Chapter 3 Hungry Eyes

The Sect Master follows long, dark corridors until she reaches the secret chamber at the bottom of the abyss she calls home. All the Elders of the Bronze Skull Sect are there, and some of the most important and loyal core disciples, including Zadok and Eli.

The large chamber is very well-lit with magic lamps, and the floor in the central area is covered with runic designs made with magic crystals and, in the very center, small ditches in a circular shape.

Abner finishes checking all the rune designs that make up the enchantment; meanwhile, a figure trapped in a cage in the corner of the room draws the attention of all the other men in the chamber.

The trapped figure is the fairy, a woman as beautiful as one can imagine. She has a small and thin 1.6 meters body but also very attractive curves, as well as medium-length hair with a balanced color between blue and green. And, of course, beautiful wings, two pairs of thin blue-green wings.

Her features look perfect from every angle, with a small pert nose and soft pink lips; her eyes are like lakes of crystal clear blue-green water and can drown men who stare into them for more than a few seconds.

The fairy looks to be twenty years old, but as in this world, people can live for countless years and even forever based on their power, it's not possible to really know her age.

She's only been locked underground for a few days, but that's enough to put her in pretty bad shape. As a creature of nature, being in such a gloomy environment is horrible, and the poor woman doesn't even move inside the cold cage.

She looks with fear and curiosity at the necromancers in the chamber; she can see the evil in those men's eyes and can't help but wonder what kind of cruel things they are thinking of doing to her.

But what confuses her is that no one has touched her since they captured her. Well, there are gems in the corners of the cage that suck her energy, but that's far from the worst thing they could do to her.

The fairy knows the fame of necromancers and how they often turn victims into zombified servants, which seems like a destiny worse than death. She's prepared to take her own life before they do something like that, but a part of her also hopes to make it out of that hell.

[What the hell are they doing??] She wonders as she sees more necromancers entering the chamber. Despite giving her strange glances, they seem more interested in the strange magic they are preparing in the center of the room.

Everyone makes way as the Sect Master enters the chamber carrying the last blood tube. She and the fairy look at each other for a few seconds before she looks at Abner and Ann.

"Let's start." Wasting no time, she makes her way to the chamber's center and pours the blood from that tube into the circular ditch closest to the very center.

Abner and Ann pour the other tubes of blood into the remaining ditches that form the enchantment on the floor before placing skulls, flowers, and magic crystals throughout it. Meanwhile, the Sect Master walks to the fairy's cage.

The fairy instinctively crawls back, but as the cage is small, she soon reaches the cold reinforced steel bars. Then she casts a hostile look at the Sect Master, who, from her eyes, is a very mysterious and dangerous woman.

"Don't worry, little animal; I won't hurt you..." The Sect Master speaks in a soft tone, but that only leaves the fairy more apprehensive.

"Do not approach me!" The fairy speaks in a trembling tone; although she is not afraid of death, she has no idea what those necromancers want from her, and it's terrifying. As people like them don't see her as a 'person' but just an animal, she expects only the worst from them.

The Sect Master smiles as she hides her envy of the fairy's beauty. "Oh, you have some fangs... don't make me rip them off you."

The fairy knows she cannot fight in that state, surrounded by enemies and weakened, so with no way out, she places her hand over the tattoo of a blade on her leg, and a light shines over it before what looks like ink becomes truly a dagger.

"If you try something..." The fairy speaks while putting the magic blade on her throat, making it clear that she is going to take her own life before letting them do something to her.

"No, no, little animal..." The Sect Master shakes her head with a disappointed look.

The fairy barely has time to understand what is happening when a kind of black dust appears around her and forms into a giant hand that grips her very tightly.

"AHH!" She lets out a moan of pain as the big hand pushes her against the cage bars.

The fairy tries to hold the dagger but the Sect Master approaches the cage, takes the blade, and uses it to make a small cut on the fairy's wrist. "You are my prisoner, little animal... you no longer have any control over your life."

"What the hell are you doing to me?!?" The fairy tries to fight, but with no strength, she can only watch as that sinister woman takes her blood and puts it in a glass.

After filling the glass with the fairy's blood, the Sect Master makes the big hand disappear and returns to the center of the chamber to put that blood together with the others.

