One More Red Nightmare
"Unrepentant Lotus of the Storm Sky."
Sky let out an inaudible groan at the sound of Barutai's soft spoken and calm words, she'd never heard the man speak in anything more than that reserved tone, he never had to everyone always fell silent and listened when he spoke, she was no exception. The inflection in his voice was as bad a punishment as anything, as painful as the lengthy lecture she was in for. She would have liked to claim this was the first time they had met like this, but it was far from it.
"You don't have to say my full title every time Barutai, just..."
She cut herself off before she went on, it went like this every time and she wasn't sure why she tried to get him to change. It just made her feel so damn childish, he always made her feel childish and selfish and all he'd done was say her name. She'd hated that.
"My apologies."
He always apologized when she corrected him, asked to be called simply Sky instead of her full title. Always apologized but he never stopped using her full title, sometimes she swore he lived to aggravate her and it was like he never even knew that it did.
"Why don't you tell me what happened?"
Blackshore Island was a strange and haunting place. In the distant west the small island was made of entirely coarse black sand except for a towering obsidian obelisk at its center. Blackshore was not a shadowland, but the fabric that separated Creation from the Underworld was worn thin throughout the ages. A strange phenomenon of the western currents, rumor says originating from the Wyld, made the island a place of accumulation for those lost at sea. Rarely did a soul make it to the shores alive, but their bodies drifted there to be buried or decay. The island was inhabited by demons, enslaved by the solar exalted and bound to the island to be sure that those who drifted ashore were given proper burial rites. The unique current along with high salt content of the strange black sand made the island a perfect natural burial ground for those unfortunate enough to drift there in death.
Unrepentant Lotus of the Storm Sky stood under the long shadow cast by the obelisk, twilight settled at her back and painted the sky with vibrant color. An elaborate ritual had been set up to prepare for the experiment that was put into her head by a teacher at Sperimin, a mentor to her in the art of Necromancy. The location for the spell was perfect, the ritual had taken two days to prepare with three summoned demons and a dozen mortal thaumaturges assisting her throughout the process. The obelisk served as a manse that she attuned to in order to increase her potential essence flow. Everything was prepared perfectly for the three tiered experiment, even with these flawless preparations the experiment carried with it great risk.
The moment the sun fell from view the first spell began, shaping of necromantic essence channeled through her to shape and manipulate the very fabric of Creation and the Underworld beneath it. Spreading thin the already weak strands of the tapestry of fate to pull through a portion of the Underworld and impose it overtop Creation was the first step. Creating a portal between the Underworld and Creation was the first step, a task relatively easily accomplished, but the shear size necessary for this portal made it a special condition. The snow white flecks of essence of her anima banner began to swirl about the island, mixing in with the black sand as if it had suddenly began to snow. It a matter of minutes the Underworld had transfixed itself overtop the strands of fate and Blackshore Island was no longer a part of Creation, but instead a landmark of the Underworld.
"Such and experiment is ill advised without the permission of the Deliberative, the Celestial Bureaucracy is outraged."
Barutai's calm, low tone interjected breifly into the story though to make a curiously obvious statement. Sky was well aware of the outage she caused, but the comment brought sudden attention to essence shackles that bound her hands and feet and impaired her ability to channel essence. She had awoken detained and Barutai already present, summoned back to Mount Meru to clean up the mess that she had caused. Perhaps the interjection was to break up the pridful tone that had overcome her while describing the infinite care and attention that had gone into the successful first part of the experiment.
"The idea was put into your head by an instructor a Sperimin you said?"
"Let me finish Barutai..."
Once the island had been pulled into the underworld, or maybe the other way around and the underworld had been pulled into Creation, the second phase of the ritual began. Sky refocused her essence and her concentration, the assistance she'd summoned to the island to help her and conserve her essence. In her mind at least, the second phase of the ritual was the most simple and therefore the least deserving of her undying attention to detail. Though she did not realize it, it was her most critical mistake.
