The moonless night cast an eerie glow over the valley, nestled between two towering, green mountains near Ebonhollow.
In the still of the night, the valley, usually serene, had transformed into something nightmarish.
The ground was littered with strange objects, ominous symbols carved into the earth as if a cult ritual was about to begin.
A crowd of villagers, their faces obscured by bizarre masks and robes, knelt before the Elder woman, who held an unconscious Ether.
I stood at the edge of the scene, my face twisted in disbelief, ‘What the hell is going on here?!’ I thought, watching as the woman—whom I had once considered Ether’s kind Grandma—now wore the expression of a wicked villain, her eyes gleaming with twisted glee.
Her face looked almost cartoonishly evil old witch… I frowned deeply, ‘This feels too familiar… have I seen character like her?’ I wondered.
The Elder woman held Ether close and proclaimed with a prideful voice, “Tonight, we will make sure our sacrifice reaches the hands of our dear god!” She kissed Ether’s forehead, her lips curling into a wicked grin. “He will be our savior!”
The masked villagers, now behaving more like brainwashed cultists, nodded fervently.
One of them dared to speak, his voice shaky, “Elder, are you certain about this? We thought you wanted him to grow older, to succeed you and follow in your footsteps.”
The Elder sighed, her fingers brushing against her frail, wrinkled skin, “As much as I wanted a successor,” she began, her voice tinged with regret, “just look at me.” She exposed her skeletal, decaying body.
I nearly gagged, recoiling at the sight. “Yuck! What the hell… I’m going to have nightmares,” I muttered under my breath, feeling my stomach churn.
She covered herself again and continued, “We missed the chance to complete the ritual before…. Time has taken its toll on me. My body is aging far too rapidly, and if we don’t finish this ritual soon… I’ll be dead in a matter of days.”
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. They exchanged worried glances, fear seeping into their expressions.
The Elder’s eyes darkened. “That’s why this has to happen tonight. Before those two visitors—” her lips curled in disdain, “—before they interfere and save the children who’ve reached the age of ten!”
“Those bastards!” someone snarled through clenched teeth.
“We should have killed them when we had the chance!” another voice spat with venom, but the Elder quickly shook her head.
“You don’t understand. Those two are far more powerful than you realize. If we had attacked, they could have wiped out the entire village in an instant.”
The revelation struck the crowd like a thunderclap, “What?” gasps of shock echoed.
“That’s why I allowed them to wander freely,” the Elder explained, her face grim. “We couldn’t risk provoking them.”
Without wasting any more time, she laid Ether on an altar. The stone slab was etched with grotesque symbols, surrounded by piles of child-sized skulls, their hollow eyes staring back at me.
My blood ran cold, ‘Are those…’ I couldn’t finish the thought.
I stared, paralyzed, as they bound Ether to the altar…. The cultists began to dance in a grotesque, ritualistic manner, chanting prayers to some god—Arcane, or whatever they called it.
‘I need to do something! I can’t let this happen!’ I screamed internally, a sense of helplessness washing over me.
Over the years, I had grown attached to Ether.
The thought of him dying here, sacrificed to some twisted deity, filled me with dread. But when I tried to grab anything—a weapon, a rock, anything—my hands passed through it all like mist, ‘Damn it! I can’t even touch anything!’
My breath caught in my throat as I watched the Elder raise a massive, sharp butcher’s blade, her wicked grin spreading wider as she prepared to strike Ether down.
My heart raced,
‘If he dies… what happens to me?’ I thought, panic gripping me as I stood between her and the boy, desperately trying to stop the blade.
But my hands passed through the weapon, my body as useless as a shadow. I closed my eyes, waiting for the sickening sound of the blade striking flesh.
Suddenly, a calm, indifferent voice echoed across the valley,
“Why can’t you just die already?”
The valley fell silent. Everyone turned toward the woods, eyes wide with shock and fear.
I opened my eyes, letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. The blade hovered mere inches above Ether’s throat.
