Chapter 293: Coiled Moon Festival. Day 2. Faith
After the play, we got dinner and went back to the orphanage to get so sleep for tomorrow.
And when tomorrow ca, everyone got up early to have food and clean up in the baths before getting dressed in pure white clothing.
David and I went with a Kimono whilst Ash and Asty went with a plain white dress and a frilly white dress respectively.
The four of us went out together and filtered in among the rest of crowd, which was wearing all wearing white also.
White is a traditional garnt for this part of the festival as I’m told. And we have to wear throughout the day and night until midnight the following day, so everyone made sure to clean up real good this morning.
Once everyone was outside, we all gathered in the various plazas, where the Duchess would give her speech as it was casted out both audibly and visually throughout the city with magic.
My friends and I happened to be in the central plaza. Then, as we were waiting quietly for everything to start, so screens that showed the Duchess on so grand podium within her private property appeared.
The image got closer to her, and she was stood in front of a pole with a crystal on top of it.
She touched that crystal and then it started to glow montarily before so sort of magical formation between it and her.
The aning behind this beca clear as she started speaking into the magic circle.
"Citizens of Krara city! I am once again proud to be your Duchess for this special event!"
I could hear cheering coming from the screen. Most likely the crowd in front of her mansion.
"Yes, yes, I know you’re all excited, but please calm down." She ushered the crowd in front of her for a minute or two to be quiet.
When it did calm down, she continued.
"Ahem. As most of you know, we do this festival twice a year, on every fifth month on a full moon that lasts three days! Today is the second day!"
"Today! We pray! To our Gods and Goddesses whom granted our ancestors life! We offer up our faith to you! In hopes that when we or any of our loved one’s pass, we may enter your divine realm!"
"Today! We pray for our deities to keep watching over us! To keep on being our guiding light! And to keep on blessing us with your divine protection!!!"
This ti, not only did the crowd over there burst out in a deafening roar of cheering, but the whole city did.
I couldn’t hear what exactly anyone was saying because it was so loud and honestly just such a large mish mash of noise that I thought my ears would burst.
Thankfully that didn’t happen and the cheering died down as quickly as it ca. And as soon as it was over, the Duchess spoke once more.
"Now, citizens of Krara city! Join
in prayer, as we offer up our faith to the Gods and Goddesses!"
She clasped her hands together as she lowered her head and closed her eyes, everyone else following suit.
So people instead of clasping their hands together though, just held their hands next to one another like they were clapping. And so raised their heads to the sky with a pious expression, their eyes still closed though.
I did the sa, lowering my head and holding my palms against one another. I then heard everyone start to mumble under their breaths.
Then I realised that they were praying.
I wasn’t sure what to do here, since I didn’t have a reason to pray to anyone of the people that could be worshipped.
Praying to my father is just weird. I’ve done it before, but only because I miss him and wish he could be with
in those monts.
As for Astraa... Her inheritance alone is enough to make
thankful for her for life, not to ntion it’s filled with so many treasures that praying for her favour would be redundant.
Still, I had at least one person that I could pray to. I didn’t know who it was, but I’m sure that they would be listening.
So, I started to whisper under my breath a mont after everyone else started.
"Thank you, to whover aided
during that mont in the inheritance."
I wasn’t worried that anyone would listen in to my prayer, because everyone else was too busy with their own prayers. Not to ntion, how would they be able to hear mine over everyone else’s whispering.
"I thank you for saving my life, and giving
the gifts you gave. I am forever grateful, as I can now live my life thanks to you, and if you ever require my aid, I will do my best to provide it."
"I offer up my faith to you, in genuine heartfelt gratitude for what you’ve done, and promise to live my life to its fullest as you have given
the chance to do so."
As soon as I finished my prayer, I felt a tingling covering my body, which soon turned into a warm feeling that encompassed my body comfortingly.
That feeling quickly changed once more as I could see through even my closed eyelids that a light was forming as the warmth faded.
Then, I felt similar things happening around . I opened my eyes to see what happened to
happen to everyone else.
Tiny motes of light started to peel off of everyone and gather above them inside varying sized balls of light.
Mine was probably no bigger than my head at best, probably a little smaller if I was honest.
Others had their not too much bigger than their head, with the Duchess’ being around fifty percent bigger, which was the biggest I could see. Whilst so only had theirs the size of their fist, maybe even smaller.
Everyone soon opened their eyes and looked up at their orbs of light, so delighted, so disappointed, and so content with theirs.
I personally didn’t care all too much, I just wanted my prayer to be heard by whover it should go to.
It took another minute for everyone to finish their prayers, and when they were done though, the Duchess started to speak one last ti.
"I believe everyone has finished. If not, you have a few more seconds to finish up." She waited patiently for a few seconds as promised before continuing.
"Now that everyone has finished with their prayers, may everyone please recite the following with , so that our prayers may have a chance to be answered by our God or Goddess."
The Duchess looked up into the sky and started chanting, to which everyone, including myself, repeated after her.
"To our lords up in the heavens, please hear our words, our pleas, and to our ancestors who have passed, we beseech thee to answer our prayers."
"To guide us, and to show us the way forward, and to also rain your blessing down upon us."
"Please, listen to our prayers, and lend us your wisdom, your strength, and your everlasting love for us."
"We swear to live up to all your expectations, and to live our lives to the fullest."
"We offer up our faith, to you, my Goddess Astra"
That last line was ant for whichever God or Goddess you were praying to, but I didn’t know who exactly I was praying to, so I just simply said, "My Lord." At the end there.
And the mont our chanting was over, all of the lights above our heads started to shake before they started to float loosely up into the air at a slow pace.
The higher they got, the faster they started travelling. And soon, they beca so fast they in one mont they were there, and in the next mont, they were all gone.
We all watched as our faith flew up and away into the sky and into the heavens, disappearing to enter the hands of the Gods and Goddesses we prayed to.
’I hope mine reaches whover it is it’s supposed to.’
Now that our praying was over, it was ti for a feast.
Everyone travelled to the nearest place to get so food, which was either a restaurant or an open grill with food on it.
The feast had already been prepared, we just had to warm it up a little as it had cooled down a little, which was not a problem for practically anyone here, since everyone was adept with fire magic.
My friends and I went searching for a little bit before finding a small table that was not only just about big enough for four people, but was also stacked to the brim with food. I have a feeling this was David’s doing seeing as he brought us here, but I wasn’t going to question him.
And so, we ate to our hearts content, or until the table ran out of food. Making sure not to get our clothes dirty at all, with all of us enjoying the feast before we were all told to go back ho and wait until tomorrow, where the festival would end.
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