Chapter 359: Veil’s End Festival
By the time we left, it was already gone ten at night, and people were already filling the streets, having food and chatting with their friends and family.
Overall, a great sight, one we were going to join in on immediately.
The first thing we did of course was go find a stall and get some snacks. Of course, we all got some grilled meat as this was a rather cold night, even by desert standards.
Apart from that, we spent some time wandering around the city, seeing small puppet shows and seeing the joyous atmosphere among the populace.
To be honest, there wasn’t much to do. Which made sense since this was only going to last like twelve hours or something. Only one single night.
But we managed to have fun anyways by just chatting and wandering the streets until it was soon time for everyone to stop and count down the new year.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
As we all counted down, I thought back to the year I had. Most of it was either gone or blurry, save these last couple of months, which although still a bit rocky, was still probably the best time in my life. That I could recall at least.
"Seven, six, five..."
The misgivings that had happened in this month alone were more than what anyone should handle in their entire life.
"Four, three..."
Then there were these subtle changes I’d picked up in myself. One such case being looking down on or being egregiously offended by things or people I shouldn’t do in all respects. Why am I becoming like this? Why am I changing, and what am I changing into? I really don’t want to become some kind of tyrant.
"Two..."
Everything in my life so far has been... Not good. So, I’m hoping that in this new year, and going forward, I can grow and become stronger, strong enough to protect what I cherish, be it people or whatever, and to become my own person, and not whatever I’m slowly becoming.
"One..."
I swear I’ll become someone I can be proud of.
"""""HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!"""""
The screams and shouting of everyone in the city rang out loudly enough to deafen most of us momentarily.
Still, we all jumped about and hugged our close friends and family, congratulating everyone around us for getting through another year and more.
A couple of minutes later the cheering and loud exclamations quieted down a notch, and although it was still somewhat loud, it was much easier to hear what my friends were saying over everyone else.
As for the topic they were discussing, that would be their Vow of the Veil. Something that everyone does after the new year begins. And it’s called a Vow because it’s said that once spoken, it’s imprinted onto the stars themselves, and can even determine your luck for the year.
The longer you go without doing your Vow, the worse your luck and visa versa. Not to mention, the easier your Vow, the less impact it has whether you do it or not.
"What should my Vow even be?" Ash pondered as he looked up into the sky.
It was generally considered a good thing for younger people to have Vow’s rather than older people. This is mainly because older people don’t need that kind of pressure on them. As for why it’s good for younger people, apparently, it’s a good way of getting them to learn about responsibilities and commitments or something.
"I don’t know, I’m wondering if I even should have one." With everything that’s happened, I don’t want to add another burden onto my shoulders.
"Oh come on, it’d be a bit weird if you were the only one without one. You don’t have to do anything big, just something small, like have more sex or something, I dunno." Ash urged.
"Yeah! I want to become even stronger! Strong enough to be able to defend myself from anything!" Asty vowed almost instantly, and when she did, a tiny red halo appeared above her head before disappearing in a puff of light.
"Well, I think mine would probably be to become a well-known and successful businessman. Either by creating my own company or becoming a high standing member in the one I’m working for now." David vowed, causing a small golden halo to appear above his head momentarily before it also disappeared like Asty’s did.
"Huh... Well, I guess mine will just to be get stronger as well, to protect what I care about. And to become unrivalled."
The moment I said my vow, a multicoloured halo, big enough to sit on my head appeared floating above me. But that wasn’t the weirdest thing, as out of nowhere, a serpent came and coiled itself around the halo and began eating its own tail. Then, the halo descended upon me and disappearing like all the rest.
"... The fuck?" I exclaimed in disbelief and confusion.
Just what in the world was that? The halo appearing I get, but not only was it a myriad of colours, it was also the size of my head. And to top it off, it descended upon me before disappearing, which I hadn’t seen any other halo do.
All of us were too stunned by this to react for several minutes. We only recovered from our stupor because someone accidentally bumped into David.
"Seriously, what was that?" I asked, knowing that I wouldn’t get a straight answer, but I just couldn’t help but ask it.
"How the fuck are we supposed to know? I’ve certainly never seen anything like it." David retorted with a huff.
I sighed and decided to just forget about it, "Whatever, let’s just move. Ash, what’re you going to vow?"
"I’ve been trying to think about it this whole time, and I still don’t know what I should make a vow for." She sighed defeatedly.
Raising my head a bit and looking into the sky, something came to mind for what she could do as her vow.
"I have an idea. You remember that curse you absorbed?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah? Why bring that up now?" Ash questioned.
"Well, I thought that since you absorbed it, you could maybe learn to use its power and make it your own."
"Huh... Not a bad idea to be honest. I think I’ll do that." The moment she said that, a small dark pink halo materialised above her head and disappeared in a puff of light shortly after.
Now that all of us had made our vows, we went back to enjoying the festival. And the first thing we enjoyed, was the fire show that the city put on an hour after the new year began.
They got people with high control over their fire magic to perform by creating many life-like visuals in the sky with fire magic. Some showed a serpentine flowing in the sky like rivers, other showed depictions of people like Trayzara and Krytaraa.
The show lasted for about an hour and in that time, we got to see many different depictions of things or people in the form of fire flowing in the skies.
But after all that, I was surprisingly rather tired, so I headed back to the orphanage early to the dismay of my friends. But I was tired and although I wanted to hang out with them some more, I didn’t want to push myself.
They understood and I went back to the orphanage and went straight to bed.