Noah's eyes opened slowly. The gaze lingering at the ceiling for a few solid minutes. His face turned into a sneer and he remembered what today was. As he got up he slapped his face around a couple of times. Reminding himself to look happy as to not be modeled as a heretic during the momentous day for the church.
He made it to the door and was about to open it but hesitated a little. He backed away from the door and went back to his bed. Not having the nerve to leave the room Noah curled up on his bed. As Noah saw it there was no upside to this day, so he did not have the motivation to get up.
Then a loud bang shot out from the door. A man shouted " Get up, it's a big day today". Rising from his bed once more he sluggishly made his way to the door. He took a deep breath through his mouth, stood up straight, and opened the door.
On the other side of the door was a large number of people talking in the hallway each with a smile plastered across their face in readied anticipation of the day's event to come. Noah, trying not to show his long face, walked in steady silence. He made his way to the cafeteria and opened the door. But as he opened the door his nose was assaulted by an alluring aroma. Looking at where the food was being served they actually had different options for food that day.
Noah, his mood slightly lifted, walked into line. As he approached the front of the line he started to survey the food available. They had some salads with dressings, they had meat, they even had something similar to corn. Looking at the option, Noah decided to get some meat and corn.
After getting his food he looked for a place to sit. Looking around he spotted Troy and co. sitting a little ways away. He sat down with them and with a slightly happier look on his face dug into his food.
After his heavenly meal Noah went off to the training field. The ritual was today but he still had some time to kill. The training field was virtually empty. There were people scattered across the field but none of them were talking or interacting with each other. Noah walked up to the dummy and looked at it. He felt a sense of sentimentality towards it. He had been beating the shit out of this thing for 3 days and this would probably mark the last day he would train with it.
Doing his regular stretches he warmed up his arms and hit the dummy a few times. While he half heartedly punched the dummy his mind drifted to other things. Mainly the communion today. He was pretty nervous about what it could be. Sure he knew it was going to be a sacrifice type thing but what were they going to sacrifice. An animal, a nightmare creature or a human. The last option was very off putting to Noah
If they did sacrifice a human then how would they choose? Did they choose out of a hat or did they choose a willing volunteer. If they choose willing volunteers then Noah did not have too much to fear about, he would just not volunteer. But if they choose randomly then he would have to think of an excuse not to be sacrificed. But what could he say he didn't know the ground of what this ritual was for. Was it to appease the god or was it to honor it depending on what the ritual is about will determine the excuse he will use.
Just as his thought was coming to an end a loud shout came from the cathedral. It was a guard standing outside announcing that the ritual proceeding would begin soon and that we would all need to enter the cathedral. Noah, listening to the guards, walked into the cathedral.
As he entered the doorway he saw that the hallways were packed with people. Everyone was walking in one direction so naturally Noah had followed the crowd. As he walked with the crowd Noah began to recognize the hall he was walking in. This was the very hall he had walked down yesterday. Then things started to click together. Seeing the line of people rounding a Noah had an epiphany "Wait, around this corner is.. O god the ritual is in that room!?"
Noah rounded the corner and saw that the room he could hear the faint heartbeat from was now open. He could vividly hear the heartbeat from the hallway. In horror he watched the people slowly enter the dark corridor. Now knowing that he had to enter that which he vowed to never enter, Noah steeled himself taking deep breaths to calm down. As he approached the door he could see inside it.
The inside of the door was a hall that looked nothing like its surroundings. Instead of the polished and clean hallways of the cathedral the hall that was past the door was made of stone and rock as if it was a dug and never smothend. There were few lights in the tunnel making it very dark.
As Noah walked past the threshold of the dark corridor his heart sank. He could hear the heartbeat more vividly. As he walked through the dark tunnel it was becoming increasingly apparent that the tunnel was going down at a light decline. The 10 minutes that Noah walked thought these dark corridors were the longest 10 minutes of his life. With every step he could feel the heartbeat grow louder.
Then in the distance he saw a doorway. His instinct screamed at him not to walk on but he had to. He could not falter for if he did he would be killed. After an agonizing minute Noah arrived at the door way. As he walked though he saw hundreds of people kneeling on the floor in a perfect grid. They were all pointed at a singular object in the middle. The strange entity in the middle of the room looked to be the object of worship.
It had 5 spikes coming out of it two from the top one from the left and another form the right and a larger spike at the bottom.the main base of the object at which the spikes pultruded from was shaped like a upside down triangle with its edges smoothing out. It looks to be made of a strange see-through material. Through this material could be seen a red light that was flickering in unison with the sound of the heart beat.
Noah had concluded that this hideous object was the source of the heart beat. Taking a seat on his knees like everyone else in the room he put his hand together like everyone else and sat there waiting to start. After another 15 minutes of waiting everyone in the church was in this somber chamber the archbishop entered with his entourage of guards. The smile on his face was enough to give Noah the chills.
