A ritual of lust

"There's something up a head. Listen." whispered Liv, keen to move on from the topic of the pornographic wall art.

Skye nodded, pleased that she was no longer the only one of the three who could hear the sounds coming up from below, "It's some sort of chanting... I don't know the language though. I don't think it's something they taught back at the academy"

Further on in the darkness, completely unaware that the three explorers had managed to unlock the Gate of Deepest Desire, a man dressed in dark robes continued to lead his ritual. His face was obscured by a mask which was crafted to look as though tendrils of twisted shadow were growing up from the top half of his face, and he swayed back and forth, waving a small baton as though he was the conductor of an orchestra. This man was Shaman Berg, and his followers clung to his every spoken word.

They sat in a massive carved chamber, an underground Colosseum, long since fallen to ruin. It was filled with men and women in similar dress, their sparse northern furs covered up in the swirling shadows of dark robes and masks. Most of them were poor, common folk who had turned to him and his dark god out of desperation for a better life. The constant wars of the northern tribes left them stressed, poor, and hungry, and Berg through his preaching promised something new and better, a life beyond such trifling terrors and filled with nothing but endless bliss.

Of course, the gathered populace only knew their dark Shephard as Shaman Berg, and not by the name he claimed in the world above. Up there he was Prince Jakob, the heir to the very throne that had driven them to such lengths of desperation through his endless lust for power.

"A third Minotaur tribe has joined with us!" he boomed to his followers and his cult roared back their approval. "By the time of the next moon, our power will be unrivaled, and we can spread the will of our master throughout the northlands! Then, once they have fallen, we cross the mountains to the south and claim the four kingdoms and that pitiable collapsing empire for our own! The whole world will sing the praises of our Lord!"

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This chapter was co-authored by Sixth (https://chyoa.com/user/Sixth) Please check him out!