This is the ceremony that took place in the small room, in the maze within the maze.
The ceremony took place twice, once for Tristan, and then, after a short rest, for Diadora.
Felix knew that the wisest thing to do was to bring Tristan back while his potential enemy was fast asleep, but before that something had to be done about Verena – he was sure that the Lady would not approve his performing the ceremony while Verena was in such a condition. Sighing heavily, he untied her legs and her hands. After additional thought, he re-tied her hands, but this time at the front. The gag he left in place – just in case; under the circumstances, the Lady would have to understand. He helped her to sit more comfortably, and hoped she would not hold a grudge later.
Well, back to important matters. Banishing Verena out of his mind for the time being, he started preparing the ceremony. The conditions have to be completed and the requirements fulfilled, before the request to bring Tristan back is made; rules are rules – at least in such matters. Carefully he picked the bloody sack from the place it fell. After removing his gloves, Felix began, with a certain measure of disgust, to take out the pieces of flesh with his bare hands and to arrange them on the floor of the cave, trying to reconstruct the original body as closely as possible. With whatever was left, it was not such an easy task as one might imagine. When he was done, he paused to inspect his masterpiece and sighed – this was definitely not one of his best days. Following luck has its ups and downs, he was taught, but evidence is harsher than could be imagined. Oh, well.
Now, what was he to do now? Oh, right – he took from his silver pouch three candles: a big white one, to symbolize the increasing of life, a small black one, to symbolize the diminishing of death, and a thin golden one, to symbolize the evasiveness of luck and its dominance over the former two. The Life candle Felix put on Tristan’s chest, or in the general area of the vaguely Tristan-reminding jigsaw puzzle. The Death candle was put at the legs. Finally, the Luck candle was put above the head. Asserting that the Candles were aligned properly, he placed twelve coins around himself and the body muttering a proper incantation as he was laying each coin – thus forming a circle around both of them.
Inspecting with satisfaction the cozy setting he has created, he got down to stand on his knees at the feet of the body and began the ritual itself. As properly – with a prayer in Celestial:
“Lady Luck, I pray to thee – hear my plight at this hour of great need. Bestow upon this mighty warrior a bit of your fortune and allow his soul to find its way back to the body, thus reuniting this person and allow him to continue his path in the World and complete the Quest he has taken upon himself. He has taken great risks and faced many dangers trusting his luck, but this journey, the Greatest of Journeys, he has embarked upon now is premature.” At this the black candle ignited with black flame and, clockwise, one after the other, each coin turned black. “I beg of you, Mistress of Fortune, grant me the power to call back the soul of this being named Tristan and reunite it with its material carrier.” At this the white candle ignited with a blinding white light and beams of white light shot upward from the now black coins – the beams appeared counter-clockwise now. Felix took out the coin with Tymora’s face he used as a symbol of his faith, said “Thank you, Lady Tymora, for the strokes of luck you keep bestowing upon me and my friends – and please do not deny me your face this time” and tossed the coin upward, making it spin. As he was doing that, the last candle, the most important one, ignited with soft, but bright, golden light, illuminating the surroundings and combining with the white light from the Life candle and the beams of light to practically make the black flame unnoticeable.
The coin continued to spin in the air and wasn’t showing any inclination of falling down, but he knew that he wasn’t to dawdle – he had one more thing to do and it will reveal him whether the Lady has abandoned him or whether he still was one of her chosen favorites. Felix took the diamond dust he has sanctified well beforehand and threw it in the air – however, instead of falling down in a cloud, as one might expect, the dust formed itself in the shape of a large humanoid, matching loosely Tristan’s measures, glittering in a multitude of colors. The spinning coin slowed down until it stopped, showing it’s face to Felix, and then suddenly flashed in a blinding golden light, forcing the cleric to shield his eyes. He has heard a soft “whoosh” when the dust has fallen down atop of the body.
As suddenly as the light appeared, it was gone. Felix instinctively extended his hand to catch the falling coin, which was cool to his touch, as usual, and looked at the body in satisfaction. The white candle and the surrounding coins were no more, but in the place of the jigsaw made of mass of mutilated flesh, lay a healthy looking man – one could almost believe he was sleeping, if not for the fact that he wasn’t breathing. The only illumination was the small flame of the golden candle, contrasting the flame of the black one.
“Thank you, my Lady,” he said wearily, snuffed the black flame and watched Tristan take the first shuddering breath of his new life.
