The Ritual of Blood

“Stop! What do you think you're doing?!”

Azyna's voice echoed throughout the chamber.

As they saw her, she's on her knees, and her hands are on the floor. When Xivan moved his hand away from her head, she slowly, but steadily stood up and just stared at him as if nothing had ever happened.

She had just screamed that out...out of reflex, as if she wanted to protect him.

Xivan looked at Azyna for couple of seconds, then he frowned…

Ah, she was the one that offered herself…gave her blood. So another victim falls prey to the sarcophagus, Xivan thought.

His eyes went towards the group, and he opened his mouth, he spoke in a calm but fluent voice:

“So, what’ll happen now?”

Everyone just stood there dumbfounded as he spoke in their language, it took a couple of seconds for the ice to melt, but suddenly Aynthia came charging towards Xivan again. She didn't know what had happened, but she was rather desperate for some reason.

He just gave out a long sigh and said in an unamused voice: “You sure are persistent.”

Just as Aynthia came baring her weapons at him, he brushed her away with a swift hand stroke, and as the hand moved a strong gust of some kind of force came towards her, and she's yet again shot across the room.

The group pointed their weapons toward Xivan, but he just stood there looking at the flying girl... She flew; did spinning moves; hit the wall, and landed on the floor...unharmed as she was the first time.

He suddenly did a yawn of awakening.

He felt stiff, and still tired from sleeping for so long. Using magical powers after being...drained of it, was never a good feeling to be woken up by. Even though he’s all-powerful, there were some things he wanted to feel, like tiredness and hunger. Because if you would remove those things, you would get bored out of your mind, as he had experienced all too well.

If you remove those things...what would you have? Time...even more time… To do what? He didn’t need time, he needed to feel… He needed his body to feel that tiredness after doing something hard; that hunger of being starved. But those things still doesn’t have that much of an impact on him, the tiredness and hunger that is.

There are magical spells that he knows, which could make you lose those things, but he wanted to feel that feeling of being alive. He rather enjoyed sleeping and eating, but he had noticed that his body over the eons of years didn’t change in weight, or in size.

When he had tried to gain weight, through eating, nothing had happened. It’s as if all the food he ate went into oblivion, into the endless maw of darkness.

Even if he had drunk the strongest Elven alcohol, he wouldn’t even feel an inkling of drunkenness. Though he couldn’t get drunk he had that fine red wine, which he had enjoyed to drink very often.

He has forgotten when his body had stopped changing over the countless of years.

His body couldn’t gain thick muscles, or lose the muscles he had. The body he has now had been like that for as long as he can remember. Even if he starved himself, he wouldn’t lose weight, it was a mystery that he has never gotten the answer to.

He has his lean muscled body that looked like as if it had been trained to its utter perfection.

Azyna that's standing beside him shouted out: “Enough! He wants no trouble from you people!”

Jack quickly retorted: “No trouble? How do you know he doesn’t want any trouble? Didn’t you see him send Aynthia across the room? He’s dangerous, he used magic as if it didn’t even take anything out of him. Clearly he was put there in that coffin for a reason!”

Jenny thought about the words “You people” when Azyna had spoken. She should have used “Us” and not “You people”, she started to get an extremely uneasy feeling.

Xivan just stood there listening to Jack as he went on and on with his rant; he threw speculations at Xivan as if he wasn’t even there:

“For all we know he was put there by his own people, because he was too powerful for them to control! So come here, don't stand close to him.”

She didn't move one muscle, she just stood there next to him, unfazed.

Just when Jack finished, Aynthia came back, but this time she's not attacking, she just stands there instead and looks at Xivan with her prowling slit amber eyes.

I can't let him win over me, I can't let him...I can't let him…I can't let him. Aynthia stood there thinking those words over and over again with a dark expression on her face.

Then an angry and impatient voice yelled:

“How absurd! Put there by his own people, Hah! Why would they put him in a coffin, ’just because he's powerful’, that's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! You better throw away such thoughts before you regret them Human.

When Jack heard Azyna yell he got a little surprised, especially when she called him a Human. He had never heard her speak in such a language.

Jenny too got wide eyed in surprise as she heard her dear friend say those words, but then Jack retorted with a high voice:

“Are you even listening to yourself?! You're defending someone you just met a while ago, what has gotten over you!”

