Sacrifice to Drakavar

At first, there's a moment of stillness, and Dakka thinks that whatever his grandfather did failed.

'Dravar-ree?' Dakka scoffs. 'What kind of spell is that supposed to be?'

Dakka can't be blamed for thinking this since dragons don't have any vocal spells. Instead, they prefer to either punch something really hard, or just give the Elementals instructions.

Aren't vocal spells something that the lesser races use?

More seconds pass, and nothing is happening. What're they waiting for?

"Grandfather?" Dakka suddenly asks, "What's going on? What did you do?"

"Sh!" The moon spirit, Tali, hisses at him. She doesn't bother explaining WHY he needs to shut up, since she, herself, is far too afraid to speak up any longer than necessary.

'Dravar-ree' – Fheldin's "spell" – is the vocal version of one of Drakavar's Names. Uttering the name of an Elder God WILL grab their attention.

Indeed, Fheldin didn't actually cast a spell; all he did was figuratively knock on the Ancestor Dragon's door.

Knowing that Drakavar herself may be looking over in their direction, Tali is understandably uptight. She'd hate for this stupid boy dragon to say something stupid and anger the Goddess.

Plus, isn't it appropriate to wait patiently for the Goddess's reply? What gave Dakka the right to go jabbering his mouth off with questions?

A few minutes later, Dakka starts to get a little antsy. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he feels a powerful Force tickle his skin. It's like something in his blood is responding.

Before he knows it, Dakka is already kneeling on the ground. 'But… why did I kneel?' he wonders. 'It's like my body moved on its own…?'

Just as suddenly as the uncomfortable feeling came, so is it gone. It's like he was brushed by an invisible hand, then left alone.

Just as the subtle presence moves away from him, Dakka feels the invisible Force touch Fheldin next, then Tali. In turn, they both kneel down as well and prostrate.

Once everyone here has been Felt, they all hear a voice echo in their minds as if their brains were hollow caverns, 'Hmm… I suppose it's good enough. What's your business, Fheldin?'

Fheldin stands back up, though his head remains bowed. "I'm here to request a Hal'Nithkin ritual."

Suddenly, Dakka feels that presence shift back to him, except this time, the pressure is so strong that he's pushed flat to the ground, and he feels his bones cracking.

'I feel like a bug trapped under a boot,' Dakka thinks. Oddly enough, he doesn't feel scared in this situation. Something in his dragon blood tells him that being treated this way is correct.

'Very well. Present your proof of entry,' Drakavar's will commands. 'You DO still have it, correct?'

"Of course," Fheldin immediately says.

Fheldin steps forward and ceremoniously traces a line over his palm with his claw. A thin, red line appears, and blood starts to trickle out.

Dakka's grandfather lets the blood flow out of his palm and onto the moon's surface for a few seconds, until a small, black drop of blood slips out of the cut and dangles precariously off his palm.

The moment that drop of black blood is exposed, every molecule in Dakka's body screams in rebellion. Tali's moon starts quaking, and the surface starts groaning and cracking.

'Put it away,' Drakavar orders Fheldin.

As if on que, the black droplet is sucked back into Lord Fheldin's body, and the horrible pressure it was emitting is hidden once again.

Drakavar's presence seems to go away completely, but Dakka can faintly feel the Dragon Goddess's awareness going deeper into the ground instead of withdrawing completely.

Then, Dakka feels a painful groan come from deep in the ground, and the moon quakes and shudders again.

In that moment, Tali screams in pain, and pieces of her body starts being ripped off and turning to black dust. As she's slowly consumed, even the dust coming from her body dissipates without a trace.

While this is happening, Dakka and Fheldin look down and see the ground start to cave in places. Within moments, the entire moon is sinking down… and down… and down.

As the moon shrinks further and further, the remaining material starts spinning faster and faster.

Soon enough, the remaining moon has become so dense that it's glowing as hot as a star, and the moon is spinning around millions of miles an hour.

Finally, when enough of the moon is absorbed, Dakka sees something rather horrific with his draconic eyesight.

There, at the center of what was once the moon, is a spinning disk of white and gold energy, spinning around a black hole the size of a small coin.

All the moon's material which hadn't been consumed already has been crushed so hard by gravity that it's been reduced to a form of pure light and plasma far hotter than the core of the hottest star.

Still, even with this remaining energy burning so hot, none of the heat can escape, since it's trapped in a perpetual orbit around the black hole – forever spinning the shape of a flat disk.

"Is Tali dead?" Dakka asks while thinking, 'No wonder Madame Sindria didn't want us to perform a ritual among her children. That was pretty terrible.'

"After a manner of speaking," Fheldin shrugs. "Black holes are portals into Drakavar's Realm."

"Does that mean…"

"Yes. We're jumping in," Fheldin says grimly.

---------------------

You'd think that anyone could just jump into Drakavar's Realm by finding the nearest black hole. Those things aren't even that hard to find.

However, if Drakavar doesn't accept your entry into her Realm, then jumping into a Black hole wouldn't take you anywhere; you'd just be committing suicide.

It just so happens that Drakavar is very easily swayed by guests bearing gifts. Given how she is, it became a tradition to offer her a sacrifice before asking her for... well, anything, really.

And so, Fheldin takes Dakka's hand, and they both drift towards the black hole.

"Grandfather…" Dakka is about to point out how this is a bad idea, but he swallows his words.

"Yes?"

"Never mind."

As they get closer and closer to the black hole, Fheldin suddenly says, "Make sure to lower your magical defenses. It'll all be over a lot quicker that way."

"Are we really going to die?" Dakka wonders aloud. Just looking at that ominous black dot gives him an unprecedented sense of danger.

"Yes, we'll die," Fheldin answers nonchalantly. "…Well, our physical bodies will, anyway. Don't worry. Drakavar will reform our bodies with a snap of the fingers."

"Don't you need bones to bring someone back to life?" Dakka points out. "From what I remember of those physics books you made me read as a child, the force inside a black hole is infinite. I'm pretty sure our bones won't survive."

"Shut up," Fheldin huffs. "We're talking about Drakavar here. She doesn't need bones. All she needs is your Dravar to reform you. Since we're so kindly throwing our Dravar into this black hole, she'll have everything she needs."

"…All right. I'll shut up now."

As one, Fheldin and Dakka release their magical defenses. Their scales stop humming with mana, and they both suddenly feel space's pressure – or the lack thereof.

Before they get to choke to death or have their blood boil out of their skin, they've already gotten close enough to the black hole.

Within less than a moment, the heat from the black hole's accretion disk blasts every cell in their body into oblivion. After that, all their atoms are injected with so much energy that the atoms shake themselves apart and cease to exist.

If that didn't kill them, then the huge difference in gravity between their feet and their heads would've ripped their body to shreds – stretching their broken form out into a long noodle.

Alas, if Dakka and Fheldin were conscious for this part, they wouldn't be able to tell when they crossed the even horizon.

Near instantly, all of their energy is pulled into the black hole's singularity, and they disappear from this universe entirely.