Thalnos was loudly chanting among the flickering candle light deep within the cemetery of the Scarlet Monastery, his voice echoing among the moldy stone walls of the tomb that they had begun this new endeavor. His arms raised high as he continued to chant the words, bone kris in one hand while a bouquet of blood thistle and mage royal waved dangerously near to the dripping black candles of the ceremony. Thalnos was a thin and sickly man, but with the mind of a scalpel to match the efficiency of work that the Grand Crusader kept guarded to his inner circle. He had been instrumental in bringing the concept together under the visions of Demetira that gripped Saidan Dathrohan . Now the time had finally come to bring that vision to life.
The incense burned and filled the low room with the musty scents of the arcane and spice, seasoning the dark passages of the the fallen of their valiant Crusade. Observers of the incantation stood motionless and silent as the sorcerer conducted his writs, only Demetira stood for the Inner Circle flanked by her elite guard. Other members of the Crusade's training hall stood nearby as well watching the dark ritual continue, Mograine and his lady, Arcanist Doan, and Houndmaster Loksey with an especially pain look to his eyes as his friend Alcorn held him steady with an equally grim look to his wide face. All eyes followed Thalnos, as he waltzed his ancient work of magic matching it with his hypnotic voice to worm in the heads of his six chosen and beast upon the handcrafted dais he had constructed.
Eldridge Candell's head swam like a wayward carp and his eyes felt they bore the weight of a hundred stone as he did his best to continue in his kneeling position on the soiled stone floor. Shivering from the cold of the tomb and yet coated in a sheen of sweat, the man along with his fellow chosen were caught in the throes of the magical circle they knelt in swaying and moaning to Thalnos. Naked and exhausted, the crusaders were now easy prey for the summoning. Eld along with five other crusaders were in terrible shape from the way they convulsed, bodies empty of food and water only to be replaced with tinctures and hallucinogenics to deaden their minds and open their souls to the power being wrought. Reality was becoming thinner by the second for him, his soul screaming at the wrongness of it all with his heart knowing there was no other way. The Lorvens had to get away, if word got out about what had happened to Rigven they would all be dead. No, he had to take Kilben's place. Eld could still hear the screams, smell the blood, feel the anger. Kilben was young and the Lorvens deserved peace, all Eld knew was guilt since Lain had dragged him out of the monastery. Light why didn't he listen to him. The sorcerer had told them they had to give to receive, and it must be equal or greater for the true gift to be got. There was nothing left to give, nothing to lose. This was the way.
From the dais a pathetic whimper joined in to the chanting and moans of the ritual, the engorged pregnant hound breathing heavily with her tongue lolled dry as it labored to catch her breath. Fur sleek with oils, sweat, and herbs the dog was in mad as it was in pain from the litter she bore within his exposed belly. About her, painted in lambs blood, the summoning circle shimmered in the black candlelight binding the dog to the chosen humans circling her. The poor animals mind was likely gone completely now as her dark eyes rolled and tried to follow Thalnos, head thrashing back and forth as another contraction built up into a crescendo of agony that rumbled out in a howl from the most primal level of nature. Stones rumbled and shook in the walls as the howl reverberated, never seeming to leave the room or even deaden as time passed. The sound seemed to absorb into stone and remain as a low thrum that now brought the binding circle to now glow with a dark pulse, the thick lines of blood throbbing as they began to recede into themselves. Thalnos halted. "Time."
"Time," Thalnos reiterated softly but clearly above the unsettling thrum of dark energy, quickly he shed his robes revealing the his bony body and misshapen back that his clothing hid so easily. Naked and unafraid, the sorcerer crossed cautiously over the circle so as not to break the energy. The bone kris in his hand sucking in bits of candlelight as he loomed above the thrashing animal hump stretching out to gain a half foot more in height, sunken eyes searched out into the crowd before they came to rest upon Locksey. "Come. You are the one."
Houndmaster Loksey licked his lips nervously, wiping a hand over the bald pate of his head as nodded shakily. The crowd of crusaders parted from him, Alcorn standing behind him with his thick hands behind his back trying to remain calm and sure. His eyes said differently along with the flex of his jaw. Thalnos spoke again to his second. "Cleanse yourself of everything, you must come as you came into this world. Touch not the circle or these brave chosen."
Loksey nodded, his body was shaking as he stripped down to bare skin before offering his articles to his friend. Alcorn did his best still to keep his brave face, but knew nothing good was to come next for his comrade. Locksey stepped gingerly forward to the edge of the crowd as Thalnos spoke again. "Give him the fang."
Demetira stepped up behind the naked Locksey, her eyes glazed and far away as she offered him a simple red linen wrapped parcel. Her fair and dainty hand reaching to draw it back revealing a yellowed jawbone. The houndmaster knew what manner of beast it had come from, he only wished that it wasn't the sire of to the coming litter. Reaching out he gently took the jawbone, seeing now the one sharpened fang at the end of it blackened by flame and tar. The seer looked through Locksey as she took back the cloth and bowed her head, knowing it more for what lay behind him than for him. Swallowing hard and gripping his bone knife tight, the crusader would pass his brothers and over the circle to stand before Thalnos and the possessed mate of his cherished charge.
