Something inside of me despaired and he laughed uproariously with relish as we were jerked upward through a scene of man's past, which would have been better off destroyed and never re-found by anyone.
A central cavern opened up that was lined with the sculptures of the handiwork of fallen stars, who had wrought evil with mankind.
I was dumped to the floor and abruptly kicked in the stomach several times. The ropes binding me were cut and I was roughly hauled to my feet and dragged over to a wall, which I was tied to before I'd had much of a chance to resist.
Regaining my breath I glanced to the side and saw Matt and Jim likewise trussed up further down the wall from me. Where was Christina?
I looked around wildly in search for her only to see her being dragged kicking and screaming toward a central stone pillar that dominated the cavern. I jerked away from the wall, but I was held back by my restraints.
I turned my head to the other side to see my chuckling tormentor with the cursed piece of crystal that had somehow followed us here and harshly I said, "If you sacrifice her I swear I'll kill you!"
He laughed again, "I have no intention of sacrificing her! That's what children and useless people like you are for!"
"What are you going to do with her?" I asked in dread.
He stepped closer and tapped a finger to my head before glancing at Matt and Jim and saying, "You three are worthless of value, as you have limited yourselves by yoking yourselves to the great dictator of the universe, instead of embracing freedom as we are about to. She however is still free to choose, an open vessel if you will. When we're done transforming her the first meal she'll have will be you!"
He dissolved into insane laughter again and walked away into a group of about a hundred individuals who began to rhythmically dance as they chanted something in a language I did not know and that I wished to never have heard for the dark quality that it lent to the air was a chill to the soul. The dancers twisted and cavorted on the floor of the cavern against each other as they cried out making awful sounds some of which didn't even sound like a human.
I did not want to be here in this place to see such incarnate evil of a magnitude that I had never before encountered!
The place was heavy with darkness as the people before us cried out for more of the oppressive quality that pervaded the space with every passing moment. It even seemed that it was almost hard to get a breath because of a forming dimensional pressure. I felt completely overwhelmed.