Sacrificial Beasts and the Abyss Revisited

"The earth shakes? This is a first for us," Kai'Sa materialized from the void, retracting her helmet and murmuring toward the epicenter of the tremor.

Her senses, now fully enhanced by the void carapace, were more acute to the vibrations than Kane's.

"I don't think it's an earthquake..." Kane had his doubts, "Such an intense tremor wouldn't just stop abruptly. It feels more like... like something has fallen."

"Like when we first arrived?" Kai'Sa gasped, then quickly composed herself, considering many possibilities.

"Could someone else have fallen down here?"

"The void creatures must have felt it too."

"We should check it out."

While speaking, her purple eyes locked onto Kane, her subtle expressions layered with inquiry. The decision was Kane's to make; without his consent, Kai'Sa was not to explore on her own.

If indeed something had collapsed, was it possible, as Kai'Sa suggested, that humans had appeared?

That was Kane's worry. If humans had indeed fallen, they wouldn't survive a day, and their final words might shatter Kai'Sa's innocence.

He had wanted to gradually expose her to the harsh reality of human society, but this unforeseen event disrupted his plans. Was it time to crush her naivety?

But Kai'Sa's gaze stung him.

So be it. If it's fate's design, let's face it!

"Let's go have a look."

Kane took Kai'Sa's extended hand, and she eagerly pulled him towards the source of the disturbance.

...

"Bleat—"

Approaching the epicenter and before even entering the cavern, Kane heard a familiar cry of livestock.

"It's goats!" Kai'Sa exclaimed with delight, quickening her pace.

Goats were creatures of the surface; as Kane had predicted, something from above had indeed fallen.

Entering the cavern, they found a large section of the ceiling had collapsed, burying dozens of goats beneath the rubble, most of which were already dead.

Kai'Sa was itching to slide down the slope and touch the goats, but Kane held her back firmly by the arm.

"Wait, do you see that?"

He pointed toward a sunken area behind the debris, a purple abyss where void energy ebbed and flowed, occasionally forming grotesque shapes.

Kai'Sa froze. While smaller than the previous one, the overwhelming energy of death made its presence undeniable.

It was indeed the kind of abyss they'd encountered a year before.

Approaching it was tremendously risky, and Kai'Sa immediately curbed her impulse.

"How peculiar for the fall site to be near an abyss?"

The current situation puzzled Kai'Sa; there had been no abyss near the ruins when they fell.

Perhaps this was no coincidence...

"Kai'Sa, in the village, were sacrificial goats led to a specific place?" Kane wanted to understand the connection, although he already knew who orchestrated these tragedies. But understanding the rituals and intentions of the cultists would give them an edge against a common enemy.

" I'm not sure, but the goats prepared for the night were gone from the pen by morning, surely taken by those strangers."

Gazing at the ruined goats, Kai'Sa recalled customs she never understood—moon pearls hung over hearths, dances under crescent moons, prayers to Nasus for prosperity, or livestock left outside to appease the beasts.

Chillingly, interpreting these customs now unveiled terrifying truths.

Were the goats meant to appease wild beasts for safety?

No, they were sounding the dinner bell for void creatures!

The cultists never intended to trade sacrifices for peace; they were luring the void to the surface!

This realization struck Kai'Sa like a bolt.

"We must hurry to the surface to inform the people! We have to stop them from heeding the cultists; they are harming everyone!"

She looked up at the collapsed ceiling, longing to return to the surface.

But Kane swiftly doused her fervor, forcing her to cool down.

"Think before you act. How will you tell the surface dwellers? Would you believe a monster looking like a person, or a person looking like a monster?"

"Don't forget how we were thrown down here. It was because we didn't have goats to sacrifice, we didn't fulfill the cult's task, and we were cast underground by magic. Anyone openly defying the cult would share our fate."

"Besides, take a good look. The route above is blocked; the rift has sealed. There's no way through!"

Kane's triple denial struck Kai'Sa hard, extinguishing her enthusiasm. She felt foolish for the rush of hope she had a second ago.

"So what do we do?" Kai'Sa pouted, out of ideas.

"Why worry now? Look at the dome's height, hundreds or thousands of meters. That means the void creatures are still some distance from the surface. The goats dropped here aren't enough to lure them up. As long as the villagers comply, they're safe for the moment."

Relieved to find no living humans in the rubble, sparing Kai'Sa from contact with them, Kane breathed easier. However, he couldn't let his guard down completely; this was an obstacle Kai'Sa would eventually have to face.

"What about the goats..." The animals' struggling cries in the debris pulled at Kai'Sa's heartstrings.

"Eat them, of course." Kane licked his lips; he had craved goat meat for quite some time.

A whole year! Did she have any idea what he had been through?

At his age, his body naturally craved meat, and the sight of the doomed goats set his dormant hunger pounding at his heart—a call to battle.

"What? But they're so cute, how can you eat them?"

Kai'Sa couldn't believe Kane's devilish notion. This desolate underground had finally been graced with gentle living creatures, and he wanted to devour them!

Kane's eyebrows furrowed: "Don't tell me you've never eaten goat. You feasted on it during festivities. I remember you bragging with a leg of roast goat, seasoned with spices your father brought from afar. The kid next door and I cried with envy, tears streaming uncontrollably from our mouths."