Saturn was maybe a few feet from where he had started before he heard regent’s voice again. It wa aloud this time and it seemed as though that the being had more to say. The two of them had discussed a little bit but perhaps it was this idea that had now given the werewolf some ground to stand on. Holding fast the demon stood there. It was an excess of information that would be poured onto him. So they sat, ate. Stared at one another while they processed and shared information.

First was the gathering of the bodies needed to work through the many instances of what it meant to be a human. What it meant to be an ascended being, they had to understand very instance of every individual that they were going to use in this ritual. Hundreds if not thousands of people to manipulate into giving up their very bodies for the summoning of this individual. Its why it was hard to do it in such a short time but after his mother gained something terrible it was easier for her to manipulate people.

Next was the soul portion, the bits that she was able to manipulate. They needed a large storage which was why the vast prison of souls was needed. The two of them shared their thoughts regarding this matter and eventually agreed that was the most crucial part of it. If they didn’t put the souls somewhere there was no way that they could use the magical essence hidden within.

There was then the many different catalysts used across the lands, front he mountains acting as current points and the lowest levels acting as sorts of bowls for the souls to dip into. It’s there that they set up guiding posts; things that saturn had seen but not quite understanding what they were used for. Regent even had one with him, a small crystal hosted in a floating round… plate of sorts? With four other crystals worked into it. It was a simple thing that you could hide away from the world. Smart.

”The mass of people that she needs for this is large enough to cost cities their lives. She’s already done it twice, if you let her go on then there’s even more. You’re lucky there wasn’t an eclipse saturn else the demi-god she summoned might be more god than demi.”

He went into the intricacies of the summons delving into the twisted realms of things. An eclipse would make this ritual oh so much more powerful. It would cultivate the beeing into something that not even his mother might be able to control in a sense. The two of them shared a somewhat frustrated look and he’d sigh softly. Saturn was thankful there were many steps which meant that the process could take quite some time.

”What if the subjects are unwilling?”

”Then the ritual cannot be commenced in any way. They have to give up their body and soul. Tricked or not it still works.”

Regent then went into explaining how the circle was the next important step. Without it the magic wouldn’t flow and the being would be distorted. If he could get there early enough and mess with the circle in such a way to mess with the flow he could potentially turn the entire ritual site into a bomb that could kill every person there that was trying to even do that to the masses.

Saturn mused as the werewolf drew a mini version of the ritual sigil, saturn inspected it. He saw a few areas that he could mess with. A simple overflow into the ring around it and then.. A few points where if they met there’d be a devastating feedback loop. Smiling somewhat regent continued his explanation until he finally came to where saturn should go next. To the ritual site beyond the veil.

”That’s where my brothers will be saturn. They’ll try to kill you. Do try not to die. I’d hate to learn that you failed.”

With his final farewell coming saturn would turn about to leave again; now trying to quell the twisting feeling in his chest. He was about to fight one of his own kind, or rather he was fighting what he used to be and what he could have been if regent’s mother had been successful in converting him into whatever she wanted when he was first brought here.

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You couldn’t be anything like that saturn.

What do you know about that? I was brought into existence merely out of a fluke. If it had been any differently I’d be under her thumb and helping her summon another version of me that could be twisted even further.

The voice in his head grew silent as saturn rambled on, it knew he was right but didn’t want to admit it. There was very little about saturn that resembled himself from last year. Nothing about him seemed to match what innocence and naivety that many came to knew of the demon once demi-god. He’d sigh softly as he continued through, mulling over the information that regent had told him.

What if he was lying?

I don’t think he was, he seemed genuine. There was too much to make up on the fly I think he was trying to convince himself that it was the right thing to do after coming back.

Saturn didn’t know how to frown but if he did the demon would have. He’d cross his arms and ponder the information further; the ritual part was definitely the hardest part to fight against. He’d have to find it fast and early enough. He’d have to send knights to study this area and find out what they needed to do in order to stop her. Where she needed to be. There couldn’t be that many locations that would be fitting for what Regent’s mother needed to start…

It was going to be rough from here honestly; he’d have to do a lot or she’d get away with it again and again. He felt the presence of the vestige once more and the sing song voice it had helped him relax. The creature was powerful and upon its back was echo.

”Saturn! We finally found you, sorry we’re late.”

”We arrived exactly when we were supposed to little one.”

”S-sure.”

There was a nervous little chuckle from them and saturn mused what they could do for him. Saturn looked to the vestige and then to echo. An idea forming in his head, quickly scrawling down his orders he’d stuff it into echo’s hands. Then turned to the vestige.

”The two of you need to go back to fiore, I know you just got here but you need to show the librarian this and get them to figure out where other ritual sites could be. Don’t lose that and hurry. We don’t have much time if the resources she has is as much as her son thinks.”

They both looked a bit surprised seeming as they had just arrived but looking at saturn the vestige nodded, turning into it’s ascended form for a moment before leaping into the air without a word. Practically rocketing off as echo hung on for dear life. He’d have to thank them later and with a sigh the demon turned back around. He hated sending them away, he could use the help really but… he had to protect the citizens of fiore from both the seen and unseen threats.

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It took him a little longer than he wanted to get where he was going but all he had to do was follow the souls, all he had to look for was the various points that regent had shown him. The various crystals and little plates that hovered here or there. They were easy to spot when you knew what to look for and honestly he wondered if breaking them would do anything. He should have asked them if he could. Somewhat cursing his foresight; he’d have to ask about it next time or perhaps take one back to the librarian once the ritual was inert.

It wasn’t hard to see the ritual site from where he was, the crest of the hill was far taller than he expected. He could see much of the area and many of the cultists either were gone, dead or had fled. He didn’t see anyone that could have been the mother. He would have recognized them, would have smelled them. Would have known it was them. He cursed himself again and started his way down the hill…

There was so much that he could have done to prevent all this but he had been deadset on being a pacifist; like the voice had said he held it like a trophy above others and he felt like his innocence and naivety had to blame for that. He needed to do more, he couldn’t just sit idly by anymore. He needed to be active, he needed… he needed to stop her. Stop all of this. By any means necessary.

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