“What do you mean? Calm down and speak slowly. Be calm.” Ramses and Zara encouraged their informant within the BloodStar Castle to maintain his composure.
“I mean all six of the Blood Wraiths are here at the castle! Have you ever seen that? Or even heard of that? Something big is going on, and all of the Blood Priests, even the lowly ones such as myself, are reporting in this evening.” Erinel spoke with anxiety in his voice.
Zara had a look of concern as she silently looked to Ramses and then said, “Whatever it is. It is best you update us immediately after whatever is going on. But Erinel. Be safe.”
Erinel nodded and replied, “I will give you an update as soon as I can. And don’t worry about my safety. The Blood Wraiths and the Blood Priests are the pillars of the empire. I only fear what our orders will be.”
Erinel hung up the phone and quickly made for the rear courtyard where all significant ceremonies took place including Xenia’s Warlord ceremony.
The sun was setting in the distance as Erinel entered the courtyard and took his place. He and the other 19 Blood Priests stood in a circle surrounding a shallow square pyramid with approximately ten steps leading up to a square landing.
The Blood Priests began to chant in ancient tongue as the sun set and the darkness began its reign.
Only moments later, Empress Victoria entered the courtyard by way of an elaborate staircase leading from the castle down to the courtyard path. Walking in a straight line behind her were all six Blood Wraiths.
Victoria wore a beautiful and regal red dress with gold accents and a crown to match. Directly following her was Blood Wraith Ashrok carrying two containers. One container housing Xenia’s blood. And the other container housing Xenia’s heart.
Following behind him were the remaining wraiths. Erinel looked on with astonishment as he continued to hum and chant in unison with the other priests. He had never seen a single Blood Wraith in person much less all six together at once. Such a consolidation of power was unheard of.
Victoria ceremoniously ascended the staircase to the landing atop the pyramidal structure and assumed her position in the center near a pedestal as the wraiths encircled her.
As everyone stood in formation, the scene gave a very intimidating appearance. Twenty crimson-red robed Blood Priests humming and chanting as they encircled the pyramid with six black-robed, shadowy figures atop encircling a woman exuding grace and beauty. All under the night sky with dim lighting from the moon.
Erinel felt a chill down his spine as everyone took their places. He was ready to find out what the commotion was all about. “What could be so important as to merit this level of power all in one place?” He thought to himself.
Victoria turned to Ashrok who without prompting opened the first container. Victoria reached in and grabbed a bloody and fresh heart, placing it atop the center pedestal. She then turned around to face Ashrok once more and took the second container uncorking the top.
She held the bottle above the heart on the pedestal and poured the blood atop the heart splashing blood on the heart as she watched the smooth pour of blood pool atop the pedestal as it ran off the heart’s surface.
She took a step back and announced the first words of the ceremony, “We gather here this evening under the darkness of night to partake in an ancient ceremony not performed for thousands of years. Tonight, we lend our power, the purest powers in the empire, to secure our future.”
She turned to face the outer layer of Blood Priests and held her hands outstretched, “The Blood Priests. The empire’s most gifted and vicious ki users. Born with powers greater than the average ki user.”
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She then turned inward as she walked around the Blood Wraiths looking each of them in the eyes through their shrouded faces, “The Blood Wraiths. Each so powerful, you could rule a nation were you not in service to the BloodStar Empire. Serving as the second hand of the Empress. A formidable force not just in our own empire but around the world.”
She then turned back to face the heart on the pedestal, “This ceremony is ancient and sacred. It is more important than any of our lives.” She stared directly at the heart atop the pedestal with a determined face, “Including my own.”
She raised her hands and yelled, “Invictus Sanguis!”
A red aura grew around her as she slowly activated her ki. She began by bloodbending the blood poured from the bottle onto the pedestal. She focused as she formed a sphere of rapidly spinning blood which encompassed the heart.
Erinel looked on with anticipation; however, his anticipation soon turned to panic as he felt a pressure swelling within his head which quickly turned to pain and suddenly… death… as his head exploded.
The twenty Blood Priests encircling the pyramid all had their heads burst by Victoria’s bloodbending with a steady stream of blood rising from their headless bodies. Victoria controlled the blood with utmost perfection as she layered it on to the already spinning sphere surrounding the heart within.
She then began to chant in ancient tongue calling on powers lost to time. Rather than blood, her chanting began to drain the ki and the life force from each Blood Wraith.
Six mystical rivers of white light fed into the sphere of blood spinning around the heart as she continued to chant. The process continued for several minutes until one of the Blood Wraiths dropped dead, completely void of life force.
A second Blood Wraith dropped dead only moments later with his life force completely exhausted. Victoria continued as her chanting became louder and louder until her own life force began to stream out of her.
She screamed and threw her head back as a column of white light manifested around her extending into the night sky. Her life force dwarfed the surrounding wraiths as they dropped dead one after another. Her life force spewed with excess intensity as if it were the life force of tens or hundreds of powerful individuals rather than just a single person.
Then, Victoria consolidated her life force as the column of light slammed down into the spinning blood and heart atop the pedestal.
The impact of her column of life force blew everyone atop the pyramid flying no less than 30 feet as they slammed to the ground below.
The courtyard grounds were littered with dead bodies of once powerful ki users. In exchange, they had a hand in creating the product laying atop the pyramid. A black-red, solid orb that looked to be made of marble with beautiful swirls of both red and black in perfect harmony.
Victoria lay on the ground squinting her eyes up at the pyramid as she struggled to maintain consciousness. However, upon seeing the solid orb sitting atop the pyramid, she knew she had succeeded. She didn’t care whether she lived or die. She had achieved her goal. She had achieved Invictus Sanguis.
She closed her eyes and let fate take its course.
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An hour later, Victoria woke up under the night sky. She felt groggy. She felt like shit. She looked around to see if anyone had survived. She looked around in thought, “Such sacrifice. You have all died in honorable service to your empire. You are all the saviors of our empire. You have all secured our future.”
She stood and looked for the bodies of the Blood Wraiths knowing that with their strength they may just have survived. All twenty Blood Priests were dead without a doubt.
As she perused the courtyard, each Blood Wraith she came across was deceased save for one. She knelt down and said, “Ashrok, why am I not surprised?”
He didn’t smile. All of his energy was focused on clinging to the bit of life he maintained. He coughed up a spat of red blood, and Victoria instantly held a healing hand of ki to his chest.
She smiled down at him, “You’ll have to forgive me. My healing isn’t nearly as fast as my daughter’s. Just relax while I heal you.”
After several minutes, Ashrok sat up and looked at her and then to the pyramid, “My Empress. We have succeeded.”
She turned to the pyramid and smiled, “The sacrifice was worth it. We have lost some of the empire’s most gifted ki users including your wraith brothers.”
Ashrok stood with Victoria, “They died proudly in the greatest service there is. To our Empress.”
Victoria walked to the foot of the steps as she began to ascend the pyramid once more. She reached the top and walked to the pedestal as she took the red and black marble-like orb in her hands and admired it.
Ashrok approached from behind, “I can sense a power, mysterious and vibrant, one that could crush this world if it were released. If I may ask, Empress, what is this?”
She smiled with wide eyes down at the orb in her hands and proudly said, “An object not seen for thousands of years. The secret to great power. The secret to our future. Invictus Sanguis!”