Chapter Twenty-One
The Ultimate Ritual
When Lamia and Hecate brought Shadow to the ritual room Gazarius smirked, "Ah, you brought him!" Shadow snarled again at Gazarius. The head witch then looked at the other witches.
"Chain him to the alter" she said, Lamia and Hecate pulled Shadow to the alter, as they did, Shadow tried to struggle, but they pushed him onto the alter, they then chained his wrists and ankles to the alter. Shadow pulled hard, "you have got to be fucking kidding me!" he shouted as he pulled harder.
Gazarius smirked at him, "Shut up you!" she said "I've waited too long to kidnap you and make you a sacrifice!" Shadow struggled, "I should have know you'd pull a trick like that!" he spat "making me think Maria was alive again!" "Too gullible!" said Gazarius.
She nodded towards Fatin, who stepped forward, Shadow's breathe caught in his throat as the vixen stepped towards him, she then clasped her hands around his head. "What to relive that gruesome image?" she mocked. Shadow screamed in agony as he felt Fatin's power burning into his skull.
He then saw that fateful day on board the ARK; he could see himself running away from GUN, his hand clasped tightly around Maria's as she ran behind him. He then saw themselves in the same room, then Maria turning to the door where GUN was. "No!" thought Shadow "Don't let me see this!" He then saw the soldier lift his gun and point it at Maria who stood there with her hand on the lever.
"NO!" shouted Shadow, as he did, the soldier shot Maria, the bullet piercing her chest making her cry out and fall bleeding to the ground Shadow screamed and screamed again as he saw all those horrific memories. As he screamed, he suddenly saw the images fade, then the room returned.
He looked up to see Fatin smirking at him, "BITCH!" he shouted "you fucking bitch!" He then felt a sharp sting of a slap as Gazarius slapped him hard across the face. "Shut up!" she shouted, she then grabbed his chin and made him face her. "Do not fret…you'll be with her soon"
Shadow snarled, then Gazarius pushed his face back on the alter, Gazarius then looked at the others, "are we ready to begin?" she asked. The other witches nodded, "we are ready" said Hecate. Gazarius smirked, then pulled out her jewelled dagger. She then raised her hands above her head, as she did, the other witches did the same.
Gazarius then began to speak, "Hail to the Dark Lords of the Underworld! Keepers of great power and magic, Hear us!" the others began to chant with her, "Hear us! Heed or Call! Give us the power we beg of you!" As they chanted, Shadow noticed the sides of the alter beginning to swirl with the black and purple smoke he had seen in the woods.
"Oh fuck!" he thought, he pulled at his chains, but they were too strong. Gazarius continued to chant, "Here us great God's of the Underworld, take this great sacrifice! Bless us with your powers! We pray of thee! We invoke thee!" Gazarius looked down at Shadow, her eyes gleaming.
As the other witches chanted, Gazarius walked up to Shadow and lifted the jewelled dagger above her head, the gleaming blade shone ready to bring down onto his chest. "With your sacrifice!" said Gazarius "The power will be mine! And we the Covenant, will be…INVICABLE!"
She lifted the dagger, her eyes mad with power, Shadow shut his eyes and waiting for the dagger to pierce his body, "Maria…" he thought, "Rouge…" as he shut his eyes, he suddenly heard a cry. He opened his eyes to see a white figure fly above him and hit Gazarius full on.
He looked up to see the other witches recoil in horror. "Morgana!" screamed Gazarius, The figure in white threw her head back, revealing herself to be the white mongoose sorceress. "You've gone too far Gazarius!" said Morgana as her white staff turned into a sword.
Gazarius lifted her dagger which transformed into a sword, "Bitch!" she shouted, Morgana leapt off the alter and began to fight Gazarius, as she did Shadow saw Sonic, Amy, Rouge, Blaze, Silver, Vanilla and the Chaotix running towards them. "ATTACK!" shouted Sonic.
The witches were stunned as they saw the whole Sonic team running towards them. Shadow then saw Rouge run over to him. "Rouge!" he cried "man am I glad to see you!" Rouge smiled, "hold on" she said "I'll get you out!" she jumped into the air and did a drilling spin onto his shackles.
She did the same on his ankles, then roundhouse kicked the shackle on his left hand with her iron boot. Shadow rolled off the alter and hugged her. "Thank you Rouge" he whispered. Rouge hugged him back. "Hey Shad!" shouted Sonic, Shadow looked up to see Sonic fighting Lamia with Amy.
"Am I interrupting?" he shouted, ducking as Lamia threw a beam of green light at him. Shadow then realised and pulled away from Rouge "quick!" he shouted "we gotta help the others!" "Right!" said Rouge, they turned to face the group of witches who came towards them.
Phew! Morgana and the others got there in time! But will they win against the Covenant?