My senses cut in and out, moments fade in and out, the only feeling that comes through is this feeling of being dragged on the ground in what seems to be a cave. Eventually my eyes get blocked out but I can still feel my body being dragged. After a time my body doesn't feel like it's being dragged anymore, my senses slowly come back to me. It's freezing in here, where the hell am I? My eyes are blind folded, my arms are bound by some type of rope. There seems to be some form of metal around my neck that has a chain attached that I hear as I move. Suddenly, I hear the sounds of footsteps in the distance. I try to struggle to find a way out of my binds, but it is all for naught as I hear a quiet chuckle and I am pulled from the chain connected to the metal object around my neck. I fall forward on the ground and the person stops pulling on the chain.
"Get up."
I listen to the deep voice and slowly get up, once I am on my feet the man begins to pull on my chains once again and I begin to move where I am being led. As we walk, through the deafening silence, I can hear the sounds of voices in the distance. Getting closer I can start to make out the voices as they repeat some chant in tandem in some foreign language.
"Soh ohm sclon ee sal un hyunsil"
The voices began to get louder and louder as I seem to have entered the room. No clue what is going on, the fear begins to set in. Am I going to be sacrificed? Who are these people? As my thoughts begin to race I am lifted up and tied to an elevated surface. I can begin hearing the sound of fire and the warmth of it below me. The panic I felt begins to rise even further. I try to calm myself and call upon an element, any element, just to cast something to help me out; but nothing seems to work as my connection to the elements feels blocked. Any feeling of peace I managed to muster has completely lost itself.
"HELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE."
I try to scream, calling for help, but the response was a halt in the chanting. I then hear footsteps coming from behind me. My blindfold is untied and my eyesight comes back to me. I am shown the sight of a fire in the middle of this cave like room, people wearing purple and gold hooded cloaks in a circle around the fire with one on a podium ahead of me in a much more detailed cloak featuring stars. This leader like figure begins to extend their arms out as a feminine voice begins to come from this person.
"Wonderful beings, we are gathered here today to participate in a gifting to our ancient one. The one who will lead us all to salvation, The one who will bring about the age of the stars."
I try to calm my breathing as I listen to what this person says.
"We have found this wonderful being traveling with another group. Their presence spoke to me when I laid eyes on them; Our god hath given us a sign, that this being is the one to achieve our goals of salvation."
In a panicked state I raise my voice.
"WHERE ARE THEY?!!?!? MY FATHER, LUELLE, WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM."
The woman stares at me.
"They have been dealt with, our other sanctums of the church have taken them in. It is up to those who speak to our gods above that their fates will be decided. They may be enslaved, they may be killed, or a fate far worse than the other two, one which you are about to face."
My thoughts race with Willem and Luelle in those depraved situations. My heart begins to pound harder and faster, My body begins to heat up and my vision goes blurry. I can feel my consciousness begin to fade as I try to keep my focus on this leader like figure.
"You're... vile...."
I try to get those words out as everything turns to black. Not a sound can be heard, complete silence; It's almost peaceful outside of the lingering fear about the lives of those I care for. The feeling boils for so long until I can't stand it anymore. Suddenly, I wake in the middle of the forest, no longer bound by what used to be around my arms. The wind blows on my body as I lie on the ground, the feeling of the grass and dirt below me. It all comes back to me and the feeling of comfort fills me, I still have a chance, I need to figure out where they are, I have to save them. I take a deep breath before rushing upwards to get a grasp of my surroundings. I wipe down my body from the dirt, only to notice my clothes, my hands are stained with blood. Just what the hell happened. I calm my breathing so I can assess the situation.
I begin to look around my surroundings, of course, trees; they span as far as I can see. I can smell ash in a direction behind me. When I look back towards the direction I can see smoke rising in the air, Looks as if something was destroyed. I immediately rush over as fast as I can; after 5 minutes I arrive to the source of the smoke. It seems to be coming out of some weird cave that definitely is not naturally made. Staring at the entrance, I feel this discomfort that I've felt before. This feeling akin to when I'm at what those people call Exodus. It's a warm feeling that fills me with fear, I want nothing to do with it, I only want to walk away and ignore this feeling, but when I think about where Luelle and Father could be, I just can't succumb to my own desires. I hesitantly walk into the cave, I walk further and further as the smell of the smoke comes into my lungs while the darkness takes cover of all my senses. I try to light a fire through magic, but I can't seem to use magic, almost as if something is blocking me. I remember this feeling when I was captured by those creepy cultists, I just need to figure out what's going and where they are so we can get out of here as fast as we can and go back home.
I walk further and further until I end up tripping on something heavy; as I fall to the ground, I hear a click noise and instantly everything lights up around me on the walls. Torches lit up in a circular rotation to span the whole room, this is where I was held captive. I get up off the ground to scan the room; I instantly notice that there are bodies laid out everywhere. Many bodies missing limbs, heads, and are badly burnt. I gasp and fall on my back, catching myself before I fall completely. I fall into a pool of blood near a body and in that instant I get flashes of images in my head. My head aches as these images fill my mind, These people getting slaughtered. The more the images flash, I realize that this was me that committed this act. In the midst of a panic attack, I try to calm myself; but the images of me brutalizing these people fill my head with uncertainty. I swore vengeance against those who would take away my freedom but, not like this, this is horrific, I can't. Trying to calm my breathing as I spur into a panic, I attempt to get up so I can focus on more important matters. Unable to calm myself down I push on despite the stress rampant through my mind. I hear some vibration sound near one of the cultists bodies. cautiously walking towards it as I prepare to search the body. Slowly I crouch down and reach for the body, holding back visceral reactions I look into any pockets I can visibly see, until I feel a spherical rocky object in one of the pockets.
Pulling out the rock I instantly notice it's glow, it vibrates in my palm as I look into it's blue surface. As I focus onto the rock, the vibrations get faster, the glow dims and brightens to the vibrations. Suddenly, The rock floats from my hand and after a delay, it bursts in the air, revealing an intricately and beautiful display of lights that look like stars. There is a purple dust flowing around the stars, almost like I'm looking at the night sky in the Exodus. A few seconds pass, as the stars and dust begin to move slowly and then real fast into my hand. A surging pain like something crawling in my skin can be felt as I tightly hold my wrist. A light emanates from my palm, as It moves through my arm and the pain moves with it, up to my head as images of an encampment fill my mind. Eventually the images stop and the pain goes away with it, I can sense the direction of the camp somehow, I assume the crystal had some sort of enchantment with it, I don't know, Either way I will Find them, whatever it takes.
I take a deep breath, collecting myself and leaving the cave back out into the forest. I'm not sure exactly where I am, where north or south is, but still being able to sense where this camp is lets me make a straight forward path to where I hope Luelle is.