It was near midnight and a dark and desolate room. A single woman surrounded by several cloaked figures scream loudly as her wails echo throughout the room. The woman looks sickly and pale. All of the cloaked people are covered in dark green robes except for one whose robes are adorned with gold accents.

The one with gold accents seems to be the leader of the group as he is at the head of the screaming woman and holds an old yet powerful book in his left hand. Reading from the book, the leader is chanting a series of phrases that is near incomprehensible to the normal person. A powerful and dark colored light shines from the stone table that the screaming woman is strapped to.

The phrase seems to be coming to a crescendo as the light shines so intensely that every in the room is forced to close their eyes with a risk of becoming blind. The bodies surrounding the stone table, that seem to have been killed very recently, are drained of their souls and sucked into the light. An overwhelming laugh echoes throughout the chamber and everything is frozen into place. 

Time has stopped completely. The lady no longer screams and the chant has stopped.

Out from the light a man comes into existence and looks around the room. The man’s dark black hair hangs in front of his face to where you couldn’t see his eyes if you wanted to. His skin is extremely pale yet he doesn’t look sickly. 

The man looks down at the woman strapped to the table with pity and starts to think to himself. The man appears to be struggling to make a decision before finally coming to a conclusion that spreads a massive smile across his face. The man gently walks up to the woman and moves her dishevelled hair that covers her face to the side. With a quick motion he gives the woman a kiss to her forehead.

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Pulling away from the woman’s forehead from the kiss, the man says some last words before he leaves.

“I’m sorry you’ve been forced into this, but I am being forced into this too. However, our child will be become something beyond what you are able to comprehend. All I can ask if for you to be the sacrificial lamb and bring him into this world. Afterwards, I will make sure you have the life you want.”

The man turns on his heels to face away from the woman after the quick dialogue that no one will ever hear. Yet even after turning away and seeming to be done with the current situation, something is keeping the man back. He sighs and speaks one last time.

“Good luck my son. I bestow upon you the power of... the Joker. Use it well.”

With finishing his words this time, the man snaps his fingers and disappears from sight, seeming gone from existence. 

With the man gone, time starts to flow once again and the table’s shine quickly fades. The screams of the woman have gone completely silent and she has fallen unconscious. The leader finishes his chants and a loud laughter erupts from within the man’s chest. 

“Finally!” he says with an intense enthusiasm.

“We have acquired the final piece in which we need to truly ascend above those wretched Slyvians! It is our time to rule!” 

The whole crowd of hooded figures within the room erupts into cheers of joy, and yells of excitement for what is to come.

“However! We still have much to do. Everyone prepare for the Time Demon ritual!”

All of the hooded figures disperse while excited rambling still lingers within the group. After a few minutes, only three people remain within the room. The leader looks at his right hand man and nods his head. The man bows to his leader and cuts the straps that bind the human to the stone table.

The man then picks up the woman and hurriedly carries her out of the room with the leader smiling under his hood in approval.

“8 years.” he says aloud to no one in particular.

“I have 8 years to prepare… Then I can finally end all of this suffering!”