"Now everything is ready..." She says before positioning herself behind a small altar where she places the ancient book open.

On the book's pages are extensive detailed descriptions of how to perform that ritual, and although the necromancers have not obtained all the ingredients as the book requests, they rely on the power of the blood to make it work.

From inside the cage, the fairy watches the necromancers gather around those circles of blood and begin to say words in an ancient language. She recognizes some words but not most of them, yet, she can feel that the magic involved is very powerful and evil.

After saying the words of the book for a while, the blood in the ditches begins to move on its own; that blood looks really alive and takes the form of floating chains that open some kind of portal in the center of the chamber.

"Yes! Yesss!! It's working!!!" The Sect Master laughs excitedly while all the other necromancers also look very happy and proud.

But the fairy only has concerns in her heart. She doesn't understand exactly what kind of evil magic they are doing, but her blood is involved in it, which makes her very apprehensive.

The portal has a flat surface and is transparent like clear water, yet it still seems hard to see anything but darkness on the other side.

As the blood chains swirl around the portal, the Sect Master picks up a magic lamp and walks into the chamber's center. She takes the lamp near the portal and can see Its light reach the other side.

"Hmm... where are you?" She murmurs as she moves the lamp closer and closer to the portal, illuminating parts of what also looks like an underground chamber on the other side.

Then everyone sees something being illuminated in that darkness.

"It's a coffin!" Elder Abner exclaims.

Yes, a black coffin; everyone agrees on what that is. But not just one, in fact, the necromancers see three of those mysterious coffins inside the other side of the portal.

"Coffins... why coffins??" Ann can't help but think that something is wrong. The book described the summons as powerful beings that no longer belong to the realms of the living, which she concluded to be undead, not corpses.

The Sect Master, on the other hand, is very excited because, as the second person with the best senses in the chamber, she can feel a powerful and unparalleled power coming from those coffins, or rather from what is inside them.

The other person with the best senses is the fairy, who also feels that powerful aura from the other side of the portal. [What creatures are these?? This power... this is insane!!]

"Should we finish the portal, Sect Master?" Aber asks as he looks at the coffins.

"Wait!" The Sect Master's eyes sparkle with excitement but also roam from one side of the portal to the other, looking for something. "The book promised us a specimen for each portal, and I'm only seeing three coffins... where's the other..."

She stops talking when she sees a golden crown on the floor next to the coffins. So without thinking twice, she tosses the magic lamp into the portal; it passes through the magic surface and lands on the other side.

*Thud*

Only the sound of the lamp rolling down and across the floor of that mysterious place is heard while everyone is silent. Then the light from the lamp illuminates a line formed by dozens of other crowns that lead to a stone throne.

Surprising everyone, on the throne, there is a mysterious hooded figure sitting. The person seems to have a very thin body, almost like a corpse, but the pale skin of their hand still looks young without any age spots or anything like that, making the necromancers confused.

The person seems deadly still, as if sleeping for hundreds of years, but then that light wakes them up, and the mysterious figure slowly starts to raise their head.

"..." The silence seems so dense that it could be touched with hands; all necromancers stare intently at the mysterious figure, especially the Sect Master.

And then she sees his eyes for the first time, crimson eyes that contain both power and pain, both anger and sadness, and above all, an indescribable hunger.

All necromancers in the chamber instinctively take a step back; they feel the great evil power of that aura trying to reach their souls. It is as if a current of wind has carried the stench of purest death from the other side of the portal.

But for the Sect Master, that is the perfume of life. That mysterious figure and his murderous aura represent the potential power she wants for herself.

"NOW!!!" She gives the order to Elder Abner.

But the old necromancer is paralyzed with fear. Even he, a person who has dealt with the dark arts of death his entire life, can't help but shudder in the presence of such a scary aura.

"DAMN!!" The Sect Master curses and quickly kneels on the floor and touches the enchantment runes herself.

The runes begin to glow, and blood chains enter the portal along with others that come from three other portals. The other blood chains wrap around the three coffins, but those under the Sect Master's control go after the mysterious figure.

But he doesn't even try to run or fight; in fact, those crimson eyes sparkle with as much enthusiasm as the Sect Master's eyes.

And that makes her smile even brighter. [Yes, come to me... and together, we will conquer this world!]