Role

Chapter 1

"Do you hear them calling, son?" called out a faint voice above the waters.

Telez closed his eyes, focusing on the undulating and dampened sounds below
the black waters of the ocean. And yet...nothing. He squinted his eyes shut
even further, hoping that he would be able to hear even the faintest of
voices, of songs, of anything that indicated the waters had decided him fit
to serve as a warrior of the Al'Rahka. Telez felt the burn in his lungs, his
body screaming for oxygen. Such was the only voice that Telez could hear.

After what had felt like hours, Telez jerked his head up, gasping for air.
His father, looking down at him from the top of the stern, sneered in
disdain.

"The spirits have not found you deserving to serve as a warrior. I served the
spirits of the waters dutifully, as did my forefather, and all the
forefathers before as long as it has been written or told, from generation to
generation. And yet, you, you have not been held as worthy. You are no son of
mine."

Telez collapsed on the boat's deck in exhaustion, his eyes blood-red from the
salt of the sea as he watched his father's back move briskly away. He had
failed.