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HON’HIN WENT NORTH to the great mountain where the old rituals were once held. The ground was charred from long ago burned out offering fires. Scant traces of ritual blood stained the ground. Weeds grew in the sacred circle. Hon’hin knew this was a fool’s errand, the Crythl were long forgotten by the tribe, and he doubted that they would even listen to him. He had never seen anyone consult with the Crythl; he only knew what was in the book of his ancestors that had been passed down and protected from the time of destruction. Yet, he was going to try to follow the ritual to preserve his people and their way of life.
He began his arduous task by clearing the sacred circle of any debris and redrawing the magical glyphs. He searched the small temple ruins that were near the circle and found the golden dagger that he would use to cut his hand and offer sacrifice to the guardians of the veil to the Underworld. If they accepted his sacrifice, he could try to call forth the Crythl. If either of these entities did not come forth and accept his offers then all was over.
He took a deep breath and began to chant the magic while slicing his left hand in a quick motion. The blood poured down into the sacred circle as he called forth the guardians of the veil.
“Hear me now, Usk’omi and Metsunen, guardians of the veil between here and death! I know we have no right to ask you to open the portal after all of these years but hear your once loyal children! Take in the sacrifice. Open the portal. Allow me to plead my case!”
The ground shook as the blood oozed into the circle. The wind blew as the dry earth lapped up the sacrifice. A coldness filled Hon’hin’s bones. Smoke and steam rose out of the ground and then he heard it.
“We hear and obey forgotten child of ours. Open the portal for you we will. Crythl may or may not come, but we obey the asking of the sacrificial blood,” the ghostly disembodied voices chanted.
Now all he had to do was wait to see if the immortal shades would come. He placed a small white stone at his feet and began chanting. “Hear me ancestors, I know we have no right to ask for your guidance. I know we forsook you. I know you have the right to destroy me for bothering you, but please, your once loyal children need your help. Evil is upon us. Living without your guidance has made us strong of will, but weak of power. We are suffering. Help us now. Accept the offering of this simple stone of the earth you once walked.”
Hon’hin stood there waiting for something to happen. He had begun to give up hope when she appeared before him. She was a mysterious and beautiful woman. She was a dark beauty with an unusual staff at her side. Her skin was a dark blue-purple and her hair was wild and blonde. Her eyes glowed and her skin shimmered with a mystical sheen as magical fog surrounded her. She stared at Hon’hin for a long time before speaking.
She circled Hon’hin and asked coldly, “You are the Raelisuir that begs for our help years after you had abandoned us and sealed us in this fate?”
“I had no choice in the matter of the abandonment; it was something done years and years before I was even conceived! I come to you now for I see the error of our people’s mistakes.”
“Lies! All lies!” She hissed. “Why should I not destroy you now, Raelisuir? What could you possibly give in return that would make up for the years of abandonment? What could you give that would help the Crythl?”
“You say you were abandoned to a certain fate? I am not versed in all the ways of Raelisuir, but I believe if you had followers again your powers would grow. You would not be confined to the gates of the Underworld. You would be free to roam again.” Hon’hin carefully chose his words.
The proposed shade immortal stood there. She pondered what this human told her. She had long been locked away in the gates of the Underworld unable to move about. Unbeknownst to this human he had actually offered what she longed for; freedom. While it is true that the Crythl were once powerful beings that shared a collective knowledge of power and ritual, what the human did not know was that she was not one of them. She was a Narkurru that had absorbed the essence of the once powerful Crythl. She hungered for the power that she felt she could gain if she had followers. Here was her chance to try to get the power she wanted, but she knew she must not seem too eager to help or else all may be lost. She paced around the human and stopped.
“What is it that I can help you with? What plagues your people so?”
“The Amazon raids grow by the day. We are few in number now, but we wish the Crythl’s help to alleviate that problem. We need a way to stop our enemies and protect our people.”
“Very well, human; here are my terms. You are a descendant of the Crythl ancestors and you have the ability to use magic. I will grant you and your followers the ability to use my magic in the human realm. But in return you must send me a servant every spring festival to become my Chreuthecal.”
“You want us to send you a servant to become the living dead?!”
“Yes. In return I grant you the use of my magic and protection.”
“But how is sacrificing our people to become Chreuthecal any better than giving them up to the Amazons?”
The Crythl didn’t know how to answer that. She was afraid the deal would be off and her powers lost. She thought fast. “What would you say was a fair deal? If I am going to protect you and your people I will need a Chreuthecal to help me. Since I am not requiring your people to worship, only align with me, I will need someone to help me make up for the loss of power. Or did you never learn that an immortal’s powers are connected with the number of followers they have? In return for the servant I will grant you my magic and protection.”
“Would you be willing to return the old Chreuthecal when the new one arrives?”
The demon thought. If she sent them back it would decrease her powers, but she saw no choice. Her stolen magic was getting weak and something was better than nothing. She would have to figure the ramifications out later. “Very well then, I will protect you and grant you my magic and in return you will send me one Chreuthecal every spring festival; I will return the old Chreuthecal to their old life. This is the agreement I will take, human. Do you agree?”
Hon’hin cringed at the thought of striking a deal with the mysterious creature. But what choice did he have? “We have a deal.”
The dark lady danced with joy at the news. She began chanting and her hands began to glow as the magic grew around her. She became more and more solid as she summoned powers. Lye-Ashe reached out and touched Hon’hin. A crack of lighting snapped across the sky as the newly whole woman appeared before Hon’hin. With her new powers she was now able to travel between the realms freely, both flesh and spirit. Hon’hin stood there dazed at her mysterious beauty and the new power that flowed through him.
“What now, my lady?” Hon’hin asked to the dark creature before him not knowing what to call her in her solid form.
“You may call me Lye-Ashe, Hon’hin the Raelisuir. We go and endow your people with magic. Then we go after the Amazons.”