The final ritual

Gorandis whispers: I take it your fight went well?
Lorelei whispers: I trust so. I am alive.
Gorandis whispers: Did you kill them? Your opponent...
Lorelei: <*The girl goes silent, thinking long and hard.*>
Lorelei whispers: Don't believe so. I have no fresh memories I can't place.
Gorandis whispers: The Queen of New Alteros did not perish at my hands either...
Lorelei whispers: Evasive, they can be. Backed into a corner, it's difficult to hold them down.
Gorandis whispers: You would be surprised how easy it was to pin the Queen down... So easily broken...
Lorelei whispers: You /chose/ mercy?
Gorandis whispers: I saw no point in killing her, not when her successor would be quick to seek vengeance.
Gorandis whispers: It is not choosing mercy to save one's own skin
Lorelei whispers: Don't fear vengance. Embrace it. Allowing others to live breeds weakness.
Lorelei whispers: What did you take from her?
Lorelei whispers: What have you gained?
Gorandis whispers: I used her to finalise my ritual. Her talents were most appreciated there... the souls of the dead served as powerful fuel.
Lorelei whispers: Oh? What do you plan for that? You never confirmed
Gorandis whispers: Ah, yes, I never did say... Well, how to put this... You know the spirit I had once used? Well I've put him to much better use... I've scattered his spirit across the continent in one great strand. One long rope of power. And now that it's woven and infused with the souls of the damned... All it will take is one good tug to draw in what I seek.
Lorelei whispers: Have you isolated a particular spirit? Or do you still plan on hoping for the best?
Gorandis whispers: A mixture of both, really... I'm going to gather them. As many as possible and then have them fight for survival... whichever wins... that shall be the one I will bind to me.
Lorelei whispers: Be sure to not die yourself.
Lorelei whispers: Spirits are more powerful then most that walk these damned grounds.
Gorandis whispers: I did not do all of this work to simply die to my own methods.
Lorelei whispers: I don't believe anyone seeks to die by their own hands but many still do.
Gorandis whispers: There's no chance anything will go wrong with how much the ritual has been stabilised.
Lorelei whispers: May Mordred make that so. You have my assistance if you need it.
Gorandis whispers: I will take you up on that offer, I need to gather the rift magi too, Celeana... she wished to help power the ritual. The Lifestream contains so much power afterall.
Lorelei whispers: So they say.
Lorelei whispers: You think she isn't a vulnerability? I've never spoke with her beyond once when she entered the Citadel.
Lorelei whispers: I know nothing of her.
Gorandis whispers: She is capable enough. Though I do wish she doesn't discover what became of her Queen. I feel she still has strange notions of loyalty.
Lorelei whispers: Then she is a vulnerability. For someone what worries so much about others coming for them you do leave yourself vulnerable.
Gorandis whispers: Perhaps I do still have some lingering humanity... But I still feel she can be an asset to use... And discard if needed.
Lorelei whispers: Mercy will be your downfall.
Lorelei whispers: You trust far too many.
Gorandis whispers: Mercy is just another tool to use until I can get what I want. Once I have that... I don't have to be so kind.
Lorelei whispers: Do you think you should give mercy to those who would not give it in turn?
Lorelei whispers: Do you even think you deserve mercy?
Lorelei whispers: ...So, what has become of the Queen of New Alteros anyway?
Lorelei whispers: I've never heard of her before now. Back to their tribelands?
Gorandis whispers: I don't know. Probably, it's likely she'll set a bounty on my head
Gorandis whispers: I never told her my name mind you
Gorandis whispers: But she had ample time to examine my face...
Lorelei whispers: Seems unwise.
Lorelei whispers: You should hurry your ritual, then, before you die for your 'mercy'.
Gorandis whispers: I wasn't exactly thinking straight at the time... The madness is still madness no matter how much I try to embrace it... And yes, i should hurry the final ritual along.
Lorelei whispers: Have you thought a location?
Gorandis whispers: Anywhere along the established thread will work
Lorelei whispers: That gives no context.
Gorandis whispers: Basically most places on Valmasia are viable to perform the ritual at
Lorelei whispers: So you haven't thought of a location.
Gorandis whispers: It is likely best to do so at the start of the chain though, back at the citadel
Lorelei whispers: Perhaps. You'll run into many of our own that will interfere. For they are very stupid.
Lorelei whispers: If you can handle that, it would serve well.
Gorandis whispers: I am well aware at how thick the members of this little group are...
Lorelei: <*The girl stands, abruptly.*>
Lorelei: I tire of this place. I hate tribelands. Noisy.
Lorelei: <*Without even a parting wave, she heads back towards the Sarab--if Gorandis wanted to continue speaking, he'd need follow.*>
Gorandis: <*He sighs, before standing*>
Lorelei: <*The Sarab! It's hot.*>

Lorelei only ever seemed to mock. It was infuriating. It was far worse than the Queen had ever given him, and considering how she had ended up... No, Gorandis pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind where they could ferment among the swill of the other black parts of his thoughts. Now was not the time to be making more enemies, not while he was so close.

So he sucked it up, following her away from Loranthis and back south towards the desert, where they had first met in fact. He was silent for the most part, taking the time to rein his own feelings and emotions in. There was no place here for angry outbursts. When he eventually did speak, it was in a cold and distant tone. Calm, yes, but very much uninviting.

"You shouldn't take me for a fool you know... Even if we do have differing experiences and outlooks on things. Mercy is, as I have said, a useful tool when dealing with people. There aren't many who would willingly deal with monsters and most that do are too stupid to even consider... Present company non-withstanding of course."

