Griffin stared at the dancing fire. Allowing its constant energised movement to fill his soul. He required as much energy as he could consume before the ceremony would begin. The mask in the pocket of the ceremonial robe felt like it was pulsing. Or was that the music? Or his pulse? It didn’t matter all sights and sounds merged to this one heightened moment.
Slowly those around him began to sing. Their voices low merged with the throbbing pulse that seemed to fill the air. Griffin tried to make out the words but nothing was coming through clear. It didn’t matter he only had to know his own words, the words that would change his life, the words that would bring his wife back to him. Even the thought of her made his entire body ache, he was desperate to bring her soul back to the earthly plane. He had traded empires to find the powers to do it, to find the Mask of the Gods. 
He had never had faith in religion before, not in this day and age, when the zest for life, for living, was too strong to stop and thank some unknown God for it all, that hadn’t seemed to make sense. That all changed when his wife passed, he needed to understand, he needed a reason why he had survived when she hadn’t. He had been so lost in his sorrows he had hardly registered the stranger who had helped him home from the bar and told him of an ancient relic, a relic that had the power to bring back the dead.
Griffin had started to research, started to follow, started to obsess, maybe the world worked slightly differently than he had suspected, and maybe there wasn’t just the one god but the many, and maybe the gods made mistakes, just like humans? Griffin began to wonder if he was chasing the mask or if the mask was coming to him, but little by little the chances unfolded and he had grasped them. At first, it had seemed so unbelievable, the mask was in his hands. Then the agony began, waiting for the blood moon to perform the traditional ritual.
Suddenly the night filled with silence, the others voices had stopped and leader of the group lifted his arm and pointed at Griffin. Griffin froze to the spot. Now? He took the mask from his pocket lifting it slowly to his face and placing it on. He found the words slowly building inside him.
revertetur a morte, uxorem, audi vocem meam, veni ad me
Griffin closed his eyes behind the mask and repeated the words louder and louder. The crowd once again began to chant in a low voice. The throbbing sound grew and grew in the night. It felt like the forest around him had joined in the chant, birds singing, bats screeching, frogs croaking. All sending their summons out into the night.
All at once the sound of silence filled the air and only Griffin’s voice was now permeating the darkness. He hesitated to open his eyes but the group leader nodded into the night and with a little more confidence Griffin repeated the summons.
revertetur a morte, uxorem, audi vocem meam, veni ad me
The flame grew higher, the light blinding, Griffin could no longer see the others in the circle. It was just him and the fire. It seemed to grow hotter and hotter until it was a burning white flame. Griffin’s throat grew so dry he had to break the chant to swallow. The light became so intense he had to shield his eyes. In that moment of solace, he heard a gasp from the crowd followed by an uncomfortable silence. He opened his eyes to see the form of his wife standing where there had just been flames.
He ran to her but she retracted before he could embrace her.
“Oh no, Griffin… What have you done?” her gasp filled the silence of the forest.
My response to Sue’s wonderful photo prompt. Couldn’t resist toying around with this photo, definitely something mysterious about it! I loved it. Managed to combine it with the daily prompt of traditions too. Obviously, all these ancient traditions, I made up! For those that want to know the bit in the thing Griffin chants is a bit of googled latin – “Return from the dead, My Wife, hear my summons, come to me” – or something along those lines. 🙂
If you want to give the prompt a go too, head over to Sue’s Page Thursday Photo Prompt – Mask – and join in the prompt. KL ❤
New2Writing 