Everyone that could hear it ran outside and in the night sky saw a blazing red ball of flame fall down from the upper atmosphere, followed by half a dozen others within the next few minutes.
This continued for the next half an hour. Various fireballs would come down from the sky but they all disappeared a few hundred meters above the Endless Forest.
Some 40 kilometres away from the village where all the tribes had gathered was one of the human encampments belonging to the second largest human tribe.
The camp that was usually filled with the chatter of dozens of servants and the many visitors coming to pay respect to the tribe leader was blanketed in an eerie silence. Not a single sound of any kind could be heard here. Even a graveyard would be more cheerful when compared to this place.
Eurig the Viper stood outside a grand tent followed by 2 other youngsters, one male, and one female. These were the older generation of the other human tribes that had joined hands with him and already managed to exchange their old decaying bodies for new ones. They were all staring at the sky.
While the others around him seemed at a loss for words seeing the balls of fire, he was quite calm.
'They've already found it. I thought it would take a few more weeks,' he said inwardly with a hint of indignation.
A soft flurry of footsteps came from inside the tent and four old men and one old woman walked out. Their clothes were covered in bloodstains, none of which was their own.
They stopped behind Eurig, their expressions varying between indifference and viciousness.
The old man with the burn marks on his face walked forward, his gaze fixated on the fireballs, "It's done," he said icily.
There was a cleaver in his left hand and a severed head in the right one. The head belonged to a male in his mid-forties from the looks of it. The expression of shock and disbelief was still apparent on his face even after death.
Eurig turned his head halfway, peering towards the severed head with a mixture of emotions.
"You know you didn't HAVE to do this. There were other ways to take care of him."
The old man smirked, "It makes no difference. He lived a great life just because he was born as my son. I don't owe him anything else."
Eurig let out a deep sigh and looked back towards the fireballs.
"I hope you left one of them alive at least. You will need a direct descendent with a pure bloodline for this to work," he reminded.
The old man nodded, "My youngest grandson. He is of appropriate age."
"Good. You have proven yourself. Bring him to me and get yourself ready. I need to get some 'ingredients' for the ritual. Once I have everything, we can begin."
***
A hundred meters or so behind the demihuman encampment was a small waterfall about 20 meters in length. A few streamlets of water joined together at the top and converged just before dropping down onto the rocks below, creating a thick mist that covered everything for a few dozen meters.
The Grand Priestess was sitting near the bottom. Her legs dangling in the murky water whose bottom could not be seen. A few suspiciously large silhouettes belonging to some sort of oversized aquatic creatures could be seen swimming up and down the waterfall that was far too small to accommodate even a single one of them, yet here it was.
Fins and tentacles would come up every now and then but never the whole body.
The Grand Priestess was looking up at the sky while casually smoking her pipe, without a concern for what was happening outside. The sound of footsteps came from behind her and a dainty silhouette walked through the mist, stopping right beside her.
It belonged to a female, much more petite than either of her own granddaughters. She had long black her and a small oval face. With a height of little over 1.6 meters long and such pale complexion, she looked like a walking doll.
She leaned over and saw the silhouettes in the water, promptly shaking her head.
"No matter how many times I see it, its still way too scary. How do you know they won't hurt you?" she spoke up, her voice sounding a little too mature for her short frame.
The Grand Priestess smiled, "I don't. I just believe they won't."
The girl shook her head dejectedly, "I wish I had that much trust in anything…"
The Grand Priestess couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Haha, you silly child. I told you before not to take life so seriously. Whatever problem you have, it will all be okay."
The girl didn't say anything and just stared into the water in silence from a safe distance.
A few seconds later when the fireballs stopped appearing the Grand Priestess spoke up again, "Your people are here it looks like. Did you call them?"
***
Authors Notes:
Sorry for the late chapter.
WN was down for almost the whole day for many non-exclusive writers, that's why it took a while.
