Mike chuckled bitterly, he knew this kid was a good one, for him to say such things meant he really was hurt to say the least, but what could he do, he had to follow this orders even though he really did not understand.
"seeing as you've made up your mind about your name I guess we have to move on to the baptism itself, unlike the baptism you are familiar with in your priest lineage where you choose a scroll you feel the most connection with, as a Shepard you have to tame an animal in the wilderness.... be careful though, should you choose an animal that's too compatible with you, it will most likely try to kill you" Mike paused to check if what he was saying really was sinking in, but all he found was a stoic young man looking at him with indifference. Realising this was wasn't going anywhere he decided to send the boy off. if he survived out there it would mean he really was supposed to be a Shepard, everyone knew no one ever took baptisms that weren't meant for them.. one way or the other you would die, even the supposed safest baptism of the priests would end with the rumbling of thunder and lightning striking you down if you dared challenging the Heavens like that. "Off you go kid be sure to just choose the weakest animal out there, this is only for the sake of a baptism, you will have plenty of time to choose a proper spiritual animal that suits you well in future". Simon left the shack without asking a single question. he did not even ask how he was supposed too tame the said weak animal if he found one, how was he supposed to know which animals were weak to begin with, in this period of time it wasn't as simple as knowing that rabbits were harmless creatures, no every animal could fight back to a certain point if they suddenly felt you were weaker than they were, you had to know weaknesses of that said animal to tame it. Other kids who went through this were taught all this since the age of 4, but Simon had no such knowledge, he had been studying to become a high priest but here he was without a weapon or knowledge yet no fear could be seen in his eyes.
One had to understand that this was so far into the future that all the Armageddon of all religions had come and gone, in fact the people of this age had no idea that there ever was such a thing as different religions or Armageddon but that's a topic for another time..... the point here is animals of this age were all dangerous in their own way, even a fish could kill a human being if they were careless so how was Simon supposed to find a weak animal, a point Mike realised half an hour after the boy had left, cold sweat immediately mattered his back, what was he going to tell his old friend, it wasn't like he could go look for Simon and rectify his mistake, the moment the boy left his shack his baptism had started and no one could intervene unless they were asking to die, realising he couldn't do anything about the situation he put his hands together in a prayerlike fashion and said in a low voice "may the will of the Heavens be done" thinking about it properly you would realise Simon really stood no chance, whether he succeeded in taming an animal or not it would end in his death, if the Heavens didn't strike him down for being successful the animals would surely kill him. Simon reached banks of the River that separated the village and the jungle finding the boatman lazily laying on a patch of grass nearby. Without even greeting the man he got on the boat and started rowing to the best of his ability or at least the way he understood it from the book he read once, before the man could even shout at Simon he felt a firm grip on his shoulder and looking back he found Mike smiling gently at him, he immediately understood it was an ongoing baptism.
"I hope he doesn't try to catch any water animals those things are vicious, never seen anyone successfully tame one without sustaining crippling or fatal injuries" mike said still smiling.
"you mean to say that boy has no basic training in animal handling...? what were you thinking..? he will die.." the boatman shouted at Mike, "I have no say in the matter, he is Luca's kid, I have no idea what he was thinking bringing him over to me, there is no way the boy will survive even if he manages to come back with an animal, unless..." as Mike came to this point
Both men looked towards each other as if having come to the same realisation, " I need to talk Luca about this Gabriel this cannot be happening" Mike said as he turned to leave
" leave it be, it's not like he has any choice in the matter, he is probably anguished more than anyone can imagine" the boatman known as Gabriel or Gab said as he too stood looking as Simon reached the other side. "These are affairs we need not involve our selves in, tides of time and fate are turning, punishment will be much steeper for those who interfere in times like these, even a simple act of asking too much about these events may earn you, the eerie of the heavens, more so with the amount of grace and favour you carry". Gab said as he started walking off
Mike stood there in a daze not knowing what to do, 'what grace and favour is he talking about, i am a Shepard for crying out loud', he respected Gab from the bottom of his heart for reasons unknown to him, come to think about it everyone respected him genuinely even though he never really interacted with them much, it was almost the same respect they gave Luca , the only difference was that while Luca was loved and respected Gab was feared and respected, where the fear came from, nobody knew maybe even he himself didn't know, but that did not matter as Mike, Luca and Gab would soon realise why they commanded such indifference, love and fear respectively, even with all this respect these words were absolute none-sense to him, ha had never been favoured nor does he have any grace, he had worked and clawed through terrible hardships to earn himself the title of Head Shepard, not that he minded the little to no respect he got from people, in fact he preferred if people were indifferent to him as he was to them, he preferred animals instead of people if he was being honest, at least with animals once tamed they would be loyal without question. this was not to say he hated people, he just had a select few he loved and cared for, the rest he really could not be bothered, but to say he was favoured and with grace was absolute madness, saying things like this had consequences he very much could not bear. thinking up to this point his eyes reddened with furry towards the boatman, it felt like the fires of fury were literally burning in his gut, was this boatman trying have him cursed by the heavens, then he exhaled a cold steamy air that seemed to freeze the air, and an air of calm came over him, his body loosened its muscles he did not know had tensed, 'so what if he is trying to curse me i will find a way out of it', then he turned and left. unbeknown to him a seal on his grace had loosened
the boat man sat in a distance with an amused expression on his face, he did not know why he had said such a thing himself, but unlike mike he believed the words he had said, he also had enough faith that should his statement not be true a curse would not be so easily placed on mike, the man reeked of heavens favour.