An altar made of loose stones handpicked and stacked one after the other in a circle and stacked as high as five feet.
Dried leaves and dried grasses, handpicked and placed within and around the borders of the circle of stones. Fill in as high as five feet.
Firewood, hand-picked, sticks and broken branches, broken further into smaller pieces and placed on top of the stack of stones crisscrossing each other, making a stable base for the offering.
Two disembodied legs, placed at both sides, cut off from the waist and bent to an angle to fit upon the altar. Two arms are cut off at the shoulder and cut into four pieces and placed at both sides of the altar; fingers are peeled off to keep it decent.
Remove all organs from the body, leaving only the heart, bury all intestines and organs in the sand to keep the body decent, and make sure the body is on its back as you place it on the altar.
Pluck out the eyes and teeth and shave all hairs to make the offering decent. This is your final offering; this is how you ascend to greater heights; this is your passage to lord Indra.
This is your way to the lord of hell
*******
He could hear faint noises in his sleep; his ears had become very sharp since the night he fell off the cliff.
With his very sensitive hearing, little noises bothered him and made sleeping difficult, but he finally fell asleep. It had been a very long day of running around, and he finally found them; he just wanted some rest.
The moment they had shared by the fire warmed his heart, he dreamed of them having a farm again. He wanted to work his blood, sweat, and tears off for that, but to do that, he needed some rest today, the noise troubled him.
The constant rustling of dead grass and twigs on the ground made him walk up; it felt like they were inside his head.
At first, he heard a faint sound of stones clashing and clacking against each other, but then he managed to sleep through that one, too.
He was woken up a little while later by a sound he couldn't quite identify; he'd only heard something similar in a butcher shop, but it all seemed out of place in the dead woods, so he thought he was imagining it.
He heard it again, and even half asleep, he wondered about the uncanny similarities.
Later on, he heard a low footstep; it sounded like a person was tiptoeing, not wanting to be heard.
They were tiptoeing in his direction, and then it finally hit him; an alarm bell rang in his mind, and his senses came to life.
Morruders! He thought
He opened his eyes and instantly saw a flash of black iron crash into his face.
He was dead but only for a couple of seconds or hours, he couldn't tell which but his mind had come back to life but he was disoriented and couldn't tell what had happened
Who? Who? Who? Where? Where? Why is it all black in here?
For what seemed like a long while he couldn't tell, who or what he was as his brain slowly healed
Was that an axe? Why would anyone….Morruders!
He had enough awareness now to open his eyes, but they felt so heavy that he battled with his own body to open his eyes. His face had been dead for over an hour, so he was having a hard time reawakening his nerves.
Finally, he opened them, but his vision was blurred; he could only see large splashes of moving reds and yellows amidst a black canvas. Everything looked out of focus, and his vision slowly cleared; soon, he could see some things.
He saw a silhouette and realized it was Estiah; she held something round in her hand, and in a flash, she became engulfed in fire. She burned
'No!'
He screamed but his mouth was still dead so it came out hummed
He began to reactivate his dead body, but the urgency pushed him further. He couldn't stand there and watch, but he couldn't move either. She screamed and screamed and he couldn't look away
'What happening, how did this happen'
Soon he could feel his fingertips
'Come no, come on!' he screamed at himself; why are you so worthless? She needs you after all she has done for you. Are you just gonna lie here and watch? Come on! Get up already! She needs you!'
He could feel his legs again
Come on! Get up! Get up! get up!,
He could feel his arms coming back to life
She screamed in pain and he cried along with her. He could see a faint silhouette of her standing in the fire. She looked like a skeleton on fire, it was clear she was burnt to the bone.
Save her you worthless thing, get up.
He pushed hard on the ground, trying to push himself upward, he regained control of his arms, but many parts of his body were still dead, and he fought against them; they tried to pull him down, but he pushed back.
It all felt so painful, but he knew Estiah was in a way more pain than he'd imagined; he persevered, and the more pain he felt, the more alive he became.
He slowly got on his feet; his face was covered in blood from the axe attack; he couldn't walk; he just stood there; his legs felt so heavy, and he looked on as she burned.
He saw an altar and human flesh burning over on it.
He couldn't tell what was going on, all he knew he needed to do was save Estiah. So he put all his strength in and moved the first step forward.
He was breathing heavily, his heart had only started beating a few minutes ago and was working faster than ever to keep him alive and going.
Something strange began to form out of the fire; the air became filled with an ominous presence, and even half dead, he could still feel it.
Soon face formed dour of the altar fire, with red piercing eyes, he looked fair but was undeniably a monster, his horns were taken sharp out of the fire and the rest of his body formed out of it
The fire that burned Estiah began swirling around her like a torrent. Then, in a flash, it turned red, and it emanated an energy that flushed against his face.
The red fire died out and turned into very long, flowing hair. The hair floated around the place and flowed like it had a mind of its own, like a snake in water; it obscured his view of the altar, then it flowed away, and he could see, he could see her.
She was covered from head to toe in shining silver except for her face; it glowed with a soft pinkish hue, and her lips were blood red.
Her forehead was covered with the silver matter, and little on the side of her face, silver spikes shot out of her cheek and the edges of her curved face.
He took a step forward not believing she was still alive, not believing what he saw
The dead leaves rustled underneath his feet and she heard him and turned.
She had the look of that childish innocence he believed she had lost forever and she seemed more fair than ever before. She seemed a little shocked to see him, then she spoke through he soft red lip, saying,
"I'm sorry, Dorian."