Tap... Tap... Tap...
Step by step, the sound of their footsteps echoed through the cave.
They reached the prison cells. The captors placed Kael and the other body inside, the heavy clank of the cell door shutting echoed ominously in the dimly lit chamber.
'This smell of iron... No... blood?'
Once the captors left, Kael cautiously shifted, trying to move without drawing attention. He looked around, taking in the surroundings of the dimly lit cell.
The metallic smell of blood lingered in the air, mixing with the musty scent of the damp stone walls.
'The cells beside us have other prisoners like us... The only weird thing is that everyone is unconscious,' He observed, feeling a chill of unease.
'Could it be the smell? Is that why those guys wore masks?' He wondered if the odor was more than just unpleasant, possibly something dangerous that kept everyone else subdued.
'There are at least five people per cell, all unconscious. Their body build is similar to mine, probably around 15 to 19 years old,' He noted.
The uniformity of their ages and physical conditions suggested they were all chosen for a specific reason.
Kael began to twist and pull at the ropes binding him, desperately trying to free himself. He moved slowly and carefully, hoping the noise wouldn't attract attention while he worked to loosen the restraints.
After a few hours of struggling, Kael's efforts to free himself were interrupted as the captors returned.
He watched anxiously as they began taking the bodies out of the cells, moving the unconscious prisoners one by one.
'Damn it... I don't have any energy left,' Kael muttered to himself, feeling the weakness in his limbs.
'My body is shaking from lack of food. I guess I'll get killed like this... What a nightmare.'
Soon, the men in black cloaks adorned with strange patterns came for him and everyone else in his prisoner.
He felt their cold, rough hands lift him, his body too weak to resist as they carried him away alongside the other prisoners.
Along the way, no one spoke. It was eerily quiet, with not even a cough to break the silence. The only sounds were the shuffling footsteps and the occasional rustle of cloaks.
Soon, they reached a room with dim lighting. A dark red light shone brightly in the center, casting eerie shadows on the walls.
The man in the cloak placed Kael's body on the ground, forcing his face into the dirt.
He was on his knees, just like the others beside him, feeling the cold, rough surface against his skin.
A hunchbacked man in a black cloak stood off to the side of the eerie red light. In the center of the room, there was a hole in the ground from which the unsettling red light emanated.
Soon, the hunchbacked man raised his hand, and the room began to tremble. Unknown characters, glowing with an eerie light, started to float in the air, swirling around the room.
The symbols pulsed with energy.
The floating characters soon descended upon the bodies of the people facing the ground, including Kael. Each symbol adhered to their backs, glowing faintly.
The character that attached itself to Kael was shaped like an eye, its presence on his skin sending a shiver of fear through him.
Soon, the tattoos on their bodies began to glow with a crimson light and then floated off their skin, rising into the air.
As the symbols left their bodies, Kael and the others felt their vitality drain away, leaving them weak and lifeless.
The men in black cloaks knelt in their places, facing the pool of blood at the center of the room.
The crimson liquid shimmered ominously under the dark red light.
The hunchbacked man soon raised his voice, and it echoed clearly through the chamber. The room seemed to vibrate with the power of his speech.
"Oh, Lord of Temptation, we yield to thee,
Our bodies... your altar, our souls set free."
The hunchbacked man's voice rang out, each word heavy with dark intent.
As he chanted, the room seemed to pulse with energy, the air thickening as if charged with an otherworldly force.
The crimson light from the pool of blood flared brighter.
The mark of bones appeared above the heads of the abducted people, glowing ominously as it manifested.
In an instant, their lives were snuffed out, their bodies going limp.
The bone symbols above their heads detached and floated toward the middle of the room, gathering around the pool of blood.
The atmosphere grew even darker as these symbols converged.
The bones were black, exuding a sinister aura that made them seem almost alive.
They hovered in the air, twisting and shifting as if they had a will of their own.
Their dark presence filled the room with an even deeper sense of dread, as if the very air was thick with malevolent intent.
Soon, the black bones began to align and connect, assembling themselves into the shape of a skeleton.
As the final pieces clicked into place, the skeleton of a higher being stood before them.
"Our flesh can't resist, your call... we heed,
In passion and temptation, our souls concede..."
The hunchbacked man's chant continued, his voice rising in fervor. Each verse seemed to resonate with the dark energy of the room, intensifying the ritual.
The assembled skeleton of the higher being seemed to respond, its skeletal frame vibrating with the rhythm of the incantation.
Those with the flesh marks upon them died, their bodies going limp. As their life force faded, their forms began to dissolve and merge with the skeletal structure.
As they perished, their flesh seemed to melt and warp, drawn irresistibly toward the skeleton in the center of the room.
The flesh twisted and contorted as it fused with the black bones, covering the skeletal frame, forming muscle, sinew, and skin.
The skeletal being transformed into something horrifyingly alive, its once-bare bones now clothed in the stolen flesh of the sacrificed.
The being now resembled a human, its form disturbingly perfect. It had a strong, masculine build, and its face was undeniably handsome, with sharp features that seemed almost divine.
However, there was an eerie flaw—a gaping hole where its heart should have been.
The body, though eerily perfect in form, also lacked its eyes. Where eyes should have been, there were only dark, empty sockets that seemed to absorb the light around them.
This emptiness made the being even more unsettling, its handsome face twisted into something profoundly unnatural.
Despite its blindness, the creature exuded an aura of awareness, as if it could see beyond the physical realm, guided by a power far more sinister.
The hunchbacked man continued his incantation, his voice thick with reverence and dark intent.
"Guide us in pleasure, with your fiery art,
Lead us... to surrender, body and heart."
The people marked with a heart symbol began to convulse violently, their bodies twisting and contorting in agony.
In a gruesome and horrifying display, they melted into lumps of flesh, merging together into a single mass.
The sight was sickening, a twisted parody of life as the flesh coalesced into a heart—a heart unlike any human's.
This heart was not the usual red of a blood-filled organ, nor the pale white of one drained of life. It was a deep, unnatural purple, pulsating with an intense rhythm.
All that remained were the eyes and the soul to bring the vessel to completion. Though it now had a body, heart, and form, the being stood as a lifeless shell.
The hollow eye sockets and the stillness of its form hinted at its incomplete state, needing a soul to animate it and eyes to give it vision.
The ritual was nearing its climax, and the dark energy in the room grew heavier.
The mark on Kael's back began to tremble, vibrating with a sinister energy.
Though Kael had been unconscious since the start of the ritual, his body reacted instinctively.
The eye-shaped mark seemed to pulse with life.