"It is much better to have people trust you than to have them fear you, at least while I'm still gathering power. The meek have to sacrifice so they can grow after all..." He frowned under his hood as he leant back on the rocky walls of the Sarab pass. "Though I despise considering myself meek."
(Gorandis)

Weiss walks up north to the place known as Loranthis, it was undercontrol of the Imperfect Lord known as Dumuzid Balaraq, he was a powerful man who was able to dethrone the powerful sin known as Caliope and with great sucess too. It wasn't really surprising to see that he won, Weiss heard of his power and saw the things he was able to do even at the Kaor level.

This young Ookami decided it would be great to go see what his army was about. That was what he was going to do the other day before that blind Sarradian asked him for help around.

The bastard had the audacity to think Weiss was a girl, which provoked him into grabbing his throat and cutting it with his sharp claws that dug into his neck area.

No one speaks badly about his hair and gender and get away with it.

The lad finally manages to reach the valley area to pass through to find himself in the nothern praries but there were two people at the entrance of it. Seemingly guarding it. A man wearing rather dark clothing and had a beautiful staff with a glowing red gem centered in it.

The other was a being with a depraved feeling from them, a mutated purple arm that look similar to that of a yokai's.

"Uhm...Hello. Are you two men of Dumuzid? Considering your here guarding from what I see."
(Weiss S. Valefor)

The Sarab!

It might actually, truely, be Lorelei's land at this point--her self-enforced dominion now having none that would dare challenge her. Before, the forces of Nostvale or Loranthis could have been able to move troops in and police--but now? Nostvale will likely be locked tight within their walls and Loranthis was very positive on how they viewed Lorelei.

It loses a bit of something, really, to lord over a domain that doesn't actively resist the ruling. As if it is too easy--the conflict that Lorelei brewed becoming almost implicit and routine. Where was the spice in it all?

Back to the channel of the Sarab they go...

"I am a monster." The girl retorts, taking out a leathered notebook and a pen. It was her thinking spot--the wall behind her covered in rituals, failed and otherwise. Most are deteriorated from the harsh winds, for they never lasted long at all, but like the dustings upon a chalkboard that has since been erased they linger like echos of the past upon the limestone walls.

"You are to claim people don't deal with me? I deal with many. I kill many more. I am not unapproachable because I have such a body count to my name. Trust is--" A weakness, she is presumed to have begun, before another comes on in. An interloper! A traveler? A merchant? A child, surely. "--see? Unafraid. People on this mainland are never afraid. They care so little. They all care so very little!"

The afflicted limb of the girl juts out to gesture towards Weiss, barely even glancing to the ookami boy as he attempts to exit the Sarab. "You are holding yourself back by caring. Stop caring. People don't hold trust because they'll betray it when it's convenient. At no point, even now, do you have allies that would be considered trusting or those that will do you service without compensation. You're going to fall into your own trap. You'll think they trust you, so you let your guard down--then you die."

A huff, looking towards Weiss proper now. "...Do what you will, but be ready to deal with the consequences. What is a child doing in my Sarab? You pass for a reason? Do you come from the lands of Nostvale? New Alteros? Are you an Exorcist? There's a toll, you know."
(Lorelei)

Gorandis remained silent as she spoke, the frown on his face becoming thin and close to bearing his teeth. But, with a clench of his hands he calmed himself down just enough to not lash out. Not now... in due time, maybe, but not now... "Then perhaps we should start teaching people why they should fear... Why they should respect. I am so very tired of people not giving me the proper respect..."

"I do care too much. You don't live as a regular person for over twenty years and easily discard that. Pieces still linger like rotten flesh clinging to shambling bones... It will need discarding, eventually... After all, I have already done monstrous things myself." He turns his baleful gaze to the approaching Ookami and mutters something under his breath.

He shifts his arms to fold them across his chest and settles further against the wall. "You should listen to the fine lady. It is not wise to cross her lands so unabashedly. Or else you will find out just what makes men consider us monsters..." His frown deepens as he falls silent. The ever present tug of the contracted spirit was starting to annoy him.

It was all stretched so thinly...
(Gorandis)

Weiss was trying to go past for the sake of seeing what the great Dumuzid is about. Maybe even pledge allegiance to him but these two guards insist it's not safe to trespass. That may very well be true that it would not be good for him to pass by, he could get his life snatched from him by these "Monsters". However wasn't all that pure himself. His finger nails were sharp and stained by blood.

A worshipper of Saekanis is what he was and he was devoted to becoming the strongest Ookami Ice magi, that was a dream but it could become a possibility if he trained hard enough and worked hard towards that goal. However for now, he would have to seek out the right tools that are missing in his conquest for power.

The two of these people seemed to be having a conversation but his arrival was noticed as the depraved arm was pointed towards him and he couldn't help himself but smile. As hideous as the arm was, soemthing about it was shockingly interesting. It could draw the attention of anyone, like a worm on a fishing rod, it could bait all the victims towards it.

"I may be a child but this child only wants power. I am not a man of Nostvale nor New Alteros. I am far from holy aswell, I only want to pass for the sake of seeking out Dumuzid. I know getting him to talk to me is a high demand but I simply wish to join his army, growing stronger and have a good purpose in my life for once. It's better than stealing all the time for sure..Also..As an Ookami I a far from being anything less than a monster~"
(Weiss S. Valefor)

"You don't get respect because you don't demand respect. You don't carry yourself like someone to be respected. Trust and amicability won't give you respect. Fear gives you respect. When they're afraid, they listen, because they know if they do not they will die."

Whether or not Gorandis is able to discard the shreds of empathy within him is another thing. Lorelei, deep down, will likely never see the spirit summoner as a peer due to his inability to fully adapt--the growth of his youth too deeply ingrained within his spirit to be broken. Too much time to learn the wrong way--to see the world incorrectly. His view is forever warped.

...Though, truthfully, the only warped view is Lorelei's. It's an angry viewpoint, one of sadism and envy. That those she encounters should be as miserable as she was and, in many respects, is. That the misery was the natural state of things and those that don't mindlessly follow in her guise deserving of death for the sole reason of their worst sin--joy.

