Blood Brothers

These desolate, barren lands were perfect for what Archon felt he needed to do. His band was coming along slowly. It was too slow and winter was all too soon. Obi walked slowly behind Archon, each of his hands and feet clothed with some stitched together furs. Archon had suggested the idea and Obi had put it to use, collecting the furs when Archon brought them home, drying them, and sewing them into some sort of sack he could effectively use to shield against the cold. As the sun set across these lands, the temperature dropped with it. Even with his hands and feet covered, Obi shivered against the icy winds, pulling a loose deer skin over his back and around his neck. A storm was coming. Archon knew. He could feel it. Obi knew by looking at the sky.

Archon had decided that this land and this night would be good for a religious ceremony. Obi followed as he was apt to do. He had packed all the supplies Archon had asked for and he knew his role in this ceremony, for Archon had explained it on the way. The storm wasn't a setback. If anything, Archon saw it as confirmation of his choice of place and time.

The first freezing drops of water fell from the sky, hitting the ground with more force than just rain or snow, but not enough to be hail. Sleet. Archon smiled and rolled his scruff. They were nearly there.

Once the two stood in the middle of nothingness, Archon paused. He looked over the empty lands. Obi wasn't sure what he was looking for, but simply considered it part of the process. In actuality, Archon wasn't sure what he was looking for either, but after looking around, he felt as if he had made it.

"Yes, here," he said as the sleet began to become more of an icy downpour. Obi shivered, but didn't question it. He simply pulled out his fur of materials and unraveled them. He had some ground beet root, a rocky blade, some healing herbs, and a stone worn into the shape of a shallow bowl. Tied on his back, under the deer skin, there was a rabbit, trapped and killed by snapping the neck without breaking the skin. He pulled that, too, and laid it out. He and Archon took a collective breath and got started.

Archon shielded the stone bowl from the sleet and offered his right foreleg to the monkey. The ground beet root was poured into the bowl. Obi took it and began carefully scraping the blade across a small section of his leg to rid of the fur. Once that was completed, he rubbed the blade over his right arm to similarly get rid of the hair. He placed their hair together in the stone bowl and pulled some of the rabbit's fur and placed it on top. When they both had a small patch of bare skin, Obi carefully cut open the rabbit, dipping his fingers in the thick blood and smearing it over the bald spots on his and Archon's forelimbs in slow, circular motions. Then Obi held the rabbit over the bowl as its blood fell over the fur and beet root. His eyes met Archon's and they held for a moment, emphasizing the seriousness of the moment.

They nodded at one another.

Obi placed the rabbit down and grabbed the blade again. His other hand guided Archon's forelimb over the bowl. With a slow, purposeful drag, Obi cut into Archon's skin, the cold numbing the sensation. Blood ran down the smooth shaven skin and into the bowl. Archon put his leg down and Obi repeated the same deliberate motions with his own arm, pouring his blood also into the bowl.

Once they had completed their sacrifice, Obi added in the other herbs and mixed the concoction to a thick paste while Archon prayed. This way, Archon and Obi would become of one blood with the earth and of one blood with each other and the Fallen God. This way, though Obi was not a wolf, he could share in the Fallen's grace and be bound by earth and blood to them. Archon prayed that it would be so- that this physical representation of their familial bond would appease God and overcome the differences in species so that Obi too could become fully glorified as a Fallen Angel.

When the mixture and prayer were finished, Obi slathered the mixture on Archon's wound first, then his own, then the rabbit's, using strips of fur to hold the poultice in place. Everything felt numb and electrifying in the cold. When the ritual was completed, the components were packed away and they turned to head home.

The rabbit would be taken with them and buried. Once the rabbit became one with the earth again in their place of living, it would take Archon and Obi with it, binding them to each other and the lands they resided in.

Though this ceremony was a combination of lore from Archon's and Obi's beliefs, both of them felt confident and assured at the end result. As they turned to head back, the sleet slowed to an icy drizzle once again, further signifying their success.