"You will know, Houndmaster. You must be swift and you must be sure. If not, we will be lost." Thalnos spoke steadily as he stared with his otherworldly eyes at the naked man. The houndmaster could nothing but swallow hard and do his best to control himself.
Thalnos smiled darkly down at the crusader before raising hands to stretch toward the ceiling of the tomb and throwing back his head to begin the final incantation. Whispering again the ancient tongue that had spoken to him from beyond the thin veil of life and death, he felt the power surge as the blood circle began to pulse louder.
The chosen would sway and moan. Loksey would sweat and look to the hound. The beast would thrash and convulse as a contraction built up once more, a howl like before begining to billow forth as the air in the room began to suck out of the room. Thalnos's voice matched the howl as time slowed down, falling to his knees behind the mighty beast. A gentle gnarled hand coming to rest between the hounds ears in a warm stroke.
The sorcerer slit the beast from jowl to jowl. Wild eyes would flash to Loksey. The houndmaster split his pet stern to tail.
The screams began.
Eld felt his voice rise among the other five members of his cabal, the world swayed in sheets of red and black as his eyes rolled back in his head. Warmth began to flood about his knees as he and his fellows howled into the arcane infused air, the world rushing in his ears as he heard his voice join the baleful howl of the beyond. He felt his lungs empty of air and his body's strength begin to give, trying to expel everything inside of him to make room for whatever was coming from that great maw of darkness they had opened in their minds. Sucking the very life out of him as his throat ripped from the screaming, his body twisting in agony as he fell forward hands bent to catch himself in the same warmth that scoured at his knees. It was soft, wet, and warm but lacked the stability to steady him as he shook above it all. Again the dark eye opened into the void and spoke in a flat empty tone.
"Oep mgl fepjd."
Pain seared behind Eld's rolling eyes as he reached up to and claw away at the agony behind them. Jarring and blinding as his voice joined the choir of agony that had filled up the circle, a symphony of agony as the tear in the veil of mortality began to bear fruit. The one eye that stared at him began to pull and stretch like a piece of children's taffy, the odd memory of being among the streets of Old Stormwind with his family enjoying a name day. Sinews like molten candy tugged and pulled but for every joy that memory might have brought now it was only horror as the eye pulled and split in front him, from the shape to the pupil as it tugged and dragged itself apart. He was mute now in his screams as pain seared into his skin to match that of the burning in his mind, realizing now that it wasn't an invisible affliction but his own fingers rending at his flesh.
Moments felt like hours as he curled forward, watching as the eyes pulled and tore apart to form a pair of black eyes. Eld didn't know how they were black eyes in a sea of night, but they were there black, cold, and empty staring into him and drawing deeply from him. Life was beginning to slip away from as he struggled to maintain his sanity and humanity, feeling a pulsing moving entity draw near him with the eyes as they began to reach deep inside. Memories came and went in flashes as he began to feel less and less for the joy or sadness they presented but the emptiness continued to burn away his humanity. The corruption was unbearable. The scarlet haze began to fill his vision as he sunk slowly down the memories being lanced like tumors until a final one boiled to the surface.
“Well he’s your friend now, but he kind of needs a name don’t you think?” Marien remarked as she leaned her head into the space opened by Eld.
“Gonna call ‘im Bandit!” Zexx ruffled the ears of the dog who tilted it’s head and began to bowl into the boy as he felt the need to fully taste his new friend as much as play.
“Bandit?” Eld replied with a curious look. “That’s an interesting word for a young man and a dog.”
“Well, its like in Mama’s stories,” Zexx yelled back between peels of laughter at the the assault of Bandit’s tongue. “Bandits always wear black!”
Eld groaned softly as he felt the wet flat tongue slobber along his face, a moment later once again another lick swam over his cheek and made him try to open his eyes. Everything was so bright after the darkness as he raised a shaky hand to try and guard against the flickering light above him, a small droplet bouncing across his nose and slipping down his cheek like a warm tear. The tongue lapped again at him as he weakly tried to push it away, his voice croaking barely above a whisper. "Stop it."
Shaking again in his prone position, Eld would creep his eyes open again find the cold moss ridden ceiling of the tomb. He was still here, he was still alive. The arrival of a shadowy shape above him, made him question how long as he shuddered a moment in it's presence before a red swatch of flesh lolled forth again to drag across his cheek where the tear had been. Terror and agony were suddenly dwarfed by confusion as he blinked again to focus on the beast above him.