She moves to continue, the girl behind the cowl's lips opening slightly before harshly shaking her head and shifting towards the ookami. "You're still here." She speaks, as if she hadn't just moments ago demanded a toll. "Dumuzid? Soldier? You look pathetic. You're going to die. I may personally kill you. You're going to want to talk far less and start listening far, far more. Go. Do your best to not annoy anyone--you won't survive it."

Lorelei hated children.

She also hated the fodder that Dumuzid had grown to love.

In many respects, she hated most of what Dumuzid had given strength to--but that was a battle for another time.
(Lorelei)

"Yes, that little tart of a Queen didn't show me any respect... at least until I broke her. Writhing on the ground, begging me..." His lips curled up into a horrid smile. "Yes... yes I could definitely do with more of that. To make people fear... that wont take much given what I have planned, planned far beyond this next ritual after all."

"To make them terrified of me..." He looked over at the Ookami child. "That imperfect has enough fodder as it is. Do you best to not step on anyone's toes or you might find yourself regretting every decision you ever made. There are no second chances and even less patience so go. Get out of our sights." He jerked his thumb to the side and turned back to Lorelei.

To make people fear him... He really had enjoyed breaking the once proud Queen. Going between the stages, first her haughtiness, then her composure then her ideals until finally everything was stripped away leaving nothing but a sobbing, puddle of a person. And if he could do that to a Queen, imagine what he could do to the common man...

He would finally get the respect... no, the fear that he deserved.
(Gorandis)

Weiss knew this was going to get terrifying but gosh, these two made it quite clear he would die if he messed up. So basically he had to be on his best behavoiur and not screw around with anyone or that could be the end of is life. He was sure to be careful with every move he made and would not lose his life today.

"Don't worry. I'll be working along side you too soon enough hehe~" He'd smile with crazy looking eyes and his smile widned showing his sharp teeth, he looked sadistic. His true nature behind the beauty of his face, the true nature of a Saekenis worshipper. Cannibalistic and monstrous, with magic powers and fighting prowess that proves to be greater than the puny Asena followers.

"See you~"
(Weiss S. Valefor)

Lorelei merely watches Weiss leave.

"Three years." She speaks, finally, as the teen departs--the visage of the ookami flickering in the distance as he runs towards his untimly demise at the hands of the thralls of darkness. "I say he has three years before someone kills him for being obnoxious."

Three years was such a short amount of time--yet so long to the average man. In the eyes of a magi it flickers in an instant, but to those who toil so strongly day to day it is a small eternity.

Lorelei shifts, penning into her book a small note. Adramalech whispers, lightly, towards the girl--dictating each stroke of the pen and each movement of her wrist. It was such a precise ritual! What she jots, clearly, is false--when the time comes for a larger scale, however?

Perfection--and nothing less.

"...Watch out for planning too far ahead." Speaks the witch between her strokes. "Tomorrow is never the same. At any moment, we can be told Dumuzid has fallen. That Nahele is dead. At any moment you can fall over, downed by an assassin you never once saw. Too many plans--just act. It's all this world respects--actions and force."
(Lorelei)

"Then the time for planning is over. Everything has fallen into place. The domino are set and all it takes is that one. Last. Push. If your offer of aid is still valid then come, we should return to the citadel, the start of the thread. Everything for the final ritual has been collected, carved and enchanted. Everything is ready and now thanks to the Necromancer's aid, there is little that can go wrong."

"It is time to see if there are any worthy spirits, any worthy demons. A creature worthy of subjugating, not some ratty nobody warrior. Not even some fallen Magi, no... no what I want is something far more. Something the very sight of which will be enough to strike fear into the hearts of whomsoever sees it. And even more fear when they see the man who controls it..."

Grandiose, yes and perhaps even unviable. But Gorandis wanted this, he wanted just... something to make people respect him. And having a demon at his beck and call... oh they'd have to respect that, they'd have to fear that, fear him... And further down the line? Who knows what could be done. With the creature's knowledge and experience of the spirit realm, Gorandis had far more planned for it.

But that could all wait, he had to summon his own demon first. "So, if the offer does still stand, then let us travel... Let us return to the wretched citadel..."
(Gorandis)

Gorandis sure was dramatic.

"There is plenty that can go wrong. The most important part is being ready to deal with it when it does. You care too much." Yet the book closes with a slap, Lorelei pulling herself off the wall and advancing forth towards Gorandis. "You don't know what sits within the Spirit Realm. I would wager if one delves deep enough they could find the sealed souls of angels."

No, that was a lie--or, perhaps more strictly, simply false. Powerful souls existed upon the plane, but to think an angel could be is nothing less then myth.

"Lead. Let's see where your preparation gets you."

She'd never quite delved deep into the realm proper yet--it was an interesting prospect to actually see it.
(Lorelei)

The journey was equally parts uneventful and boring. Given who they were and more importantly, who they worked for, Gorandis had expected to come across some sort of patrol travelling across at least the prairies. But there was nothing... Perhaps they were reeling from the loss of Loranthis still, it was hard to tell with some of these rulers...

They could be so arrogant and yet so very very foolish all the same. All of his thought trails seemed to lead to that Queen. If she hadn't been so arrogant and so haughty and just, so very very annoying... it wouldn't have come to it. But he wanted to shame her, to break her, to let her know what it was like to be him... and he had...

The journey was likely littered with sparse conversations though the pair never really seemed to be the talkers when it came to anything mundane. "So then, tell me, why do you hate the big 'tribes' so much? Truthfully I too see their flaws but you seem to have some kind of ingrained hatred against them... What was your old tribe like, in the south east jungles, right?"

"I do wonder how your mindset ended up the way it has."
(Gorandis)

Lorelei just liked to travel, truth be told. It made her feel like she owned the world--for there was but one soul that could stop her.

It was a good feeling. It was freedom.

