Chapter 142: Book 3 chapter 14: Evil Blessing

Jemini

Sam’s POV

[This is unusual, they’re making the sacrifice a man this time?] Someone whispered as Sam was taken through the corridor. They didn’t even ask her if she wanted to participate in this punishment of the one they said killed her mother, they just told her it was time and they found him, and now she had to come with them. She was grabbed by the wrist and dragged down the hall.

[The ritual isn’t even for the new Nogoth though, it’s…] They rounded the corner and saw the two acolytes who were whispering, and they immediately went silent and bowed to the priestess who was dragging Sam through the halls.

They seemed to be in some kind of grand main-hall now, brightly decorated with gold, jade, and gemstones. There were 12 pillars down the hall, 6 to each side, supporting a high vaulted ceiling that was cut so cleanly from the stone as to make it impossible to tell they were underground rather than a structure on the surface. It was almost as if this room was designed in imitation of surface building practices, but with a little thought she could also easily see the alternate explanation that the vaulted ceiling would do just as much to support the cave roof as a free-standing roof on the surface, making the stone carved into that shape focus more of it’s weight on the pillars rather than sag in the middle where it could create cracks.

They approached a gigantic stone double door, guarded by two short people dressed from head to toe in blood red robes that obscured their faces. The thick layered hooded robes concealed everything, making it impossible to even determine whether they were men or women. When the priestess approached these two, she stopped and bowed to them.

[I come with the tribute to stand before the holy throne of his greatness, Iuutel, and his holiness the high priest. We come to seek his blessings in blood.] After those ominous words that filled Sam’s stomach with a sense of unease, the two red-robed figures nodded their heads without making a sound, and turned to face the large stone doors. With a grinding sound, the massive doors started the process of swinging open. Sam stood in a nervous awe at the sight of such large seemingly immovable objects seeming to move on their own. Meanwhile, the robed figures walked behind the opening doors as though they were the ones doing it even though they weren’t even touching the doors at all. Well, for all Sam knew, maybe they were.

Several of the priestesses and acolytes back in the main hall seemed to be expressing sounds of curiosity as several of them stopped what they were doing in order to gawk at the opening doors for a peek at what was on the other side. Suddenly, they all dropped to the ground and prostrated themselves. When Sam turned back to look at what was in front of her, she gasped as she saw what it was that had captured their attention.

On the other side of the doors, she saw a large room that was filled with the soft light of a fire. Sam was immediately filled with nostalgic feelings, and suddenly the memories of her mother in this world were far stronger than they were moments ago. Her mother was unable to see in the dark like everyone else down here, so during the short time she was in the cell with everyone else they kept a torch lit for her.

As the room came into view, she saw the source of the fire light. There were a number of brazers on top of pillars, making what appeared to be a circle around the room and filling it with the gentle red glow. On Earth, the idea of large mysterious doors opening onto such a sight might not immediately scream good things. But for her, now, it brought a sad smile to her face as she remembered what she had just been told earlier about her mother. She would never get to see the woman who gave birth to her in this world again.

This nostalgic revere was quickly brought to a shock of an end though when she noticed what was on the far side of the room. There, sitting a short distance outside the circle on the other side, the fire light glinted off the scales of a huge black-scaled reptilian form. The huge angular face, covered in wicked looking horns and with deadly jagged teeth protruding from it’s mouth, stared back at Sam from the darkness that would have obscured it from anyone lacking dark vision.

With those nostalgic feelings transformed into primal fear, Sam was frozen in place and wanted desperately to hide or flee. She barely even noticed when the doors had finished opening. She only noticed when the two red-cloaked figures approached her from either side, each placing a hand on either one of her shoulders. Meanwhile, the now kneeling priestess who had brought her here bowed even lower before scrambling away.

[Step forward child, to stand before his holiness.] A rough female voice came from the robed figure to her right.

[You are very fortunate, a mere Naugrim who is to receive the blessing. You will be the first of your kind to do so.] The other to her left spoke. This one was also female, but her voice had a very threatening edge to it. She did not seem happy at all, and Sam could tell that it was probably not going to be a good idea to piss her off.

But, blessing though? She’d not been told anything about this. Terlu’s mother talked about him recieving this blessing a lot, so it was not an unfamiliar concept. This was it? But, wasn’t this supposed to be about some kind of punishment for the guy who killed her mother? How did it all turn into this?

