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Kain drew his sword as he entered the courtyard, there was light here, it was comforting, almost, stealthily he approached, or so he hoped, he could never be stealthy enough, at least he knew that what he was doing could not be considered furtive.

Kain walked into the courtyard, the light from the moon cascaded down onto the courtyard, a beautiful scenery it would be to inspect were it not for the visible spoilage in it. The moonlit night did not do much in revealing any footprints or marks to track the Blue Garbs with, but from the direction of the rubble, he could vaguely trace them.

They might have gone in through the small gateway to his right.

Not one to take chances and wary of any likely bait, Kain inspected the courtyard, he learned in training that the enemy who played hide and seeks could be luring him to danger. Kain upon examination, what he did see exceeded his anticipation, a horrendous sight it was to behold, battered corpses lay scattered across the courtyard, heads without bodies, bodies missing limbs, random body parts lying here and there the sight in itself was nothing short of nauseating to him.

He noticed three blood trails under the moonlight, traveling towards a point where they met about forty meters ahead, at this point the trails met with another perfectly circular trail of blood, in this manner it appeared to be a blood ritual of some sort.

The blood trail art, anyone who saw it would probably freeze on the spot, there were heads, fresh bloody heads with half of their tounges left in them. These heads were made to round the circular trail, there were no eyes in them.

Kain found it difficult to breathe, his heartbeat almost doubled, there was this bitter sour taste in his mouth, and cold sweat drenched his back, by now he had to admit, the tension was climbing. Then he heard an indistinct sound like some foreign incantation, it seemed to come from the middle of the blood circle, he peered into the middle of it but saw nothing, whatever was in there was shrouded in darkness. He felt sure though that the sounds were coming from what was in the middle of the blood circle.

Putting aside the strange sounds, everywhere was dead silent, coupled with the cold and tension that hung in the air, the environment had become spooky.

Following the three blood trails with his sword in his hands, Kain buried his fear and took a bold step or two toward the blood circle then paused to look around, he eyed the tongueless heads, they seemed to be calling to him even though it was apparent that they were handicapped of speech if they were alive, much less now they were lifeless. Kain stood still in horror and some other mixed feelings. He felt pain, anguish, terror, hopelessness, anger, loss, and want for vengeance all at once, it seemed the more he looked at the heads the more complex emotions he felt as if these emotions were transferred from the bloody heads to him, the feeling began to get addictive.

"Damn, it's a curse," Kain whispered under his breath as he quickly tore his gaze off the bloodied heads, a wave of dizziness assaulted him. Once or twice it has been rumored that the Blue Garbs were masters

of combat who initiated dark arts into combat. Curses and hexes were two of such dark arts.

Kain shook off the dizziness and held his sword more firmly, the weight of his sword reassured him, he was about to take a step forward, he froze in place when he heard a voice, it came from the shadows in the middle of the blood circle, the voice was neither of a man nor of a woman but it was yet that of an adult human.

" Take not one more step hither," it said to him,

a warning.

Kain gulped hard, his hold on his sword had slackened so he reinforced his grip while chanting prayers to Thieris after which as if ignorant to the warnings he heard took a step forward.

A step forward he took, and he received his reward with immediate effect. A sharp pain shot through his right leg, more like a shock to the bone marrow. A soft cry escaped his mouth, he steadied himself and attempted to continue towards the source of the voice.

Then land tremors began from the direction of the shadowy figure, it was slight at first and intensified gradually with every step he took forward, the tremors reached to his mind, they tore at Kain's consciousness infusing the complex emotions into him again only this time he didn't have to look at the bloodied heads. The curse took its toll on Kain's mind whilst he tried to maintain his mental resilience.

He forced his way into the circle, there was a circular flight of stairs to a small platform. On the platform stood the shadowy figure of a man in a long garb, black clouds cloaked the figure.

By now Kain was feeling heavy and mentally worn out but he still ascended the stairs slowly, step by step, he continued until he started to see the blue of the garbs of the figure. Kain raised his sword with great difficulty but he struck true, or so it appeared,

a heavy sharp scythe came from nowhere and deflected the strike of the sword, the scythe was slender and thin yet very very heavy. With the scythe the shadowy figure pushed Kain until he stumbled, it was then that the shadowy figure decided to reveal himself, stepping out of the dark clouds that hid him.

"Why bother, you are not a match for me." It's voice had a hint of disdain in it, It smiled at Kain. "Stand and face your fate, the fate of every mortal man." It beckoned to Kain.

Kain stood up groggily and gripped his sword with both hands for assurance, his blade tip pointing toward his adversary.