Fur black as midnight drank deep the low light, coated over a body rippling with muscles and bulk. The black fur was all over the dog, no other markings about him making him more of a shadow than he had thought. As the tongue had recently swiped at him again so had it now sat panting softly above him, the red tongue like blood nestled in a maw of yellowed but strong teeth that bore the bits of black decay bordering the edge of the fangs. A snout jutted out like a long nose of a wolf, but the body of a mastiff as the open mouth curved in an unsettling smile of a far more dangerous animal than normal. But it all came back to the eyes of the beast. They were the same as in the vision, limitless pools of otherworldly emptiness that seemed all to ready to end him as apparently clean his face.
"Candell?" Eld coughed and started to struggle up from his position, a dark head easing into his palm and steadying him with unyielding strength. Vision still swimming the with the former vision, he hardly noticed what he was doing as he eased himself up into a sitting position to lean heavily against the strength of the dog. The urge to do otherwise came swiftly as he surveyed the carnage.
The candles still remained lit, flickering in the aftermath with silent resilience to the darkness they had tapped. The repercussions of the that darkness lay littered about Eld and that dog, along with the horrific scent of cosmic death that made the man gag with unrequited retching. Eld could barely even glance at those who had been in the circle. Six chosen had been made ready for their gifts, only four remained and what remained was not necessarily a success. Twisted mounds of bone and flesh sat still, their faces torn asunder to reveal flesh and sinew beneath the skin while fingers had driven into any open orifice in hopes of blocking what they were experiencing. Perhaps for a brief moment they had found peace but it wasn't enough to keep their self destruction at bay. Two others chosen sat with half their bodies rooted and torn apart, life still in them but not for long if they could help it as their eyes were wide and blind to the reality that Eld was in. The other two were much like him, each shaking and looking terrified but each them guarded by a hulking dog who eased them to a position of safety.
A white dog. A red hound. A black beast. A split trail of viscera held the twisted green remains of a clawing half grown pup, already their bodies decaying like a plague victim might with half ruined flesh and bare twisted bones. Eld sat between the dark paths, each half of the birthed horror exposed from the inside and luckily staring away from him. From each of their resting places a trail of blood and gore, paths of darkness that lead from the split belly of the mighty bitch who had been sacrificed to birth her pups in the name of whatever powers Thalnos had touched upon. The blood was drying quickly as the corpse of the dead dog began to shrivel and collapse in on itself, all that she had been now gone into the ether of wherever beasts may roam in death.
"Candell?" Again the voice spoke, a frightened squeak of a broken man. Loksey sat nude still his body covered in the same horrible carnage that coated the walls of the tomb. Thick rivets of blood swam between clenched fingers that had wielded the now broken jawbone knife, the houndmaster rocked back and forth as shock gripped the closest witness of the dark bargain.
As for the sorcerer there was no sign of life, his warped form obliterated into nothing but a charred skeleton standing like a cross at dawn with his black flesh less arms outstretched in acceptance. Had Thalnos found what he sought? Did he look beyond that veil of death? What had he known in those final moments? A trick of the light brought the faintest image of a smile on the wide mouthed skull, only the nightmare knew now.
Eld struggled again from his spot as he breathed heavily int he oppressing room, his mind feeling thin and funny from the sheer insanity of his situation. What the hell had they done? A madness began to bubble up from his shock infused mind as he gripped onto the fur of the dog, his laughter begin to roll in harsh gasps from his chest as he let it loose. All about him Eld could hear the others caught in the same web, the infectious slip of rationality that was so easy to hold onto and ride as their voices lifted in the air. The half men also began to bubble spew their own weak cackles to join the chorus their garbled and unintelligible words spewing forth from charred split lips.
From beyond the ritual, the Scarlet Crusade stared at the results of their daring step into the other side. They had gone to far.
You can use your reaction to cast this spell whenever you make an ability check or saving throw with advantage. You call on higher powers to give you guidance and fortune, at a cost.. Instead of rolling two dice and taking the higher result, you can instead roll three dice and take the highest result. After casting this spell, you automatically take 2d10 psychic damage, as the power of higher forces overwhelms your mind.
Hello everyone and welcome to our first flash fiction prompt! I cannot wait to see what stories everyone writes, and I’ve put a lot of consideration into what card to use as prompt. I wanted something generic enough that people could craft very different stories around them, but at the same time I wanted it to immediately evoke something, some idea in the writer. I also was looking only at Dominaria cards because it’s our most recent plane-centric set. All this said, I give to you this week’s prompt card: Dark Bargain!
There’s a lot going on in this scene! Who are these vendors? How do they get their wares? Does the Cabal associate with them regularly or is this soldier just one of many individual customers? And most importantly, do they have a rewards card?
My entry for the @weeklymtgflashfanfic is ready! I’ll post it tomorrow though. Gotta be honest, this one isn’t exactly my favorite work of flash fic (I loved writing Embers and Raiders), but it was still interesting to think of and execute, and I hope people will enjoy it.
