Hatred welled up inside of me, nearly catching me off guard. What was my problem? It must be the residual anger from the old Kathleen. It made sense in a twisted kind of way, her problems were now currently my problems.
Strange murderous thoughts aside, I mulled over the magnificently macabre design of this place. The darkness seemed to be emitting from everything here like smoke. I squinted at a strange gargoyle. I couldn’t make sense out of it. It had a body like a raven bird, which was fair enough. But like the bigger ones outside, it also had a goat head with horns that twisted like french horns.
The religious imagery here seemed like this Ravenclast family worshiped this creature with unscrupulous abandon. It was awesome and surreal. If this was on Earth, people like me would flock to it. When I was passing by another one that was made out of black stone, I noticed tendrils of purple mist seemed to be sprouting from its surface. One of the tendrils flicked towards me, and I swore one of the creature’s eyes opened and looked my way. I jumped, then hurried behind the rest of the silent Fighter class meat heads.
Some or all of the statues surrounding us were definitely alive and filled with dark magic. None of them, however, in this chamber wanted to be looked at, so I averted my eyes and decided to keep my face glued forward. Spooky demon statues glaring at people was more than a good hint to adhere to.
Heavy clunking thumped rhythmically from somewhere above us. I was knocked out of my thoughts when the ground reverberated from whatever was pounding. We weren’t going to be sacrificed, right?
The excitement over my Plus Menu’s changes quickly died in my throat over the thought of being a sacrifice as a potentially real possibility. It overshadowed my desire in using the Skill Points. Or was it Status Points? I peeked at the window and refrained from slapping my forehead. It was Status Points.
What do I even use them on?
How would they change me?
I suppose I’ll have to use them soon, because the thumping got louder as we traveled deeper into the corridor. Behind us, the black mist seemed to cover our exit. In front of us, yet another large stone door towered over us. Oh, and it was complete with a massive blood stained goat headed demonic statue. How… Bleak. Luckily, I was in the back so no one could see my terrified grin.
The ground rumbled beneath my feet as the aura around the statue began to freeze the room. Crimson orbs began to materialize in the darkness. Eyes. They lined up the creature’s neck in nasty patches of spots, not just where the head was. Several of them cast long rays of light over the room and even longer shadows over us.
Through the dizzying quakes, I caught the silhouette of the demon statue’s goat head slowly start to bend down to the ground. Its neck’s eyes had finally opened, with each looking around in random directions. It was as tall as Devon. That so-called half-brother of mine stood his ground, waiting patiently as the calamity came to a halt.
Or he was scared shitless. Then its jaw opened like a furnace latch, but the worst part about its presence was the pure vividness of its movements. It was not like VR or CGI, where things were programmed and animated. The twisting of every muscle in its face, cracking with boiling lava flowing in veins as it conversed with Devon. All of it was a fever dream I couldn’t wake up from. The magic it emanated glowed an angry shade of red, complete with flames and sparks. To the half-wit’s credit, he managed to remain still during the tirade.
“Batchlings, enter the Test Ritual site. Bring glory to the Ravenclast Clan. Bring glory to our Bearer.”
Then, its face and entire body tore apart into uneven halves as the door opened. Black liquid seeped down into carvings on the ground. The demon beast’s voice was like a heavy duty forklift scraping and scooping up massive piles of metal on concrete — Crunchy and like someone who smoked way too much after eating a bucket of screws. Or like someone yelling in a mic with the gain knob cranked to the max.
Yet, I understood every word it uttered, but I was unable to ascertain whether the credit went to its volume or the fact that it hadn’t eaten us yet. After reeling from the shock, I finally opened the status to see if it could reveal exactly what I was looking at.
———————————————
Notifications
> Encountered a Sentry of the Ravenclast Bearer.
> Sentry of the Ravenclast Bearer has been added to the Database. [Locked]
Sentry of the Ravenclast Bearer
Demon Sentry, level ??
[Dark Element]
———————————————
———————————————
— Sentry of the Ravenclast Bearer, [Deceased]
———————————————
Well, damn, I thought to myself. Never thought I’d see a real demon so soon. Nor did I expect him to get ripped in half right in front of us. The stone door was rather wasteful, wasn’t it? I stepped over the carved gashes left by its wake. Those ominous question marks were in giant, bold and red letters. This guy seemed like he was a big shot, but in reality, he was a servant of the big shot. I wasn’t even allowed to see his level.
