*Anos's POV*
"Did you hear that?" I asked, doing my best to not look around and keep my eyes on Zephyr's back.
"Yes, more reason to get this over with as fast as we can," Alucard said from my left, his voice a whisper.
"We haven't decided on the most opportune time and you'll be dead tired after the ritual. I would hope so." Zephyr said as I hopped over a boulder half-buried into the ground.
"We'll be on the altar soon enough. I'll fill you in on the major stuff you'll have to do till then."
*15 Minutes later*
" That's all."
" The hellish being you mean that's all? You just described a 7-star Torture session that'll make Dementors blush." I said frustrated.
I could take the ritual, probably.
"We're not going to do the whole ritual on you, because that's impossible. None of us have the resources. It's safer too this way."
I mulled the words over and decided not to say anything. They needed a Dragon Heart or something, even if I had one for some godforsaken reason then I wouldn't give it to anyone too.
A couple of minutes later and I knew we were at the place even before Zephyr asked us to stop.
We were in a Temple like structure, all white, with no roof and pillars that rose 30 Meters high each, and between all of that was a raised platform, engraved with things that were runes.
What type of runes? I wouldn't know.
There were 7 pillars each facing the altar, little lines going through the floor to a single place.
"Here." Zephyr dropped something in my hand and as the forest light shone on the round object I realized it was a pill. A blue one
"You'll have to eat this exactly a minute before we start. I'll tell you when, and under any circumstance don't eat it before then. It'll stop your voice for 6 hours, otherwise, your throat will start to bleed around half an hour after the ritual. Be calm."
' That's easy for you to say. '
" Take off your shirt and get on the altar."
"The-"
"Yes, the Blindfold and Mask too. You can keep your eyes closed. You'll tear through your clothes anyway." Zephyr explained before taking out weird ornaments from his ring. I needed to get one of those.
" Hey, Aluca.....what is that!" I'll probably die before this shit even starts. Alucard was taking out needles of so many shapes and sizes that I must've gone deaf for not hearing it earlier.
" We told you that you'll need carvings on your body didn't we?" Alucard said, unsure.
" Yeah, you told me I would need carvings not getting carved up like a pig. There aren't that many needles in the entirety of Hogwarts Dungeons."
" Must be a poor collection then," Alucard replied.
For the hundredth time, I felt like sighing, but instead, I decided to take off my clothes and sat down on the altar with only my pants on. The sunlight felt even more stinging and I wondered why people forgot to add a roof to their temples.
"Eat the pill now," Zephyr said as he finished setting up a shady area for Alucard to sit down in, he said he'll be with me during the whole ritual so he'll need an hour of rest to recharge his ring.
"Here goes nothing," I said and plopped the pill into my mouth and swallowed it before the horrible taste of salt hit my mouth.
"It's Nemean Promenthia. It'll have a strong aftertaste." Zephyr said before I could ask.
My mind turned before I realized what that ingredient was.
"You just fed me Nemean Lion's Piss!" I said but all that came out was nothing, not even air.
"I'm going to start now," Alucard said from behind me before I felt prickling at my back followed by wetness.
Then the drops started, oh the slow but sure drops of Crimson that dyed the white of the altar in its own.
"Sir straighter."
' Fuck you.' I thought as I took in sharp breaths, trying to sit up straight anyway and tearing my wound anyway.
"I can't enter your mind during this but I can still know what you're thinking."
It took 30 long and itchy minutes before Alucard had carved all the weird patterns he needed into the upper part of my body.
"Finished," Alucard said and I took a sigh of relief before sitting straight again from the pain.
"Good, do the next part fast," Zephyr said and I looked to find him holding onto 7 vials with golden liquid and muttering something under his breath.
Alucard went to one of the pillars before opening the vial in his hand with a plop and emptying its contents into a neatly carved pattern on its base and continuing on to the next one.
The patterns were neat, so much so that I could see them clearly from the altar. I also saw the golden come alive before creeping towards the altar, seemingly multiplying.
"Now you Should have a choice of your affinities, you just have to think of what you want from it and whatever you're sacrificing. It should come naturally, you've chosen three already right?" Zephyr asked and I nodded.
I was sure of the ones I wanted. It'll be for the best I reassured myself.
"It'll be painful, but it'll be worth it. I'm sorry but this was the only way to do this." He continued and took out something from his ring that almost made me open my eyes to check if I had gone insane.
I might've just vomited blood from what I was seeing.
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Author's Note: Sorry the chapter is a bit late. I ended up oversleeping cause of my meds.
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