With only minor help from Sky the demons and mortal thaumaturges on Blackshore Island managed to complete the second aspect of the ritual which entailed only a slightly enhanced version of Shadowlands Circle Necromancy. The island was encircled with a thin ring of green bale fire burning waist high, while the center obelisk was totally engulfed by a pillar of the same green and black fire. The chilling cold from the fire sent a shiver through her spine even as she recounted it within the safety of Mount Meru and under the watchful eyes of her Sifu and mate.
"Your recounting here is brief, and quite unexplained. May I inquire as to the purpose of setting the location of your ritual aflame with the fires from the depths of The Underworld?"
Sky responded with a frustrated and short tone, though she should not expect Barutai to be well versed in the effects of Necromancy. It was an incredibly uncommon art, and might become even more rare now that she had botched this ritual. Little did she know she would only further set ablaze the curiosity in the hearts and minds of the exalted rulers of creation.
"The spell was designed to summon ghosts, it is used in the underworld to call surrounding ghosts to a certain location or rallying point. In short, that was the intent here as well..." She gave a quick and honest response, attempting to conceal any of the meaning behind her ritual would likely go unrewarded and would only further increase the chances she remained shackled or worse.
"Go on."
The third phase of the ritual was undoubtedly the most complicated and would need to be performed almost entirely without assistance from the mortal or demon aides she had used for the earlier parts. With great effort she went about the preparations for completion, having to complete the final stages of this ritual after the first two were completed. The last part would be completed just before the sun would start to rise, time was short. She should not have rushed.
Her anima grew to previously unseen heights as she expended not only ever mote of essence she possessed, but drained the manse so completely of every ounce of essence that could be drawn from the now cut off dragon-lines that could not longer reached the manse removed to The Underworld. The beings that formed as shadowy figures of her anima were beyond her imagination, she could not help but imagine that they were beings from the untold depths of The Labyrinth.
This phase of the ritual would take the manse removed from Creation and make it a permanent fixture of The Underworld, corrupting it totally and completely to change the very aspect of the manse. The manse would become the very first abyssal aspected manse, held within a newly formed shadowland that would be fed constantly by necrotic essence of the new manse. A direct link to the vast power of The Underworld for all of Creation to behold. Of course this ritual had never even been attempted before, let alone completed. It appealed to her to be the first, it should have occurred to her that she was offered the opportunity because the designer of the ritual feared the consequences.
What erupted from the newly formed shadowland was beyond her wildest nightmares and it was beyond her knowledge of The Underworld to identify the untold horror which tore its way into Creation as a result of her experiment. The towering burning image of its piercing eyes and fiery figure towered over her, it was permanently burned into her minds eye. She had slipped out of consciousness shortly after it formed and had no recollection from that point on. Barutai would need to finish the tale...was the being still terrorizing creation? How had she been rescued?
"Hmmm..." Barutai made a long, contemplative sound before he continued just as he had when he started.
"I am disappointed you would attempt such a foolish ritual without permission from the deliberative or consulting me before hand. Fortunately our friends in Yu Shan discovered the disruption caused by the beginning of your ritual quite quickly and I was able to assist in dispatching whatever it was that you summoned forth as well as retrieve you from what very nearly became your burial ground."
"I didn't mean to... It wasn't supposed to turn out like that..." Sky's confidence had been shattered, Barutai unknowingly or maybe it was purposefully had that affect on her. She had little to say for herself and wondered if Barutai would bail her out again, and if he did why?
"I've arranged for you to spend the next year with me at my Temple, I believe it will do you a great deal of good." Barutai stood up and bowed to her slightly, "Excuse me while I attend some other business while in the city. I'll see you tomorrow."
Arguing with him would be pointless now, and in all likelihood he had spared her a great deal of wrath from The Deliberative. A year's sentence was nothing compared to what might have been. Barutai didn't even consider it punishment it was training or enlightenment... she did not doubt it would feel like punishment to her.