Narrator
Vamir slowly made his way towards the unconscious man that lay right at the centre of the ritual circle. The burning candles flickered as if a soft breeze had interrupted it’s constant burning as he moved in the ritual circle. Vamir, in his real form, approached the core, his hideous face now showed signs of contentment. Volga was now under their control.
He knew that Volga’s pure spirit would fight against them, regardless of him submitting in his own will. He knew that if he loses control, it would result in an explosion. But they succeeded. Volga’s pure spirit had lost. It was too late. And their constant chanting had helped suppressing Volga.
Holding the ceremonial dagger in his right hand and the bowl in his left, he hovered over Volga and eyed the bulging veins on Volga’s neck. Apparently, his soul was still trying to fight against the darkness from claiming him.
Vamir scoffed.
“Pathetic pure wizards.” He murmured and lifted the dagger high above his head and started muttering incoherent words in his mother tongue.
His faithful followers continued to mumble their chant while Vamir’s raspy voice rose above their deep, monotonous ones. Vamir kept his eyes fixed on Volga and soon, Volga’s shirt tore open on its own from the centre, revealing his hairy chest. Vamir’s chants intensified as he slowly lowered the dagger towards his chest.
Carefully, he placed the tip of the dagger right above Volga’s heart and started to cut the shape of a star which was surrounded by a circle – the symbol of muddle wizards. As he moved his dagger, a white coloured powder magically marked the ground in synchronisation with the movement of the ceremonial dagger, until a star was drawn on the ground, which matched the bleeding wound on Volga’s chest.
“Noumosi tirips sesraked!”
He growled loud enough to be heard by every ear present in the hall, and cut open Volga’s left wrist deep enough so that blood would ooze out of the cut. Vamir made sure that he collected some of his blood in the bowl before letting go of his hand. He then cut his own hand and let his blood mix with Volga’s before letting his wound heal. Of course, he had the ability to heal his own wounds in the blink of an eye.
Vamir continued his chant and watched as a white smoke slowly ascended from his wounds towards the chandelier right above them. Vamir’s smirk widened as he watched the white smoke disappear into the thin air. Soon, a darker, and smokier puff of smoke descended from the centre of the chandelier and entered the unconscious man lying on the floor.
Vamir backed off, as Volga’s body started to tremble and shake vigorously as the smoke made its way into his body through his ears and nostrils. However, neither he, nor his followers slacked on chanting their chant. They ensured that the sound of their chants continued to fill the entire room until the smoky puff had completely entered the body of the man who had so willingly offered himself to them.
Just as the last of it entered him, he ceased to shake and tremble. They watched as the wounds slowly healed on it’s own, forming a tattoo-like scar on his chest and the wrist. The one on his chest looked like their symbol, an encircled star, which was hidden under his body hair to some extent. And the one on his wrist looked like a devil’s tail.
Yes. It was complete. The transition was a success. Volga was now a muddled wizard. Which meant he was now a combination of a dark spirit and his real self.
Vamir raised one hand, indicating those who surrounded the ritual circle, to stop their chant. An eerie silence quickly filled the hall as they watched in anticipation. They didn’t know how long it would take for him to regain consciousness, but it shouldn’t take more than an hour since the dark spirit had successfully made it’s way inside this body.
Slowly, Volga started to groan. It was obvious that he was in pain. Vamir, still in his superior form, stared at the buff man who was now waking up from his unconscious state. Suddenly his eyes flung open. To their utter surprise, his eyes were completely black. There was a white ring in the centre of his eyes which Vamir guessed was the iris. He was quick to get on his feet and looked around, as a sinister smile slowly curved his lips.
Vamir was quick to offer the blood he had collected in the bowl for the spirit to feed on. Volga’s dark eyes zeroed on the red liquid in the bowl which he literally snatched from Vamir’s hands and gulped down in one go.
“Finally. I’m awake.” Volga’s lips moved, but it was not his voice. This voice was deep, and sounded more like a growl which was too familiar to Vamir.
Vamir was shocked.
“My master! Abigor!”
Vamir hastened to scramble to his feet and pay his respects, which the attendees quickly followed. Vamir had never thought that transitioning of Volga would result in the release of his mentor and master who had been locked up by Tristan a million years ago. It was after Abigor was confined that Vamir had sworn to follow his footsteps and attain that stone of power, no matter what.
He had always known that pure wizards can be transitioned, but none of them actually offered themselves in the past. And he had never thought that it would actually result in the release of his master and teacher, their true leader. He was glad that he had chosen to try it on Volga, though it was completely unplanned.