Jenny interrupted them with a calm caring voice:

“Azyna what's the matter? Why are you being so aggressive towards us, we are your friends. This sudden change is so unlike y—.”

Just as Jenny was going to finish her sentence, she remembered what happened moments ago. Her eyes darted towards Xivan. And he looks back at her, when he noticed her furious gaze.

She yelled when they had eye contact: “You! What did you to do her?!”

He just raised his left eyebrow and said in such a calm voice:

“I've done nothing.”

Jenny’s mouth and eye twitched as she heard his calm voice...she wanted to hurt him. Jenny drew her bow with an arrow in place and pointed it at Xivan.

As the bow n arrow pointed towards Xivan, he didn't even seem bothered by it, he only gave a slight frown.

Jenny yelled angrily: “I'll ask you again! What did you do to her?!”

Azyna suddenly went and stood in front of Xivan, trying to block anything that might harm him.

The potency is a lot stronger in this one, he thought when he sees her standing there in front of him.

Jenny got baffled when she saw Azyna standing there. All the other group members are having a hard time to even understand what is going on, but then Xivan responded with a hint of anger in his voice:

“As I said, I've done nothing. It's your own foolishness, your own greedy stupidity that made her like this, nothing more, nothing less.”

Jenny replied confused: “What do you mean!? Explain!”

Xivan just stood there as he gave a big sigh that looked like as if he's very tired. Getting yelled at was a new experience for him, but he answered:

“It's the blood ritual of course, the seal on my sarcophagus only opens with the blood of an Elf, or... a hybrid. Someone with a pool of magic.”

His eyes went to Azyna that's standing in front of him, and he gave a slight frown. But he continued:

“When someone commits to this particular blood ritual, the one that gives the blood is forever bound to the receiver, until death.” As he finished he added:

“And as you see, I can speak your language. While I channeled into her, I only took her knowledge. Though I say knowledge, I only copied the most important parts from her memories and put it in mine, such as language, and some locations.”

He sighed: “But it was Unfortunate that you had to interrupt my channeling, for I could only get those things from her. Though I can understand why you interrupted me, and why you're acting like this towards me. Her scream was awfully loud.”

After he finished he gave a slight chuckle, and then there's only silence, but after a couple of seconds Thren yelled out nervously:

“I knew this place was bad, I just knew it!”

When Thren said it, Jenny still had her bow drawn to the max, but then she slowly put it away. Jack, Diana, Rulma and Aynthia is just standing there, not making a sound.

Aynthia stood there still thinking those words: I can't let him, I can't let him, I can't let him. And Diana is frightened out of her mind, seeing her dear friend act like this is just too much for this little Halfling.

Jenny finally asked a question to Xivan while having an angry voice:

“Can you remove the bound blood spell? Or whatever you called it.”

Xivan just looked at her... Then gave a faint head shake and said with a firm voice:

“That's beyond my powers. I have tried long ago, but to no success. The carvings on the sarcophagus would indicate that it should only be opened with a sacrifice.”

Jenny, and the others looked at Xivan, then towards Azyna.

Jenny said with a sad, but cracked voice: “Azyna don't you worry, we'll find a way...to break the spell, don't...don’t worry.”

Azyna didn’t even react to any of her words, which made Jenny even more disheartened.

As Jack looked at his sister, she got such a disturbed, saddened face. He knows that they're best friends, they have been together for the longest time, same with Diana they’re a trio of friends.

As Jack is Jenny's older brother, he had only gotten to know Azyna and Diana recently, as they made their way on this journey. He had seen the other two girls before in his home, but as he got such little time to spare he didn't get to know them, though he knew Diana a little bit better than Azyna, as she's Jenny’s handmaiden.

Jack was bred to perfection, but why might he be here in this Elven ruin.... Did he need to go with them on this journey? He did not know, because he's still thinking about that even after four and a half weeks of traveling.

He's the eldest child in their household, and as the eldest he had a responsibility to perform flawlessly in everything he did. When he was young he got trained in martial arts, and in a variety of different weapons, but ultimately he had chosen sword and shield.

