That morning, across the water in Atlan, energy in the Grand
Courtyard was electric, the excitement was contagious, never before had citizens of the Atlan Empire waved their flags with such enthusiasm as they did at the Opening Ceremony of the Farewell Celebration. And this time, it wasn't
only the Firmary gods seated on the royal stage. This time Atalon's VIP guests
had been invited to take part in the Sacrificial Ceremony, a taste of the way
things would change in the New Empire. No longer would the gods keep this
empowerment ritual exclusively to themselves, in the New Empire, everyone could
be empowered with Sacrificial Blood; BloodWine was to become a public offering at last.
Tonight, Cow Goddesses from the Moha lab were being sacrificed to the great Creator
God, Medel. Eyes blazing, He watched them all from above as the sacred pyre was lit
below. The courtyard roared with cheers as each soul was offered in exchange
for Health, Wealth and Happiness in the New Empire. Flags waved wildly as
Medena filled the Golden Goblet with their blood. One by one the heads were
placed on golden platters and presented to the cheering crowds.
Dena
stood tall, proud of her honored position on the royal stage with the gods,
nervous about drinking blood for the first time, the notion of drinking raw
blood made her feel uneasy, but she wasn't going to admit it. She did her best not to let
her nerves show as the moment drew near but it was difficult. Heart pounding, she was
conscious of her sweaty palms and tried to wipe them discreetly, all too aware
of the hundreds of eyes studying her every move, hundreds of eyes wishing they
could be her. She reminded herself how honored she was, how special she was to
have been selected for the most exclusive party in town, now she just had to
prove she had the chops for the role. It was harder being on stage than it
appeared to be.
‘Hold
your hand up and just rotate it gently…’ Medena’s words of instruction barely
helped. Her arm ached, she was beginning to realize how hard it was to be a
god. They had to wave hour after hour to the crowds. Then she began to realize
why they drank the blood. The blood made them strong, it was the blood that
empowered their godly forces, and it was this power that had brought them the
success and fortune she so badly desired, this was what the New Empire was all
for. Empowerment.
Giddy
from adrenaline, she eyed the goblet approaching from the corner of her eye, it
was in Nolan’s hands now. He didn't seem to be bothered by the sacrificial
blood-drinking, surely it wouldn't be so bad… She would need to get used to it
if she wanted to marry him… Perhaps she might like it?
The Golden Goblet was warm in her hands. Dena
closed her eyes and lifted the magic potion to her lips, pausing to inhale the
delicate aroma of fresh, warm blood for the first time. She took a sip, with a
deep breath took a bigger sip, she didn’t have to sip very much before a
strange sensation raced through her veins. The cheering crowds roaring with
applause seemed to amplify the sensation, too, followed by the greatest rush.
As
she passed the goblet on she felt like a new goddess already, a higher
goddess... BloodWine? It was nothing compared to this. Now she understood why
the gods drank the raw blood.
The
hike to Fina through the old Aquillan tunnel was cold, dark and long. Neter would have perhaps turned back but
the smells were getting worse and the voices were growing louder as he neared
the neighboring isle, vibes here didn't feel good at all. The sounds and odors
barely prepared him for shocking scene he discovered in Fina as he rounded the
final bend. Breathless, he clutched his heart in agony. In the dimly lit
shadows he could see gates spanning across the tracks ahead, as he drew closer
he could see it was holding back a wall of bloody corpses, the pileup spanned
the entire width of the tunnel!
"Ugh!"
He could hardly look but to look was
exactly why he was here. There was movement and voices amongst them… There were
some who were still alive... They
were devouring each other?
Winded
from the subsequent tumble, Neter rolled over gasping for the odorous air as he
returned to face reality. After a few moments he summoned the strength to face
the wall, crawled up off his knees and took a moment to study the scene... It
was almost as if he had been sent... He had been sent to do something about this. What was this? This scene was so bad, this scene was pure hell...
Karen
spotted the blonde hair in the darkness, she recognized him from her text book,
it was the God of Death! He was real!
"HELP ME" she screamed, unafraid to
face him from where she crawled over the squirming pile of undead decaying flesh.
A desperate cry for help was all it took to motivate Neter. He scanned the wall of death, searching for a solution, terrified himself of the wild and rabid looking bodies still fighting for their lives.
"HELP ME, PLEE-EE-EEASE" Karen
cried, inching closer to the bars, desperate.
Neter
studied the construction, the gate was bolted into place...
"HELP ME, PLEE-EE-EEASE!"
Agonized by empathy, Neter pondered the implications of doing such a thing, what would happen if he did? What if he let them
out? Why were they rabid like this? Was it a virus? Why would his Phoenix send
him to do something if it endangered others?
"HEE-E-E-E-ELP!"
Suddenly
a crazed merchant threw himself at the pleading student. With violent rage he
began tearing at her limbs, mauling her to death in front of Neter's weeping
eyes. There was nothing he could do. Agonized,
he stumbled backwards into the tunnel, aching with grief, horrified by what he
saw here tonight.
What the hell just happened? He
had no choice but to return to Atlan to find out, unable to help them from here, apparently he was too late. Thoughts spun wild with speculation as he followed the
ill-fated track back to the Hub. Was this perhaps the same 'savage beasts' that Zara had
spoken of in Culloom? She was right. Something was slaughtering all the people, but the people weren't being
slaughtered by savage beasts, the people
were slaughtering themselves!
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