The following is a small scene reconstructed from vivid dreams. I believe it has the potential to become a YA novel, if pursued.

Thanks for reading.

“Korinna.”

She materialized from the darkness in a cloak of heavy mist. Her skin was delicately pale, long white hair billowing lazily, and her eyes bore no pupil: only an eerie whiteness. Her face shone of a beautiful youth but the glow that enveloped her body spoke to an incorporeal existence, the torn wisps of a once stunning dress clinging to her body.

She bowed her head as she entered the material plane. “Master.”

With a thick, gloved hand he gestured to the Initiation stones, his gaze unmoving.

Korinna understood. She had done this many times before. With no urgency she walked to the first stone on the left, her feet moving yet drifting over the ground. She hovered, poised and unblinking, for several moments before she spoke, softly and subdued.

“This one chose fire as his display. He consumed the annex in flames and extinguished them with as much ease.” She tilted her head back and looked to the night sky. “The Rift is smooth and thin. It bears healthy veins that trace paths far from the center. It shows signs of considerable potential, should you desire.”

He nodded. “Proceed.”

Korinna bent down over the stone on one knee with her eyes closed, hair enshrouding her face. She pressed her fingers against her lips and whispered the words she knew so well, the words her Master had once heard himself long ago. With each syllable the energy in the air shifted, her hair and tattered dress shivering and the wind rising gently in unison. With a final pause she spoke the initiate’s name and extended her hand to the sky.

The wind stopped.

Korinna’s master gestured to the next stone and the process continued for another ten initiates. Of them only two others showed promise: a pitiful bounty. The second initiate after the first undoubtedly impressed with a demonstrable ability for necromancy, an invaluable instrument to communicating with the spirits dwelling in True Death; the seventh initiate showed a talent for psychokinesis, a promising opportunity if they could learn to transmit matter between Planes. These three were strong candidates in a group that were otherwise bitter disappointments. How was he meant to expand his membership at this rate of success? The Master examined his options with cold frustration. The magick that held his world together was surely fading. He would have to act swiftly.

Korinna approached the eleventh stone. After reading the Initiate’s presence, her description of their Rift was bleak. The Master shook his head in disapproval, and Korinna stood from the stone and stepped away. Her work was finished; it was time to step back into the void…

“Korinna.”

She stopped. “Yes, my Master?”

“The twelfth candidate.”

Korinna’s face was stoic but she paused, confused. Regardless she obeyed his order and went swiftly to the twelfth initiate stone.

There was no presence here. Korinna studied the stone with much thought. She could not feel the one who stood here today, if one stood here at all. Perhaps the initiate had failed utterly, had not shown any talent to begin with? The idea was nonsense: she could sense every spirit that crossed through Life around her. If she could not sense it then her Master must be mistaken, but she dare not utter such a conclusion to him—not out of fear of punishment but from an unrelenting respect and faith in his wisdom. If the Master said there was a twelfth initiate, then so it was.

He had been at such risk of momentary boredom with the ritual that Korinna’s misstep had nearly come as a pleasant relief. His shift in mood, however, was greatly overshadowed by the implications of the matter. In all of her decades of service to him, Korinna had not once made a mistake. Something was amiss.

Perhaps there was some interest to be had this evening after all.

Korinna was worried. Not once had she encountered an instance of an unseeable entity. She put her hands to the stone and pushed her senses as wide as they could reach: all she felt was the cold. Where, then, was she to go? she thought to herself. She had not endured this apprehension since Life was coursing through her veins. It was a reminder of a terrible time so long ago.

“My dear,” her Master’s words were calm but her sense of failure turned them to daggers. “What about their Rift?”

Of course. Korinna chastised herself for her foolishness. For a brief moment on her knees she paused, fearing the sky would relinquish no sign of an Initiate as well. But then her emotions drained away, back to the memories of the Living far away in her consciousness, and she assumed perfect composure. Korinna looked to the sky.

And finally understood.

* * * * *

The boy was soundly asleep under a starless sky when he was startled awake. His heart was pounding but his sleep had been without dreams. He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, taking measured breaths until he couldn’t feel his heart attempting to burst through his chest.

Not a second passed into the calm when a voice permeated his thoughts, the soft voice of a young woman.

“Initiate Twelve, you have been deemed worthy. Your accomplishments are recognized by the Master and deemed exceptional to our cause. Please join us within a fortnight and become part of our remarkable vision.

“Welcome to the Tribe.”