"I dislike order." Speaks Lorelei quietly, peering around the citadel as they arrive. "I dislike laws. I dislike the weakness it breeds. I dislike the safe-guarding of the elite. Surrounded by guards, by walls, by arcana. The slaves they breed. Walls, all of it. Weak men who don't deserve where they are coercing others to be their strength. It's disgusting--it's limiting--and it deprives people of who they are.

The strong should eliminate the weak--but these people. They only think they are strong. Because otherrs think they're strong, they're afraid of them. Lies--all of it. A facade--an illusion. I hate the illusion of safety. Certainty. Words. Diplomacy. Trash--all of it.

You don't need to imagine much about my tribelands. It's nothing special. Bloodbaths yearly to see who had potential. A sacrifice of those who didn't. Lashings and abbraisions to teach hatred. Slavery to teach servitude. It was all to break minds. Either they killed their slavemaster or accepted their role. I've just come to understand that those who reigned were not powerful at all.

I dislike that."

Lorelei falls silent, not yielding anything more. Her voice lacks fury--lacks emotion. As if merely answering the question as if she were a robot.

"Show me what you have thus far."
(Lorelei)

"For someone who dislikes the strong coddling the weak you have a knack of sticking around Dumuzid and not offing the weak. Myself included in that. You could have done away with me when we first met, before i'd even had the chance to move past what i was. Even now I still haven't fully moved past and yet you are here, about to help me..."

He shakes his head slowly but doesn't press the point instead beginning to pace around the pool in the centre of the room. The depths were dark and Gorandis couldn't tell if Dumuzid's frozen prize was still down there. But no matter the ritual could go on no matter what was around it. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small bag of thick, black ash.

Usually he would have just burnt the ritualistic circle into the ground with his own magics, but this needed a far more... symbolic touch to it. Especially if he wanted to have it be as successful as possible. "That Ookami grave you told me of.. I returned there with my spirit after I had properly subjugated it. He did seem to have some strong ties there."

"And so the materials there would respond strongly with his spirit. And by materials of course I mean the forgotten corpses... Now nothing more than ash in my hand." As he spoke he began to draw the main body of the circle in a thick, wide line around the edge of the pool. "As for what I have so far... here." He held his hand out, the usual gesture he made for summoning his spirit.

But instead of the air solidifying in the usual way all that happened was an absolute cacophony of wailing poured out of the air besides him and instead of a human shape there was simply a glowing, dense more of white energy. "That is all that is left of the spirit, the very end of a rope that circles the entire country. And we are going to tighten the knot."
(Gorandis)

Lorelei is content to simply watch the phantasm form in the central nexus of the room, peering on with simple interest. "You'll be keen to not speak to me in a way I do not like. If you believe that I rely on Dumuzid to protect me then I'll have you speak to several other souls that are now forever lost due to my actions." The witches' tone is not as placid as her gaze, sadly.

"I act as I act because I want to. I assist because I gain from it. I assist Dumuzid because I gain from it. His strength isn't even as powerful as it needs to be. In the terms of Yokai, he is still a fledgeling. I'm not sure if he recognizes that. Too young, he is. Too much to learn before ascention. I'm forcibly expediting his ascenton to perfection."

Dumuzid was a tool--in the end, he was a gateway to a better tomorrow for Lorelei. Her 'altruism' around the imperfect was simply a vessel for what she wanted--something she believes only a perfect can accomplish.

Ulterior motives begetting benevolent movements.

"...And the only reason I didn't kill you originally was because it amused me more to hear your story and see your spirit. I am not a mindless killer. I am a mindful killer. Take much care in knowing the difference."

Adramalech's whispering ceases, perhaps visualizing the spiritual nexus in the center of the chambers and realizing what exactly it was--perhaps, somehow, being drawn ever so lightly away from the vessel he was tied to.

"To what end?" Queries the summoner as she brings her depraved arm forward--a light pulse of energy tugging weakly at the creation. "Are you attempting to quarentine an entire section of the spirit realm to dive into? See what lingers there and pick what you wish?"
(Lorelei)

He continued to write the circle as he spoke, the thick black ash sticking to the slightly damp stonework. "No, I did not mean my words in such a fashion. I was merely wondering why you do not truly speak out about him coddling all of those that will truly not get anywhere. All of this... fodder as they are. Children, footsoldiers, the ones that are a waste of space."

"The ones that could be replaced by the lesser forms of Yokai. I wonder why you have not let your distaste known... But I suppose you have partially answered that too. You are using him, using everyone, people live and die at your whim depending on how much they can help. an outlook on life that is far too similar to the one shaping up before me."

The thick outer lines of the circle was completed and Gorandis pressed his foot down onto the surface of the water. Unfortunately, unlike the last time he tried it didn't solidify, Dumuzid was too far away... that would make this next part more challenging... but not impossible. Shaking the water from his foot he began to mutter what seemed like an incantation under his breath.

But all it really was, was the steps he was about to perform. A thick net of the crimson lightning arced across the surface of the pool and Gorandis began to scatter the ash onto it. The charged currents caught the particles and held them in the air, the red bands of lightning becoming thick black ropes of suspended ash across the surface of the pool.

And the ash was starting to form into the proper shape of the ritual circle. Lorelei's arm would undoubtedly pick up the sensation of a myriad of souls being imperfectly bound to the small appearance of the spirit. Gorandis and Valeria had done an imperfect job of it after all. "Not to dive into, but yes, I wish to seal off a large chunk of it. To drive the wandering spirits inwards."

"And then I will... incite them, see how they all react, the more violent ones will be penned in further and further until the begin to properly brawl and then... well then the victor shall be the one to come under my service. Or at least, that was the plan. Now though... I can't help but feel there would be an easier way if your Adramalech got involved."

"Though I also can't help but feel like he would betray me without hesitation."
(Gorandis)

A platform? Fancy--Lorelei merely walked upon water because the water had a tendancy to obey her. She never considered that it wasn't a natural part of other magi, but they all had their own ways, she presumed.

