69 The purpose of the blood ritual

The sudden voice made Soisen startle and unconsciously all his skin darkened, while his eyes lit up like gold as he charged his magic to react to whatever was about to happen.

-What are you doing? -he heard again.

Soisen's eyes looked around, but all he saw were rivers of gold coins flowing, literally! Some ancient-looking statues, books kept in glass cases, wooden chests, shelves with silver goblets and other treasures.

-Well, don't you intend to introduce yourself? The manners of today's youth....

Soisen at last located the source of the voice, a statue made of gold inlaid with precious gems of an old man with a rather strange beard, divided into three sections.

-Shouldn't you introduce yourself first? -Soisen didn't even think about his answer, it just came right out.

The golden statue frowned at Soisen's response, but rather than angry, his expression was thoughtful.

-Do you really not know who I am? -asked the statue. "Didn't your parents tell you? What's more, why didn't anyone come for so long?

-I don't know who you are, my mother died, I don't know who my biological father is, and I think I'm the only Galegold left. Besides, it took about a thousand years in my mother's womb before anyone found me.

-That shouldn't be possible! How did you...? Wait, did you say a thousand years? -the statue latched on to the available information instead of the absent one- Mmm, you actually look a lot like little Cyrah -the statue looked him up and down and commented faintly.

-It was my mother," Soisen nodded.

-The situation is not right," the statue muttered as it looked at a shelf with oil lamps, only one of which was lit at the moment, "To think it has come to this, a single lamp of life. I hoped I'd never have to see this," the statue let go a heavy sigh as she pointed her finger at an artifact beside her, "Boy, see that silver blade? Drop a drop of blood on it.

Soisen stood still looking at it for a moment, but did as he asked. After dropping the blood on the silver sheet, the blood was swallowed and the statue's eyes lit up for a few seconds as it trembled.

-I see, a temple to motherhood. Poor Cyrah, she really was such a sweet girl," the statue nodded sadly, "So this is all that has happened since then, what a tragedy. Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Soisen.

-Huh?

-This silver blade is used to communicate memories through the blood connection," the statue explained to the confused look of the young mage.

This made Soisen petrified.

-You don't have to worry, kid," the statue assured him as he waved his hand, "Worried about the "extra" memories you have? That's not even a rarity in the family.

-What do you mean? -this time he was genuinely confused.

-I think I should introduce myself before proceeding," the statue bowed in ancient custom, as she placed her right hand over her heart, "My name is Kyrako. I was, am, and will be, the embodied heir of the Galegold lineage. A pleasure to meet you, heir.

-Likewise, I suppose.

-As you know, the Galegold family went through a dark time when they were forced to perform a huge blood ritual out of desperation. If I'm not mistaken, the rest of the world still doesn't know what the effect of the ritual was and that's good for us. But, it seems that the real motive for the attack on the family was not revealed either.

-Wasn't it jealousy and greed? -Soisen asked.

-No doubt jealousy was very much involved," Kyrako nodded in agreement, "But greed was just something that came up later. You see, far from what the more paranoid families may think, in reality the goal of the ritual was extremely simple and straightforward. To ensure the continuation of the Galegold lineage, in the full sense of the intention.

-I don't understand.

-Yes, I think you need some more context," the statue took a few seconds to organize the words in her mind, "Let's start with the real reason for the attack. If we were to use a hierarchy in the world based on magic, then at the bottom would be the common animals. They would be followed by muggles, plants or magical creatures, and on top of everything else, wizards.

Soisen nodded, understanding the big picture.

-Now, what if wizards were not the top of that pyramid? -Kyrako asked. "What if there was something, or rather, someone above the wizards? A step further up the ladder of magic, the next step in evolution we might say.

-You mean the Galegold managed to reach the next step and the mages attacked them out of jealousy and fear? -Even Soisen found it hard to believe what the statue was saying.

-The Galegold are the best of the best, blessed with intelligence, a more than desirable attractiveness, a talent for magic and a good eye for business. This alone already makes many look upon them with jealousy, but at best, it would win them some trouble. Now, what if the magicians discovered that they are no longer, nor can they, call themselves the superior beings they think they are? That someone will be above them just by being born.

-I think I see where this is going.

-Yeah, it's not that hard, is it? -the statue chuckled grumpily- Perhaps wizards are a much smaller number compared to Muggles, but the Galegold were also few compared to wizards back then. So relying on numbers... you know how it went.

-And what do you mean by the intent of the ritual?

-You see, just as if you use a human sacrifice instead of an animal, you get much more magic as a comparison, the fact that so many Galegold died only served to enhance a blood ritual like never before. And who do you think the family made the pact with?

Soisen shrugged, he didn't have much knowledge of sacrificial magic.

-The world! It was with the whole world that a pact was made, irrevocable and perpetual. After the blood ritual, the lineage of the Galegold will never disappear. But, there could be many loopholes in such a pact if someone else made it, but as a Galegold, how could we allow that?

-What kind of loopholes?

-For example, it could satisfy the pact by causing the bloodline to believe itself to be Muggle after a few generations, merging with the general population. Or it could leave only a single survivor per generation, who would have a "crazy night" to leave offspring before perishing by some unfortunate event.

But we weren't going to allow something like that!