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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7538642" data-attributes="member: 143">Oh, it gets worse...* * * Chapter 234When Xeeta woke she was being carried down a dark corridor.  She was facing the floor, her arms held behind her back and a gag drawn tight over her mouth.  She instinctively started to struggle, but the hands gripping her might as well have been steel bands for all the good that did.A moment later a face dropped into her line of sight.  She recognized instantly the mousy features of Vesca.  “Aware, are we?” he chortled.  “You might have preferred it had you remained unconscious.”She tried to respond, but the gag only allowed a muffled groan.The twins—for it had to be Toros carrying her—took her through an arch into a broad chamber.  The place had obviously once been a sewer interchange.  Gaping and empty pipes were still visible around the perimeter of the hexagonally-shaped room.  A faint distant tapping sound was audible, but the place was otherwise quiet.Kalev was waiting for them upon a raised platform in the center of the room, surrounded by a shallow trench that connected to several of the pipes.  Toros lifted her over it easily, while Vesca leapt up onto a protruding pipe and used it as a springboard to hop over.The surface of the platform was discolored, with faint outlines that suggested that there had once been machinery of some other large object present.  Now the space had been cleared except for a softly glowing circle marked in silver runes upon the floor.  On seeing those Xeeta began to struggle again, desperate to avoid being placed inside that circle, but Toros only shifted and plopped her unceremoniously to the ground a pace from its outer edge.  The giant’s hand remained on her shoulder, anchoring her in place.Kalev came around the circle toward them.  He had covered his usual rags with a faded robe that still bore hints of its past finery.  Over that he had put on a stole that bore markings similar to the ones that formed the magic circle on the floor.“Child, the time has come to begin our rebirth,” Kalev said.As he started to bend toward her, she started to struggle again.  The old arcanist clicked his tongue impatiently and said, “Hold her.”Hands gripped her head, holding her in place.  Her eyes grew wide as Kalev produced a small knife and a bowl from under his robe.  Held and gagged as she was there was nothing she could do as he leaned in and cut her skin just below her right ear.  She could feel the blood that trickled down over her jaw to be caught in the bowl.  To her it felt like her strength was draining out of her.Finally, Kalev drew back.  Xeeta could see that the bowl was nearly full, glistening with her blood.  He made a gesture and she could feel a rag or something similar pressed roughly against the side of her head.  Vesca tied it off and then drew back, wagging his thin fingers at her as he stepped to the side.Kalev returned to the other side of the circle and placed the bowl upon the floor next to it.  He knelt and spread his arms wide, the sleeves of his robe sliding back to reveal long, emaciated arms.  He stared up at the ceiling and began an incantation.  The guttural syllables echoed back weirdly through the mouths of all of the empty pipes, adding to the cacophony.  Xeeta could feel the power building, an echo of what she carried inside her, though the Demon remained quiescent as the ritual built to a crescendo.  Toros had loosened his grip on her, but she found that she could not look away.Kalev finished his grim chant.  He reached down and flung the contents of the bowl into the circle.  The blood was caught in mid-air, spinning into a spiraling vortex, though the air inside the chamber remained utterly still.  The crimson tornado continued to tighten around the center of the circle until there was a loud flash that briefly blinded Xeeta.  Blinking, she tried to clear the pulsing afterimages from her vision.When she could see again, the circle was no longer empty.  A muscled, naked figure lay upon the bare stone.  The blood was gone, and the runes of the circle were now barely visible.  The figure groaned and slowly pushed himself up.  As he did, Xeeta recognized him and a sense of horror clutched at her gut.He turned around and looked at her.  She could see the feelings she held echoed in his eyes as he realized what had happened, where he was.“What… what have you done…” he said.Xeeta couldn’t speak, but in her eyes she tried to send the message, I’m sorry!“Xeeta…” he said.  He turned and for the first time saw Kalev.  The old man had sagged back, obviously exhausted by the strain of the ritual, but there was a hint of triumph in his eyes as well.  “Welcome back to Li Syval, Rodan.”“No…”Kalev made a gesture and Toros lumbered forward into the circle.  Xeeta tried to get up, to somehow intervene, but she felt drained as well, and Vesca was easily able to intercept her and hold her down.  Rodan also tried to escape, but his legs collapsed under him when he tried to get up.  He swung at Toros as the big tiefling reached for him, but the brute merely took the blow and pulled the prisoner up into a pinning embrace.Kalev hobbled slowly over to them.  “We will let you children recover your strength a bit,” he said.  “Then we can truly begin.”Xeeta tried to scream, but all that made it past the gag was a gurgling hiss.</blockquote>

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