Malefic Society

8. Catherine's Ritual

Using the blood of Desert Rabbits that they had slaughtered previously, Catherine and Crane were drawing the sigil of the Cursed Goddess in the ritual room.

The sigil looked like four crosses interlocked with four rods with a crown to the right. The sigil was drawn on the wooden floor and it had to be big enough for Catherine to stand on and to have enough room to move around. Getting out of the sigil at any time during the ritual meant failure.

On the table, a smaller version of the sigil had also been drawn using the same animal blood. On top of it, all the ritual materials had been placed neatly. There was also the Contract Parchment, on which was written the required materials for the ritual and the incantation. The back of the parchment contained a perfect drawing of the Goddess's sigil, from which they obtained the knowledge.

"Chris, how's the preparation on your end?" asked Crane.

His twin brother was busy preparing his own ritual. The ability that he had received from Hubert Barnhart required a ritual to be used, and even if he had reversed the effect, the ritual was still required.

On the floor near the corner, Chris had drawn a smaller sigil on the floor resembling an ornamental curtain. It was the sigil of the God of Corpses, whose ability he was copying. On the sigil was Catherine's hair, which designated her as the target, and a piece of rotten flesh to appease God. The sigil itself was drawn using Chris's own blood as a form of offering.

The ability he had copied was Inflict Pain, which, as the name suggested, could cause the living to experience the pain of dying. The degree of pain would depend on the caster's spirituality and the target's resistance, but the pain would never be lethal. It was a difficult ability to use during battle as it required a ritual, but it could be used even if the target was afar, as long as the caster had the target's body part.

To copy such a strong ability, Chris had to see Hubert use it a few times on him, experiencing the unpleasant pain each time.

Although reluctant, Chris had used Reverse on the ability and now the effect of his ritual was to ease the pain of the target. He simply called the ability Ease Pain.

"All is done now. Although I don't think Cath needs this. She can even survive a boulder running her over," he joked.

"Better be safe than sorry, eh? They said the Cursed Goddess's ritual is one of the most painful there is, and we can't afford to fail this since we're so close," Crane shrugged.

"But I still think you're overthinking, Crane. I am strong, you know," Catherine protested, "Even I survived my Tier 1 ritual without any external help."

"You took painkillers, and you even still almost fainted," Chris stuck his tongue, "You know painkillers are useless. The pain we felt was spiritual, not physical."

"Shut up. I didn't know and it was your idea," she rebutted.

"I was just joking. Didn't know you would actually take those pills," Chris replied casually.

"Well at least this time, we have Chris's ability. It should work at a spiritual level, so it should work, at least I believe so," Crane chimed in. He had doubt shown in his expression but tried to hide it so his sister wouldn't worry, "Let's hope for the best."

"Should I pray to the Twisted God?" asked Chris almost seriously.

"Nope, don't. Prayers are rarely answered. And even if it was answered, your God would most likely play tricks on me," Catherine rejected the suggestion strongly. "Anyway, I'm ready now."

With that, the triplets took positions.

Chris stood behind the small sigil and sat down with his legs crossed. His eyes were closed, ready to cast the ability when needed.

Crane, using Thompson, spread the Storax oil around the room. Its sweet, floral, balsamic scent permeated the siblings' noses and calmed down their emotions. The aroma also made them feel like their bodies could suddenly forget pains.

Catherine sat in the middle of the sigil on the floor and began chanting in ancient Laetlic, the language said to originate from the Old Creator:

"Oh, great Cursed Goddess, the Father of Witches, the Devourer of Innocence,"

The first line pointed the prayer to the correct Deity.

"By thy Unholy Angels, whose Names are consecrated by Goddess, which ought not to be spoken by us,"

"I beseech thee, Oh Lord,"

"Illuminate my Conscience with the Splender of thy darkness, and illustrate

and confirm my understanding with the sweet taste of thy Curse,"

"Bring me closer to Thy kingdom, as I offer my flesh and soul for thee!"

With the prayer to the Goddess chanted, the room suddenly turned darker, despite the candles still burning brightly. A suffocating aura descended, which felt like the smells of sewer water and decaying corpses were mixed together and enveloped their every pore.

