298 Sorry

At the center of this crowd, hundreds of humanoid aliens of various appearances were on their knees, chained at the foot of an altar forged in one piece from an enormous Red Crystal. From their motley appearances and the presence of a few humans in the group, including Sarah and his cousins, Jake knew right away that they were Players.

Dried blood had impregnated the altar, as had the slabs of the plaza. Some human-sized buckets contained severed limbs and heads, while others appeared to be filled with a thick liquid of different colors.

At first Jake naively thought it might be some kind of paint, but the unmistakable metallic stench left little doubt as to the nature of the liquid. It was blood. After all, red was not the only possible color.