SIX

The ceremony was scheduled the next day. The high witch of Exanimis, Luna, was called upon and Jungkook was beside himself. He didn’t know who he should be more worried about. Via or himself. She was strong, incredibly strong, and smart. But the power granting ceremony was a lot to deal with. And he wasn’t sure if even he was ready to go through it for the second time.

Their separate memories, their emotions, even their thought during battle would become one. And that’s what he was the most worried about. He had so many painful memories and Via had close to none.

He sat beside her, clothed in the expensive fabric that the ceremony had to be held in. Pure white fabric comprised the higher collared shirt and trousers, marred with thick dark runes. Via wore the exact copy. She was quiet, examining her fingernails calming as they waited for Luna to finish preparations.

“Are you nervous?” He asked finally, not liking the silence, especially because of how jittery he felt.

“Not at all,” Via responded, flicking imaginary dirt off her nails. “You?”

“I’m about to pee myself,” Jungkook said truthfully.

Via turned to him. She hadn’t detected his nervousness, he had appeared stoic, but she had assumed it was because he was preparing himself mentally for what was to come.

“Why?” She asked, curiously. “You’ve done this before.”

Via looked at him with those haunting dark eyes.

“That’s why I’m nervous,” Jungkook said, “because I know what’s going to happen.”

Via remained silent, contemplating his words. They didn’t scare her. Why would she be scared of something that she had no experience off?

“Jungkook,” Janson called from the center of the training room where the ceremony was being set up.

They both glanced up. Jungkook adjusted his shirt before making his way towards Janson. Via followed him.

Luna was almost the exact opposite of what one might consider a witch. She wore practical cashmere sweater, dark wash jeans, and heeled boots. Her hair was cropped short, just below her jawline, perfectly straight. The only thing that suggested she was the thick witch runes that decorated the skin that disappeared down the collar of her sweater and the deep red eyes that watched them approach.

“Jungkook,” she greeted him. She had not been the witch to carry out his ceremony in the past, but she had assisted the then high warlock. Now she wore the robes herself. “It’s good to see you.”

“And you,” he nodded his head.

“And Via,” Luna smiled at the woman that had come up behind him. “Janson has told me many things about you.”

Via inclined her head respectfully, glancing quickly between the witch and the director, cataloging that they were on a first name basis.

“Have you mentally prepared for what is to come?” Luna motioned towards the center of the room, where the training mats have been moved and several runes had been drawn on the ground. Her assistants crouched beside the symbols with dark sticks of coal, finishing them.

“I suppose,” Via spoke up when Jungkook didn’t.

“Here,” Luna sweeps her hand forward and one of her assistants appears carrying a shallow wooden box. Two necklaces with small crystal insets lay on the velvet. “You don’t have to wear them, but the power being granted to you will flow through the crystals to you. When the ceremony is over, you will return them to me.”

“That’s new,” Jungkook says, lifting the necklace closest to him.

“It is new,” Luna says with a grin. “We found a less painful way to grant, through a conductor.”

Via wrapped the chain around her hand as if she was wrapping up her knuckles and Jungkook just closed his fingers around it.

“Are you ready?” Janson spoke up. It was clear that he was anxious, but Luna had insisted that the granting would work between the two with very little side effect. It was as practical as filling an empty water glass with an overfilling water glass she had said.

“Yes,” this time Jun