Prologue (current): Ceremony of the Dark Night

Lisa had waited there for a half hour now. Her tapping legs and fingers showed her restlessness. Lisa was sitting close to the window, but she was barely visible in the well-lit room which made her appear mysterious and abnormal.

She never left home for this long. And she did not like the idea that she was forced into taking part in the ceremony. 'It is getting tough to live unnoticed.' she sighed thinking how easy it was for her to live hidden just a decade ago. This was her second ceremony in this town. But both ceremonies were different for her.

She arrived in the town three years ago before the time of the ceremony and was invited to the first ceremony due to her strength. The others were wary of her, so she wasn't worried about any action would be taken against her. But this time, she had enemies, she could sense the evil intent directed towards her, and she couldn't help worry in her heart.

She raced her eyes through the hall. There were many people sitting in the hall. There was five Elder ranked evil beings in the hall including her. If she counted Margaret, a staff in the building and an accomplice of the head elder of the town, then there would be six.

Some people in the hall were humans who fell under her illusion. They were brought here just to fool the other humans in the building. Her methods were relatively harmless to people compared to many others. She could feel the enmity emitted due to this reason. A woman in the hall along with her, who liked to identify herself as "Nightmare," wanted to harvest their fears. Lisa prevented that as she did not want the normal humans to be abused, especially by a terror being like this woman. Margaret wearing a nurse's uniform might look peaceful, but Lisa knew for sure she held deep envy and anger towards her. The other three evil beings in the hall were waiting for the head of the ceremony to arrive.

She knew deep down she couldn't trust anyone except herself.

******

Suddenly, the door to the hall was opened with two people entered. A human and a strong elder.

"Here you go. Mr. Lewis."

A young woman dressed in a uniform like a nurse pushed a wheelchair to the spacious hall on the 4th floor.

"Thank you for your effort, Ms. Mary."

An old man with pure white hair and well-groomed beard replied while sitting in the wheelchair. His face had a smile that is filled with a wisdom of an elder and anyone who saw him would want to talk to him respectfully.

"It's nothing worth mentioning. But you should not stay awake for long. Staying late at night is not good for your health." Mary replied with a smile.

"Do not worry about that Mary. I will take care of them. And I will make sure they end the gathering party fast and go to sleep. Don't you have more residents to take care of?" Margaret came from inside to greet them.

"Are you in charge, Margaret? Thank goodness. You sure you can handle them alone. Do you need a hand?" Mary asked out of courtesy.

"No, I can handle this. You don't have to worry. Go on. Someone may need your assistance down on your floor." Margaret politely rejected Mary and took Mr. Lewis' wheelchair from her hands.

"It's ok. Mary. We will be fine." Mr. Lewis supported Margaret to send Mary back.

"Ok. I will be going on then. Its past 10 already. So when you make a sound, remember this is a Nursing Home and the residents are going to sleep soon." Mary passed these words and after taking a look in the hall which has about four similar elderly residents seated on chairs, she left for the floor.

"Yea, yea. You won't hear a thing" Mr. Lewis nodded with a slight grin.

"What a nice girl," he added after Mary left for the elevator.

"Then why did you do that to her. Why is that the people you like will live short lives." Lisa couldn't help sneer at him.

"Oh.ho. It isn't the lovely Lisa. It's been a long time since we met. Haha, you should not forget about us old fellows and visit us every now and then." Lewis did not seem to mind her rebuke as he talked merrily with her.

"It's only been three years since last time. I do not have any intention to be liked by a freak like you and get my lifeforce stolen like that young girl." She said with disdain. She did not hide the disgust from her tone and made it more evident with her expression that she did not like the man called Mr.Lewis. After taking a deep breath she continued.

"Don't think your actions will go unnoticed. What you did is a violation of the non-interference law."

"Haha. I only do it in minuscule amount and stops it before the threshold limit. Their radar will not be able to pick this up. Don't worry. I have been doing this for decades now." Mr. Lewis was still full of smiles without a tint of worry on his face as he was pushed to the front of the hall.

Suddenly his smile was gone and his face appeared to have authoritative dignity.

"Stand aside Margaret." He said.

"Yes. elder." Margaret an employee in the nursing home took two steps to the side and kneeled.

Lewis, the man in the wheelchair slowly pushes his leg forward and used it as a support to stand up. "It's been three years since I stood up without support. Hmm. Looks like I am getting really old."

A sneering voice came from a fat middle-aged man sitting in the hall.

"No one asked you to pretend like a cripple, you old leach."

"Oh, fat tentacle. You are getting more fatter each time I see you. I only came here since I got bored in the Massage center. I am going back after this but it was fun sending the old humans faster to death."Lewis replied.

"Aren't you forgetting about us?" Said the other beautiful mature woman in the room.

"It's not that I forgot about you. Nightmare girl. But actually, even I had trouble seeing through in Lisa's illusion. Mary, that nurse got fooled easily but truth be told even I had initially thought no one has come." Lewis said with a grin while shaking his head. He then released a bit of his power as his body starts emitting a slight glow. He could now perfectly able to see everyone including the two who did not speak near Nightmare girl and Lisa. He then turned to look at the grinning four humans in the room.

"Looks like they are having a blast."

