Sett felt as if he was floating through space. He was unconscious, yet he was not asleep. It had been like this since the monstrous grunt used the strange wand on him. Whatever it was, had induced this strange state of being.

Strangely and perhaps luckily, Sett found that this place severly limited his emotions, making him far less frightened than he should be considering the circumstances.

Floating through this space of never-ending darkness with no reference to guess the passing of time, Sett had a lot of time to think about what had happened.

First was the monster. It was the most horrifying thing Sett had seen to date. Its mangled appearance and fleshy tentacles still brought shivers to his mind, even in this subdued state.

The act of changing the body to this extent was theoretically possible, but the Intergalactic Human Federation had outlawed it countless years ago. But even if this monster was genetically engineered to be this way, it should have been impossible for it to stay hidden under the ever-watching eyes of society.

Then there was the strange device that the monster had used on him. There existed countless devices that could knock a person out, but this one did not look like any technology he had ever seen. The closest resemblance it carried was probably to a wand from one of the countless fantasy series that came out every year.

Frankly, it was far too strange and terrifying to think of. Even floating in this place where his emotions were oddly limited, Sett felt his feelings spiralling out of control.

What did those monsters want with them? Was Jack’s plan all a setup? Who and what were the monsters Lark and Derek? What was the hunt? Why did they call them blood vessels? There were far too many questions and far too few answers.

Slowly and without realising it, Sett recovered from his abnormal state. The darkness that surrounded him slowly began to fade and colours began to take its place. Before long, Sett could see what was going on around him.

Yet, although he had regained his sight, Sett could still not control a single inch of his body. It was how he imagined those who had sleep paralysis felt.

It was as if he had arrived at a whole other world.

From the small viewpoint that he could see from his prone position, Sett could vaguely see a room. No, to call it a room was an understatement. It was a hall. The roof stretched countless meters into the air, making even the local cathedral look like a playhouse in comparison.

The hall was composed almost entirely out of a strange smooth black stone, that looked to be polished to the extreme. Embedded in these polished stones were countless red lines which shone brightly covering the entire hall in a faint red atmosphere.

Just what was this place?

Suddenly, small tremors erupted from all around Sett. They started out small but quickly gained in strength.

“Finally, my children!” A voice, that sounded like it came from an old man, sounded out someplace behind Sett. “The time is upon us once again! The blood moons shall bless us with rivers of blood once again! Come, my children, join me in offering our gods the blood of the nonbelievers! Come and join me in righteous prayer!”

Sett felt shivers erupting all over his body. This did not seem right at all. The words that had been spoken sounded just like the words of a crazed cult leader.

Mustering all the power he could, Sett finally managed to turn his head to the side. What he saw terrified him.

Rows upon rows of monsters stood beneath the platform Sett. They all looked the same or worse as the monster that had abducted him and his friends earlier in the night. From his point of view, it simply looked like a gigantic ocean of flesh, the countless tentacles acting like waves in the wind.

This sea of monsters jumped around in frenzied excitement at the old man’s words. They looked more akin to beasts than humans. In their eyes, Sett saw none of the humanity that should have been there.

Forcing himself to ignore the ravenous beasts that were only meters away from him, Sett toiled and laboured to look in the other direction.

Sett would have gulped if he could. He saw countless human figures. Hundreds if not thousands. All of them laid on an equal amount of ornamental stone tables. They were all asleep, blissfully unaware of what was going on around them.

“Silence! Lady Elina! As the youngest among the high table, I will allow you to make the first sacrifice.”

The old voice once again sounded out and the rampaging beasts below the platform quieted. Sett noticed that it had come from another group which he had accidentally ignored before. They looked almost normal in comparison with the tentacle monsters below, the only oddity being the oversized cloaks and robes that most of the group wore.

They were seated along an enormous table, which was placed before a gigantic statue. This statue was beyond awe-inspiring. It was golden and looked like a humanoid chimera from a fantasy novel, its features too many to tell. It felt greatly out of place in the grand hall.

“Yes, master…”

A listless voice came from among the group and a young-looking woman walked out from the group.

Sett finally got a good look at their true captors. He had imagined them to be many things. A tentacle monster. Perhaps some fiend from the underworld. Anything really. What he did not expect, however, was for her to be some normal human girl that he could see walking on the street during everyday life.

Sure, she did not look like the most normal human girl around, but that could all be explained with science. For starters, her skin was unusually pale. Far too pale to be natural. Yet, it could be easily explained with surgery. It was not even a dangerous or costly procedure.

For example, every couple of years some trend would break out on the various social platforms that made everyone want to change the pigment of their skin.

All things considered; the overly pale skin colour was not something that was too unusual.

Next was her beauty. It was not something one would expect from someone who was walking next to a brutish monster, but Sett did not feel inclined to complain. Her hair, though a pale blonde, was perfectly healthy and shone slightly in the red glow. Her skin was impeccable and her facial features like sculpted from clay. The only chagrin Sett had was the eternal saddened look that seemed to be always present on her face.

If she were to be walking down the street, she would certainly turn heads. Once again, her indescribable looks could be explained with surgery. Surgery had, in fact, gotten so good in recent years that it was impossible to differentiate between real and fake.

Finally, was her completely black, yet frilly, dress. It looked like something a cosplayer would wear. Though, that could be chalked down to personal taste.

