The Rite of First Shadow
Let it be known that no child is born already accompanied. Cross into the prepared shadow alone. No one shall call the bird by name before it appears. What comes must come by answer, not by panic.
1. Where do you walk to undergo your Rite?
The high, floating pine forests of Shroudspire, bathed in perpetual twilight.
The frozen, volcanic black-sand shores of Vhal'Kor, where the waves crash against obsidian.
2. How do you present yourself to the darkness?
With elegant stillness and emotional honesty. I let the shadow read my heart.
With cold defiance. I stare into the void and force it to respect my endurance.
With an open hand. I wish to know the secrets hidden in the ancestral echoes.
3. Before the bird takes flight, the shadow manifests as your "First Need-Shape." What is it?
A Blade — I need strength to cut away my weaknesses.
A Key — I need answers to the doors that have been locked to me.
A Lantern-Piece — I need guidance through the blinding dark.
A Cord — I need a tether so I do not drift away into the void.
Step into the Shadow