The feeling was indescribable. As we were being moved who knows where it felt as if my very soul was being stretched and torn along with my body. Once we had finally arrived at our destination, I realized that no more than an instant must have passed, even though the journey itself felt long and painful.

There had to have been around a hundred of us there. The majority of the group was made up of high schoolers in the late teens, but with the odd party chaperone mixed in here and there.

Everyone was sprawled across the ground, still recovering from whatever had just happened to us. As I was glancing around, trying to get my bearings, I noticed that the ground I thought I had been standing on wasn’t there. Instead, it seemed as if we were standing on a platform of darkness, as impossible as that seems. In fact, we appeared to be completely surrounded by the darkness, yet somehow the area was illuminated enough for us to see.

While trying to wrap my head around what was happening, I remembered the party. The woman, her song, and that terrifying smile on her face before bringing us here. I couldn’t help but wonder who she was, and where she had gone. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long.

The woman once again appeared, this time garbed in old-fashioned, beautiful white dress. “Welcome my children, I hope that you all had a pleasant trip.” When the woman spoke, her words resounded within my mind, filled with ancientness and power. My head began to pound, gaining in intensity as I had no choice but to close my eyes and hold my head. From the belches I could hear nearby, I knew that several people were throwing up from the pain.

“Stand, stand you weaklings.” The pain continued in my head as she spoke, but my eyes opened, and I felt myself standing against my will.

I could see others, forced to move through their pain as we were put into a line formation. The woman appeared in front of us yet again, and just like that the pain was gone.

To my shock, I found that I was unable to move my body, only having the ability to swivel my eyes. “Welcome to Shorath, your new home. I know that you all must have many questions, but they will all be answered with time. For now, just the basics.

Just the basics, the basics of what?

“It started long ago with the Dawn of Blood. Do not concern yourselves with its origins, for even I do not know how or why it started. All you must know is that it is a gift. And with it, you shall gain unimaginable strength, or die trying. I have brought you all here for I am in dire need of power. I shall bestow upon you the gift of blood, in exchange for your worship. As you grow in strength, so shall I.” And without waiting for a response, she approached the first person in line.

I turned my head to look and realized that I had gained limited mobility back, although still not enough to move my feet. I looked down the line to see who the first person was. I was surprised to see Christine, clearly scared out of her mind as the woman approached.

She reached Christine and stopped in front of her, looking the poor girl up and down. The woman reached down and placed a finger on the girl’s forehead. All of a sudden Christine’s eyes shut and she visibly shook. The woman’s eyes lit up as she said, “A Spelldancer bloodtype! What a pleasant surprise.”

Christine’s eyes reopened, but they were different now. She was no longer afraid, as well as there being a certain amount of understanding and confidence in her eyes.

The woman moved onto the next person, but this time they didn’t provoke the slightest reaction from the woman as she moved down the line. I was near the end of the line, and could only watch as she did something to each person she touched, changing them.

After what seemed like forever, she finally neared me. Since she had touched Christine, although a few people had gotten a response from the woman, no one had come close to her. I glanced at the person before me and was shocked to see Bryan. Due to everything going on, I hadn’t even noticed that he was standing next to me.

The woman came to Bryan and, just like she had to everyone else, touched his forehead. Bryan’s eyes shut and he shook, but the woman did something different this time. For the first time since the party, she smiled. “Yet another treasure, a Dragon Knight.” She looked at him with satisfaction for a moment as his eyes reopened, then moved on to me.

She put her finger on my head and I felt my eyes close, but even though my eyes were closed, I saw something.

System-Initiated.

Welcome, your first class is Accursed. Remember, if yo-

All of a sudden my vision went completely black and I once again felt the excruciating pain of being transported.

Once I had come to, I once again found myself in some strange room. This place wasn’t the same as the last though. The previous room had just been made of a strange, tangible darkness. This place was surrounded by a grotesque, moving sludge, which felt strangely solid as I stood on it.

As I was looking at the walls of the strange room, I could have sworn that I saw an eye within the sludge. Staring shocked at the place I thought I had seen an eye, a voice interrupted my thoughts. “It’s been a long time since someone came to visit me.”

I quickly turned around to see a man sitting up against the wall of sludge. As I looked at him closer, it seemed as if there were shadows wrapping around him, making it almost impossible to see him if you didn’t already know he was there. “Who are you?” I asked cautiously.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that, after all, this is my home that you so rudely barged into.” The man replied as he slowly stood up.

I could see that he was quite tall as well as being handsome. For some reason he looked a lot like the Egyptians that I had been reading about in my social studies textbook.

His eyes locked with mine and he continued speaking. “It doesn’t matter, names are of no importance here. The important thing is that you must have an Accursed bloodtype, otherwise you would not have been brought here.” I nodded. “Excellent, sit down and I will explain.”

I sat down and he began. “The woman who brought you here is named Sebana. She is an Elder God, and is the reason that I am trapped down here. I have been trapped here since the Dawn of Blood in this world, but I have been slowly regaining my power, soon to break free of these restraints. That is why she summoned you here. If someone pledges to worship a god, then as that mortal grows in power, so will the one they worship. Although it is a small amount, with enough worshippers, that deity will increase in power quickly.”

The man paused, a scowl coming over his face. “That bitch is only able to gain followers through her lying and scheming! She claims that she is able to bestow those she brings over from other worlds with a Bloodtype. Bloodtypes are within someone from the moment they are born, she merely uses her power to awaken them before the ritual.” He paused again and took a deep breath, seeming to calm down. “Luckily for me, you were within the individuals she took. If not for you, then with her many new followers she would gain so much power I would never have a chance to escape. But thanks to you, who shares the blood of the Outer Gods with me I now have a chance. With the strength that I give to you, you must become strong. Strong enough to free me from this prison.”

I sat there for a few moments stunned, trying to comprehend what the man had just told me. Elder Gods? Blood of the Outer Gods? What the fuck! Why me, why couldn’t I have just gotten a bloodtype like everyone else?

“Now now child, you did get a Bloodtype. Remember, you are Accursed.” I looked at the man in shock. Did he just read my mind? Instead of a reply the man just gave a smug smile. I was burning with fury, and just as I was about to explode the man spoke once again. “I think that it's about time you got your Bloodtype, since I had to interrupt you last time.”

The man smiled and raised his hand, putting his fingers together. He snapped his fingers and a giant eye appeared in the sludge behind him. Before I had time to be surprised, tendrils of the black sludge wrapped around me from behind and yanked me in.

I couldn’t see anything while the black sludge seeped into my mouth, ears, and nose. I couldn’t breathe, but just before I would have passed out, there was nothing.

Literally nothing. I opened my eyes and looked around, there wasn’t the slightest trace of sludge, there wasn’t anything.

No that wasn’t right, there was a small dot off in the distance. It was getting larger, quickly moving towards me.

As it got larger I realized that it wasn’t moving, I was going towards it.

As I got closer, the shape became more and more clear. Once I was finally able to make the shape out, my mouth went agape in horror.

The next thing I knew, I was directly in front of it. Words can’t describe what I saw. I began trembling and if not for me being suspended, I would have fallen. Trying to produce a scream I opened my mouth, but nothing would come out. Tears streamed out of my eyes running down into my mouth, but what I tasted was not tears, but blood.

I felt as if my body was being crushed, weighed down on all sides. When I could endure it no longer, it all suddenly stopped, replaced with complete stillness. That was when it happened.

An ancient voice, infinitely more powerful than Sebana echoed within my mind. I couldn’t withstand it and blacked out, but only after hearing the one word that it had said.

“Azathoth”