"Adramalech is mine. I have plans for this demon, and I will not let him be risked for your sake." For the creature was a precious treasure, through and through. A betrayer and a schemer, it lightly guided Lorelei deeper and deeper into a ritual that would eventually free him. Immortality, it promises. Power beyond measure. Life beyond life--enough to fell the imperfect and enough to not need it's perfection.

Lies, most of it. Lorelei knows that well. Still, she finds herself drawn to comply--even now learning from a peer on the arts they craft. She watches, idly, as the ashes scatter upon the ground within the make-shift ritual circle, taking light note (but not literal note, though she ought to) of the structure of the circle. Runes, at the end of the day, were akin to an alphabet--and there were many different ways to 'say' the same spell.

"And for your record," Lorelei continues, her tone dipped with the lightest of venom as if she perceives to have been slighted. "I have argued with Dumuzid much about his penchant for the weak. I dislike how many he takes in. He chooses quantity over quality. I've responded by personally culling his weakest links. I can evoke memories of them if you desired."

It was likely highly unnecessary--and a bluff, truth be told. The memories all linger together, blurring with Lorelei's own. Where Juhl begins, where Rein ends, and where Zelex emerges is too difficult to interpret. All were Lorelei's--and none were not. She perceives herself within each memory, her body changing--but never once can she see if it's not her.

Madness is easy to fall into when it warps your core so deeply that you cannot see the original features.

"And--if you're goal is to take the strongest--a notable one at that..." Lorelei's lips curl ever so lightly with thought. "...You'll better hope your wards are strong or it may just take you. An unbound demon is vicious and powerful."
(Lorelei)

Gorandis continued to traverse the net, scattering the ashes exactly where they needed to be, he caught Lorelei's expression of muted curiosity as he continued to draw. He had no bother with her copying his work. There was no need to try and hide it. She seemed capable enough of reproducing it without him... She even had Adramalech...

That floating skull uneases him, but not for the obvious reasons. The way it whispered, only to her and how it seemed to sneer without a face. Oh how he wanted to shatter it, too. But Gorandis had spent the last few years learning how to control or at least mute his urges, he wasn't about to let them get to him here, not when he was so close to it all.

"I would rather you didn't invoke the memories of lesser imbeciles. I'd rather not have their prattling to distract me. Surely it would be better to feast on the strong? I don't see why you would want weaklings to be a part of yourself, truly... But I suppose a few times you likely didn't have a choice in the matter did you? That arm... it gives and t takes."

He stepped off the net and returned to where he had discarded his bag, this time pulling out several skulls. A lot of them seemed mostly human though there were signs on some that showed them to be ookami and among the non human ones were the skull of Yokai ranging through various different evolutions. Each skull was intricately carved with sigils and runes and scattered the light on their polished surface.

"Some of these were from that Ookami tomb. Some from when I let my urges get the better of me and others from the recent war itself. I should have taken the Queen's head... that would have made a good conduit..." he sighed as he paced back around the outskirts of the circle, placing the carved foci at equidistant intervals.

"I am not strong enough to do this ritual without a lot of symbolism... but these will help me to manipulate the souls the Queen poured into the mix. I affixed them myself so I should be able to manipulate them best... But I suppose we are ready to begin, if you are... I must say there isn't much for you to directly do. but if this demon is far stronger than I hoped... then I will need your power to contain it."
(Gorandis)

"Power comes from mana."

Lorelei explains, stepping forward lightly to test the strength of the inner-net herself upon the water, more out of curiosity then anything else. It was interesting to feel the thrum and crackle of hellstorm at her feet--a facet of magic she never felt before She seems to almost attempt to bounce, lightly, against the threads to see if they would give--or if they would push back with an equal response.

"Mana comes from the soul."

Again she tries, a weak push of her feet against the netting to little avail--tough! It was what she expected, but even she could field her own lightest amounts of curiosity from time to time. "Within myself are souls--even if fragments thereof--and their essence empowers me. It is like the Yokai that devour their kin. Each meal gives strength, each bit a boost towards their ascention. I am not able to evolve like they can--but it is not to say I cannot grow."

With a weak hop does Lorelei advance back over the dustings on the ground, grasping Adramalech's vessel tightly in her healthy hand and her corrupted hand both. "I am unsure if I would be able to assist if I had no devoured so many. Power comes from many places--but most certainly it begins in the soul."

Adramelech's whispers, slowly, return. They're cautious--though Gorandis is unable to understand them, he can at least presume an intonation of how they're spoken. As if warning Lorelei away from assisting--as if mentioning the dangers to Adramelech himself.

But, the girl whispers back equally as unintelligably, she is confident she has the binding under control. Adramalech wouldn't be lost--Gorandis? Gorandis just might.

"Do what you need. I can stabalize the ritual to keep the wards from falling. Adramalech is not simply a bound demon--but an auger for spirituality. An anchor in and of himself."

Lorelei's depraved limb thrums with power as it grasps Adramalech, the demon-bound itself slowly becoming brighter with a silver, spiritual energy.

"You should begin."
(Lorelei)

Gorandis gives a single nod and throws his hood back, raising his arms up to his side. "Then begin I shall...." From the palms of his hands comes a thick stream of the hellstorm magic, it flails through the air before attaching itself to the previously created net. The strands of black and red rose up to create a thick shell around the single white mote in the centre.

Even now, the wailing continued as the cage was locked around it in a large sphere or crackling black and red. The suspended ash joined up and formed new, previously unseen sigils and they began to glow a deep purple. The ashen circle surrounding the pool began to glow too, the same sickly, purple that fumed away from the floor like poison from a children's story.

The fumes thickened from their wispiness into tendrils, these tendrils thickened further into tentacles, the same that were used in all of his previous rituals. But now, they thickened further into the shape of grasping, clawing hands. They shot out, weaving themselves between the spaces in the net and began to cling to the single white mote and the wailing ceased.

