"I have some bad news, I did not find a lot".
Caelus was a bit dazed by the anwser he got. What does that imply, how does that effect my future, is this the priest fault or is it mine? These were questions that came to mind while the young man was looking forward in confusion
But before he could ask any questions the priest continued.
"The church is studying the forgotten language of the one, you are probably aware of this, but what you probably don't know is that we are far from grasping it completely. I would even say that we barely understand anything".
The priest sighed and shook his head at the same time.
"We only know a few words and make assumptions with what we know, compare different assumptions and discover a new word or sentence. There is also a chance that we made a mistake and have to start all over again, it is quite a hassel".
'It sounds more troublesome than just a hassle' Caelus thought.
"But the main reason why I haven't been able to translate your gift is that it's probably very useless in the eyes of the church".
Caelus face than changed from confused to annoyed in an instant.
'Never in my life did I expect to be insulted by a priest'
Caelus opend his mouth but the priest was already correcting the slip from his tongue.
"Sorry sir I didn't intend to insult you, its just that the church views it that way. I personally have a different opinion, but not a lot of my fellow brethren share my viewpoint. Most research goes towards powerfull gifts that have great impact on the world. For example gifts that can manipulate the elements, can make you fly, cut mountains with the swing of a arm. There are loads of old tablets and scriptures written in the old language that tell tales of these kind of gifts. The exact opposite is truth for gifts that are less impactfull like those that help with farming, fishing and building. This means that we know more about the rare gifts and less about the mundane ones."
'Well that is a bit disheartening, but this does explains why people normaly don't explain how their gift works. They just Don't fully know themselves.'
"But you are lucky, you got me as the translator, I pride myself in my knowledge around useless gi.... euuuh the more commen gifts"
'This bastard really can't think before he speaks, can he?'
"The one has put quite a description for your gift, I couldn't understand most of it but I was able to translate four words. The first two were connected, it said 'soul colours'. The third word was 'create' and the fourth 'art' soon followed."
Caelus mouth curled a little and a little smile slowely formed.
"Ohhhhhh yessss" Caelus yelled.
The priest was a bit startled by the reaction from the young man that was of similar age.
"Don't make fast assumptions good sir, those four words were not even a quarter of the full description. The one tells us all but it does that in very cryptic ways."
Caelus wasn't listening anymore, he was to deep in his thoughts.
'I can confidently continue my studies with dad, I can continue to paint. Ahh hoe blessed I a.....'
But the young apprentice slowely realised that his future wasn't that bright. His smile slowely faded and a feeling of dread slowely filled his heart.
The priest noticed the change and walked towards the young men, he was aware of the state of Farum and the incoming war. All the men that underwent the ritual today were going to be knighted and send to a battlefield. Most of them would not make it.
This pained him greatly.
He wants to help them all, he wants them to survive, he wants them to be happy. But there is a limit to what a priest can do and what he could do was awaken their gifts to maybe give them a little help. But he wanted to do more
So he put his hand on the shoulder of the young man who was facing the reality of what's to come.
"I know that this may sound very priest like, but I really mean it. The one has planned everything, your future might have loads of moments of hardships, but those won't last forever. It all looks cruel and bad right now but there is no salvation without it, there is no good without evil, no happiness without suffering. So you just have to see your future as a big hurdle to paradise, the only thing you need to do to reach is endure and I am sure you will reach it."
Caelus normally isn't a big fan of these preaching statements. Not that he disliked talking about 'the one' or 'god', he just did not like people who were so sure what these higher beings were like.
He should have hated what the priest said, but he did not. The dread he was feeling was fading a bit. The message send to hime was very clear.
'Endure and you will live another day'
Bonk, bonk , bonk
Someone was hitting the door. The priest took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of Caelus.
"I am very sorry to say this but I have to move on to the next person. I have a tight schedule."
Caelus nodded in agreement.
"I am sorry for holding you to long. I will head out than".
