Jinx
Junior Member
Posts: 88
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Post by Jinx on Mar 25, 2023 2:54:48 GMT -6
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Jinx
Junior Member
Posts: 88
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Post by Jinx on Mar 25, 2023 2:59:56 GMT -6
Jinx climbed the steps carefully, not wanting to slip on the smooth, worn steps. How many people had passed through here before her? Hell, how many times had Ashe been one of those people? He had to have a lot of magic by now, she figured, but she hadn't cared enough to ask before. Now, she found herself wondering, and planning to ask him when she got back and added this one to his arsenal.
Before she knew it, she was at the top of the steps, walking across the flat rock floor to reach the round slab of an alter. There was more blood here, too, she noted. Probably because this was where the blood letting happened... The stairs was just where the remains were dragged. She swallowed thickly, glancing around. There were - beings - watching her from the edges of this place. She'd never seem them move, so she wasn't sure if they were alive or just statues. She averted her gaze, deciding she didn't want to know.
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Jinx
Junior Member
Posts: 88
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Post by Jinx on Mar 25, 2023 3:03:23 GMT -6
She reached the alter and carefully took the items out of her back. One by one, she gently placed them on the slab, in a semi circle with her at the base. The prismatic was directly in front of her, because she thought it looked pretty and wanted it to be the last thing she saw if she happened to pass out. Then she placed the mind crystal in the center. She took out the berry last and popped it into her mouth, chewing briefly. She relished the taste of the berry in her mouth, letting the juices run down her throat before she swallowed it. Was it really so tasty, she wondered, or was it just her knowing that this berry would be the life saver that might stand between her and death, if the fates grew angry and cursed this practice.
With the berry down the hatch, she picked up the lovely blade. So pretty, for such a brutal purpose.
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Jinx
Junior Member
Posts: 88
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Post by Jinx on Mar 25, 2023 3:16:22 GMT -6
Now came the part that she liked the least, even less than the grotesque displays. She had to cut herself. While she wasn't afraid of pain, didn't back down at the sight of blood - from a worthy fight, not from sacrificial remains - she didn't like causing it herself. She took a deep breath and touched the knife to the smooth skin of her inner arm, closer to her wrist. The cut would be shallow, in a place she could milk out enough blood without having it get out of hand. All she had to do was one drop on each of the stones, right? She clenched her teeth together and pressed down, drawing the sharp blade across her skin as a red line welled up and followed the metal. When she thought she had enough, she set the blade down and let her blood drip on each of the crystals, including the mind crystal. She had to use her other thumb to press against it to urge more out.
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Jinx
Junior Member
Posts: 88
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Post by Jinx on Mar 25, 2023 3:20:03 GMT -6
One by one, each hungry crystal got their fair droplet of her blood. When she was done, she gazed over her work, double checking that she had done everything: Eat the berry, check, spread out six magical crystals and a mind crystal to contain the power, check, used the dagger on herself and let a drop of blood fall on each, check... There was only one thing left to do, now. She dropped to her knees, controlled and gentle because who wants banged up knees when you have to work in the morning, and brought her hands together, then spread them wide and over her bowed head. This was how she prayed. She wasn't certain which gods, or deities in general, presided over this action, but this was the way she had been taught. She tried not to hold her breath, tried to keep her breathing even, slow, deep. But she felt her heart pounding even in her ears as she waited.
-Done
--c
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Post by NPC on Aug 8, 2023 19:33:45 GMT -6
Node creation: success! Cooldown period ends on March 25, 2024
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