Quetzalcoatl Ritual

By now, the Tzeentch faithful outside the pyramid had descended into chaos, as the Iron Devil and its minions began slaughtering their own kin beyond the structure.

Inside the pyramid, the prophets had also begun preparing their ritual. Ninety-nine prophets stood at the ninety-nine positions of the magic array, each holding ninety-nine candles.

The blue-robed Great Prophet stood at the center of the array. As the ritual commenced, all the prophets released their psychic power.

Surrounded by the ninety-nine prophets, guided by the Great Prophet, they converged their sorcerous energies, which the most skilled Great Prophet then regulated and directed to summon the descent of Quetzalcoatl. As the ritual began, all the prophets murmured softly.

"In the cracks of time, Tzeentch whispers low, Weaving the net of fate, the secret of nine cycles' flow. Quetzalcoatl soars the sky, ninety-nine beams of light, Illuminating ancient dreams and futures bright.

Nine seas' waves, nine mountains' might, Tzeentch's schemes, Quetzalcoatl's plight. Nine colors, nine powers' flight, Between chaos and order, weaving fate's net tight.

Nine sunrises, nine sunsets' grace, Tzeentch's tricks, Quetzalcoatl's face. Nine stars, nine feathers' trace, In the night sky gleaming, guiding the lost traveler's pace.

Ninety-nine tongues, ninety-nine prayers' sound, Tzeentch's murmur, Quetzalcoatl's call unbound. In the world's corners, the secret of nine found, Is beginning and ending, creation and destruction's ground."

As the ritual progressed, an anomaly suddenly emerged. Several prophets directly spat blood, realizing that their psychic power was no longer under their own control but was being violently siphoned toward the Great Prophet.

One of the prophets urgently shouted: "Great Prophet, stop immediately! The ritual is out of control!"

But the leading Great Prophet turned a deaf ear. He simply continued the ritual, unrelentingly draining the power of the other prophets.

"Great Prophet, quickly—"

A prophet with a beaked beak had just begun to speak a warning when he felt a splitting headache, directly spat blood, and collapsed weakly to one knee.

At this moment, a prophet with two heads caught on: "No, he never intended to summon Quetzalcoatl at all. I was wondering earlier—if this was a ritual for Quetzalcoatl, why arrange for one hundred people?"

Both heads of this prophet gnashed their teeth: "In truth, there are only ninety-nine of us. We ninety-nine are all his sacrifices."

By the time this prophet spoke the truth, everything was already too late. Nearly all the prophets collapsed simultaneously, spitting blood, either on the verge of death or already dead.

Apart from the Great Prophet, whose body was now brimming with immense energy, only one other prophet, still shrouded in a robe, remained standing.

The Great Prophet knew he had succeeded. He couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth. Toward his master, the being he had sacrificed to, he called out: "Altarooth."

"Soul Reaper, Quetzalcoatl, Changer of Ways, Watcher of Wings, Eye of Tzeentch, Lord of Wings—I have completed the ritual. Here, I offer you the souls of ninety-nine sorcerers."

"I beseech you to grant me power, to guide me into the Empyrean, to let me enter the Crystal Labyrinth, and together serve my lord Tzeentch."

With the surge of powerful blue Warp energy within the pyramid, a massive projection materialized in the chamber. The projection was a Warp entity with enormous blue wings, wielding a giant staff, adorned in golden ornaments, and bearing a massive bird-like skull. Though it was merely a projection, this Changer of Ways had not yet arrived in the physical universe.

Altarooth extended his claw, using its tip to lightly tap the Great Prophet's forehead nine times, then opened his bird-beak to utter blasphemous words: "Ask not whence the night's whispers come, Seek not the shadow-lurker's form. For I am Altarooth, the Soul Reaper, And you are but a role in my script."

Hearing this, the Great Prophet sensed something wrong. He looked around and noticed that among the sacrifices present, one figure still stood, wrapped in a robe. But suddenly, the robe seemed to lose the support of a human form within, drifting lightly to the ground.

The Great Prophet realized it. Altarooth, this servant of Tzeentch, had deceived him. The sacrifices present were not ninety-nine at all—only ninety-eight. Or...

The Warp energy within the Great Prophet suddenly erupted uncontrollably. Amid agonized roars, the ninety-eight corpses around him began to float and converge toward him as the center. Countless pieces of flesh overlapped and fused together. The Warp energy belonging to Tzeentch burst forth within this chamber.

Soon, a massive ball of flesh stood at the center of the ritual site. With wave after wave of writhing and transformation, ninety-nine heads burst forth from the flesh ball, and countless tentacles exploded outward. A creature twisted by the power of a Chaos God was thus born.

The Changer of Ways in the airborne projection let out a sneering chuckle from his bird-beak: "Hehehehehe. Nine months, nine days, ninefold seals—ninety-nine souls offered to the Changer of Ways."

Immediately, the immense force caused the entire pyramid to tremble. A small Warp Rift opened, and a stream of bizarre creatures filed out.

The Changer of Ways continued laughing:

"Go, go—spread our lord's teachings."

At last, this enormous Chaos Spawn led the Tzeentch Demons out toward the pyramid.

Tami stood guard at the pyramid's entrance, originally worried sick about whether the prophets' ritual would succeed. After all, there was still no sign of success, while the Iron Devil and its minions had already launched a real attack.

She gripped her spear, praying ceaselessly for the prophets. But at that moment, a surge of immense energy erupted from within the pyramid. The entire structure shook violently from side to side, and finally collapsed outright.

Tami was terrified. She had no idea what had happened, no idea what stage the ritual had reached. The other guards were also panicking, staring at the fallen pyramid.

Just then, a massive stone from the pyramid's ruins was suddenly flung into the air by a colossal force. It crashed down, crushing over a dozen people. Immediately after, a huge blue fleshy mass strode directly out of the pyramid's wreckage, followed by a swarm of large and small blue, yellow, and pink meatballs—each with arms and legs.

These fleshy blobs looked somewhat plump but were astonishingly agile. Before Tami could react, a blue meatball lunged straight at her. It opened the massive mouth on its chest and bit down on Tami's shoulder, while one of its three hands drove a dagger repeatedly into her back, piercing toward her lungs.

Before Tami could even process what was happening, she collapsed to the ground. The blue meatball, clearly losing interest in her, moved on to find its next target. Lying there with only fading breaths, Tami could only let life slip away from her body.

But what shocked Tami even more was that, before this, she had seen countless faces on that largest meatball. And one of those faces—Tami knew it well—was the feathered visage of the tribe's prophet.