Completed Nights like this

[Zana]

"Huh. Then I wouldn't suggest a mage at all if it is power you seek for a ritual," Zana shrugged. The Dreadlords were good, extremely good. But the elves were creatures of magic and power. They thought themselves better than humans and that was why Dreadlords existed, to remind them it was not true, but in truth the lowliest elf was still superior to a lowly commoner like her parents.

"Elves are superior to humans technically speaking. They are naturally quicker, stronger, faster. Humans developed mages to combat that but it doesn't rid the fact that in truth they are probably your better bet. These things live far longer than any Dreadlord too, get time to hone their magics. If it is truly power you seek I would suggest one of them for your Ritual."

 

[Kol]

He considered it for a moment. "I see."

The 'Elves' as she called them had seemed more naturally gifted, though none that he'd seen were capable of magics. It seemed that there were more, though that should not surprise him. This land was vast, far more so than the Tundra.

Perhaps he would require a map.

"I will take this into account." Kol said simply. "Though it does not effect our bargain."

While he could hunt elves, it would undoubtedly be rather difficult. "Your Dreadlords may not be the strongest, but they will be enough."

Kol took a slow step towards her.

"Bring me those who you find...distasteful." He said with a smile. "And I will ensure you a portion of their power."

 

[Zana]

"If this is a bargain or a deal then I also want to stipulate that these gifts will not be used by you against me and mine," Zana narrowed her eyes. If he thought that stepping closer to her was intimidating he was wrong. Her stance didn't change an inch.

"Vel Anir and those under its protection including people and places are off limits to you after this night," she would not have the magics he gained from her people used against them. Quietly she thought through the list of people in the camp which nobody would truly miss if they disappeared coupled with interesting gifts.

 

[Kol]

He made a waving motion with his gesture. "These lands are far."

Kol very much doubted that his battles would ever take him this far. Even raiding here hardly seemed likely. The Portal Stone was located too far away from the Lost Isles, and transporting an army through them was impossible.

"I've no need to return." The Sorcerer said simply. "Save for our agreement."

The smile on his lips grew in tandem with the other three hovering around them.

 

[Zana]

"Hm." Zana was content with that at least. Back to the thoughts of which Dreadlord to sacrifice.

"Are there any magics in particular you are after? Does this work as a straight forward transfer of gifts or is it merely that the power from a strong magic user bolsters your own?" Because that would change who she picked. She thought of those with more elemental gifts but that would raised questions as to how she got the gifts. If it was a direct transference she would need to pick someone with similar gifts to her own that she could explain away.

 

[Kol]

"The Magic does not matter." He recited once more. "Save to you perhaps."

A shrug rolled over the Sorcerer's shoulder. For his own purposes, for seeding the life he wanted in the Isles, it mattered not what the magic was. "The soul comes with the gift it carries, but it can be used for more than that."

Though how it was applied was how the boon could be given.

"I can give you the magic of the one who dies, or use it to add to your own." He paused for a second. "The former will be more painful."

 

[Zana]

Zana considered this all quietly before she nodded her head.

"You will wait here," there wasn't really room for debate on the matter. She didn't want him near her people - there were some she did care for amongst the group. Or at least had interests in, such as the other Luana Dreadlords. She had exactly in her mind who she was going to bring and who nobody would really miss. A Weiroon Dreadlord by the name of Marcus.

"I will be back within the hour."

* * *
​

When Zana returned with twenty minutes to spare it was with a man slumped over her shoulder, his wrists bound. The way he flopped indicated he wasn't conscious though. She had found on on the fringes of the group with a villager girl who had clearly had enough of his company and had seem more than glad to see Zana approaching. She couldn't have planned it much better really, giving the man a strong crack to the side of the skull was passed over as merely a Commander keeping her men in line. They might have the evening off but they were still representing Vel Anir's finest soldiers.

Nobody seemed sad to seem him go.

She dropped the man at Kol's feet unceremoniously.

"I will go for the former option. A transfer." Pain was no stranger to her and to receive the mans gifts of shield manipulation would be a boon and a natural asset to her arsenal.

 

[Kol]

Kol had spent the minutes preparing the ritual.