The grasping, scraping hands tore away at one another until they all managed a solid grip. Gorandis lowered his hands slightly before bringing them back up in a whipping motion. The skulls that had been placed shattered, their fragments rising into the air and forming a small ivory circle of orbiting dust around the main sphere.

The ashen circle rose up to join it, forming a rotating counterpoint to the spinning ivory. Deep purple and pale white orbiting a shell of red. The hands, now having fully grasped onto the white mote began to pull. But not pull towards, pull apart. The White mote expanded into a crackling void of pure black, one that was still rimmed with the white energy as depravity flooded into the room.

Some of the hands removed themselves from the corona and dove into the black depths where they began their search for the white thread and once they found it, they began to pull it through. The thread dissipated as soon as it crossed the threshold, dispersing into glimmering colours that cascaded away, sinking into the dark pool below where the colours died out as they fell.

"Now I just need to keep a steady pull... Keep the wards up, I don't want anything pushing its way through as I do this... who knows what exactly I'll attract by doing this..."
(Gorandis)

To many, the wailing and gnashing of spiritual teeth is off-putting and horrific. It is a seal to another reality that is weakening, slowly, and exposing the horros outside. The Malpercian was a rare exception--not that by virtue of her blood was she immune to the terrors within the souls of men, but from exposure. Adramalech whispers--Juhl cries--Rein screams--Lei'la rages--Zelex argues.

Within the depths of her mind is an ever-raging maelstrom of voices, drowned out by Lorelei's own dominant will. The outward screams merely kindle the inward ones as they echo in kind to the spirits within the realm. They weren't soul-bound, the spirits--merely echoes of souls that have long departed to the stars. Some say they're the lingering memories of souls still burning, having no space within the stars to go.

Lorelei doesn't know--most Valmasians don't truely, either. Celestial bodies were complicated and difficult to study. Few could enter into the spatial realms outside the ones bound by gravity to see.

Adramalech is grasped, tightly, as if to hold him to the plane and refuse to let him escape more then anything else. It thrums, in tandum with Lorelei's own callings, with energy to support the wards--as if he were a giant holding closed a gate that a horde now bangs upon. Aesthetically--well, aetsthetically it is quite boring. Little more then a hum of arcana eminates from the girl as she fixates her efforts--

--but Gorandis can tell it isn't her full effort. For the full effort...well, had Gorandis ever seen her fight? Only by allowing--or being forced to let-- the parasite to take full control can she tap into that dirgeful energy.

Sadly, it would never really cooperate with rituals or complex logic.

"Don't speak to me as if I am not the more potent arcanist."

Lorelei's reply is harsh, but she complies--Adramalech acting as an amplifier of her energies, sealing the wars around the ritual tightly to keep the damned contianed. Little more then a barely-visible energy surrounds it all, ephemeral as the spirits themselves, a barrier between planes.

As to what Gorandis will attract? Anything--for the plane contains creatures from beyond this continent and beyond this life. From beyond this generation. A hero? A demon? A beast? A phantasm of a concept? Picking a demon at random--it is quite akin to rolling a loaded die.
(Lorelei)

"When it's your ritual I'll give you all the airs you need but for now, just keep those wards up!" His voiced is sharp and pained with effort. The thread was looped around the country carefully and accurately, yes. But it was still massive and as such it needed a massive amount of power to shift properly... Oh if only he had grabbed Celeana for this too...

The shimmering barrier of warding was noted and Gorandis took this to begin putting in the real work. As if he hadn't been doing enough already... The hands began to pull in great strides. Feet moved on this side could have been miles on the other side... or even inches... Gorandis had studied the calculations for locations heavily but still.

He wasn't good enough to do it on the fly. But the rope was pulled further and further and he started to feel the resistance. Calling a rope wasn't entirely accurate but it was the best descriptor he could have actually given it. It was like a solid wall of energy surrounding everything, but seeing it from the top down, it would look like a knot tightening as one end was pulled.

The bodies were beginning to pile up against the wall, spirits eager to escape, no wanting to be dragged around. he couldn't blame them, be he would never let them escape. He raised his hands higher and more purple effigies shot out and dove through to the other side. More effort, more strain on Gorandis... And he could see Lorelei being so comparatively languid.

Still, he made no complaints because he had no breath to spare on them. The walls were pulled in closer and closer. Hemming in The spirits of all kinds further and further. If his previous calculations were correct then as a real world example, all of the spirits would be contained within the Bygone at this point, the Citadel included.

And each minute that passed they were being drawn closer and tighter... if Gorandis could hold them all there that is. He had to do something to ease the load... With as much effort as he could spare, he turned to Lorelei. "You're good at winding people up. I need you to entice the spirits, just something to get them to stop acting against me like this. I need some breathing room."
(Gorandis)

Ah, aggression! So Gorandis was gaining a spine--good!

The wards maintain--Adramalech sealing the proverbial walls with a spirit-tight ward that repels the energies within. In truth, Lorelei has little idea how the wards function. She knew of their existance--the conjurations needed to maintain them and the important mental chants to keep up in order to keep them strong but she lacked so much knowledge on the function of the arcana.

Like a mechanic welding a shattered blade back together, he may not know how the torch functions but knows very well how to use it and why it works. Such was the difficulty in advancements of magic against the ignorance of an uneductated mind.

"...Are you certain?" Is Lorelei's only response to the cry of Gorandis--had he been so weak he needed her to entice them? Was she going to--

Lorelei bites her lip, lightly drawing blood, as a moment of confliction seems to last forever as she internally debates whether or not to actually assit. It was a risk--not to her, no, but to Gorandis--for invoking the only aspect of her arcana that would draw them might just incite the parasite.

...Well. Whatever happens, happens.

