When I walked up to the center of the arena, I saw a red skull that was floating in the air, and it was calling out to me.
What would happen to me if I did touch it? Would I win the contest, or is it a trap made out of illusion just like the one that I just recently shattered? The more that I thought about it the more that the skull seemed to call out to me.
"Come and take what is yours. Since you were the first here you deserve to take it for yourself. If you do not grab it someone else will claim the status and power that I bring to them." A very alluring voice said to me.
Should I accept this offer for more power, or should I decline it to find another way to the top? The thought of gaining power as swiftly as possible felt right, but on the other hand, if I accepted it, I would most likely have to give up what it is that I am to obtain it.
Then my only correct decision was very clear to me. If I was going to be able to both kill the female that killed Corvis and break through the dark veil to the neutral region I would have to abandon who it is that I was and embrace a new lifestyle. With my new lifestyle, I would have to embrace a new title other than the ancient blood mag,e, as the students were currently calling me.
I stepped up towards the floating red skull, and as my right hand made contact with it, I started to speak out loud for the whole world to hear at the top of my lungs.
"I am no longer the ancient blood mage from this point forward. By claiming this skull as my own, I take the new title of The Dark Empress. You will all bow to me at some point soon, or I will crush the life out of you!"
As soon as I finished shouting my pledge, I could feel a new power coursing through me. As I looked at my right wrist, I saw that a red skull was starting to form on it as if I were a birthmark.
"You have proven to me that you possess the dark drive. Through your eyes, I can see a glorious new era that might arise in the future. Because I see a future that I like, I will allow you to make any wish, and I will make it so no matter the cost." The mysterious voice said from the skull marking on my wrist.
What would it be that I truly wish for above all else at this moment? Do I desire a weapon that will guide me to victory, or would I want a new power that I could use to manipulate others more strongly than a succubus? The possibilities that were at my disposal were endless.
While I was lost in thought about the many different things that I could receive I could feel the presence of a very familiar person from my past at the very edge of my mind.
As the memory of this person came flooding back, I could catch a small glimpse of their face, but it was engulfed in shadow to the point where I could not see who it exactly was that I was remembering.
"Do you remember our shared dream? Can you recall our promise to each other?" the shadow asked me in a voice that was muffled to the point where I could not recognize who it was that I had made a promise to.
I had to sit down and think about who it was that I made a promise to while I was living with the blood elves.
After I sat down to think about my past, everything began to give me a massive headache as if I was not supposed to be able to remember my past life that I lived before the day that I was sacrificed to The Dark Lord Carvis at all.
Despite the sharp pain that I was feeling, I continued my dive into my hidden memories since they would most likely have the answers that I sought about this promise.
Then I shattered through the first layer of black mist, and I saw that I was standing inside a temple with another female blood elf. I noticed that we both were standing on separate sides of a black bowl. To my left, I noticed that there was a statue of a short female blood elf that was wearing the robes of an ancient cult.
"Do you remember something important that happened here?" the voice from the mark asked me.
"All I can remember is that when I entered the forbidden temple of the past, I made a vow with this female".
"Can you recall the vow, and what about the name of the other participant in the vow?"
I tried to focus my attention almost entirely on the memories that were locked away, but as I approached the details of the event that I saw in front of me, the mental strain became too intense for me to bear. I was pushed out of the memory entirely.
The temple, as well as the female blood elf that stood near me, vanished from my sight, and I was back in the black shadows once again.
If I could just push past the barrier, I would be able to remember what the promise that I made was and who it was that I had made it with. I knew that in this locked memory I would find all that it was that made me into what I could truly become.
I then kneeled on my knees, and I cut both of my wrists open until I saw blood starting to pour out.
When the fresh blood started to pour out of my veins, I poured it in the pattern of a large magic circle that had a massive pentagram around me. Next; I started to chant out loud as I finished the magic circle.
"By the power of the ancestors of my bloodline, and with the might of my people I will shatter these limits that were originally placed upon me. Remove the veil of shadows and reveal to me the truth of my origin. Seal release!!"
As soon as I finished the chanting the dark veil surrounding my memories shattered, and I was overwhelmed due to the sudden rush that was coming to me in very intense waves.
The temple reappeared in front of me once again, but this time I could see the face of the other female blood elf more clearly. I felt as though I was looking into a mirror because the other female blood elf from my memory looked exactly like I did down to the length of our eyes and hair.
"Can remember the name of the other blood elf from this memory?" my mark asked me.
I thought about this person, and as I did their name rushed to me like the relief of a fresh morning breeze.
"Her name is Kazeene, and she was my twin sister."
After I spoke those words, I could feel a bond that was locked away resurface onto the top of my body. This feeling was also accompanied by sadness.
Then I saw the younger version of myself cut the wrist of my twin sister, and she did it to me as well. As the blood started to slowly spill the younger version of myself and my sister made a vow to each other.
"With the spilling of our blood on this day we make a divine promise to became an ascended one at any cost." We both said as our blood started to mix in the bowl below.
The memory faded away and I was alone in the darkness once again.
"I will ask you one more time. What is that you wish for?" the voice said to me again.
"I want to be reborn as an ascended one."
As soon as I spoke those words the darkness that had been surrounding me vanished. I then broke out of a cocoon, and I noticed that my field of vision had been raised. I also felt a greater amount of magical power coursing through me than ever before. It felt as though I could kill people with a single word
"We have a winner!! This contest is over. The victorious team will advance in rank as a student of this school." The instructor for this event said which let me know that my goal was closer to me than ever before.
I would do whatever it took for me to both fulfill the contract that I had made with Carvis's younger brother, and I will break throughthedark vail to the people of her own race that betrayed her.