Sam got her answer as she was pushed into the inner chamber and was walked up to the edge of the circle of pillars that contained the flaming blazers. The two red-cloaked girls… or perhaps very short women left her standing at the edge as they went back to begin closing the doors. In this time, now that she realized the dragon didn’t seem interested in doing a lot more than just watching, she took the opportunity to look around the room a little bit more.

There were, in fact, 12 pillars topped with flaming blazers arranged in a large circle around the room. In the center of those pillars though there was a raised dais on which there was an extra 13th brazer topped pillar, but that wasn’t all that was on that dais. Along with it was what looked like some kind of satanic altar for human sacrifices, and it just so happened to have someone chained to it at this moment. From her experience with the guards here, she was able to tell at a glance it was an elven man.

They’d said she was to participate in the punishment of the man who killed her mother. It looked like this was what they planned to do. Was this it? Did this “blessing” they were always talking about require some kind of sacrifice?

There were also ten more red-cloaked figures already inside. Four stood at regular distances around the dias, six were lined up three to either side of the dragon like waiting servants or body guards.

A low thud sound spread out through the room as the large stone doors finished closing behind her. The two cloaked women who brought her in came back to her immediately and placed a hand on either one of her shoulders once again, and then pushed her along the outside of the left side of the circle of blazers. Sam watched the dais as the chained man craned his neck to try and get a look at them, straining at the manacles on his wrists while the sound of chains filled the room. She noticed at this point that the torch and the sacrificial altar were not the only things on the dias. There was a third thing right in the middle, and pressed right up against the altar only a little lower. There was a large basin, and judging from the positions of the groves in the stone of the altar, it looked like it was meant to catch all of the blood.

Sam had been so shocked at all of the other stuff before she hadn’t even realized how hot this room was, and it only got hotter as they approached the dragon who sat atop a large raised altar. The black dragon kept it’s gaze fixed on Sam the entire time she was marched through the room, and now she stood right before it.

‘WELCOME CHILD OF ELVEN MAN AND HUMAN WOMAN.’ A voice sounded in her head, and she could somehow tell it had come from the dragon. Sam nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard it. ‘YOU WILL BE THE FIRST OF THE DWARF SLAVES TO RECEIVE THE BLESSING OF IUUTEL, AND THE FIRST TO JOIN THE RANKS OF THE NIRODGIR BEFORE EVEN THAT FRIEND OF YOURS GETS THE CHANCE. THOSE FOOLISH PRIESTESSES FAILED TO REALIZE YOUR POWER, ATTRIBUTING ALL OF IT TO YOUR FRIEND, AND THEY CONTINUED TO THINK IT RIGHT UP UNTIL THE MOMENT THE TWO OF YOU WERE SEPARATED. YOU, WITH THE STRENGTH OF THE DWARVES AND THE MAGIC THAT CAN RIVAL EVEN THE GNOMES, SHALL BECOME A TRULY GREAT ASSET TO THE NIRODGIR.’

Dwarves? Gnomes? Were those the actual meaning of those words “Naugrim” and “Nogoth” she’d kept hearing used to refer to her’s and Terlu’s races? All of this was getting to be too much for her. She’d never really been taught anything about this world since she was born here, and now it felt like she was getting a crash course all at once, leaving her completely out of her depth.

‘NOW, CHILD.’ The dragon fixed her with an intense glare. ‘THE BLOOD SACRIFICE HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR YOUR BLESSING. THE VERY MAN WHO KILLED YOUR MOTHER, DENYING HER FROM YOU FOREVER. PLACE HIS BLOOD UPON YOUR OWN HANDS, AND RECEIVE YOUR BAPTISM IN THE NAME OF IUUTEL.’

One of the closest of the three cloaked figures to the right stepped forward as soon as the dragon finished talking, and held something out to her. Sam quickly recognized that it was the handle of a ceremonial knife. She tried to back away, but the pissed off woman who brought her in tightened her grip on her shoulder. [Take it.] She hissed. [Do not insult his holiness.]

Sam looked back to the knife being offered to her and lifted a shaky hand up to take the knife. However, she must have moved too slow for the pissed-off woman’s patience, because by the time Sam had only lifted her hand the woman reached around and grabbed it from the back, and then forced her hand forward and pressed it closed around the blade’s handle.

