Kill The Luna

58

The oldest priestess stared dead into Elda’s furious eyes, her face completely pale but her voice remaining totally stiff and unyielding. "That is the sacred rule of the ancient ritual, Elda," she explained coldly, refusing to back down even a single inch. "Like I just told you before, you absolutely need to drink every single drop of her life force until the girl is completely dead. There are no shortcuts allowed."

A wild, animalistic rage exploded inside Elda's chest. Without a single second of hesitation, she pulled her arm back and punched the priestess hard directly in the face. The heavy blow landed with a sickening smack, throwing the older woman backward until she crashed painfully onto the concrete floor.

Elda stood over her trembling form, her face twisting with an ugly, dark expression as she shouted at the top of her lungs. "I heard you the first time, you old fool! That was exactly why I asked you if there was another way around the rule! But you just keep saying the exact same thing to me over and over again!"

She paced back and forth frantically around the circle of candles, her boots clicking loudly against the stone as she rubbed her temples. Suddenly, she stopped and glared back down at the fallen woman. "Fine! What if I just take my knife and slice her neck open right now? There should be a massive amount of blood pumping through there, right?"

The priestess slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, wiping a thin trail of crimson from her busted lip as her eyes widened in pure horror. "No! You absolutely cannot do that!" she gasped out, waving her hands frantically. "You cannot tear her flesh in crucial places like her throat! A wound like that would kill her body instantly, and the ancient texts make it clear that you cannot take her power if her spirit has already departed from the flesh. She must be barely breathing while you drain her."

Elda groaned in pure, raw anger, throwing her hands up into the air as her entire body shook with frustration. "Oh, f**k!" she screamed, her voice echoing loudly off the damp basement walls.

She turned on her heel and stormed back over to my helpless form, her chest heaving with shallow, rapid breaths. She snatched the sharp silver knife off the floor, her eyes glowing with a desperate, manic energy as she grabbed my pale arms. With quick, brutal strokes, she sliced different fresh wounds across both of my hands, targeting the thin veins on the back of my wrists. But my heart was already beating so slowly that the dark red fluid only came oozing out small, small, slowly filling the bottom of the silver dish.

Elda didn't care about my weak groans. She hovered over the bowl, forcing herself to drink the metallic fluid over and over again until her throat burned and she was completely tired of drinking. She dropped the empty container onto the concrete with a loud clatter and spun around to face the trembling head priestess.

"Start the ritual this very second," Elda ordered, her tone dropping into a deadly, low whisper.

The older woman hesitated, her eyes darting between my pale face and the empty bowls on the floor. "But... Elda, the connection is still far too weak..."

Elda’s face tightened with a terrifying wave of anger, her jaws clenching so hard that the veins on her neck bulged out. "This is not a polite plea, you old hag—it is an absolute command!" she hissed, resting her hand heavily on the hilt of her dagger.

The priestess swallowed hard, the sheer terror forcing her to give a weak, submissive nod. "Fine," she whispered breathlessly, scrambling back to her feet as her hands shook.

The older woman reached into the deep pocket of her white robes and pulled out a thick piece of ancient, chalky white stone. She knelt down right beside my head and began drawing a complex, glowing sign directly onto the dark concrete floor around my body. Her hand moved with practiced speed, forming a massive, perfect circle filled with strange, jagged symbols and forgotten runes that seemed to hum with a faint, dark energy.

The moment she finished drawing the final line, the priestess stood up straight and pointed a bony finger toward the white marks. She signaled to Elda, instructing her to come over and stand directly inside one of the specific symbols drawn near my left shoulder.

Elda smirked triumphantly, stepping into the designated space and looking down at me like a hunter staring at a trapped prize.

The priestess then dipped her fingers into the tiny bit of blood that was remaining at the bottom of the stone bowl. She stepped forward, her face completely solemn as she rubbed the dark, warm fluid across the center of my forehead, leaving a thick, bloody streak on my skin. She turned immediately to Elda, repeating the exact same motion by painting a matching red mark across Elda's forehead to link our souls together.

With the seals in place, the head priestess walked over to a stone pedestal and picked up a massive, heavy book. The cover was made of dark, ancient leather, and the yellowed pages inside were covered in handwritten spells, dark illustrations, and dangerous ancient rituals. Holding the heavy text firmly in both hands, she assumed her position at the front of the circle and started chanting in a loud, echoing voice.

Instantly, the twelve assistants wearing white robes began to move. They locked hands and started going around us in a slow, hypnotic circle, their bare feet shuffling against the concrete as they joined their voices with the leader. The room filled with a deafening, overlapping wall of sound as the priestess raised her arms into the air, screaming out the words of a powerful, forbidden spell.

"Sanguis et ignis, vinculum fati. Espiritus incendi, potentia transite!"

She kept saying the words louder and louder, her voice echoing like thunder through the small underground basement. Suddenly, a strange, freezing wind materialized out of nowhere, howling through the enclosed room with tremendous force. The powerful gusts whipped violently through the chamber, blowing the twenty candles sideways until the flames danced wildly, looking as if they were about to be put out entirely at any second.

The room plunged into a chaotic rhythm of flashing shadows, and as the dark magic began to wrap around my soul, I could feel the very last pieces of my life force leaving my body for good.