“Stand up, Vamir! Have you got the stone of power, like we originally wanted?” his question made Vamir gulp and shudder. Even after a million years, and years of experience in ruling this kingdom, his master had that effect on him.
“N...no master. I.. I tried...but Tristan..”
Vamir was silenced by a loud roar that escaped Volga’s mouth, making everyone cower in fear. The chandelier tinkled as it moved with the force of the roar, but that didn’t make Abigor slow down even a little bit.
“Tristan must die......” he hissed.
“H....he had sacrificed himself master, thousands of years ago. I had almost succeeded in attaining the stone of power a thousand years after your confinement and to prevent me from attaining it, he put a curse on my beast and sacrificed himself to save the stone from being stolen. Ever since that day, it has gone missing. No one knows where it is. Not even anyone from the wizard kingdom knows. I’ve been trying since that day to find it. But I haven’t succeeded yet.” Vamir explained to the best of his ability.
“Tristan... is gone?”
Vamir nodded in response to Abigor’s question.
“But his sacrifice and his curse is making it hard for us to break that curse and unfreeze my beast.....Volga had offered himself....that’s why we did the transitioning.” Vamir further explained.
Abigor smirked, slightly amused and satisfied that Tristan, his biggest obstacle, was gone.
“We will find that stone. And then destroy Tristan’s entire kingdom. He thought he could get rid of me. He had only confined me. Now I am free!” Abigor bellowed.
“Actually master. We must do it before the chosen one arrives.” Vamir tried to explain.
“What?”
“There is a prophecy, master. Someone will come who will.......”
“Bah! Nonsense!” Abigor was least interested in a stupid prophecy.
“Let’s just try to release this beast you speak of.” Abigor muttered.
Vamir took him to the chamber where the beast’s frozen body was kept. A sinister smirk curved his lips as he studied the gigantic body of the beast. It stood on his hind legs and looked ferocious even in it’s frozen form. Several sharp teeth were visible in it’s open mouth. It’s yellow, reptile-like eyes were wide open and could give you shivers.
“Well done Vamir.” He chuckled in satisfaction. “You have mastered what I have taught you. I am extremely proud of you Vamir.” Abigor spoke and circled around the frozen beast, studying his dear student’s masterpiece. After all, his years of teaching Vamir have not gone to waste.
“Now, let’s release him.” He whispered darkly, as he took in a deep breath.
He raised both hands and the wind started to swirl around him, lifting the dust and sand particles from the floor. Their loose clothing swayed vigorously as the wind speed picked up. Soon, the whole chamber was in chaos, with strong gusts of winds blowing, dust and other particles flew all over the place while Abigor summoned his powers. Vamir was eager to witness the wonderful work his master was doing but it was just impossible to keep his eyes open.
“Esaeler mihim morf nezorf statum.”
His loud and clear order was heard well over the chaos that filled the chamber, which lasted for a few more minutes. Soon the gusts of wind died down and everything went back to normal.
Abigor grinned and looked at the beast, expecting it to move and be prepared to take orders from him. But soon, his grin faded away, when he realised that nothing had happened. The beast was still in it’s frozen state. It didn’t even move a muscle, nor did it even blink. Not even the tiniest bit of movement.
“What?” he questioned in confusion. “Why isn’t it working?” he growled, his anger quickly surfacing.
“Master. Because of Tristan’s sacrifice, his curse is hard to break. But I think a pure wizard can break it. Master, it must come from Volga who’s soul is now intertwined with yours. It will be in that body you share with him. That body now contains two souls where of course your soul will be more dominant. But we must work with him and use his skills as well.” Vamir told him.
“Why the f**k is he still sleeping then?” Abigor roared, making the whole chamber rumble with the force he screamed with. Vamir winced but then, he was used to that.
“Maybe master, he needs time to adjust to your power.” Vamir humbly replied hoping that his master’s anger would reside.
“He better wake up soon and help us out. Otherwise, this body is useless.” Abigor muttered and left the chamber in fury.
“I guess we still have a long way to go.” Vamir sighed. At least the transition was a success and his master and the true ruler of muddles is back.
“Now no one can stop us. We will win!” he whispered as he stared at the vicious beast he had trained for the sole purpose of acquiring the stone of power.
“You better wake up soon, Volga. You had promised us that you would submit to me.” Vamir narrowed his eyes as he thought of how Volga had resisted just before he lost consciousness.
“You better cooperate with me, Volga, or else, I will have to make you.” Vamir murmured a promise to himself and quickly walked away, closing the chamber shut behind him.
Aksara