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[Recieve the blessing of Iuutel.] Another female voice came form the one who handed Sam the knife before she gave a nod of her head and then retreated back to her place next to the dragon. Were all of these cloaked people women? Before Sam could consider that for long, the two who brought her in were roughly shoving her around to face the dais in the center of the room.

[Now, step forward to claim your blessing.] The gruff woman to Sam’s other side growled, and then she felt the pressure on her shoulders increasing from both of them again.

It was becoming painfully clear, they planned to stay right on top of her the entire time and force her if she happened to get cold feet. They weren’t even going to give her a choice in this at all. And, in this case, it was a matter of killing a man in this strange satanic ritual. Being forced into such a thing… sure, she agreed that death was probably a good punishment for a guy who had literally raped a woman to death, her own mother at that, but… Sam had barely even known her mother in this world, and this man meant practically nothing to her. Even though he’d done such a thing, she did not have the drive or desire to kill him over it. And to have it as a part of some strange ritual like this… all of it just felt wrong. It felt disgusting. It felt violating. She felt dirty even at the idea of killing this man.

As she was walked up to the edge of the sacrificial altar, she noticed one more thing about the man who had been chained down. He was making strange croaking sounds as he opened his mouth to look at her, and she could see his neck had already been sliced. The middle of his throat had what looked like a very recent scab over it, right over his wind-pipe. His vocal chords had been cut, rendering him completely unable to speak. There was something about this that terrified Sam more than anything else that had happened so far.

Doubt started to run through Sam’s mind. She only had it on the priestess’ word that this was the man who killed her mother. For all Sam knew, maybe she wasn’t even dead at all. The paricularly horrible manner she was supposedly killed in seemed like just the kind of thing they would say to get her angry and going along with this sick ritual of theirs. And yet, here she was, holding a knife in her hand as the two women forced her closer and closer to the satanic altar.

She considered the idea of just dropping the knife. She could at this point, but she was certain that would lead to nothing for her surrounded by all of these murderous cultists. At best, it would probably get her smacked around a little, and then have the knife shoved back in her hand and then she would ultimately wind up in the same place either way only with a few extra bruises to show for it.

The two women stopped a short distance from the altar and seemed to be concentrating for a little while. Suddenly, a set of stairs wide enough for three people rose up out of the ground, leading up to the altar. Sam was shoved up the stairs, knife in hand, and was pressed right up to the side of the altar next to the man’s head.

[Now, cut the far side of his neck so all the blood can flow into the basin below.] The gruff woman ordered.

The chained down man looked up at her with a pleading face as he opened his mouth and let out more croaking sounds. The fear in his eyes was plain to see. Somehow, in that moment, Sam was almost certain this man did not do what they were telling her he did. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. But, Sam only had their word to go by and right now she had very little reason to trust what she was told.

Tears were streaming down her face as she felt her body pressed up against the altar. [Well!?] The pissed off woman growled.

[Please! Don’t make me do this!] Sam begged. This just got a disgusted *tisk* sound out of the pissed off woman.

[See? I told you!] She snapped. [This useless “Naugrim” (Dwarf) came from that soft new kid. I knew she wouldn’t have what it takes.]

‘CHILD.’ The dragon’s booming voice echoed through her head, causing Sam to stiffen up. ‘THERE IS NO OPTION THAT HAS YOU LEAVING THIS ROOM WITHOUT COMPLETING THIS RITUAL. YOU WILL HAVE IUUTEL’S BLESSING UPON YOUR SOUL. IT HAS BEEN DECREED. EVEN IF YOUR HAND MUST BE FORCED, YOU WILL RECEIVE THE BAPTISM OF BLOOD.’

Apparently taking the dragon’s words as instructions, the pissed off woman grabbed Sam with both hands by the hand that was holding the dagger. The dagger was taken, flipped into a reverse grip, and then shoved back into Sam’s hand. Then, the woman dragged Sam’s body out over the chained-down man’s chest. She could feel the warmth of the man’s body as he began struggling harder and making increasingly urgent sounding croaking sounds.

