Alarm streaked across the faces of those spectating the ritual except for the Asura and the priest who both donned knowing looks as if everything that was occurring was in their expectations. Before the crowd could attempt to escape their current situation, waves of purple and red rushed out of the pole and quickly engulfed all who were present, with no goblin being able to resist the grasp of the energy. But it did not stop there, the waves reached past the walls of the village and stopped just after the first set of trees that made up the forest line before it sank into the ground.
The earth drank up the energy like it was some elixir of the myths, with all traces of red and purple quickly disappearing into the ground. Then, as quickly as it absorbed the energy, the earth began to change, the brown and green were stained with purple whilst small cracks began to spread across the lands that the waves had touched. A faint red light began to crawl out of these cracks along with red particles that emitted an evil aura. A demonic aura.
But this was not the end as barely noticeable streaks of purple began to rise from the now purplish earth, they seemed to have no visible effect on the environment. That was until they came into contact with some of the minuscule red particles that floated in the air, a reaction seemed to take place between the two. A reaction that should have normally been impossible but due to the unique trait that these purple streaks possessed, particles of various shades of purple began to join their red siblings in the air. These particles continued to accumulate in the air, with there being a high density of them around the pole itself as they seemed to gravitate towards it.
The beings who stood around the centre of this transformation stood fixed in position, the energy had long stopped restricting their movements; it had never restricted their movements in the first place. The sheer magnitude of the waves of energy had overwhelmed their small minds to such a degree, leading them to believe in such a reality. But now, they were truly unable to move their limbs, the density of the aura, radiated by the particles, grew as more particles accumulated around the pole.
The very meaning of the word demon was being ruthlessly carved into the skin of the goblins as they were submerged in bloody brutality and cruel callousness. The sweat that layered their skin refused to move even an inch, the electrical impulses that ran through their brains fizzled out, and their hearts stopped pumping as if they too were all consumed by intense fear that rendered the goblins motionless.
Only two beings wore different expressions, one being the First Priest whose eyes were bursting with amazement as he felt many changes taking place in his body, especially the birth of a power that would terrorise the future enemies of the Lord of Corruption. The other being's long tongue hung out her mouth as her eyes rolled back at the same time, the pleasure that was bursting through her veins overwhelmed every one of her senses. Only two things could cause the apathetic demeanour of the Asura to change: battle and her Lord. And right now, Faye could feel the minuscule traces of her Lord's presence floating in the air, and with no hesitation, she relished in His "touch"; choosing to ignore the goblins that stood behind her.
While all this happened, the pole, that stood at the centre of all of this, began to shed its outer layer. The uppermost section of the pole fell away first, revealing a fissured layer of tar-black, but as more of the original pole disappeared, it became clear what this layer of cracks was. Scales. These scales formed rows across the surface of a large snake head, its gaping maw displayed a set of terrifyingly sharp fangs that were about the size of a human's forearm. This was what sat at the top of the now totem pole, looking further down one would notice thick vines coiled around the entire length of the totem, the scales covering these vines revealing that they were simply a part of the snake's form.
Various markings snaked up the totem, they intricately carved themselves into the areas left uncovered by the snake's mass, as for the snake itself, a singular rune appeared in the middle of its head, a rune that matched the tattoo that marked the centre of the Apostle of Corruption's chest: a heart that housed an eye, with a vertical slit, in its centre.
The Mark of Corruption.
And now this mark took the form of a glowing rune that triggered a great transformation, the totem thrummed with power to signal the beginning of this incoming change. And then silence. Confusion was apparent on the faces of many whilst the priest tried to calm down the great anticipation that had overtaken him, and Asura's eyes only rolled back even further. Purple light began to drown out all other colours as the markings glowed with intense light, and with this growing light came an increase in the number of red and purple particles in the air. If before their growth was linear, now it was exponential and with this, the uncontrollable demonic aura was pressing against the very fabric of reality. Space was twisting as many distortions began to mar the area along with micro-tears that sucked in everything around them.
But against these phenomena, the purple light persisted with its conquest with little to no effect on its rate of growth. As if angered by the light's disregard for their power, the distortions began to grow further, triggering the spatial tears to join them. But before the spatial anomalies could have a serious effect on the environment, the purple light suddenly disappeared as if someone had flicked a switch. The demonic aura that had been rampaging merely a few moments ago vanished as well, causing the surrounding space to return to normal.
The speed at which everything was occurring had left the goblins stunned to the point thoughts were no longer being processed in their little minds. It wouldn't be wrong to say that they were braindead at this point. But alas, this was not yet the end. The goblins had one last thing to experience.
And it was hovering over the heads of each and every one of them.
Apple-sized orbs of energy, that constantly shifted between purple and red, hovered over their heads. They floated there harmlessly but the goblins knew otherwise. Throughout the entirety of this ordeal, they had never been restrained at any point, the goblin's weak wills had left them unable to move their bodies under the sheer power displayed by the totem. This time, however, they truly couldn't move. From the small children to the bulky warriors, not one of them could get their bodies to move. It was like their connection to their bodies had been cut off, the goblins couldn't feel anything. Panic and fear were running amok yet it did not show, they couldn't even move their facial muscles. Imprisoned in their own bodies, most goblins gave up trying to sense that natural connection but a small group among the warriors preserved. Though it was impressive that these warriors had yet to give up hope, this endeavour of theirs was all for nought.
The power they were dealing with held traces of devilry, how could lowly creatures such as goblins be capable of resisting power that transcended the limits of their world? Nothing could be done other than to accept the fate that had been handed to them. This was the abysmal reality of those who lacked sufficient power in this world that was nothing more than a giant chessboard for the ones who stood beyond the peak.
Slowly, the orbs descended towards their respective targets, leaving each goblin mentally bracing themselves. Turning our attention towards the apostle and the priest, it would be quite easy to realise that the pair did not share the same emotions as the goblin spectators.
Both were free of any worries or fears, though Faye's thoughts shared the same level of disordered chaos as that of the crowds, the contents of these thoughts of hers differed from those who stood behind her.
Her mind was currently full to the brim with wild fantasies and fanatical worship, and it was now threatening to explode as she felt the giant snake above edge towards her. Unlike the goblins, a snake, that was almost as large as the one wrapped around the totem, appeared above the Asura instead of an orb. She wasn't the only exception as a significantly smaller snake slithered towards Thrag, their status among the beings of the village delivering them a different level of treatment.
Deep purple eyes were fixated upon the scene being displayed to them with great interest, the impending result of the ritual greatly intrigued them.
"This is the beginning of a conquest that aims for a world, let us see how far the banners of corruption will go"