"When you signed up for this tour you were actually signing up to be a sacrifice for one of the most dangerous and long lived cults. They are called The Crimson Cult." He enjoyed watching as the horror and realization crossed the sacrifices faces. "The cult has been doing this in secret for centuries, but word has got out in these parts not to come here. Therefore it was decided to open the tour to the world and see who would be willing to come. Only one will survive while the others will be brutally beaten and sacrificed at the Crimson Altar." He continued slowly drawing out the fear from his audience. "Each of the beautifully carved statues are memorials of the past sacrifices, immortalized in stone." The younger female on the tour tried to open the door to no avail. She starts crying hysterically and begging to be let out, to go home. Anna, being compassionate although scared, walked over to try to comfort her.
"Hey, don't worry we will find a way out of here." Anna said softly while wrapping her arm around the young girl's shoulder and stroking her arm soothingly. The young girl still sobbing turns into Anna and cries on her shoulder. The tour guide laughed maniacally at Anna trying to sooth the other girl.
"Only one of you will survive." He repeated, before he slipped out of the room and locked the door again so quickly no one had a chance to move. A weird smoke started to fill the room through a ventilation system no one had previously noticed. Each of them slipped into darkness one after the other.
When they awoke they had been moved to a different location. Squinting they looked around to see if they could find a way out. They had been chained by their wrists to the floor. Managing to get to their feet they noticed a large group of people standing in front of them wearing long robes with hoods that covered most of their faces. One of them steps forward from the rest, they assume that he is the leader.
His voice booms loudly in the room. "Be grateful that you four have been selected for this year's sacrifice, you will bring prosperity to our people, luckily for you one of you will survive" He motioned two of his followers to get the older gentleman. The men undid the chains and pulled the man closer to the rest of the cult kicking and begging for his life. "You will be first" the leader declared and led the man and the cultists through another door. The older man doubled his efforts to get away when he saw what was through the door. Hung on the walls were blunt objects that had previously been covered in blood, axes, and knives. The cultists closed the door behind them. Anna and Drake were still chained to the spot, they could hear the screaming from the adjoining room. They waited for what seemed like hours, tears streamed down Anna's face until she could no longer cry. Drake sat on the floor and inspected the shackles to see if he could get them out of here while the cultists were in the other room. The other young girl sobbed while pulling on her chains trying to wriggle her wrists free.
When the door finally opened they dragged the old man barely alive out and laid him down on the Altar. He had stopped screaming and begging for help long ago. The cultists lay out stones around the altar and the leader starts reciting something in Latin. As he finishes he slits the old man's throat. The blood streamed from his neck ran through some channels in the altar and into a black pot. The leader then begins skinning him, the other cultists force the sacrifices to watch. The younger girl throws up, while Anna and Drake watch in horror. The Cultists all step away and the altar lights up in flame. Anna and Drake stare at each other as the realization dawns on them that they have to make it out of here before one of them gets dragged into that room.
Anna and Drake scoot closer together. Holding hands Anna whispers "We will always be together, even if one of us is to lose our life here." Tears again stream from her beautiful blue eyes. Anna was hoping that Drake would survive this and could tell the tale, to warn other people not to make this mistake. The cult leader walked around the altar, still smoldering. His knife was dripping with blood, a gleeful smile graced his lips, the only thing you could see from under his cloak's hood.
"Babe, please don't think like that, you will be the one to make it out of here." Drake prayed he was not lying to her, that she would make it out of here alive. The cultist started laughing at his declaration and instead sent his men to collect Anna as the next sacrifice.
"No, no, please take me instead,'' Drake pleaded, but they did not listen to his cries. He tried to stop them, however with his hands tied there was nothing he could do, he was not strong enough to break free of these bindings. Anna however was not going to be dragged to that room without a fight. She flung the chains around trying to get them free of her captor's hold knowing she was not strong enough to attack them to get free. One chain slipped from a cultists hand, smacked him in the face and he fell to the floor. She tried her hardest to fling the chain around and stop any other cultist grabbing it. Her efforts were in vain as a couple of cultists came up behind her and stilled the movement of her arms. Kicking at their legs and biting at their arms she tried to get away but they managed to drag her into the adjoining room and close the door. Drake and the younger woman could hear Anna's screams of pain. The screaming and crying in pain coming from his lover made Drake retreat into himself, his heart breaking. It was excruciating to listen to.
"I will be taken next," said the other woman, tears streamed down her face. Unsure how she was still able to cry. Drake could not bring himself to reply, he looked up at her, her face now pale and fighting the tears. He looked back down at the floor covering his face with his hands. "If you live please do not let us die in vain, remember us and what happened here" she continued "tell people our story tell them not to come here, they have to know" she begged. He still could not answer tears now streaming down his face, Anna has stopped screaming meaning she is dead or unconscious. They heard the door open but neither of them lifted their heads to look, knowing what they would see. They could hear Anna's feet dragging along the floor and then the thud of her being dropped onto the altar. Drake's head was forced upwards to look. There was so much blood and she had been beaten so badly it almost didn't look like her anymore. A loud sob ripped from his throat with a quietly whispered "Anna" his heart broke into a million tiny pieces and he curled up in a ball on the floor unable to escape the pain.
The leader started the second sacrifice ritual. The blood was starting to curdle and smell bad, making the young woman's puke. Both of the smells mixing together were making Drake gag. Looking up he sees the leader draining Anna's blood and skinning her, his stomach turns and he throws up on the floor in front of him. All the fight has left him as well as the younger woman. When the cultists are sent over to collect their last sacrifice as she is dragged away instead of fighting she says "I knew you were the one that would survive, please do not forget about us, we have made the ultimate sacrifice for you to live. Please share our story, make sure our sacrifice is not in vain!" the door shuts behind her. They repeated the sacrifice one final time, drake was so numb that he didn't react to her screams at all, didn't look up as she was dragged back into the altar room. Once she was set on fire the cultists began walking over to Drake chanting a slightly different ritual that he thought he might have recognized. Once they were done chanting they unchained him and led him to a room and locked the door. He didn't think they would just let him go.