Chapter 46 - 46 – Ritual
Kyle walked through the last door, which enhanced all Aspects of Power.
Of course, the enhancement wouldn't be as good as the other ones, but he just couldn't let go of any of his Aspects.
He needed all of them.
Kyle entered a different hall, and his eyes widened when he saw it.
'That's... big,' he thought.
The hall was almost 30 meters wide, which was not what Kyle had expected.
After all, there wasn't even a hallway that led to it.
When he stepped in and looked to the left, his suspicion was confirmed.
'The four gates to the left of this one lead nowhere,' Kyle realized.
The four gates that enhanced three Aspects of Power each should lead right into this room.
But there was no door.
It was like there was just a wall behind the four other gates.
Cold sweat ran down Kyle's back.
'I guess choosing any of these four gates would just make the golem kill you.'
'However, I am uncertain about the other ones. They could still lead somewhere else.'
Kyle looked at the room. 'At least I didn't choose completely incorrectly.'
The big hall was covered with a lot of stuff.
There were spires with glowing and levitating orbs above them.
There was a complex diagram on the ground that was written with several different materials of different colors.
As Kyle saw the diagram, his head started to spin.
This seemed unreasonably complicated.
He also saw twelve golems carrying different stones made of materials that Kyle didn't recognize.
The last thing of note was a small golem that was barely a meter tall.
It stood at the edge of the diagram and held a long staff with a huge crystal at the end.
"Step into the center," the small golem spoke evenly.
When Kyle heard that voice, the hairs on his back rose.
His instincts told him that this thing was dangerous.
Really dangerous!
In fact, Kyle felt like this was the most dangerous thing he had ever seen.
Even Sulfur or the weird dragon at the entrance didn't feel this threatening!
Kyle awkwardly pointed at the center of the diagram. "Ehm, right there, right?" he asked.
"Yes, and don't touch any of the lines. The diagram is already charged," the golem said.
"Okay," Kyle said as he carefully stepped past the individual lines of the diagram, which was easier said than done.
There were so fucking many of them!
After around 30 seconds of tip-toeing, Kyle reached the center of the diagram and looked at the small golem.
"Don't move. It might hurt a bit," it said.
Kyle just nodded before waiting nervously.
The next moment, the golem started to recite a string of words Kyle didn't recognize while making complex hand motions with its left hand.
Some seconds later, the golems holding the stones all took a step forward and put their stones in specific spots on the diagram.
The small golem started to wave its staff around, and the floating crystals shone brighter.
Kyle could feel something gathering in the air.
'This feels so weird. It's like... there's wind, but there isn't any wind.'
He felt like something was moving around his body.
'Is this Ether?' Kyle thought.
The sensation felt warm but also a bit cold.
It felt peaceful yet violent.
It was like being doused in cold and hot water at the same time.
A moment later, the pupils of Kyle's eyes widened on their own.
The pores of his skin also opened, and he started to breathe deeply and quickly.
It was like his body wanted to consume whatever was around him.
Some seconds later, Kyle saw something.
He saw some kind of green shimmer in the air.
It was moving around, but it didn't seem to affect the air itself.
His surroundings began to warp under the green shimmer, and Kyle's mind was starting to think.
He didn't know what he was thinking about, but he could tell that he was thinking about something.
Suddenly, Kyle started to cough.
The coughing fit became more violent until...
He coughed up a big chunk of blood that fell onto the ground.
Luckily, the center was big enough that the blood didn't hit any of the lines of the diagram.
The next second, blood started to come out of Kyle's eyes and ears.
Then, a fountain of viscous and dense blood flowed out of Kyle's nose.
He fell to his knees, trying to breathe in more air as blood was flowing out of all parts of his body.
BANG!
Suddenly, the small gem in Kyle's bracelet exploded.
Some seconds later, the veins all over his body became several times bigger and started to visibly rise and fall.
'What the fuck is going on?!' Kyle thought in panic as more and more blood came out of him.
Yet, despite all of the gore and horror, it only hurt a little bit.
Sure, the puking and coughing hurt and were annoying, but it didn't really hurt.
It was like his body didn't mind whatever was going on.
The next moment, all the hair all over his body fell out and was quickly replaced by pitch-black hair.
His skin slowly peeled off, revealing new skin that was free of any imperfections.
Lastly, his eyes became darker and took on just the slightest hue of purple.
Kyle puked more blood and chunks of gore.
He still had no idea what was happening to him.
"We're done."
Kyle looked up from his kneeling position as he heard the small golem's words.
"Huh?" he uttered as he slowly recovered from his puking and coughing fit.
"We're done," the small golem repeated. "The ritual is over. You may proceed to the actual fourth trial."
"Oh... okay," Kyle said awkwardly, the world shaking a bit in his perception.
He held the side of his head as he walked over to the door that had just opened.
Due to his current state, he didn't think about being careful about the diagram and just walked over the lines.
However, the small golem didn't seem to mind.
"Don't mess this up," the small golem said as Kyle reached the door.
Kyle turned around to look at the golem in confusion.
"We invested a lot in you. Don't mess up the last two trials," the golem repeated.
"S-sure," Kyle said. "I'll try my best."
Then, Kyle walked out of the room.