At that moment, the candles surrounding the ritual materials on the table began burning wildly. As if covered in oil, the sacrificial organs quickly caught on fire, which spread to the whole sigil, burning everything on it.

Catherine was feeling a strange but familiar sensation. She felt like she was in the moment, but at the same time, not. Everything around her seemed blurry and she couldn't see her siblings clearly, but there were also figures that did not belong to the room, walking around or minding their own businesses as if Catherine was not there.

She tried her best to concentrate and not to be swallowed by the moment. The soothing scent of the essential oil helped her regain her composure, and the candles burning around her acted as a kind of focus point amidst all the blurry images.

As she was focusing on her breathing, suddenly, Catherine felt a sharp pain in her throat as if something was poking it down with a burning fork trying to reach something. The pain stung her whole body and she wanted to scream as hard as she could. However, no sound came out of her mouth. In agony, she began scratching the wooden floor with her nails.

"Ease Pain!" Chris chanted, dripping his blood on Catherine's hair strand and the piece of rotten flesh.

With the ability activated, Catherine suddenly felt that the pain had become bearable. It was still really painful, but much, much better than before.

As the ritual materials were turning into ash, Catherine felt immense pain that coursed through all her nerves. It felt like she had endured the torture for years, although only hours had passed in real life.

Chris's Ease Pain ability didn't give a duration of painlessness to the target, but it eased the current pain that the target was experiencing, so the moment a new source of agony came, Chris had to use the ability again, exhausting the materials he had prepared, as well as his spirituality. In the end, he could only use the ability three times, so Catherine had to bear with the remaining ordeal of the ritual herself.

"Argh!!"

The screaming and wailing, along with the sounds of nails scratching wood, continued on for another hour, before finally, the flames that had been burning like mad on the altar calmed down.

With that, the suffocating atmosphere was gradually being lifted like an invisible curtain.

Catherine lay on the floor, her body drenched in sweat and her clothes wet. There were traces of blood on her fingers, but other than that, she looked fine.

"It's finally finished," Crane said in relief, "It didn't take as long as yours, but it was definitely more intense," he looked at his brother.

"How long did mine last?" asked Chris curiously.

"A little over four hours. Cath's lasted a bit over three hours. How long did mine last?"

"Yours was probably like mine then, or even longer. Your ritual felt really long," Chris replied casually, "Anyway, she's okay, right?"

"Yeah, she's okay. Just give her some time to recover. You need to recover your spirituality too," Crane looked at his brother's face which was paler than usual.

"I am recovering slowly right now. With tonight's experience, it's granted that my spirituality is worse than yours,"

"That should be the case, but then again, you were granted more physical prowess than me or Cath. Every Votary has their own strengths and weaknesses. On top of that, you were using a Tier 3's ability," Crane analyzed.

"True, true. I wonder who will have more spirituality now, you or Cath? My bet would be on Cath since her Occupation was the most spiritual of all of us," Chris said.

"I think so too. Even her Occupation name is Shamaness. She should possess a great spiritual capacity. If we were to generalize it, you would be the speed, I'm the mind, and Cath the spiritual," Crane rubbed his chin with his right hand. His left hand supported the former.

"It kind of makes sense. I'm a Trickster now and my Tier 1 Occupation was an Acrobat. Cath was a Psychic turned into a Shamaness. You were an Empath and now a Doll Maker. They all sound thematic,"

"Yes, after all, the names were invented by our predecessors for convenience's sake, but they described the Occupation perfectly."

"What abilities will Cath get with her Tier 2 Shamaness?"

Crane recalled the content of the document he had read in the town's Grand Library. Knowledge involving the Gods and Votaries was readily available for the townsfolk since it was crucial to their survival.

"It's not written in detail since our Occupations were rare in this world, but the description goes:

Shamanesses are those serving the Cursed Goddess, having advanced from Psychics with the Goddess's blessing. They are those who can be considered witches, having abilities that defy the law of physics. They wield great spiritual power, higher than most of their peers in the same Tier. However, most Shamanesses lack physical abilities, so they lurk in the dark and deal with their enemies through spiritual means."

"It didn't say what abilities Cath will have, though," protested Chris.