He had figured it would be best to not waste his time, and by the time Zana returned she would find blood soaked into the dirt beneath their feet. It was impossible to tell if the blood had come from him, though he seemed no more pale than before.

Amusement seemed to flicker over his face as she made her decision. One of the grins that had been floating with them slowly leaned in, whispering something quietly. "You will need to stand here."

He said, motioning to an odd circular symbol that had been drawn on the ground.

At the same time he grasped the man she had dropped, picking him up with an odd ease and carrying him to a similar circle just a few feet away from her.

 

[Zana]

Adrenalin coursed through her veins as she took up her position and thought through her decision another time. Third level. Snarky. Arrogant. Didn't listen to orders. Nobody would batter an eyelid if she said he died on duty. But the magic would compliment her own, manipulating energy to create shields would fill the gap she currently had with her Telekinesis. Until she could control people and living things like the Earth it would at the very least give her a more defensive gift. It was also similar enough that it could be considered another gift or materialisation from the TK - it worked on similar energies. It was why the pair had been pit against each other so often in the Academy.

His sadistic attacks on her during those times was another reason for her choice.

Content and as ready as she could be she rolled her shoulders and waited patiently.

 

[Kol]

Kol stepped over the unconscious man.

Briefly the Sorcerer looked over at Zana, and then down at the Dreadlord. The knife appeared within his hand, black flecks of nothing coming together within his palm. The three grins seemed to swirl around him, watching with an eyeless gaze.

"What the-"​

The Dreadlord's eyes popped open just as Kol slid the knife into his chest and down the middle of his ribcage. Blood spluttered from his lips, and Kol quickly swiped it over his thumb. A mark was drawn on his forehead, and then a bright light flashed as he pulled the Knife free.

No blood flowed from the wound, but instead the mans ribs seemed to slip open and a light shone bright from his chest. With his free hand Kol reached down, grasping the light and pulling it free.

Screams echoed from the man's lips, painful howls of agony as his soul was torn from his body. His entire body seemed to quiver and shake, then suddenly cease moving as the light was completely removed from his form.

For a moment Kol held the light in his hand, and then slowly with the knife he bisected it. One half seemed to slip into the blade itself, the other settled into his hand.

Slowly he stepped from the circle around the now corpse and began to walk towards Zana, knife still in hand.

 

[Zana]

Zana didn't so much as blink when the man began screaming. Her only slight concern was that people by the fire might come and look for the sound of the noise, but the music had been loud and most of them had been a couple of drinks down already. If anything they would think it was Zana teaching the man a lesson. Slightly closer to the truth, she guessed.

The ceremony was interesting to watch and she quietly put away the whole scene like a video memory in her mind. It might be useful later on. The sheer level of pain on the other Dreadlord gave her some idea as to what she was about to experience but if she could go through a vision that put her into a seizure with only a hiss of clenched breath she fancied she would fair a little better than the other one.

Weiroon were always so weak anyway.

Quietly she watched him approach, took one last deep breath and then nodded for him to go ahead.

 

[Kol]

The light in his palm began to flicker, a face growing within it's expanse that took the form of a screaming man.

Kol stalked towards Zana, the grins that had surrounded them now focusing their attention only upon her. The Sorcerer stepped forward, his dagger waving in front of him. Light began to glow from the circle surrounding Zana, a soft green light that washed over her skin.

Then chains lashed out.

They grasped at her arms, neck, and legs, lashing quickly around her and dragging her to her knees as Kol stepped in front of her.

For a brief moment he stared down at her, a smile touching his horrid face. Then he stabbed his dagger directly into her chest. The blade sunk in, guttural squelch of breaking flesh breaking into the night. Pain would lance through Zana, utter agony that originated not from her newfound wound, but an excursion into her very soul.

The Rune Knife slowly withdrew, pulling free to reveal a soft gap within her chest. Kol spoke an inaudible chant, and then slowly the light from his palm began to drain into the Dreadlord.

 

[Zana]

Zana hadn't been entirely sure what would happen during the ceremony. She had expected the blow after seeing what he had done to Marcus, but the rest...

As the chains gripped her she flinched. It was instinct more than anything to tug back. She didn't like feeling helpless nor trapped and for a moment panic overwhelmed her. This could of course all be a terrible trick to just kill her and take her own magic. But she had not sensed trickery from him really. Was not given any warnings from her gifts when she had near death before. For a moment more she resisted them then let them take her to her knees with a grimace.

