Magic was flowing into countless runes, slowly infusing them until a threshold was reached. At that moment, Icicles shot up all around the ritual site, piercing the restrained humans, letting their blood follow prepared channels, all linked to the Silver Athame stuck in the middle of the circle, the power of their Vitality starting to infuse the ritual. At the same time, the loss of vitality in their bodies caused another process to start, the decay of bodily functions, as some of the Vitality was decaying, forming the energies of Death.

Some of the restrained people were awoken by the pain of getting pierced, or maybe by the pain of having their Vitality and parts of their soul ripped away, either way, they were in pain and wailing, their despair filling the air with a nauseating stench. And yet, even though it was the smell of blood and death, to me, it smelled delicious.

The combination of Astral Power derived from Vitality was channelled into the ritual circle and, guided and transformed by our Blood Magic, was channelled towards the middle, where the corrupted Mooncrystal had been prepared. Vitality and the complementary power of Death began to fuse, forming into truly pure and potent power, only one still infused with the corrupting insanity of the Moon.

The moment the corrupted Mooncrystal was involved in the ritual, the power we had been slowly accumulating suddenly shot through the roof and the people providing the additional power had to compensate for it. It took only moments for them to succumb, as their essence was drained into the ritual and in the moment they died, even more power was freed up.

On our throne, Lenore and I fully merged, our wings spreading out behind us, the Crown of the Northern Winds resplendent on our head, the Gem set prominently into it shining with a cold, silver light, mirroring the glow of our eyes.

For a moment, I felt as if I heard a song on the wind, as magic coalesced around us, the ritual flaring up as the slow, cautious build-up of the previous hour reached a sudden crescendo and all the power was unleashed at once. The corrupted Mooncrystal was shining in its receptacle, the glow eery and madness-inducing, its power fully unleashed.

Snow started to fall and the shadows started to dance and we started to sing, a counterpoint to the ethereal sounds of magic vibrating in the air. The cries of a crow, combined with my own voice started to form words, words of vengeance. A song to a lost friend, taken from us and her memory tarnished by those blind to the world. Those who had wronged our friend, we would bring vengeance to them, so nobody would dare disrespect one of ours ever again.

Somewhere, far beyond our perception and yet right next to us, we felt a response, as if something was singing in harmony with us, cursing the world, infusing the magic we were weaving with their own essence.

Moments passed as power was flooding out of us, our song rising in strength and volume, until it all reached a single peak, the single point where everything came together. It was an intense feeling, unlike anything we had ever felt, the closest comparison could be the moments of oblivion I had felt with Sigmir, the seconds before the crash.

Only here, there was no sweet release in the arms of my loved ones, only immensely powerful magic that we had to channel through the Astral River into markers we had set up beforehand. The markers were just outside the magical boundaries of Hatterion, mere trinkets that gave us the ability to find the city in those precious few seconds before the power we had unleashed overwhelmed us.

A moan of relief broke from our lips as the power flooded through the prepared channels, forming into that grande magic. We couldn’t see what was happening, there was simply no time or mental capacity to behold anything, we could only control the flow of power as much as possible and hope that we didn’t fade before the power we had unleashed did.

For the first few seconds, everything was alright but soon, the pain started to set in, the pressure of power simply too much for a mortal body to bear. Stubbornly, we grit our teeth and set our will against the very world and the power we had unleashed. We had dared to raise that much power and we would not fall by our own hand.

We could feel the power roaring through the Astral River and for a moment, there was a blockade, as if something or someone was trying to hold us back. But with the sheer volume we had unleashed, especially with the sacrifice of innocents to bolster and flavour the magic, there wasn’t an easy way to block our attack. It flooded out from the markers we had prepared, forming into the single, grande spell we had wrought. Nothing fancy, just a spell that combined Blood, Ice and Darkness Magic into the Mist of Devouring, draining the vitality and life of everything it touched. In addition, the corrupted Mooncrystal was consumed in the ritual, adding its own effect to the magic. I had no idea how that’d turn out, but sadly, I wouldn’t be able to see the effect, at least not directly.

Finally, the pressure was gone, the magic spent. Our body vibrated with exertion, raspy breaths forming into pained moans as we started to slowly fade. With a gentle push, Lenore and I separated back into two distinct beings and I forced my eyes open to take in our surroundings.

A tired smile played on my lips when I realised that the entire clearing was devastated. The ground was covered in snow, Death-Magic had spread from the centre, tearing apart dozens of trees and leaving the ground blighted, the bodies had been morphed by the intense magic we had unleashed, to the point that magic lingered on them. Unless I was very wrong, they’d rise again in the near future, twisted caricatures of life, infused with a desire for vengeance. Vengeance against whom, that only time would tell, it might be us, who had killed them, it might be their society or even the gods and life itself. For a moment, I considered destroying them, or asking the others to destroy them, but as a tired smile spread on my face, I decided against it. We would soon leave this place anyway, so their vengeance would never reach us.

“Love, help,” I rasped out, calling for Sigmir.

She instantly moved over, pulling me into an embrace, uncaring for the remains of our ritual or anything but me.

“We need to leave,” I told her, feeling the lingering magic of our ritual starting to warp the world around us, the pressure had changed this place forever. I had no idea what would become of it, but given the forces involved, I was certain I didn’t want anything to do with it.

As Sigmir was picking me up from my throne, carefully carrying me in her arms, the magic around us started to twist and warp, the sensation eery enough to make her run.

Looking over her shoulder, I could see the figures slowly pushing themselves up from the ground and the Ice I had used to construct my circle, now stained with the blood of the fallen, moving, forming something different. With the little Astral Power i had regained, I formed a rune in my mind, trying to make the Astral Power lingering in the Ice shatter, to destroy all traces. There were a few, crisp sounds of breaking Ice, but I had no idea if it was enough. Leaning against Sigmir’s broad chest, I couldn’t do anything more, just holding Lenore in my arms and onto my consciousness was hard enough.

Behind us, we heard howling noises and I felt Sigmir speed up, running alongside Adra and Rai.

“Love, I’ll retreat into my Hallow,” I quietly whispered, “That way you’ll only have to carry Lenore, I’m a lot heavier than she is.”

For a moment, I felt her arms wrap around me extra tight as if she didn’t want to let go.

“Go, but come back soon,” she implored me.

“Tomorrow,” I promised, before pushing myself into my Hallow. The agony of doing so, right after the Avatar State had ended was intense, to the point that I almost blacked out. If I had a physical body, I’d likely have soiled myself but luckily, without a body, that couldn’t happen.

Moments later, the sweet relief of the log-out came over me and after a moment of floating, I found myself in the capsule space, back on my throne.

With the fading pain came relief and with relief came exultation. We had done it.

Just how much we had achieved, I didn’t know just yet but judging from the intensity of the magic we had unleashed I was quite certain, we had done something incredible.