And as he grew up, he had to learn more and more about how to act in public, and that in turn made him look like a cold person that only thought about himself, though he does have a certain lure about him, which made people like him. But it was just an act that he put on...a false face.

His sister knew his real personality. Because he had introduced martial arts and fighting with weapons to her.

He was the only one that had trained her, no one else was even allowed to teach her...because of her mother. Even though it was a brief moment in their lives, she looked up to her older brother, but as time went on he grew more and more distant as he had his duties to attend to.

He joined his father in small scrimmages to get real-life battle experience. He went to court to practice his ability to speak like a gentleman. He courted young ladies of the court, to gain experience in wooing them into his favored arms. He played them, made them cry, made them happy, made them angry.

He couldn’t have a relationship without the permission of his parents—his mother. It was a harsh life Jack had thought, but he just put up with it.

In the Human continent there are many different sized kingdoms and countries, which are ruled by different governments, some are: *Theocracy*—ruled by certain religious beliefs, and follows some kind of deity. Monarchy—ruled by different sovereign queens and kings. Dictatorship—ruled by one single figurehead. Anarchy—ruled by no one, and is where war plays mostly out, to gain the land where no one is really in charge. Parliamentary—ruled by a system of different representative parties, that the people of the country chose.

There are many different variations of governments in the Human Continent, some are combined to make the best governments. Some stick to their single ruled government as long as there isn’t any problems.

The Human Continent is very big, and through the bigness of the continent comes many wars, which is fought between the different kingdoms and countries.

Political goals that could topple down a kingdom or country, if played right… It’s the Game.

And Jack had played that game...of deceit and control; the wooing of girls, the friendships he had destroyed, which he did to further his own family's wealth and power.

Even though the Temrals’ is the strongest family in the Human continent, they still needed to play the game, so no one could come and remove them from their place of power. Many have tried, and many have failed.

The Temrals’ themselves ruled over a country that they had taken over by Revolutionary means, and over the years they reformed themselves to a Monarchy, where the head of the family ruled. And they ruled with an iron hand; their military strength was the strongest in the Human continent, because they have another family that had risen up together with them, the Draems’.

Jack’s mother had then arranged a wife for him when he was twenty, a relative of theirs. He refused at first, but as his mother got more serious and stern with him, he had to give in and swallow all those rebellious thoughts deep inside of him.

Then he got married to that relative of theirs.

The Temrals’ wanted to keep the bloodline pure, and to keep it pure they only married close relatives. Many men and women had left the Temral family for that very reason, but when they left, they would get haunted by their decision to leave.

The Temrals’ didn’t take kindly to traitors of their own kind, they would either kill them, or make their lives so miserable that they’d kill themselves, but some hanged on, and fled from their wrath.

The girl Jack married is a girl that has every single feature of a Temral.

That blond hair and those blue eyes. Those are the signatures of being a Temral. But of course, there comes a few that has those colors without being in the family, but it's very rare.

If one was found who had the same signatures of a Temral...it would probably be the death of the one they found.

She’s a very faithful girl he had married, she followed him everywhere, and listened to every word he said. But she was a lot younger than him—just a kid. He was twenty at that time, and she was twelve, he couldn’t believe that his mother would marry him to such a young girl.

So he had to wait until she was old enough to engage in certain activities. Because his mother had warned him not to rush it, to give the girl time to mature, and he gladly waited—very, very much so.

And then the time flew by... He now stood there outside Jenny's bedroom listening in to whatever they said and would do. When they had finished speaking, he left them there before they could notice him.

That's when his journey had begun to the Elven Continent.

Leaving his wife, family, duties, and responsibilities, for what? Journey and adventure? No. For protecting his sister so nothing would happen to her on this perilous journey. Jenny was the only one that had treated him as a normal person, and not the person people were expecting of him.

Just a brother, that was enough for him, those few moments of training her in the arts of different weaponry, was the best moments of his life.

He who had destroyed girls’ lives because they had shared some vital information about their families; that in turn could make the girls even commit suicide, or be thrown out of their families—even executed.

Friends that Jack had gained through different means, and through those means he uncovered their family secrets, which Jack had forwarded to his own family...for wealth and power.

He was truly ashamed and disgusted by himself, because he could do those things without blinking an eye.

