Chapter 178 Elara Ascending

Chapter 178 Elara Ascending

The sky above Maverick's mansion was a mass of black and blood-red clouds, filled with greenish lightning that twisted like veins across the heavens. The land around the mansion was brimming with unspoken darkness due to the evil aura of the allies Elara had gathered. She and her cohorts were gathered deep within the mansion, in an underground network of tunnels carved into the bones of a forgotten mountain.
Elara herself was standing before a dark altar built with bones and black magic in a secret chamber. The entire room glowed from the centuries of corrupted magic that had passed through it.
“I want silence,” she hissed fiercely as her voice carried across the chamber, immediately silencing the chatter that had been going on behind her. “The ceremony begins now.”
Her new inner circle stood around her in a half-moon formation, their eyes filled with a mixture of loyalty and terror. They weren’t Maverick’s allies anymore, they were now minions who had pledged their allegiance and loyalty to the dark were-witch. Rogues and exiles who had once operated independently in the shadow markets of the supernatural underworld, blood witches cast out from their covens, changeling mercenaries, cursed warlocks, and mutated shifters with scorched markings running along their skin. All led by their formidable leaders–Lysandra, Vargas, Silas, Dumas, and Nico.
At the center of the altar, resting on a silver platform lay Elara's latest creation–The dark crystal. It was a twisted imitation of the Aethon Orb, made secretly without Maverick's knowledge when she found out that Alex and Avery had used the Aethon Orb.
She stepped closer to the evil artifact, and it reacted immediately it felt her presence. It began to glow with a dangerous energy, rising slowly into the air in front of her like an obedient servant.
“It’s ready,” muttered Nico, the demon crime lord who had helped her in creating it. “But it will demand–a cost.”
“I have already paid the cost,” Elara snapped impatiently. “I’ve been betrayed and abandoned, given Maverick everything I had, only to be rewarded with weakness and failure. I will never be weak.”
She raised both hands toward the floating crystal.
Nico stepped back instinctively, his demon hands trembling as he sounded another warning to Elara.
“Once you begin the fusion, my Lady, there is no turning back. The energy will change you, and you have no idea what dangerous powers it will summon.”
“Good,” she whispered with an evil smile. “The darker the better.”
With a deep breath, Elara stepped into the circle drawn with blood sigil on the ground. The markings lit up in a burst of black fire, and the crystal suddenly shot upward, spinning around her body like a tornado. Wind exploded outward from the altar, sending the terrified watchers flying back.
Elara screamed wildly, but it was not a cry of pain. It was a cry of pure ecstasy.
The crystal melted in the air, transforming into black threads of magic that penetrated her chest, her arms, and her eyes. The threads made their way into her bloodstream, and her body began to convulse violently yet she did not collapse. Her back arched, her mouth opened in a silent scream, and her feet lifted from the ground.
Dark and powerful energy pumped through her, ancient and violent. Visions poured into her mind–long forgotten wars, dethroned gods and demons, blood spilled across realms over forgotten centuries. Her skin lit up with blood red veins that thudded like a second heartbeat. The color of her eyes that were bright green turned pitch black except for a glowing ring of red around the pupils.
Then, with a final blast of blinding light, she dropped to the ground on one knee, and there was total silence.
When she finally rose after a while, she was no longer Elara. Her hair flowed unnaturally, suspended like it moved through water. Her voice echoed even when she whispered.
“Bring them to me,” she said coldly.
Two guards dragged forward three bound prisoners–supernatural creatures captured during one of her raids. A fairy knight, a vampire noble, and a nature spirit. Elara’s eyes fixed on them with a hunger that made even Dumas, the fiercest creature in the room, take a step back.
“You want power,” she said to her followers. “You want victory. But this is not a war to be won with brute strength. It is a war meant to be won with sacrifice.”
She turned to the prisoners.
The fairy knight snarled savagely. “You vile creature, you have desecrated the sacred balance of our realm! What you are doing will lead to the eternal damnation of your soul!”
Elara smiled darkly. “I don't fear damnation!”
With a wave of her hand, the crystal energy shot outward and fused into the prisoners with strings of shadow. The chamber was filled with their agonizing screams as their magical essence was drained from their bodies, and absorbed into Elara’s body. Her skin began to glow with an unholy energy. Her power doubled, and then tripled.
Somewhere above the tunnels, in the watchtower of the mansion, a bell rang urgently. A warning from her minions monitoring the frontlines.
One of her spies ran into the room, gasping for breath. “The enemy army is regrouping, my Lady. Alex Ravenswood is still alive and is leading them again. Their alliance has strengthened.”
“Interesting, so I get to kill him all over again. I'll make sure to do it slowly this time, the pleasure is beyond comprehension.” She murmured with a dry chuckle.
“But it is never too late, is it?”
She said, turning slowly to face her gathered army.
There was a soft murmur of agreement.
When they were back on the surface and gathered in the mansion grounds, she walked through their ranks like an evil queen, her new form brimming with menace and power.
“We strike at the heart next,” she said. “No more border games. No more small battles. We will bring the sky down upon them.”
“But Maverick tried the same approach many times and failed, my Lady,” Lysandra said cautiously. “Perhaps we need a different approach. I have heard about the power of Alex and the Luna who fights beside him. Her power is unlike anything I have seen, and if the Moon Goddess is truly backing her,”
“Then we cut the goddess down too,” Elara spat savagely.
Her face twisted into a mocking grin as she slowly raised a hand. “Let me show you what we have become.”
She conjured up a terrible vision in front of them, a floating projection made of mist and blood. The image displayed a massive army, fully mobilized. Creatures from every cursed forest, haunted plain, and forgotten underworld realm. Creatures of shadow, creatures of bone, fire, and venom. Reanimated beasts. Night hounds. Dozens of enslaved spirits bound to her will. And hovering at the center of it all–her new battle form, surrounded by her inner circle.
“Our allied enemies are too weak to stand against us,” she yelled in a powerful voice. “Not when we shatter their gates. Not when their magical weapons fail. Not when they see their own dead rise to fight them.”
Lysandra, who was already shaking, knelt before her. “You are no longer Elara. You are the Dark Ascendant.”
The others followed suit.
Elara, eyes burned with cruel triumph as she looked out over them and extended her arms.
“The final hour draws near. Prepare yourselves for the battle that will end it all. My order to attack will come soon. And when Alex and his Luna come to protect their precious city, we will burn them along with it.”
Her army cheered wildly, and she reveled in their worship.
Long after they had been dismissed, Elara climbed to the balcony of the mansion alone for a moment of solace. Standing there under the stars and feeling the immense power flowing within her, she looked down at her monstrous army spread out across the grounds of the mansion. Her summoned hosts were already beginning to arrive, ready to join the horde already available. They stretched farther than the eye could see, every kind of twisted creature that had answered her evil call.
She could also feel her own body changing by the minute. Her heartbeat had slowed down considerably, and her breath came out like a blast of steam. She felt faster and more agile, but her humanity and her memories were quickly fading away. She felt a brief feeling of uncertainty about her choice, then quickly waved it away. She was too close to victory and wasn't going to trade it for a few side effects.
She welcomed the change with an open mind, vowing silently to herself that nothing would stand between her and power.
“Alex Ravenswood,” she whispered softly into the night. “So you really do have an army waiting for me, thinking you stand a chance against the goddess I have become? I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart.”
A dark wind blew through the night.
War was coming.