The smile was as much warning as she expected and she steeled herself. Physical pain, mental pain were nothing. But this... oh this was a fire. Her eyes shut as it ripped through her beyond anything she had ever felt before. Her head snapped back and though she tried to stop it the growl of pain burst from her clenched teeth.

But with the pain came the power.

She felt drunk on it, dizzy with this new channel of energy. Oh it was so much more than that man had let on. At least, it would be now someone worthy had a hold of it.

 

[Kol]

Kol flicked his hand over as the last of the light faded from his palm.

Fingers curled inward into a fist, and then he slowly reached out with the tip of the Rune Knife. He drew slowly over her chest, dancing the very end of the knife over the 'wound' that he'd earlier opened.

Slowly, agonizingly so, the cut to her very soul would begin to close itself. She would feel waves upon waves of pain for days yet to come, and there would be some adjustment as the dead Dreadlord's own being merged with her own.

Of course, that was something he had let out of all this.

Nightmares would come to her, flashes of memories, thoughts that were not her own.

The dead man's soul calling out for one last breath of life. Haunting agony and pain that would last until she quelled the last death throes of the man's being. The grin's floating around her widened, and with a swipe of his hand the chains around her body exploded.

"There." He said, in finality.

 

[Zana]

Zana thought that Kol was enjoying this immensely. There were many of her own who would probably enjoy the same torture but in truth the physical pain of the blade was almost a relief from the pain of having her soul bared open and punched into. She had very quickly gone from resisting the chains to relying on them to hold her upright. Her head lolled forward, hair cascading down either side of her face as she panted hard.

A single trail of blood trickled down from the sound in her chest to between her breasts and further.

The chains snapped and she sunk to the ground though at the last minute managed to keep herself from falling face first into the dirt. Instead she rested her palms in between her knees and sat on her heels. It was at that moment however her own gifts flared to life as if to punish her for attempting to take a magic she intended to use to protect her own mind from their vice like grip.

It ripped through her and her eyes went white. It might have even been a shock for Kol; he didn't know of her own gifts of course. The images flitted quickly. A land of snow she did not know, but not the same as she had seen in an earlier vision. Images in quick succession, Kol in many of them before a people. Grinning faces turned sour, unhappy. Punishment. Pain. Her teeth clenched as her fingers dug into the ground as the vision reached its crescendo.

Darkness.

The white retreated slowly, returning her eyes again to their pale hazel green and she looked up at him again, chest rising and falling.

"Good."

 

[Kol]

"There will be growing pains." Kol warned, his fingers flittering for a moment as the Rune Knife once against disappeared into simple flecks of black.

He had gotten the beginning of what he needed, and along with the shard he had received alongside the giant it would be enough. Just a start, but enough.

"I'm sure you'll manage." He mused as he stepped away from her. "Your people are very interesting."

Kol had decided as much. "I wonder if he would have been as eager as you."

The corpse on the ground was now a shriveled thing, barely recognizable from when he'd been alive.

 

[Zana]

Zana closed her eyes as she lowered her chin to her chest, focusing on her breathing. There was an echoing scream inside her mind but she couldn't work out if it was the lingering sound of her vision or the mans soul she had just consumed. She cracked her will down hard, focusing on her body instead of her mind for now and to cull the tremors that wracked it. The pain was horrible still but she wouldn't show weakness.

Slowly she pushed herself to her feet. Stumbled, almost falling to one knee before she rightened herself again.

"What kind of growing pains?" Zana asked, running her hand down her face in a gesture of exhaustion. She couldn't help the surprised laugh at his next statement however.

"You have no idea. The Dreadlords are not nice people." Her colleagues would have fed him more than one soul more than likely. Would have given him as many children as he wanted for more power.

 

[Kol]

The answer was exactly the one Kol had expected, and one he enjoyed hearing. The three grins around him widened once more, their eyeless gazes falling on him.

"I suppose a consequence of your upbringing." Kol offered as a cryptic comment, starting to walk towards the nearby forest.

He had gotten what he wanted from this.

"I told you this would be painful." The Sorcerer said. "But I promise, you'll be better for it. In the end."