The halves of the bird-goat demons filled my nostrils with a nasty scent of rotten meat. What waited on the other side was a large circular gathering hall. Candles lit alcoves up in the ceiling above flickered like distant and dying red stars. So this was where we would have our test.
I numbly dodged a splash of black sludge that was dripping out of one of the demon’s torn halves and proceeded inside. What greeted me was a bloodstained altar surrounded by several tiered rows of chairs behind ominously long round desks made of black wood, because of course they would be. Not bad, I thought. It’s a step-up from the community college lecture rooms I dropped out of. Then it occurred to me.
Cadets. Tests. Rituals.
Maybe I was in some kind of twisted academy, and this was the entrance exam. Then I saw chalices in front of every chair and alarm bells started screaming in my head. What could I do? More footsteps thundered in from across the room.
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My “batch” wasn’t the only one inside this hall. More slabs of demonic doors parted ways and other grim faced Cadets entered. More batches. I brazenly scanned a few with the Plus Menu, no one would look me in the eye. All fighters. Not a single weirdo like me. The odds of surviving this test seemed to be getting lower and lower.
Everyone sat down like a dozen rows of toppling dominos. I was perched in the back, my staff and I trying our best to be invisible pieces of demonic background furniture. Tiffany shot me a glare of disgust.
“Why do you have to be here?”
Funny, I was wondering the same thing. I just stared at the chalice on the desk in front of me. Should I ask her what exactly we were doing here? I doubted I’d get a good answer. I heard the chair in front of me, and a kid with a fat pockmarked face morphed his mocking grin at me. The orange flames illuminating the rolls of his double— no, triple— chin made him look more twisted.
He was rambling, his lips’ gyrations looked like tire mud flaps getting tossed around in the wind, but I wasn’t listening. It probably was more taunts. I simply had to check if we were even the same species. The Plus Menu’s results struck me with new information and left me more surprised than disgusted.
———————————————
Notifications
> Batch 01059 Human, Kevin, has been added to the Database.
Kevin Ravenclast
Human Fighter, Level 5
———————————————
Ugh, this fat brute is a member of the same species as me? And there was that word again, except it was stark enough to stick the true meaning inside my mind with crystal clear clarity. Batch 01059 Human. The NPCs I arrived with and me were also a part of a batch, presumably with a different serial code.
I scanned his neighbor. A girl sat proudly, ignoring our drama, with an axe the size of a flat screen TV leaning against the table. She was also in the great Batch 01059. How the hell were they even related? She’s gorgeous, with purple hair and this blob… Wait, he also had purple hair. No, that’s not the point right now. A sinking feeling began to plunge goosebumps down my spine.
We weren’t just Cadet Families, were we? We were test tube babies at best, or blood offerings at worst. This blatantly evil set up gave me enough information to lean towards the latter. Kevin, this fat creature leaned forward, his grotesque face now twisted into anger. He clearly saw the disgusted look on my face, because he slammed his fist on my desk.
“Even if you survive, no one will want you in their Hunter group. What will you do then, little Kathleen?”
Muffled snorts came from my right. Devon, Jacob and Eric merely looked at me with contempt. A group for Hunters? Why bother with naming us beyond a batch of failed test experiments? I assumed we were going to be eaten alive by some demon very soon. I said nothing. Kevin, seeing no reaction from me, angrily huffed and turned away.
“What’s with her silence today?” Tiffany whispered to Eric. “Even when she was slapped, she said nothing.”
Eric scoffed, adjusting his spear against the table. “Putting on a brave face. Pathetic. Don’t worry, little sister. She will not make it through this Test and will bother us no longer.”
Different, huh? It was hard to imagine that the former Kathleen could speak tough, let alone on her own behalf. But I did. Well, he was probably not wrong. Were we going to have to duel each other? I’m just a healer with a stick. How the hell is that fair?
The unknown suspense didn’t last long before a commotion broke out on the stage. All at once, the low murmurs immediately ceased as footsteps echoed through the space. From an ominous glow of purple light, a line of servants dressed like the maids in the mansion, stepped out with solemn faces.
Such a ridiculous sight, I mused nervously. Maids in a place like this.