The young painter than stepped outside the circle, most of the candles in the church lost their light, only the few that were burning after the ritual were lit.
He was now infront of the closed door that lead to the waiting line outside. But before Caelus put his hand on the door knob, a question had reached his ears.
" Oh I forgot to ask, What is your name sir? I need your name for the paper work."
" I am Caelus Dawn, may I also ask what your name is?"
The young man at the door turned his head around towards the priest and witnessed something unexpected.
All the candles were re-lit.
'How did he do it that fast?'
Caelus took a good look at the priest, his hair that was mostly hidden underneath the white robe finnaly showed itself, it had a dark fiery red colour. His eyes that were brown when they had their conversation were now also red.
'His eyes are glowing red, wait no its slowely fading.'
"Oh where are my manners. First i forgot to ask your name and now I forgot to tell you mine. I am Loid Hellum, pleased to be your acquaintance Caelus."
Caelus wanted to ask a bit more, mostly about what just happend, but he knew that time was up. He opend the door and said his last goodbyes.
"The pleasure is all mine, Loid. Ohh and thanks for just now."
The next person walked in, but Loid didn't give him a look. A gentle smile formed on his face while waving his right hand.
"That's what I am here for. I hope our paths will meet again, if the one permits it."
Caelus nodded and took his first step outside the church. He felt a gentle and warm breeze softly touch his face. The sun was shining from a nice low angle, wich made Caelus feel renewed.
'So I am one with a slight smile on his face huh.'
Caelus looked at the sky and was thinking about what happend inside. Well that was until he noticed the time.
"Oooooohhh SHIIIIIIII THE MARKET IS CLOSING SOON "
He wasn't smiling anymore.
~
The sun was now setting, but that was no loss because it would be rising the next morning. But what was a loss was missing out on the market.
"You should have gone earlier, you wouldn't have missed the market if you stopped procrastinating this morning". Jonathan said with annoyance clearly spelled out on his face.
They had to scrap for leftovers around the house to make dinner that was mediocre at best.
"You know that you also could have gone right. You could have known that the ritual would have taken some time." Caelus responded with the same energy as his dad.
"Pfffff alright alright, we are both in the wrong than. So let bygones be bygones than."
Jonathan now started to stare at his son who was sitting on the otherside of the dinner table.
"So, aren't you going to tell me what you got?"
Caelus took a deep breath and shook his head from left to right.
'He brought that up only to escape from me complaining about his lazy behaviour'
"Well I got some good news and some bad news. What do you want to hear first?" Caelus responded.
"Bad news first than."
Caelus took a bite from his weirdly mixed dinner.
"Well my gift won't help me survive the war, and the priest couldn't translate most of what my gift would entail."
Jonathan nodded. "Well that's commen, It was the same with me, I had to figure my gift out myself. The only thing they knew was that it was art related. So what is the good news than?"
" The four words he could translate, all pointed towards it being related to painting. 'soul colour' ,' create' and 'art' were not even a quarter of what the full description was."
Caelus than saw a mixture of emotions in the eyes of his father. Sadness and happiness were the most prevalent.
"Well I am glad that the one also agrees with what you want to do." Jonathan said while holding some tears back.
"Lets hope that it will stop the war so that I can really learn how to use my gift. I already have to wait a few days before my gift is fully assimilated and than I also have to experiment to figure out what it does. It's such a hassle."
Caelus wanted to take another bite from his food but his eyes landed on a smear on Jonathan chest, it had all kinds of colours but yellow and blue were the clearest.
"Couldn't you have changed after painting, your shirt has big smear on it."
Jonathan teary eyes immediately changed, to a snare.
"I did change." he than looked at his shirt and pointed. " wich smear are you talking about?."
But Caelus did not respond.
Jonathan expected an immediate response, that was very normal when they had conversation like this. So the moment of silence made him worry.
"Caelus are you alright?"