THE DARK RITUAL OF KOLGANE
The grand Hall of the Palace of Uralis lay in ruins, its once opulent decor and furnishings long vanished, likely plundered during the aftermath of the war with the Lich King.
Silence had reigned here for ages, broken only by the occasional whisper of wind through shattered windows. But today, the hall pulsed with an ominous energy.
Campfires cast flickering light, revealing hooded figures moving with purpose. They scattered dust across the worn floor, meticulously crafting a pattern of arcane significance.
Soon, blindfolded captives were ushered into the hall, unaware of the horrors that awaited them. In an instant, the air filled with screams as lives were ruthlessly extinguished. Their blood poured out from their bodies, pooling and tracing the lines of the mystic design.
With each sacrifice, the pattern grew brighter, infused with the crimson essence of the dead.
At the heart of the hall knelt a figure, his body adorned with intricate tattoos pulsating with power. As the ritual neared its culmination, he unleashed a primal cry, the culmination of the dark spell weaving around him.
From the earth itself, skeletal forms emerged, their bones suffused with magic, transformed into vicious energy that merged with the man in the center.
With each skeleton consumed, his form grew stronger, fueled by the arcane energies unleashed by the grisly ceremony.
The ritual approached its zenith, the once-dormant hall now a stage for dark sorcery and unspeakable acts.
Suddenly, a bright shining lance appeared from nowhere, striking the man in the middle of the ritual, breaking the ceremony and destroying the grounds of the hall.
The spell that empowered the man was now gone, his ritual aborted, and his transformation stopped.
-----
"Who dares to interrupt my awakening?" the man in the middle of the spell screamed out in anger.
Suddenly, a bright beam of light was shot at the man, disintegrating parts of his body.
"Concentrated laser beams"
But the man wasn't killed despite the powerful laser beam cast by Sara.
"He is a tough creep to crack", Sara complained to me.
"Wait a minute, I know this creep", I said to Sara.
"What? Are you going to hug him for a reunion?" She asked me sarcastically.
"I fought with him before and sent him to the hospital. He is the last person that I whacked during my Apprentice Conjurer Audition challenge. Ko…Kolgane is his name", I told Sara.
"Not interested in the name of someone about to disappear", Sara told me as she fired another laser at Kolgane.
"Argghhhhhhh"
Kolgane screamed as his body was pulverized by Sara's laser.
The hooded figures in the hall cast a magical light that soon revealed me from my invisibility, although Sara wasn't exposed like me.
Sara's invisibility magic was special, it was difficult to detect even by magic revealing lanterns.
"It is you. Oriese of Kaleon. Why must it be you again who foils my awakening", Kolgane screamed at me.
"What the hell are you doing? Sacrificing people for your wicked means. Do you even have the dignity to call yourself a conjurer?" I questioned the cursed conjurer.
"Don't act all mighty proud. You forced me into this. You are no more innocent than me", Kolgane shouted to me.
"What the Hell did I do to force you into committing human sacrifice?" I asked him out of curiosity.
"You murdered my father", Kolgane screamed at me.
"Your father? Who is that? Must be someone deserving death", I told him.
"Oriese, I will kill you even in my death", Kolgane screamed at me again.
By this time, the hall was surrounded by a whirlpool of magic. All the hooded men in the hall were swept into the sky before they were torn into shreds by Sara's whirlpool magic.
"Winds of Shreds"
Only Kolgane remained inside the Hall now and not for long.
Another bright shining lance appeared from me, cast into Kolgane. My energy lance smashed on Kolgane like a powerful meteor, destroying him completely while breaking the ground into a deep crater.
"Lance of Drakul"
Soon, the foundations of the building were destroyed, and the roof of the building came crashing to the ground.
Kolgane was buried together with the ruins of the Hall of Uralis.
-----
"Who the hell is the moron's father?" Sara asked me.
"I have no idea but people I kill usually deserves it", I replied to her.
Suddenly, an army of militias rushed to the collapsed building to check what happened here. But the soldiers didn't see anyone there besides the broken bodies of the dead hooded figures scattered around.
"Find Prince Kolgane", a captain shouted out.
That was the moment that we knew who was Kolgane's father that I killed. It was Bulhane, the Lich King. Kolgane was the Lich King's father.
"Something is familiar about the spell that empowers the creep", Sara said to me.
"What is familiar? It usually doesn't take you long to process information like this", I asked her, but she has no answer for me.
Sara usually doesn't tell me unconfirmed facts or speculations without certainty. Perhaps she really has turned into a human now after she awakened her soul.
-----
"What happened to my family and friends?" Gagarine asked me.
"I'm sorry to inform you, they are all gone. They were sacrificed to the dark magic of Prince Kolgane before we reached the great hall. There was nothing we could do to save your family and friends although we killed Kolgane and all the shaman perpetrators for your revenge", I told Gagarine.
Gagarine's tears fell when he heard about the death of his friends, but it was expected. At least he would no longer need to seek vengeance for them.
"Thank you, Oriese for helping me. I will return to the countryside and avoid main roads to the cities in the future. You will hear from me again when we send our grains to Tarah city", Gagarine said to me.
"Well, take care", I replied to him.
Gagarine was about to leave when he remembered something.
"Be careful about Prince Kolgane", Gagarine told us.
"Why should we, he's already dead", I replied to him and asked.