((OOC: Here’s another thing I should have explained more clearly. The “ritual” was held in a chamber below ground inside of the temple…which was not in the palace. Anyway, I let the whole thing go…but I need to turn it back into an underground chamber of the temple for this post. ))

Tamrissa frowns towards Clutchfiend as he runs for Asaki…

“I will see you soon,” she mumbles. “Don’t worry about tagging along on this one…I’ve waited a long time to do this.”

She grins viciously and stalks towards the temple, her aura building around her suffocatingly thick and powerful. Her hands shoot forward as she gets nearer to the temple grounds. Vines shoot up from the dirt floor inside the chamber, breaking through the ceiling and coming up through the sanctuary. Spikes rip from the flesh of the writhing plants, making it dangerous to even get close to them.
The temple begins to crumble, the vines tearing it apart as they move.

Naraka watches the vines explode in front of him, eyebrows raised. He sighs and flicks a hand, his mind finding Tamrissa’s.

You can’t get to him without me, Tamrissa, he states simply.

Tamrissa ignores it, climbing purposefully through a hole in the wall of the temple. She looks around the shadowed, dust-filled sanctuary. A few priests see her and walk towards her, minds trying to roll hers.

“Save it,” she throws power at two of them, knocking them back, knocking them out of her mind.

She grabs another by the neck and tilts her head as he gasps for air. With a sharp crack he goes limp and she drops him. His form ripples as she steps over him and he disappears.

“Shit,” she whispers as she throws a ball of green energy at another priest.

They respawn!! she calls to Clutchfiend’s mind. The bastards respawn!

As she moves towards the passage that leads to the chamber below, she sweeps a hand out and pulls down a black curtain from a shattered window. She swings it around her shoulders and over the tatters of her sheer gown.
Her other hand breaks off one of the pole candelabras, a sharpened weapon resulting. Before she can even get halfway down the stairs, her breath comes short and a chill fills the air.

“Just an illusion…” she repeats over and over, stepping around a mess of thorned vines.

The feeling of being stuck in a small, dark cage makes her grasp the wall and whimper.

You need me…

Lifting her chin proudly, she pushes through the illusion, flying down the stairs and climbing over debris. The illusion becomes stronger and finally she is left doubled over near the bottom of the stairs.

“You were free and you came back…guess that means you belong to me, eh?” a hand wraps around her wrist and pulls her up.

“Blow me,” she hisses in Naraka’s face as he leans down to her, tugging at her arm.

“I’ll miss those interesting little sayings you have, I must admit,” he laughs and then drags her through the fight going on and the vines still twisting and writhing. “Now start the ritual…”

He throws her against the altar where the bowl sits with the amulet resting inside. With a thrust of her hand, a ball of energy whips his way and he simply steps aside. An invisible hand hits her in the face, knocking her back against the altar again.

“Now!”

She picks up the ritual dagger and contemplates throwing it at him. He narrows his eyes and the knife, like it has a mind of its own, pulls itself towards the opposite wrist with the strength of her hand. Her eyes widen as the blade pushes into her scarred flesh and draws down over it in a perfectly straight line. Blood seeps into the bowl and with a breath of her magic, the amulet rises…

“Fei…”she whispers. “They’re here.”

Naraka stands on the other side of the bowl, holding Fei back just at the surface and beginning to feed on the rest of his power…

Naraka rolls his eyes up from where he bends over the bowl of Tamrissa’a blood. He has a fire in his eyes, but he remains very calm for someone who is being attacked by a group of powerful soldiers and warriors.

“I want a real challenge, but you aren’t looking hopeful,” he shakes his head and looks at Clutchfiend with a pitying expression.

As Clutch runs forward, Naraka uses Fei’s speed to duck down, his hand coming up and helping along the process of Clutch leaping over him, throwing him into the wall with a body crunching force. Naraka stands and looks at Asaki.

“Your turn,” he gives a brief smile and then sends a mind wave over her.

The pain is intense, even though it is illusion. Her mind is taken over by images of her own death and it is like her mind believes it is actually happening, making her body reacte to the things being done in the images. Dulled claws rip into her stomach, scooping out her insides like an ice cream scoop. Fingers push at her eyes until they erupt like juice-filled grapes, thick liquid leaking down her face. A set of powerful jaws clamps around her throat, cutting off all air. Her fingers are broken one by one, her legs smashed by something extremely heavy thrown into them. All the while it feels as if she is being restrained from helping herself or even passing out to get away from the pain.

Meanwhile, Naraka has send a similar wave over Chris, knowing he has not put up his mental shields yet, though he is a psycker. Instead of the torture happening to Chris, however, it is happening to his loved ones and he can feel everything they go through with his mental sensitivity. The pain, the feelings of blame they place on him. To add to it, Naraka allows him to see what Asaki is seeing.

And as all this is happening, he turns back to Clutch, who is just getting up from being thrown into the wall…

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

Tamrissa crawls across the floor as the others battle Naraka. She smacks a hand up on the altar and pulls herself up, looking down in the bowl. Fei is no longer held back and her magic flows freely like a fresh spring over him, drawing him out of the Abyss