They filed and then fanned out on the round stage like a deck of cards on a poker table, a flowing suite of clubs and spades. Then, several more maids emerged carrying in a huge slab of stone that seemed to be shaking. I squinted a little. Each of the maids were level 10, just under Emily Racenclast in strength. Monsters. If all of us batches were to gang up together, we’d lose.
The slab rattled again, but one of the maids holding it clamped it down with a single hand. It was a coffin, with an occupant who was definitely still alive in there. Moreover, it clearly wanted out. Something told me after seeing the blades glinting on the four coffin bearer maids’ uniforms, it wasn’t going to be living for very long. I swept over the black and white dresses. Those maids were holding glass objects in their hands. Pitchers.
I glanced at the metal chalice on my desk, and then down at the coffin, the pieces slowly beginning to complete in my mind. They were going to make us drink the blood of whatever was inside it, weren’t they? How disgusting and diabolical! I’m in!
A final figure stepped out from the darkness. She was also wearing a maid’s uniform, but it was far more decorated than the other ones. The Head Maid, I supposed. She marched over to the front coffin bearer maids and spoke with them. The two visibly shook with fear, but nodded respectfully. Then, she stalked off to the side as if she was letting us get a full view of the show.
The coffin bearer maids dropped the slab of stone on the ground, their blades already drawn and raised. I didn’t have time to cover my ears from the initial roaring collision when its stone lid burst off into a wall and shattered to pieces, followed by an inhumane scream. Just as quickly, a creature’s head emerged. A goat head. The same head of the demon Sentries and statues placed everywhere in here.
It was apparently in agony, but its screaming and flailing was immediately silenced into a gurgling murmur. All four of the maids began stabbing the beast in precise locations. No one spoke. No one had to. I didn’t care how the others felt about this evil ritual, but I, for one, was completely fascinated by the scene.
The stabbing process continued until the beast burst into a red light, its form slowly dissolving and turning into a purple ugly liquid. The coffin was now a tub of blood, and we, the test tube babies, were now going to drink it. Goddamn, I cursed to myself. No wonder why the old Kathleen didn’t want to be here.
Sure enough, the maids with the pitchers began to fill them with the purple juice. Soon, the tub was draining quickly, smelling like the exotic fumes of an outhouse left unattended at a summer concert festival. The chalices on the desks were being filled evenly and efficiently by the maids one by one, and; eventually, the one in front of me was filled, looking more like a cup full of bubbling, rotten mush by each passing moment with chunks of unknown shit in it.
I watched the maid scurry to the table across from mine, where other Batches waited, and glimpsed at the chalice of goat-demon blood. Appraising the liquid gave me a disheartening amount of information about it.
———————————————
— Blood infused by the Ravenclast Bearer —
———————————————
I stared at the frank screen for a moment, thoroughly grossed out. It was one thing to watch people do crazy cult things in an online video short on the wrong side of the internet, but to actually be the one chained and participating directly in the cult itself was a completely different story.
Blood infused by the Ravenclast Bearer. That guy was probably a big shot in this Family, right? And now, we’re drinking his blood to prove something. Great.
Just as quickly as the thought vanished from my mind, the maids finished filling everyone’s chalices and returned to their imposing formation on the stage below us. I scanned around and saw that no one drank yet, quickly averting my gaze from the nasty concoction in front of me. A new, silent and oppressive aura began to coalesce. I felt a familiar chill matching that of the Main Family’s, but it was more sharp and cold than just Emily’s pressure.
Each servant bowed respectfully as the horrible presence intensified, and every Cadet also lowered their gazes to the cup. I quickly followed suit while frantically scrolling through my options. There was nothing I could do to get out of this situation, right? The Main Family was there. Shadowy, tall, with gazes freezing every person they swept over. The Plus Menu’s red dot flashed in the corner of my vision.
It blipped once. Twice. Thrice. Up until the number five appeared on the plus sign. Those must be notifications of five or six new individuals encountered, I supposed. Emily was probably on that stage and wouldn’t count as a new notification, right? I didn’t dare to open a single screen up in front of them for fear of them catching me using my cheat code.
My heart pounded against my ribs and my mind began to feel foggy from the new sheer panic rippling through my body. This Test Ritual must be a big deal if we’re personally honored by these monsters. I still didn’t know how important this was, or how common. But I was about to find out how. An elderly male voice uttered a single command:
“Drink.”