Gravity was a bitch.

Surprise gravity was even more of a bitch.

And, falling nonstop where the only thing she saw at the bottom was water, water and more water, made her want to call Lothrigern a bitch too. She didn’t do it, but she wanted to do so oh so badly.

Well, not everything was water, the Deriliam didn’t simply toss her to the middle of the ocean, no. There was an island just below her.

Way below her.

Which gave her enough time to use a spell to slow down her fall and take out her broom, flying towards the island instead of crashing against it like a meteor.

She had never flown at such high altitude, with the wind opposing her with such strength, tossing her around the air.

So, instead of fighting the wind currents, she followed them, approaching the island in a roundabout way, making an ample circle. The island was big, moving across the sea, pushed by the waves.

Wandering islands were usually monsters, who tried to trick pirates and sailors to disembark on them.

Like when she was traveling towards the Mergifari at first, the sea route got canceled because of a Lyngbakr appearing, who was one of those monsters.

That was one of the reasons she didn’t instantly disembark on the island, circling it instead.

Now, she didn’t feel the ‘pull’ of the Lyngbakr’s abilities, the desire of stepping in it, but that one wasn’t the only existing wandering island monster, which made her maintain her caution.

The island looked tropical, with two small mountains in the middle, like a spine. It also had a convex form, like a turtle’s shell.

Yeah, from above, it looked like a turtle. She didn’t see the extremities, but those were probably underwater or hidden.

Velvet approached carefully, checking the vegetation. There wasn’t any algae, so the monster should’ve remained on the surface for a long time. Or simply wasn't one of the island monsters who sinked.

That simply meant it hunted in another way. Monsters needed to eat, after all. But, Velvet was just a human, with low worth as a colossus’ snack, so maybe, maybe the monster didn’t feel the need to try to hunt her.

One wave lifted the island slightly, enough for her to catch a glimpse of something.

A giant turtle head. The bones, at least.

The island was indeed a monster. A long dead one, drifting on the sea waiting to collide against some shore somewhere.

That’s how ghost islands were born. And that was a fact Velvet just made up.

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She instantly started thinking about the bones as material. They were probably expensive, but, for getting them, she should dive into the sea under the island, while she didn’t know what killed the monster.

If it was some parasite or bacteria, entering those waters without protection would be suicide. And, if it wasn’t, there were plenty of monsters who could make home inside the monster’s corpse.

In the end, she went to focus on the ritual, finally flying into the island. Maybe she would come back for materials later.

After surveilling the whole island, taking note of how its terrain was distributed, she went to a small clearing, with enough space for setting another altar.

At least this time it isn’t a fae one…

…

Once Velvet checked the clearing surroundings, setting up some formations with Hyde’s help so as to not be ambushed by any wild monster, she started putting down the ritual materials.

When she had made the first fairy altar, there was still some light in the day, but now it was night already, her only illumination coming from an oil lamp she had put in the middle as she worked, the moon and the stars.

The moon was almost full. That wasn’t a problem for the ritual, since the conceptual goddess called was the darkness one, not the moon one.

What was important was the altar, the chant and the test.

The altar contained three hundred black candles that she had merged into three wax pillars in front of her, by warming them and sticking them to each other. The result being lumpy pillars almost as tall as her, with some candles sticking out of the mass.

She had to light them on, after all. No use hiding all the wicks under the wax.

The whole pillar making took her a good hour, but it wasn’t something she could’ve ‘brought done from home’.

Heh, it almost reminds me of the times when I sneaked from the orphanage at night to test magic and do rituals. She joked to herself while working. Like the demon summoning one.

Once the pillars were done, she started putting some stray candles around the floor, not following any kind of formation or direction.

“That one is a fire hazard.” Hyde said. “Move it to the left.”

They (well, she) had kind of cleared the zone, but some leaves still moved with the wind, coming close to the unlit candles.

Since she didn’t plan on burning the island down, even more while she was in it, Velvet kicked them away, in addition to throwing some soil around.

“Alright, altar base done.” She said, now putting some incense bars on the clearing edge’s. The incenses were either jasmine or primrose, and she lighted them before setting them down, letting their fragrant smell start to spread over the clearing.

Velvet waited until the smoke surpassed the trees. Once it did, she went to the middle of the altar, in front of the three pillars.

She didn’t kneel, for the ritual had no need of it. Instead, she stood straight, taking a long, deep breath. With a snap of her fingers, all the candles lit on at the same time, with a thin, long flame, illuminating the night.

She had decided to not surrender against anyone, no matter what she had to do. She had chosen her path, and now only remained for her to walk in it.

Velvet extended her hand, materializing Frenese’s Book. The book remained closed, chained and floating in the air.

Leaving it like that, she started chanting.

“Mother of Horrors, Cradle of Fears.”

“You who were before the light, and once everything ends, will remain.”

“No sound will be heard in your presence, no one will be seen besides you.”

“Goddess of the Dark, the first and the last.”

“I am pleading to you, may your presence be known.”

“May I challenge fear, may I be blessed by you.”

Silence followed, with nothing aside from the flickering of the candles making noise. Then, the candles started changing color, from orange, to blue, to black, losing their capabilities of expelling light, but not stopping their act of melting the candles.

Velvet’s surroundings fell into the darkness, with only the light of the stars as guide.

She looked up, as a star disappeared from the sky with a blink, followed by another, and another. Slowly, the whole night sky got engulfed in darkness. Like blowing an array of candles.

Light by light, Velvet’s surroundings were being progressively swallowed by the darkness.

Only the almost full moon remained, looking down at her.

Then, it blinked, changing from white to red. And then it started boiling, like blood on a cauldron.

Like tears, a black liquid dripped from the moon, falling on the island, ignoring any sort of astrological or physical logic. Even when Velvet wasn’t next to any of the falling tears, she still heard them crawl.

The trial of darkness had started.

Now, on what consisted the trial for completing the ritual and obtaining the blessing of the Goddess of Darkness?

On surviving until the morning comes.