moment. I’m proud of you, and I love you both. Puka-Manakuq my firstborn. Chan-Fanta our wonder.” Father joined the singing throng and left us.

I turned to Chan, for that is what I called her when we were alone. “I love you.”

“And I you.”

“We will be one soon.”

“And one soon with all.”

“Together, forever.”

We embraced and a minute later an attendant joined us. He looked familiar, like the man I’d seen when first arriving. He had waved and disappeared from sight to finish preparations an hour ago. I sighed. “It’s time?”

“It is, Puka-Manakuq.”

I looked at my love and smiled. With our hands held firmly together, we strode from the hallway following closely behind the attendant with practiced ease as we maintained pace and kept our feet in step to the singing.

We arrived at the center of the rotund room with tiered seating allowing for five rows of our closest kin to be present with us. It was a sacred rite that we couldn’t ignore. It took me forever to track them all down at their various villages to inform them I had become the first Puka-Manakuq in decades. It didn’t take long for the holy men to come and we returned with them to Cin’Aps after the customary three years where we gave birth to four offspring. Twin girls with red hair and two sons with blonde.

The shock of everyone when our twins had red hair nearly caused civil unrest as the prophecy was one step closer to coming true. It was said that the couple who gave birth to redheaded twins were the father and mother of the unifiers that will lead our decentralized tribes to the glorious empire our holy men spoke of. It was only a matter of time for our people.

“Wait.” The attendant spoke into my ear and I stopped, using my hand to guide Chan to halt as well.

The high priest stood from his seat directly across from us and walked up to the dais. “We are blessed!” The room quieted at the end of the last phrase of the ceremonial song which coincided with the priest’s words. “Blessed are those who are here to witness the final stages of the parents of our future. Hamuq Pachanchispa Tayta-mamakunaq Pasasqan, our sacred rite, the Ritual of Passing, has come and we must witness it!”

The crowd called out in praise to the Almighty. With the praise subsided, the priest turned to us. “Come! Father-Children come! Mother-Children come! To me you will come and together we will see your duties to our people fulfilled!”

I glanced at Chan. My Chanin one. The Fantasma of dreams. I loved her dearly. We embraced and the crowd stifled their collective “Aw” as we did so.

Then, with our hearts righted to the rite we must finish. We stepped up on the dais. The priest screamed at us with religious fervor. “Your purity has faded! Your duties have taken your innocence! Your last duty is to give yourselves to all!”

“Our purity is gone, our duties done, our last is yours!” We replied in unison, shouting so that all had no doubt of our willful intentions.

“Chay pasaqmi qanpa.” The priest lifted two obsidian blades with brilliant green emerald fashioned handles. The pummels were decorated with carved lapis lazuli. We took the blades and turned to each other. We stepped together and in unison cut each other across the throat deeply. Blood from Chan was all that I recalled before the cheer of reunion as I woke from my nightmare. All my kin were gathered around and the joy was unbelievable as we joined hands as one having all finally passed through our human phase.

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