Lorelei takes a deep intake of breath--

--and then the wailing of the damned increases exponentially, originating now from Lorelei. Fragments of souls surge out from the girl in a screaming maelstrom of spiritual and depraved energies, the souls lost within herself orbiting her--for she was their anchor to these planes. She was the keeper of the souls--and they were fused to her.

They wail--they scream--and in turn, Lorelei bleeds. From her eyes--from her mouth--from her nose--from her armor.

Rapidly, Lorelei begins to decay under the duress of sustaining the storm of souls. In turn, spirits likely flee from the girl or surge towards her--dependant on only the attractive properities of each individual soul. Their personalities--their histories--their wants and desires.

Gorandis need act quick. If he took too long, the damage upon Lorelei might shock her system and send the parasite into control!
(Lorelei)

Of all the things he had expected... this was not one of them. The screams were almost enough of a shock to cause him to falter, but he had come too far for that to be the case... far too far. It was disturbing the amount of power and depravity that now exuded from the girl. He knew she was strong, but this... this was truly why she was feared.

But the fear motivated him to act fast and he could feel it on the other side, forces working against him slackened as the spirits began to work themselves up. And then the second wave of terror hit as the spirits began to work their way towards Gorandis' ritual. They were all coming here, all of the spirits were coming for him soon...

Well, soon it was possible that Lorelei would be coming for him too. He was most certainly stuck between a rock and a hard place. The hands pace quickened up, the rainbow hued cascade of energy poured out as the rope disintegrated in this realm, all that power was being wasted but it had to be, there was no way of him really controlling it.

The parasite however, who knew what it could do with that kind of raw spiritual power... Still Gorandis kept pulling and it got harder and harder, but not because the spirits were fighting against him, no, he was simply starting to run out of space. He had drawn them in tighter to within the surrounding cliffs outside the citadel.

They were almost ready, almost here. He could taste his victory... and then his eyes moved to Lorelei again as the blood poured from her he couldn't just... But she had done this for him, yes? But... No, no he was a monster now... he had to be. If he helped her he wouldn't get thanks or even an acknowledgement, he'd get scolded.

And he wasn't a child. "Just hold out for a few minutes longer. It's almost done!" He just needed to tie the knot, that was all. They were drawn in close enough that he could stop this now. The spirits would fight one another now that Lorelei had roused them, he would just have to wait for it to die down before summoning one of them...

"Just five more minutes..." The last bits of the multicoloured energy poured out and the hands grasped at it, forcing it back into the gaping maw between realms. He needed all the energy he could get for this and he was gathering it. The hellstorm magic surged around him, empowering him though at the same time it struck at him, he didn't have the patience nor the concentration to control it right now.

He was so close to being done...
(Gorandis)

The world grows darker...

Sustaining the souls of the damned she had reaped was an intense exercise, one that will eventually kill the girl if she sustains it too long. They are tied to her soul, now, each fragment that swirls around them. Each tugging away--for they were being pulled by a thousand other stars vying for the return to the natural order. Like dogs on a chain, they bark and run, each trying to break the tether they have and be free in the world once more.

Souls are not meant to be chained in such a way--they resist with all their might.

Yet they still are raw mana in it's most pure form--Lorelei's chanting and abilities amplified greatly from the duress she experiences. Blood pools upon her feet, eyes becoming bloodshot and nearly blind from the exposure. She cannot speak--not now, for if she tried she may choke on the blood that wells up within. Rationality, slowly, fades as her reflexive arcana takes control.

Adramalech rattles, an engine of spirituality being pushed past the redline, as the energy coursing through it rapidly reaches a resonance frequency. To the effect of what Gorandis wished, the walls were strong. Adramalech himself likely wouldn't be able to breach the empowered wards that Lorelei forces him to conjure.

But Gorandis, still, works against a timer--it wasn't that Lorelei was to die before the ritual's end--but she may simply lose her mind to the parasite. Would the parasite want to finish the ritual? Would the parasite want anything but rejuvination?

Gorandis gambles not with just his own life but the success of his ritual every moment that Lorelei is left channeling.
(Lorelei)

The hands worked feverishly as Gorandis' own shook with the strain and effort. Even now, even after all of this the black gate between worlds was still holding strong, a testament to the ritual preparation more than anything else. But Gorandis' own spells within were starting to falter, so much effort for so long. No, he couldn't do it, they didn't have enough time...

Changes would have to be made. The hands gave one final yank of the rope before diving in fully into the abyss, they groped blindly and madly against all kinds of creatures and shapes. Not even half of them were human. Most of which made Gorandis shudder at even just the outline, but he carried on, probing, exploring as quickly as he could.

The hands themselves were picked off the longer they stayed. Intruders into a system that rejected them. But, eventually, the hands grasped around a single form. Size was difficult to measure and so was strength. Gorandis didn't know what he had chose but he had chosen it nonetheless. It really would come down to the roll of a die despite all their preparation and effort.

The rope unravelled and the wailing amplified. All of the spirits were now free and they cascaded in every direction away. They tugged and pulled at the hands as they passed, destabilising some and outright destroying others. But this new spirit was still being pulled. It wasn't human, Gorandis could tell that much but interpreted touch was a hard thing to use accurately...

The hands approached the entrance to the void and they tugged the shape through, a thick, cloying black mass that shimmered and shuddered in the light as if it wanted to avoid it as much as possible. The shape flowed almost like a liquid as the hands dropped it into the cage, the cage fortified by wards that began to shrink in on it.

The gateway itself collapsed, violently reverting itself and sending out a thick pulse of depravity. The captured spirit was shapeless, formless, not even a face could be made out. But Gorandis had no time to mull it over, the cage snapped over its form and the red lightning thickened into scorching chains that bound the creature within the air.

"You can drop the wards! I have it!" His gave went to her bloodied form again and he bit his own lip with a throaty growl as he turned his attention back to his captured prize... whatever it was.
(Gorandis)

The ritual, in the end, had a large element of chance to it.