He, and his family could be monstrous sometimes...but he still loved his family—even if it’s flawed.

And now this journey has come to this... Jack snapped out of his train of thought and looked towards Xivan, and frowned.

The group is at a crossroad, they could fight Xivan and kill him, which was unlikely, then maybe the blood bound spell would be dispelled automatically, or it could also doom Azyna in the process.

Xivan could also just kill everyone instead...if he wanted to, but he has never really enjoyed killing people, other than...those who had brought him harm… And what would happen if Xivan got out into the world, would he live quietly in some forest or village? No, not even in the slightest possibility that would happen.

As the group is standing there contemplating about their next move, Xivan said as he looked around the chamber:

“You’re thinking...well make up your mind,” he gave a sigh “I'm too tired at this moment, I just want to leave this...old chamber of mine.”

When he said it Thren's voice shot out:

“And I'm tired of you ELF!”

As he yelled it, he began to charge towards Xivan with shield and axe at hand, but Azyna that's standing in front of Xivan gave off a deadly frown and raised her hand towards Thren…

Something began to form...

And as she continued forming something for three second it just grew and grew, until its one huge globe of fire that has formed at the tip of her hand.

Thren had already stopped moving when he saw her hand pointing towards him. Now he just looks at her with a baffled look.

Just as she's going to release it towards Thren, Xivan quickly took her hand and pointed it into a different direction. Azyna released the fireball, and as it flew with great piercing speed you could hear it give off a huge *Boom* as it hit the white marbled wall.

Debris flew in different directions and white smoke oozed in the chamber air.

Thren just stands there looking at Azyna, he thought as he gulped: She was really going to kill me.

Everyone in the group just looked at her with surprised, horrified faces, you could hear both Diana and Jenny say in a sad voice:

“Azyna...”

Xivan gave a sigh of relief as he got in time to direct the ball of fire to another location than the black-bearded Dwarf.

He thought while frowning: She shouldn’t change this fast… Is it because she’s a Half-Elf?

He moved his hand over Azyna, and she turned around to look at him when she noticed the hand over her. She just looked at him with expectant eyes, but then she fell unconscious.

He caught her in his arms as she fell.

Jenny screamed at Xivan as he held Azyna: “What did you do to her, you leaf head?!”

Xivan just looked unamused and asked while frowning:

“Is yelling all you do?” he sighed, “Don’t worry, I just put her to sleep for now, that's all.”

Jenny gave a big sigh of relief, and then she looked at Azyna with a saddened face.

Why did this happen to her...why her! That leaf head must have done something to her...he must have. If he doesn’t remove his hands from her, I’ll kill him! Jenny thought as she threw the blame at the Elven man.

Her face became dark and asked: “Does she need to be by your side to live, because you said she’s bound to you?”

Xivan said while hesitating: “No she doesn't, but ...”

Jenny retorted as her tolerance for him got to the boiling point: “But what?! Tell me!!”

Jack just looked at his sister as she desperately tried to get information from Xivan.

He doesn’t like this side of her, she’s got a quick temper he knows that, and can be quite cruel to people who aren’t her friends; a piece of her mother’s trait.

He himself is like his father; passive like the ocean’s unmoving waves, but he too got a little bit of his mother's side in him.

His father has always been able to calm his mother, but he would always spoil her too much, which his mother loved. He acted very childish for a forty-five year old man. He’s liked by everyone, because he has that charismatic behavior that could make anyone calm down, which Jack too got.

When his mother would go on her ranting spree she could be quite fearful. He had once angered her, and well...she gave him quite an earful he soon wouldn’t forget.

But his mother almost never got into an argument with Jenny, because…well, she too knows how to throw out words at random, which could hit a weak spot. When it comes to aim, even in random directions Jenny could hit dead center, with words that is.

When Jenny was little, she always got what she wanted. If she asked her mother for something though, she would just give it to her so she wouldn’t need to look upon her daughter.

The hate that her mother had for her was something unknown to the little Jenny. Also to Jack who comforted her when she had asked why her mommy hated her.

All he could do was just hold her in his father's stead.

His father was a military man, he kept all of the branches of the Temral army in control, but that in turn made it so he wasn’t at home very much, though his mother would always go and see him, when she felt the need to get his embrace—even though it could take days of traveling.

