Item from Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas
The ritual that makes a Vanir's power permanent — a plunge into the depths of one's soul where you either emerge immortal or die trying, and either way the Asteri take their cut.
The Drop is Midgard's most important coming-of-age ritual and its greatest scam. On the surface, it's a rite of passage: a Vanir descends into their own power, touches the bottom, and makes the climb back — and in doing so, their abilities become permanent and they gain extended (or immortal) life. The catch: the Drop generates an enormous burst of firstlight at the moment of descent, and the Asteri have designed the system to harvest that burst. An Anchor — another Vanir — is required to pull the Dropper back from the abyss. If the Anchor fails, the Dropper dies. If the Dropper doesn't have enough power, they die. The system is designed to kill the weak and tax the strong. Bryce made the Drop without a traditional Anchor and survived, which shouldn't have been possible — and which terrified the Asteri because it meant the system has a loophole.
The Drop is not a physical object but a ritual event. The Vanir making the Drop enters a state of profound stillness — eyes blank, body rigid — while their consciousness descends through layers of power toward a metaphysical floor. Observers see only the external shell: a person standing motionless, surrounded by a corona of their elemental energy, sometimes for hours. When they surface, the explosion of firstlight is visible for blocks.
Also known as: The Drop, Making the Drop