I glanced at the woods, and out of the shadows stepped the white-haired man… the one who had introduced himself as Ether!
He strode into the clearing with a casual elegance, his silver eyes scanning the grotesque scene before him.
His gaze lingered on the boy on the altar, then… on me?
I froze, ‘He saw me. There’s no way this is just a coincidence!’ I thought, my mind racing.
The Elder scowled, pointing her butcher’s weapon at him. “Why do you keep meddling in our ancient ritual?” she hissed.
The man smiled, his expression amused. “Ancient?” he scoffed, taking another step forward. “You call this ancient?” His voice was laced with mockery as he continued, “Or is it that you’re just trying to cheat death… seeking immortality through your so-called ‘ritual’?”
His words sent a ripple of fear through the crowd. The Elder’s frown deepened, her face contorting with unease.
His smirk widened. “How long have you been at this, hmm? A hundred years? Five hundred?” He stopped just in front of the Elder, staring her down with an air of superiority. “Maybe it’s been five hundred years or….” He leaned in close, whispering something into her ear.
The Elder’s eyes widened in shock, her body trembling as if a cold, deadly realization had just washed over her.
“H-how do you know…?” she stammered, her voice shaking with fear.
The man’s smile widened as he turned to face the terrified crowd. His voice was steady, almost conversational, as he explained, “You all were so desperate to extend your lives. You kidnapped these children, made it seem as though they were abandoned by their families, and manipulated them into loving you…. You twisted their trust, making them believe that you were their saviors.”
With every word, the villagers visibly flinched, their guilt and fear written across their faces.
I, too, was frozen in disbelief, ‘What the hell is this?’ My mind raced as I tried to piece together everything I’d just heard, ‘So… all those children… kidnapped? Not abandoned?’
The man stepped toward the altar, running his fingers over the bizarre symbols etched into the stone, “Pure beings, nurtured with ten years of love and care, discarded by their own blood…” He paused, turning to the Elder, his voice growing sharper, “That’s what it takes to activate this altar, isn’t it? To prolong your miserable lives.”
The Elder, her face tight with anger, clenched her teeth but remained silent. Her followers were quaking now, terrified by what was being revealed.
The man tilted his head slightly, his silver eyes gleaming with amusement. “So, tell me, Elder, how much more life do you gain from sacrificing a single child?”
The Elder hesitated for a moment, trying to maintain her composure, before replying, “It’s not killing. It’s a great sacrifice to our god, Arc—”
He cut her off, his voice laced with mockery. “Yeah, yeah… spare me the religious justification. Just give me a number.”
Sensing the man’s impatience, the Elder finally relented, her voice trembling. “Around… 15 to 20 years.”
The man raised an eyebrow, seemingly unfazed by the answer. “Interesting…” He glanced down at the ground beneath his feet and tapped it lightly with his foot.
Suddenly, the valley trembled beneath us.
Trrrrr!
“What in the…?” I muttered, my voice barely audible over the sound of the earth shifting. My eyes widened in shock as I saw what lay beneath.
The valley wasn’t just littered with skulls at the surface….. no, it was filled with the remains of countless children…. Millions of tiny skulls!!, all buried beneath the ground, now exposed by the shifting earth.
I turned to the Elder, my chest tight with horror, ‘How many children have they sacrificed?’ The sheer scale of it was incomprehensible.
The Elder, remarkably composed despite the chaos around her, turned back to the man. “What do you want?” she asked coldly, “Are you going to kill us? If so, get on with it.” She shrugged, showing not a trace of fear in her withered face.
But the man simply smiled, a chilling glint in his eye. “No,” he said softly, “I’m not going to kill you. They will.”
He pointed behind her.
The Elder frowned, turning slowly to see what he was indicating. Her eyes widened as she came face to face with a massive, snarling bear, its teeth bared in a menacing growl.
The beast’s eyes were wild, filled with fury, and before she could even react—
“Aaaaaarrrrhhhhh!”
Only screams were echoed!