His father knew how his mother treated Jenny, and he had asked why his mother was like that towards her, but his father just shook his head in a worried way. Not revealing anything.

His mother took care of all the family’s politics, schemes, and marriages between the different Temral branch families. But of course she had help, otherwise she would be buried in a sea of ink.

Different representatives of the Temral families’ took care of different areas in their country—even outside of their country. His mother was their leader, though she was flawed in certain areas.

The leadership gets passed down to their daughters...so Jack had no idea why his mother would treat the next heir like that. But then he had found out that Jenny wasn’t the heir of the Temral family from his father.

Jack was surprised when he had heard the news, he had asked who would take the seat of leadership, but his father just said: “In time son, you’ll know in time.”

It was six years ago when he had heard those words from his father, and he was twenty years of age at that time. The same time he had gotten married.

Now he stands there watching and listening to his sister yell at an Elven man, whom was known as a God.

Azyna had told them that, but was that just an exaggeration? He saw the picture in the book, though how Azyna was acting just a moment ago, made it highly unbelievable…

Jack sighed as he wondered.

“But what?! Tell me!!” Jenny yelled desperately.

Xivan stared directly into Jenny's eyes, and with a straight face he said: “I don’t think you could keep her away from me even if you tried.”

Those words surprised the whole group, Jack then interrupted and asked: “What do you mean by that? You said that she didn’t need to be with you to survive.”

Xivan gave out yet another tired sigh and explained: “Well… Let's say it's like love; if you love a person you would do almost anything to be with that loved one, yes? But with this bounding spell it removes any empathy towards other people, and that could be very...very problematic. If a person such as that was to be kept away from their partner...well as you can see.”

He pointed towards the broken white marbled wall where the fireball hit.

“It's that strong of a bond...” Xivan said while he looked at the broken wall, he frowned when he remembered a horrible moment that he wanted to forget, but he quickly returned to calm-face mode.

He looked back at the group.

“And please don't bother with anymore outbursts,” Xivan said as he looked at Thren, and Thren just stared at him while he gave a big *Humph*. Xivan also looked towards Aynthia. She got such an angry face to her. Her fangs are completely visible, and her eyes are staring directly at him, not even trying to hide her, angry...yet desperate expression.

After a moment of silence between everyone.

“What happens now?” Jenny asked curiously, Xivan answered with a sarcastic voice: “Well, I can’t really go back to sleep, now can I?”

Xivan gave a slight smile while he said it, and then he says tiredly: “And...as I’m full of life, I think it’s time for me to leave this old chamber of mine...”

He gave yet another look around the chamber while he held the unconscious Azyna in his arms. He remembered the moments of The Ritual of Eternal Slumber.

The selfless acts of his bonded people...the hundreds of Elven people that had died. What was he thinking doing something that horrible to his most trusted? His mind had been in such disarray at that time, full of grief, his feelings that he tried to keep in check, but couldn’t...

He wanted to hit himself, until he was down on the ground because of those selfish, idiotic, cruel choices he made, but he refrained from it. He should first get out in the open, and see what has happened to his beautiful Elven continent, then he can hit himself.

But what would that do… Nothing, he would just feel a little pain, then it’ll vanish in a blink of an eye.

His remembering broke when Jack asked questionably: “What about Azyna?”

Left emerald eyebrow raised: “I’m taking her with me of course.”

Jenny gave a quick desperate reply: “NO! You’re not taking her anywhere, over my dead body!”

“Is that so... You would rather die, than for me to take her with me?” Xivan said as he gave her a taunting look while he held his head high.

Jenny noticed it, and just squinted as she frowned.

“No one is going to die here relax,” Jack said while trying to cool down the provoking words, “But yes we would rather take that risk then to have her go with you, some complete stranger that came out from a coffin.”

“...Suit yourself... But remember these words carefully: You have been warned,” Xivan said in a cold voice.

He lay Azyna down on the floor and started to move towards them as they stood in the direction of the door.

“Where’re you going?” Jenny asked worriedly as he started to move towards them. He stopped beside Jenny and looked at her while he loomed over her, and responded with a slight smile:

“Outside of course, where else? Oh, and yes, you wouldn’t happen to know what the current year is?”

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