He entered the incircle that was created by the congregants. He looked around, seeming proud at the amount of people that had arrived then he spoke." Great followers of Adyr we have all come here today to celebrate our first communion with the greatest god Adyr. As you know there is a war coming so we must put all our faith that our god Adyr will protect us through these trying times. Now let us pray so we may move to the next stage of proving our faith to our benevolent god" then the archbishop moved his hand towards the object and an ethereal essence flowed from his hands to the artifact.
The great artifact sprang to life. The whole room was filled with a crimson aura.Noah seeing this started to fidget but then instantly froze back into his rigid prayer stance so as not to get caught.
As Noah sat there absent minded he couldn't help but think that this sermon was taken a while but then he heard a whisper. Then another then another he looked around not seeing anyone move to communicate. Then he looked at the artifact and felt a strange pull in his chest.
Scared, he looked at the ground and tried to control his breathing. The voices in his head started to get louder, whispering promises of freedom, happiness, and wealth. Noah tried to ignore them but they kept getting worse. Noah was quickly approaching his breaking point. His eye darted from left to right on the ground trying to find something, anything to stop the noises in his head. But he could not think for the voices were so loud that they drowned out his thought, but as if an angel came down and blessed his senses the voices quieted down and the violent crimson light that had filled the room dimmed to what it was before.
Noah slightly moved his head to see that everyone else was starting to look up so he did so as well. The archbishop was still stranding up in the middle of the room right next to the object.
He continued his speech" thankyou all for your participation in our sermon now we will move on to the most important part of this communion. Can I have 10 volunteers who wish to meet our benevolent lord?" 6 people raised their hands and walked up to the object of worship. They formed a circle around the objects but then the archbishop spoke up again " since we only have six people for our communion I must chose 4 more people"
He looks around the room choosing random people from the crowd. As he was choosing the 10th and final person Noah made eye contact with the archbishop for a fraction of a second, before looking away as fast as possible. The archbishop smiling walked over to Noah put his hand on his shoulder and said " you have been chosen"
Noah could feel his heart drop and his mind freeze, he had been chosen. Out of all the people to be chosen in this room, why him. Why did he look up? He shouldn't have been staring. He froze there for a few seconds then said without even thinking "no".
The archbishop looked back at him, his smile faltering" what do you men "no"".
Noah's mind raced trying to think of an excuse thinking back on every experience he had at this god forsaken church trying to think of something, anything to get him out of this situation. Then it click" i'm s-sorry your holiness. What I meant to say is that uh I have not been attending my rituals every day so I am unfit and unclean. This makes me believe that it is not right for me to hold such a High honor".
The archbishop looked at Noah as if scrutinizing him then said " then what have you been doing all this time?"
Noah, daring not to look the archbishop in the face again, meagerly responded " I've been learning to fight. Ever since I leaned of the possibility that the sun kingdom would attack us I have been training non stop"
The archbishop stared dagger into Noah then finally said " that is very noble of you to forsake yourself for the church I respect your determination, yes since you did not attend you rituals you are unfit for this high honor"
All the tension in Noah's body dissipated and the archbishop walked off looking for another person to take his place; the next unfortunate person was dragged up by guard. Clearly not wanting to be a part of the ritual. Looking closer he seemed pretty familiar to Noah. on closer inspection it was Garth. This immediately made Noah's body tense up again. Once Garth was dragged up to the stand he was forced on his knee. The archbishop walked up to Garth and said in a sly voice" why don't you want to be a part of this? Are you a heathen?"
This comment made Garth struggle even more for he was not too fond of being called a heathen, at which the archbishop waved his hand and Garth was immediately killed by the attending guards. Noah sat there in shock. He did even get a chance to fight back. He died on his knees. His instruction, who was always so strong and laid back, just died. He did not know that guy well but he had built a connection with him. He had spent the past few days with the man and he had felt a sort of connection with him and now he was dead, and I am partially to blame.
As the ritual commenced the 9 people and the dead body of Garth were rounded up around the object. The archbishop then again pushed some of his spirit essence into the object; it glowed again and started to siphon energy from the bodies of the worshippers. It then sucked them all into the middle absorbing them into its mass. The object grew in size as it absorbed them. It was convulsed as if there were millions of souls that were trying to escape their infernal binding and make it into the afterlife. Then it shrunk back to its original size and floated unmoving.
As the ritual came the a close the archbishop had some words of wisdom for those who still lived " for those who are still here let us remember those who have sacrificed themselves to our great god and let us pray that these offering will be enough to sway the tides of future battle in our favor" after saything every on the room in unison said " praise be to Adyr" then as if on cue every got up and left the room in an orderly fashion.
As Noah left the underground chamber he felt a rush of relfie run over him. He almost died today but was able to pull an excuse out of his ass to survive. Now all he had to do was survive for a day or two till the army of the sun arrived and hopefully escape under the nose of this god forsaken church.
As he walked down the hall he noticed that it was already night time so he headed to the cafeteria to get his food. Not wanting to explain anything and not waiting to talk to anyone he got his food and made a Beeline to his room. Once he made it to his door he opened in a hurry and slammed it shut. Placing his food on the desk he pulled out a chair and sat down. He ate in sublime quiet. No thoughts ran through his head. After he was done eating he went to bed never wanting to see what happened today ever again.