Crane shrugged, "That's all the document had. Votaries of the Cursed Goddess are almost non-existent. In fact, besides Catherine, there is no one else in this town right now. It's a wonder they even got knowledge of it,"

"It's an even greater wonder then that dad got his hands on the Contract Parchment. Let's just ask Cath. She looks to be about to wake up," Chris got up and walked over to his sister, "Morning sunshine!"

"Shut up. I heard what you two were talking about. Want to know my abilities?" teased Catherine. Her breathing was still heavy, but her face had shown no signs of lingering pain anymore.

"Duh," Chris replied nonchalantly.

"Well, if you're that curious. Although, I cannot show you two right now because I don't have the materials," Catherine shrugged.

"Your abilities involve rituals?" Crane's interest was piqued.

The young woman stood up and cleaned the pants that she was wearing before answering.

"Not quite. It requires materials but is not as complicated as a ritual. So my first ability is Rune Reading. Have you ever seen those beautiful black stones in the market?"

"The ones sold at a pretty high price although they're really pointless?" Chris asked.

They were referring to the shiny black stores sold at the market that had nothing on them but their glossy surface. They were the size of an adult's palm and came in mostly triangular shapes as if they were cut and polished that way.

"Each stone costs like 50 silver coins, while the average living cost for a modest family of three each day is probably just 15 copper coins. What about those stones?" asked Crane. His mind was already expecting an answer that could justify the stones' outrageous price.

"They are Rune Stones. My first ability allows me to read the hidden runes carved on those stones," replied Catherine enthusiastically, "And my second ability allows me to combine the rune stones for different effects."

Suddenly, a realization dawned on Crane's mind. He remembered seeing two of such stones inside his father's storage box, among other things that they had used so far. He had not paid any attention to those stones and even planned on selling them since they were so expensive, but luckily, he hadn't.

"You're thinking what I am thinking, right, Crane?" asked Catherine to his brother. The latter nodded.

"Yes, I'll go get them."

Crane needed to have a visual of the target he was controlling, so he couldn't simply make Thompson fetch the stones from his father's bedroom.

He opened unlocked the door to the ritual room and walked down the hallway. He stopped in front of the third room on his right and opened it with a key that he took out of his pocket.

The room gave off a mysterious feeling that he could never understand, so Crane quickly went in and went out, returning to the ritual room with a pair of beautiful black stones whose gloss reflected the light from the candles.

To Crane and Chris, those objects were just plain stones with no special properties. They couldn't even feel any spiritual energy coming off them. However, Catherine was obviously reading something that was written on them.

Curious, Chris raised his hand slightly and grabbed something in midair.

Copy!

"Whoa, Cath is not crazy. There is indeed something on those stones!" he said in amazement, "So they are not just plain old stones!"

Crane, the only one who couldn't see anything, felt left out.

"So this rune here is a Verb. It means to grant," explained Catherine. The black stone on her left hand had an invisible carving that looked like a diamond. "This one is a Noun. It means freedom" the rune on her right hand looked like an acute triangle.

"So how do you use your ability? Does it consume the stones?" asked Crane, genuinely worriedly.

"Haha thankfully not. Otherwise, you would just ban me from using my ability ever. I just combine the verb with the noun, and it will give the effect as it describes. Can you tie Chris up?" Catherine requested.

Understanding what the ability might be, Crane didn't question her sister's request. He went out to grab a rope and came back in, tying Chris who was protesting.

"Chris, can you break free?" asked Catherine, holding back the urge to tease her brother.

"Nope, Crane's knots are too tight. I cannot even feel my hands."

"Good. Then watch this," Catherine replied shortly.

Crane took a step back and watched his sister carefully.

The lifted each of her hands and made a gentle clap, causing the rune stones to bump into each other in the middle. For a split second before the impact, the runes on them glinted, giving even Crane a glimpse of what they looked like.

"Grant Freedom!"

Chris suddenly felt a gust of wind coming at him from Cath's direction. At the same time, the rope tied around him became loose and he was able to break free easily.

"This ability is useful, but if I have more rune stones, I will be able to achieve various different effects," said Catherine proudly.

Crane suddenly turned his head up. He felt strong malice coming from above.