Chapter 71: UNEXPECTED SALVATION
The air within the ritual chamber crystallized with power. Reed’s transformed body had become a nexus of impossible energies—a living conduit for forces that existed before the world had form. The six artifacts pulsed in synchronized rhythm as they orbited his levitating form, their ancient surfaces crawling with eldritch script that burned the eyes of any who looked too closely.
Blood—goblin blood, evolved and ancient—spiraled upward from the five points of the pentagram, forming a crimson cyclone that merged with the golden-red light erupting from Reed’s flesh. His body contorted beyond natural limits, bones cracking and reforming as the artifacts’ power reshaped him into something that could, however briefly, contain their full potential.
Lord Vexior stood at the edge of the ritual circle, his necromantic senses overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of energies unleashed. "It’s working," he breathed, skeletal fingers clutching his staff for support. "The corruption is being drawn into him."
Indeed, throughout the camp, the sickly violet tendrils of Vrashtor’kaal’s influence were retreating, pulled inexorably toward the ritual’s center like water down a drain. Corrupted creatures shrieked in agony as portions of their transformed flesh were forcibly extracted, leaving them to collapse into piles of ordinary decaying matter.
Yet Shia saw what the others could not.
Behind Reed’s tortured expression, something else was emerging—a presence ancient beyond comprehension. The whispered warning Reed had given her moments before the ritual began echoed in her mind: "There is another entity. The artifacts don’t seal Vrashtor’kaal—they release the Unmaker. The goblin blood isn’t a seal; it’s the final key."
She watched in growing horror as the pattern of energies shifted subtly. The artifacts weren’t channeling corruption away; they were concentrating it, compressing it into something more refined, more purposeful. Reed wasn’t becoming a vessel for banishment—he was becoming a gateway.
"Stop!" Shia commanded, drawing her sword in one fluid motion. "The ritual is corrupted!"
The assembled lords and commanders turned to her in confusion, their faces bathed in the otherworldly light of the ritual.
"What madness is this?" Commander Talon demanded. "The corruption retreats! The ritual succeeds!"
"It’s a deception," Shia replied, advancing toward the ritual circle. "Reed warned me—the artifacts were never meant to seal anything away. They’re a key, designed to release something far worse than Vrashtor’kaal."