A creature, black as the night, moved rapidly through the starry sky and made several stops throughout the silent forest. Hours passed with the erratically flying presence but one constant was that it always came back and dropped its bounty in a small clearing, in the final hour before the moon was at its highest the beast landed in the clearing and started to prepare for an ancient ritual forgotten by time. With smooth mechanical movements, it sat out its gathered materials and began to process them into the needed forms. Normal-looking plants were mixed and transformed into unknown concoctions with immense power, and river stones were engraved with powerful forgotten ruins.

Seemingly in response to the ongoings, the wind began to whip up and a storm began to form, but the beast paid it no mind and continued on with its strange ritual. With a waive of the beast's hand, a stack of engraved stones launched themselves into the air and landed in a circle before glowing an unsteady ethereal light. Not done yet a pile of sticks flew out of the woods and landed in a square pyre in the center of the circle of stones. Magic began to rapidly form a vortex above the beast causing the wind to increase in strength. It slowly approached the pyre and tapped it lightly causing it to explode into a blazing inferno. One of the bowls of powder lifted and flew into the fire causing the flames to increase in size and take on a sickly green appearance.

The wind was howling now and if one was to listen closely enough, they could hear the screams of the damned riding along with the gusts. The beast brought out a stick made of unknown wood and bone and reached up into its mouth and pulled out three of its teeth and placed it in the hollowed-out wood along with three acorns. It gently shook the stick causing a crisp rattle to echo out. Seemingly satisfied with its rattle it initiated the ceremony by tossing a lump of wood into the pyre. Nothing happened at first but when the beast began to lightly beat the rattle on its wrist the fire began to rapidly twist until it reached the magic vortex above. Once the magic was touched by the flame it rapidly descended into the pyre until the vortex was empty.

The flames suddenly died down until they barely extended above the wood and a figure slowly emerged from the pyre and stood proudly above the pyre. It was the log the beast had thrown in, but now it doesn’t resemble what it was before. It glowed a deep red and the bark had fallen away to reveal pulsating veins of magic and flame. The creature abruptly stopped tapping the rattle and raised its arms as if to embrace the sky. The piece of wood showed no reaction at first until it abruptly erupted and three glowing balls of light tried to flee but were blocked at the circle of stones.

The beast revealed a cruel smile at the development and began to quickly circle the pyre while striking the rattle at every stone, and as the rattle shook the stone caught fire. As soon as every stone was alite the creature exchanged the rattle for a jagged dagger so dark that it was blacker than the darkest of nights. Unhesitatingly the beast plunged the dagger into his wrist and twisted it and pulled it slowly up its arm. Despite the gruesome gash, only three drops of black blood dropped out, but that was enough to cause the ceremony to erupt with enough power to warp space. The balls of light, sensing the blood, quickly began to circle around the stones until the flames began to blur together and create a wall around the ceremony, and with one final strike of the rattle the central flames jumped from the pyre and created a dome of fire.

Once the area was covered in the dome of flames the creature performed the last step, it took out a stone with an ancient symbol drawn onto it and tossed it into the now unlit pyre. A massive wave of an unknown force exploded out and dispersed the flames revealing a strange twisted world. The sky above looked to be painted on with smooth strokes with the stars being just little dots of yellow. The ground the trees even the very air itself took on the same appearance and despite the beauty, everything just looked strange and unnatural, the colors were brighter, and the finer details were absent. (A/N- I don’t really know how to describe it, just think Vincent Van Gogh’s starry night)

1st person---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I opened my eye, I was back in an all-too-familiar world, though I had to say I didn’t remember it being this warped. The mana in the air didn’t lie though, I was in the right place. I scanned the clearing I was in and saw several pairs of eyes watching me intently. A smile cracked across my face; it looks like I have a welcoming party. I slowly got up and prepared for combat. I was not in the best of moods right now and I need something to take my wrath out on, and it looks like I just so happen to have some volunteers. Unfortunately, I can’t just rip anything that moves limb from limb, I needed a challenger. I turned my gaze to the closest set of eyes and gave them a death glare urging them forward and thankfully, for me, he returned the look and stared me in the eye, a death sentence as far as I’m concerned.