Eternal Night Ritual

"This is the spine of an adult werewolf we had captured recently on our trip out in the human world." Elara was busy with the ingredients, so Vanessa—who had personally gathered them—answered instead.

Alvin's first reaction was to see traces of blood on her hands or clothes, but there were none. He nodded silently. But it took a moment for her words to fully register.

"Wait… There are werewolves in his world, too?"

Vanessa chuckled lightly, a teasing lilt in her voice. "Your reaction is adorable. There are many other races here. Now that you've stepped into the supernatural world, you'll encounter them in due time."

It was only due to Elara's power working on him that Alvin was able to keep his cool and not make a fool of himself. The amount of information he had just taken in was too much for any normal person.

Maybe only weebs and people who have a certain level of mental fortitude might be able to stay composed in the face of such dangerous beings. 

But now, with his mind working at a fast pace, he had already accepted it. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it was the lingering numbness from everything he had lost. Either way, he forced himself to focus, pushing aside any thoughts that would only complicate things further.

Alvin groaned at his increasing pain, and his vision had already started to get blurry once more.

But at this moment, his attention snapped to Elara when he noticed something glowing in her hands. 

It was a tuft of grass—except the blades were shimmering under the moonlight, reflecting silver hues like liquid mercury. At its center, a small bud remained tightly closed as if waiting for something.

"That is Moonwort," Vanessa explained, her voice taking on a scholarly and passionate tone. "A magical herb closely linked to the moon. It's one of the core ingredients of this ritual—it will allow us to channel the moon's power." 

Alvin could feel her passion and craze towards such things straight from how eagerly she explained everything to him.

She continued narrating as Elara retrieved more ingredients from the bag—various herbs, crushed minerals, and powders of unknown origin. But the moment Elara pulled out the final item, Vanessa fell silent.

Alvin followed her gaze.

It was a glass vial. 

His curiosity deepened; that was until he saw Elara's hand tremble. 

There was no mistaking it. Her fingers clenched around the vial, her knuckles turning white. For the first time, she looked… hesitant.

Elara met Vanessa's gaze, expression unreadable. A tense silence settled between them, stretching long enough that Alvin almost spoke—but something told him this moment wasn't his to interrupt.

"Shall I start the ritual, young miss?" Finally, Vanessa broke the silence with a warm, almost encouraging smile. 

Elara did not answer at first. Then, without a word, she gave a firm nod.

Turning to Alvin, she spoke in a softer tone.

"During this ritual… you will die."

Alvin stilled.

"But that will only be for a while," she continued almost instantly, worried he might panic, "When you wake up again, you will be reborn as a vampire."

Alvin nodded; he exhaled through his nose, his gaze drifting to the glowing materials floating around her.

"… Well, I did read something like that," Alvin muttered to himself; he wanted to chuckle but only coughed up blood. His injuries were relapsing.

Seeing his state worsening, Vanessa did not delay anymore. She stepped forward and started chanting. 

"Es... Vel... Ril… Qu…" 

From the cracked gaps in the concrete floor under her feet, some pieces of rubble flew out, and a large muddy bowl materialized in her hands. The ingredients flew floating around Elara—one by one—and began to move toward her.

Her hand glowed with a golden-colored, ethereal mist of energy.

The first ingredient that was used was the spine itself. It was crushed and reduced to a fine powder as it fell into the bowl. Then came the herbs, the powdered minerals, each element dissolving into the growing mixture. The Moonwort was added last, its luminous glow dimming as it was ground into the concoction.

And then—the blood.

Vanessa took the vial from the silent Elara with a smile and poured the contents into the bowl; a strange force seemed to shift the air. Everything around them started to get affected by these changes.

Elara took the bowl in one hand and conjured a thick pestle in the other, and she used the club-like object to crush and mix everything together; her chants never stopped.

A silver flow rippled through the mixture, making it look less like liquid and more like living moonlight.

Down below, the city's humans continued their lives, blissfully unaware of the supernatural ritual unfolding above them. If they had looked up, if the buildings weren't so bright—perhaps they would have noticed the way the moonlight had begun to spiral unnaturally.

Vanessa's expression grew serious.

The ritual had entered an important phase.

Elara stepped forward, the bowl in both hands. Giving one last look to her maid, she moved to where Alvin lay, his breathing shallow. 

She crouched down, kneeling beside him, and started carving strange symbols on the helipad below them. They formed a massive circle with the young man as the center, large enough to cover half the helipad.

She set the bowl on the side.

"It will hurt a little." Elara got close to Alvin once more and murmured, cupping Alvin's face gently in her hands.

Crack!

Before he could react, darkness swallowed his vision. 

And just like that… Alvin died!

A moment of silence stretched in the air; Elara stared at the shocked look on Alvin's face for a second before laying it back down on the floor.

Then—

"Miss, you do realize he was on the verge of dying in a few seconds anyway?" Vanessa's casual remark froze Elara in place. 

For a second, she stayed in a standing and half-crouching pose. But then, without a word, she straightened up.

She turned away, pretending not to have heard anything. 

Vanessa chuckled before resuming the ritual.