"What a worthless thing to do. Expending so much power to give them a good illusion. I could have put them in a nightmare and harvest some despair while I am at it. Lisa is too soft on these pests." Nightmare was visibly dissatisfied as she did not like how Lisa denied her from getting her fill. Adding to the frustration of living under strict rules of non-interference she was close to lashing out at even simple things.

"Let it go Nightmare." said the man referred to as 'fat tentacle'. He had a large build and his body was covered with his loose gown. His extremely long sleeves gave him an eerie appearance.

"Everyone here?" Lewis interrupted Nightmare who was about to rebuke. He did not want anything to delay today's ceremony.

"Not the assemblyman." said the fat tentacle annoyingly.

"He better be on time or he will face consequences," said Lewis indifferently.

He did not have to wait long before a shadow came through the open window and landed on the floor without making any noise.

"Hah. I made it." he sighed. He was dressed formally in a grey suit and red tie. He is lean and looks like to be in the late 30s. "Those bastards stalked me again. They knew I am part of the group and wanted to disrupt the ceremony again. Since you fellas are in the dark, I am being watched on. It was not easy to get rid of them. What a tough life I am having."

He said while shaking his head fiercely and his expression is full of difficulty. Anyone who sees him wants to sympathize with him for no reason.

"Don't worry. Come with me tonight and I will give you an enjoyable night." Nightmare said with concern and her voice was unusually nice from before.

Instead of being happy or think about the romantic aspect of her invitation, the newly arrived man shivered from head to toe. He looked back at Nightmare and refused instantly. "No. Thank You for your concern. I have an official meeting I need to attend after this."

"A meeting after this, at midnight?" she was evidently dissatisfied because she knew he was lying.

'So you were planning to use me to replenish the spent energy after the ceremony? It is definitely enjoyable for you but it will only give me a nightmare.' He thought.

"Even though they cannot directly prevent the ceremony, they will try to disrupt it somehow if they know the location. Hmm. Assemblyman are you sure you get rid of the stalkers?" Lewis asked him with a frown.

Ever since the non-interference laws came to power, the evil beings are forced to live as low-key as possible. While the humans and holy faction are growing stronger day by day, they are getting weaker. This ceremony every three years is one of the very few methods the evil beings have to improve their strength. Since the entry and exit to the evil land are restricted, this is the only way they have to get the evil energy. The evil beings above elder rank in each county or district in every country will form a council, gathering all strong members in the area to protect themselves. Since they promised the holy faction that they will also enforce the non-interference laws, they gained the approval of the rulers as suppression will only lead to revolt. Since then a democratic version of fief like rule begins to develop on the Earth for the evil faction, who were previously disorderly and hard to manage. Even then not everyone is completely satisfied, be it evil beings or holy beings. So they try to passively obstruct each other.

"Yes. I did. Those weaklings can only be considered as Humans who ate viagra. They think themselves as part of the holy faction but they are actually puny humans who got some upgrade. By the way, we need more representatives in the governing bodies. I am being heavily suppressed and if we do not have enough power, our demands will be discarded like garbage." The assemblyman is still fuming over the meeting he had before where he was treated like he did not exist.

"Enough of the chatter. It's about time. Margaret clear the room." Looking at the dark night covered by heavy clouds without any sign of moonlight or any stars, Lewis started talking with a serious tone.

Waving her hand without saying a word, all pieces of furniture including the illusion bound old residents were pushed to the corner. Then she released her power and made a hexagonally shaped barrier inside the room covering even the floor and above.

"Let's start." Lewis took out a big dark colored pendant with red markings on it. The cravings on the pendant resembled a small window with many golems shaped carving on the sides. On the back of the pendant is a small red circle with the size of a finger, which represented the holder's status as an elder.

The six other beings circled him inside the hexagonal barrier. After placing the pendant on the floor and he cut his own finger and used his power to put an imprint on the drop of blood that came out. He then let the blood drop fall on top of the pendant before backing away. Each of the other six beings went forward and did exactly like him, letting a drop of blood fall into the pendant except the last being who has not spoken yet. This hooded being did not drop any blood instead it only let a dark wisp of energy with his imprint into the pendant.

With Lewis in front of the pendant and other six standing in a circle like position, they kneeled with their heads bent down. Slowly raising one of their hand, each of them started chanting.

"The one who bears the evil as thy name,

The one who lords over the land of Nefarion,

Hear our cry and feel our devotion,

Save us from suffocation,

Help us with our needs,

Open the door of your grace

to let us breathe.

We seven elders from far away, humbly request thee

Our King and Master

Devil."

As the chant went on, the window like carving in the pendant nourished by the imprinted blood and continuous torrent of energy from seven elder level Evil beings slowly opened. From inside, a portal like energy wave started emitting and a small sack made of energy layer was formed. From the window inside the pendant, dark energy started pouring out into the sac-like energy layer formed earlier making it inflate slowly like a balloon. Meanwhile, the six who were kneeling stood up and started channeling the power on both the pendant and sack trying to maintain them.

Due to Margaret's barrier, no sound or energy wave was leaked outside of the room making the residents of the nursing home ignorant of the ceremony taking place right under their nose.

As the Ceremony of the Dark Night began, no one knew or noticed an 'untraceable shadow' looking at a barrier in an isolated house little far away from the nursing home.