Sloan's Portal Travels: Portal #1: Aridin

Prompt #2 - Tura Doraci

The Tura temples are both a representation of Aridin’s main religion as well as a vital part of the cities’ ecosystems. These temples rest on floating islands, some anchored to the ground with tangles of roots and vines and others floating freely through the city’s territory. Nearly all larger cities on Aridin have one, and many of them celebrate the Tura Doraci near the end of the year to prepare for the next year. This celebration calls citizens and visitors from all over the Paperverse to contribute magic to the orbs in the Tura temples to use to cultivate and repair the cities themselves and the surrounding rainforests. Small figurines of elemental gods are distributed and charged to glowing with magic, then brought to the temples to be channeled into the orbs. The gods are often depicted as figures that combine native wildlife and people to illustrate their purpose in bringing people and nature together. Show your character during the Tura Doraci. Your piece must include your character and a celebration or magic ritual in a rainforest, woven city, or floating temple.

____________________________________________

Sloan's brow furrowed as they turned the small stone statue over and over in their hands. It really was quite pretty. Sloan knew little about the skills it took to carve something like this, but whoever had made it clearly put a lot of time and love into doing so. It depicted a cross-legged humanoid with a frog-like head. Its hands were cupped and outstretched as if to catch falling rain. Its big round eyes, inlaid with colorful glass, stared back at Sloan expectantly. They sighed.

 

It was a lovely gift, even if a temporary one, but it felt somewhat wasted on them. How were they supposed to help charge it with magic when they barely understood what they were doing?

 

Sloan looked up at the crisscrossed branches and vines of the jungle canopy above. This was the first portal they had ever traveled through, and while the environment was a bit overly hot and humid for their tastes, they were glad they chose to come here. It was beautiful, and the people here were friendly and easy to talk to. When they had heard about Tura Doraci they were nearly giddy. What luck, having come through the portal just in time for a celebration like this! It sounded like the perfect event to attend. What Sloan hadn’t expected, upon visiting the nearby Tura temple, was for an old wizened priest to push a statue into Sloan’s hands with a smile and thank them for their magical contribution.

 

Sloan tried to explain to the priest that they wouldn’t be of much help, but the priest was either hard of hearing or didn’t care to listen because he simply smiled and continued handing out stone figurines to other guests. Now Sloan sat on a bench made of woven roots at the edge of where the city gave way to untamed jungle, wondering what exactly they were supposed to do.

 

“If I can’t get it to work, it won’t ruin the whole ritual, right?” Sloan asked the statue. Predictably, it didn’t respond, simply staring at Sloan, a wide amphibious smile on its face.

 

Sloan knew it would probably be fine. It seemed like many other travelers were gifted these statues, as well as those who lived in the city themselves. If one out of hundreds of statues failing to be charged messed with the ritual Sloan imagined these rituals would rarely go well. Still, Sloan felt guilty knowing there was a good chance they’d be returning it to the priest later that evening, the statue the same as when they had been handed it. 

Letting out another sigh, Sloan placed the statue on the bench and turned to face it. Sitting cross-legged, they tried to emulate the pose the statue took.

“Like this?” 

Again, the statue didn’t respond. It didn’t glow either, despite Sloan sitting there, mimicking it for a few minutes.

Eventually, Sloan gave up on that idea and turned back towards the jungle.

“Right, that would be too easy.”

Several minutes passed as Sloan attempted to think up ways to charge the statue. It wasn’t like the priest had really given instructions, and Sloan had never gotten their magic to work when they wanted it to. Maybe they could just return the uncharged statue early and apologize, let someone else have a chance to try it...

As Sloan sat there, a sudden noise caused them to look up toward the canopy again. It sounded like a bird, though it was either too high up or well hidden for Sloan to spot it. But its voice rang out clear, a bright and rhythmic call that repeated a few times before falling silent for a few beats, then starting back up again.

Sloan smiled as they listened. It certainly didn’t sound like any of the birds from their home. It sounded more musical in a way. Picking up their guitar from next to them, Sloan began to experimentally pluck out some notes to the bird’s song. The bird’s song continued and as it did Sloan began to find a small, simple tune that went along with it. Focused on the sound and their own strumming, they almost didn’t notice the flicker of green and orange a few branches away. As they glanced over they realized it was the bird, cocking its head curiously back and forth at Sloan’s music, before beginning to sing again. It seemed they had a fan.

With a smile, Sloan closed their eye and let the sound of the impromptu duet fill their ears. But after a while, they realized they could make out another noise beyond the music, the bird, and the general jungle sounds. A low, almost electric hum. 

Opening their eye, Sloan realized that small orbs of glittering water had begun to form around them. And what’s more, the statue next to them had begun to dully glow a pale blue. Sloan tried not to stop strumming out of surprise. Instead, they closed their eye again and tried to focus just on playing. Eventually, the bird let out one last punctuating chirp and Sloan opened their eye to see it had flown off. Sloan returned a final strum, and stopped playing, watching as the orbs of water dispersed back into the humid air around them.

 
As if to not startle the statue, Sloan tried not to seem overly eager as they turned to look at it. The once dull gray stone was now shimmering in a blue light, the glass eyes of the frog-headed being reflecting a rainbow of light. Grinning, Sloan gingerly picked it up. They’d done it! Maybe not exactly intentionally but they were happy nonetheless. Slinging their guitar over their shoulder, Sloan made their way back through the streets of the city, heading straight for the floating temple near the center.

The square, currently shaded by the temple floating above, was packed with people preparing for the celebration later that evening. With the crowd, it took Sloan a while to find the priest they had met earlier.

“Ah, thank you,” the priest said with a smile as Sloan attempted to hand the statue back to him, though the priest didn’t take it. “But you may return that after the ritual.”

“Oh. Well, I mean I’m not sure if I’m good enough at magic to do a whole ritual.”

The priest laughed and patted Sloan on the shoulder.

“No need to worry, you’ve already charged it. Now all you need to do is enjoy the festivities with us as we begin the year anew.”

Sloan nodded, nervousness beginning to fade away. They supposed they had done the hard part. And even if their magic was still a bit of a mystery to them, they were excited to have lent a helping hand to the city.