For the souls whirl around Lorelei, orbiting with a diresome pull, slowly tearing at her own soul; it was a pain unyielding, torment that none but those within the stars themselves feel. The touch of blade upon flesh evokes nerves to respond with an electrical shock to the mind--a touch upon the soul causes the entire structure of the mana which sustains life to rattle and shake. All nerves--all cellular structures--echo that pain.

There was only so long Lorelei could sustain. There was only so much blood she could lose before her mind was lost to the parasite--the parasite that acted, in this case, as a safety net to stop suicidal ideas. In the end, malevolent and hungry as it was, it desired survival of both itself and it's host. Lorelei would not die so long as it had energy--and it would not lose such a potent host for such a foolish ritual.

Just as it creeps along the spine--just as it begins to bite into the nerves to directly take control of the stem of the brain--

He echos.

So faint! Though he screams, it's barely registered! It takes a solid second for Lorelei to understand that words were spoken at all before, in a sudden eruption of depraved energies, come the whirling souls raging back within her corrupted arm. Lorelei falls, immediately, upon her knees--panting and hacking as blood still drips from her orifaces as her internal being slowly attempts to regenerate.

Had Gorandis taken just a twinge longer--had the ritual gone on and not been resolved--the parasite could have taken over, looking for a sacrfice to rejuvinate herself.

There was but one body nearby to sate it...

With a deep wheeze does Lorelei, shakily and bloodily, turn towards the summoner.

"...Well." She speaks, her gaze still clouded with blood and bruising. "What have you found?"
(Lorelei)

His attention was slowly diverted away from the creature struggling against its bonds as he turned to face Lorelei. She was in such a sorry state, but she had agreed to this and done it of her own volition. No mercy. No Sympathy. "You know you don't half know how to make things interesting..." But perhaps there would still be a small amount of caring.

"How are your wounds? Do you need treatment?" He closed his mouth for a second and turned back to the caged being. his arms were still outstretched infront of him, attempting to contain the being. he was so very, very tired.And although he put on a wry smile and spoke with bravado, he was in just a poor a state as Lorelei was.

"I don't really know... It seems to be hiding its shape from me. An unbound creature that doesn't want to be here... That perhaps shouldn't be here. But here it is... But, we have it... I have it. And even though I am sure you are just as curious as I am, I am just as damaged as you are, though perhaps not physically. But I'm not done yet..."

The red chains tightened and began to drag the creature back to Gorandis. He had corralled it, summoned it and now he just had to bind it. Just like an undead a piece of his own soul, a link between it and him. He didn't know what this things mana circuits were like... or if it even had any, but the connection had to be made...

Just a little, like shaving the layer off the top a thick, cloying stream of the same dark purple energy began to originate from Gorandis' midsection. He opened his robes to allow the tendril more direct access and revealed the thick, burnt scars of a runic circle in the centre of his torso. The runes edging it were alight with the deep purple as the connection reached out.

A thick sense of depravity filled the air as the deep purple formed into a single hand that dove into the centre of the writhing creature. it flared brighter and Gorandis shouted in agony as the connection was fully established. He sank to his knees as the purple link began to fade away leaving nothing but the sensation of it behind for him.

With a weak wave of his hand the red chains vanished and the spirit wasted no time in vanishing itself... but Gorandis could still feel the very real link between them.
(Gorandis)

"I am fine."

The girl has survived worse--Gorandis was the one more at risk of death from injury then Lorelei was at the end of the day. The girl just had a knack for bleeding in a messy, terrible fashion. Her healthy hand rises, lightly, to brush away the now-trickling blood that comes from her eyes and mouth, doing her best to clear her vision. Try as she might, she can't get a good glimpse of the creature before it is fully possessed into Gorandis.

If he welcomes it into himself so deeply, Lorelei muses, he'll find himself losing himself in short notice. Having something within is always risky--the power is never worth it.

...The power is often worth it. It just is never pleasant.

"I am glad you've succeeded. You now owe me. I will take my payment for this at a later time." Her voice is weak, her limbs shaking lightly--blood loss, perhaps? Adrenaline? A loss of energy? She seems to turn, eyeing the Citadel's doors with hunger--the same hunger she strives not to direct towards Gorandis.

"...I trust you can take care of yourself from here." Contrary to the warlock, Lorelei doesn't offer to assist his form in any way--if he succumbs to his wounds, then he succumbs. There was nothing more to it then that. With a shaky step, she moves towards the exit of the Citadel. "Be careful to not let it off a leash. If it is now a part of you, you need to dominate it or it will kill you and take you over. Do not be a slave to your own body. There is nothing worse then that."

Step...

Hunger--a driving desire to heal. She needed a sacrifice--and she needed one soon. The same desire that killed Rein now threatens another. The witch exits, seeking a victim...
(Lorelei)

"I am sure you are..." He lets out a breathless sigh before smiling at her. His staff, having been discarded earlier, is grabbed and used to prop himself up heavily. he could feel the beast within, squirming, thrumming deep down in there... He wondered what exactly he had just bound himself to. But necessity begets stupid actions...

"yes, I thank you for your assistance and I will be sure to repay you in kind in the future... as much as I can at least... And I am not so far drained that I cannot make my own way out of here... eventually." His eyes scan the pool before him, shards of skull, wet globs of ash and even some of the incandescent energy remain, evidence of the harsh ritual.

He wasn't going to clean it up, he wanted Dumuzid to know that his throne room had been used like this. Well, his old throne room now... Gorandis struggled to move forwards, the staff heavily thumping against the floor as Lorelei made her own shaking steps. "The creature is my tool... nothing more. It will soon learn its place in things..."

As soon as he fully discovered what it was. "Try not to take anyone too noteworthy. I would hate to see both of us with bounties on our heads."
(Gorandis)