All in all, this Lady Elina did not look like a monster. Just what was such a seemingly normal-looking girl doing in a den of monsters?

Yet, despite this, Sett still felt a foreboding feeling. As if the seemingly normal human girl before him was an even more terrifying monster than any of the monsters that were present in the large clump of flesh beneath Sett. He could not explain it, but the feeling was undoubtedly there. Every cell of his being screamed at him not to get involved with this person. That doing so would lead to his demise or worse.

With measured steps, Lady Elina slowly approached the first line of humans.

“God of the blood moons, hear my prayer!” Her voice was like a whisper, yet it reached all those that stood in the hall. “Accept this foolish mortal child’s unwilling sacrifice and undo him in your name!”

From beneath her frilly dress, Lady Elina brought forth a small black dagger.

An ominous feeling assaulted Sett. She was surely not about to do what he thought she was going to do, right? Surely, they were not going to commit murder, right?

Yet, despite Sett’s thoughts and silent pleas, Lady Elina brought the dagger down upon her victim, a young man not much older than Sett himself. The dagger easily piercing through his skin and bones as if they did not even exist and reaching straight into his heart.

But it did not end there. The moment Lady Elina’s hands left the handle, the dagger shone slightly with darkness and transformed. It then turned into liquid and diffused itself into the victim’s body, forming into countless small streams inside the body. To the outsider, it looked like countless small black veins had appeared on the victim’s body.

The eyes of the victim opened wide; their pupils dilated to the extreme. Their body began to spasm, yet not a single word or yell escaped their lips despite the pain they were obviously going through.

Above the victim, a faint shadowy mass began to gather. The shadowy mass was like the grim reaper standing above a dying person.

After finishing what Sett thought to be a small prayer, Lady Elina returned to the group and waited for her next command.

“The first sacrifice to the god of the blood moons has been made! Commence with the ritual!”

The monsters below erupted in cheery gore once again. The human-like group spread out among their victims and began to repeat what Lady Elina had done earlier. Soon, more than fifty daggers had been plunged into their victims and many more would follow.

Sett, being on the third row of human sacrifices, could only stare on in despair. He looked around at his fellow sacrifices but found none that he could share his horror with. They were all asleep, none of them aware of what was to come. Sett envied them greatly.

Scanning the group of human sacrifices, Sett soon found his friends. They, too, had not been spared from the fate. He found Jack on the second row of human sacrifices and Jess on one of the last.

Moments later, one of the ritualists arrived at Jack’s position. Sett wanted to scream and shout. To plead for them to leave Jack alone. But he found himself unable to do so. A formless pressure ensured that he could watch in horror as the ritualist brought forth the knife.

However, the last moment before the knife reached Jack’s chest, a sickly, but surprisingly strong, the hand stopped the plunging knife.

“Leave this one be, Lord Kren.” The old man that was leading the ritual spoke up from beside Jack. “I feel this one has a strong connection to the blood. Perhaps he can trace his lineage to one of the forefathers.”

The sickly old man brought forth a strange ancient-looking contraption. A press of a button released a single drop of blood onto Jack’s forehead. This single droplet of blood stood perfectly still on top of his forehead for a few moments, until it abruptly disappeared beneath Jack’s skin.

“Yes!” The old man’s voice was surprisingly loud and full of excitement. “It is faint, but it is there. Lord Kren, bring the boy to my manor and offer him a place as my apprentice.”

Lord Kren looked immensely surprised, his eyes shifting from his master to Jack multiple times.

“Yes, Master.” Lord Kren regained his composure seeing the serious face of his master. “It shall be done.”

Sett was confused. He did not entirely understand what had happened to Jack, but it appeared that he was saved from his fate as a human sacrifice. If that were truly the case, Sett was gladdened for his friend, but could not say that he was not greatly envious.

The lords and ladies had paused from their master’s words but quickly began to sacrifice once again.

After a long and terror-inducing time, Sett’s turn finally arrived.

Lady Elaine arrived before Sett and brought forth another knife. Up close, the knife looked like a horrible, jagged mess. On its surface, countless illegible words and diagrams were inscribed, adding to its diabolic look.

Sett made one final attempt at resistance, resulting in a look of surprise from Lady Elaine. The resistance did not matter, however, as Sett’s back was stuck to the ornamental rock table as if glued to it.

The surprise that Lady Elaine felt clearly did not matter either, as after a few seconds of deliberation, she decided to plunge the dagger into Sett.

*Gasp*

Sett felt the air leave his lungs and a huge wave of pain course through his body. The dagger had pierced his lung, missing the heart entirely. Seeing this, Lady Elaine panicked. Clearly, she had missed her mark in her moment of surprise.

Sett could feel as the dagger dissolved into his body, but the strange veins and horrible spasm that had appeared on the other sacrifices failed to appear.

Sett attempted to breathe as he felt his life leaving his body.

To the side, the master arrived as stealthily as the wind. A pressure that felt as if weighed down on his entire body assaulted him, leaving him unable to even breathe. Without saying a word, the master took out his own dagger, one that was much bigger than the one that Lady Elaine had used, and penetrated Sett’s heart with it.

This time, Sett did not feel any pain and instead thankfully descended into a deep slumber immediately.