The gruff woman held the man’s head down. Sam closed her eyes and looked away. She felt something rubbery resisting the tip of the knife. Something hot, wet, and sticky sprayed against her hand, causing her to flinch and tense her entire body. The hand holding the knife was pulled back. The spray against her hand grew stronger. The pissed-off woman let go of Sam’s hand, and in that same moment she dropped the knife and it clattered against the altar. As soon as Sam’s hand was released, she recoiled and slipped away from the two women and fled to the bottom of the stairs, shaking and crying as she clutched her blood-smeared arm.

Sam was barely aware that the four who had been standing guard over the altar had begun to move. Two others appeared on either side of her to scoop her up under her armpits. By this point, she was no longer walking under her own power. Her feet dangled limply under her as she was dragged by the two holding her. She glanced up, and saw the man she’d just been forced to kill dangling limply from the stone altar that had now been tilted to speed up the blood draining from his body and into the basin below. Sam soon realized that the basin was already filled with blood, likely from previous rituals of this sort. The entire pool stunk, it was thick with the smell of iron and rot.

Sam realized their intention far too late as they approached the edge of the basin. Baptism of blood! The dragon had said that! “No!” Sam blurted out in English as she started struggling against the two cloaked people dragging her. She was a small child, the two of them were much older, it was two against one, but somehow Sam, in her panick, overpowered both and slipped away from them, leaving the two of them scrambling over the ground. Sam did not make it far, however, when the stone beneath her feet grabbed onto her ankles and sent her face-first into the ground.

[Damn “Naugrim!” (Dwarf!) So uselessly strong!] One of the women spat.

[She’s physically stronger than we are. You will have to use Earth magic to move her] Another said. The implications of this started hitting Sam all at once. Could she have kept those two from forcing her earlier if she’d just struggled more? She just accepted that she was going to be weaker than them and didn’t even try. If she had a racial strength that simply surpassed them to the point she was stronger even as a child… She should have tried harder back when she had the chance. But now…

Sam truly was helpless against them now. The stone lifted her. She was now shackled hand and foot to a large slab. The stone was moved, levitated off the ground between four red-robed women, and the slab fit perfectly over the basin as it was placed on top of it with Sam facing directly down into the pool of blood. Then, the stone shackles that had been holding her hands and feet let go all at the same time, and she was in free-fall as she landed face first in the pool of stinking rotten blood. It assailed all of her senses and the fifth felt as though it was polluting her very soul.

She pulled herself to the surface. She stood up, and pressed her hands against the large stone slab over her head. As a human, she would never have been able to shift this huge stone. Now, she was a child, she was tiny, and she did not even have stable footing in this slippery blood. But still, she somehow managed to push it up just enough to get some fresh air before she slipped and fell back into the vile fluid. There was no light in here, but thanks to her dark vision she could see clearly how the blood clumped and separated into red blobs of blood cells suspended in a thin sticky straw-colored liquid. Somehow, that thin liquid of the blood plasma just made the experience even more disgusting.

By this point, the tears running down Sam’s face were more on account of how desperately disgusted she was than anything to do with the emotional impact of having taken a life. She was desperate to get out. She pushed against the stone slab a few more times, shifting it a little bit at a time. When she had finally shifted it aside, she felt a stream of liquid flowing directly onto her head. She looked up as it hit her in the face, and she found she was looking directly up at the tilted sacrificial altar and the blood from the man she’d killed was pouring directly down onto her.

She placed one hand against the side of the slab and the other on the edge of the basin and crawled out onto level ground from the corner of the basin, made it a few feet, and then promptly vomited up the fine meal she’d been served a few hours before.

‘THE CEREMONY IS COMPLETE.’ The dragon said. ‘IN THE NAME OF IUUTEL, I CHRISTEN YOU THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE NIRODGIR. NOW. CEASE YOUR UNSIGHTLY DISPLAY AND STAND UP.’

As soon as the dragon finished speaking, Sam felt her own mouth shut of it’s own volition even while it filled with vomit. She was forced to swallow the vile sour fluid back down, even as her body followed the dragon’s command and stood. Sam realized in terror what had just happened. He had given her a command, and she was forced to follow it. If he could do this all along, he would have done it in order to force her to kill that man or to jump in the pool of blood. So, it must be that the conditions to force her like this had only just been achieved. It was the “baptism.” It had to be. It applied some kind of evil magic. “Blessing.” They called it! It seems like this is the true form of that blessing. It’s a curse. A curse that forces people to follow this dragon’s orders.

Jemini

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