The Closing Ritual was not complicated. It could even be called very simple. The real difficulty lay in working it out from nothing.
Alfred and Mars soon set up a one-use Closing Ritual. Once they finished, Mars wiped the sweat from his forehead and said:
"From the look of it, there should originally have been a permanent altar here for the Closing Ritual."
"Yes, exactly." Alfred nodded. "It must have been destroyed in advance. It was all planned."
Puer asked, "Ready?"
"Yes, we can begin." Alfred placed a small energy stone at the formation's central nexus. "Ask the Young Master what he wants. We can start at any time."
Puer turned and called down the well, "Kallen, everything's ready up here. Can we start?"
Kallen looked at the pitch-black depths below him. The puppet had fallen down there earlier, and he had a mind to go down and fish it out.
But there had been far too many turns that day-surprises, shocks, then more surprises and shocks. He was somewhat exhausted in both body and mind. Better to finish this quickly.
"Go ahead."
"Radio Fairy, start!"
Alfred activated the Closing Ritual. Soon, wisps of faint red light drifted toward them, then sank into the well.
All around them, there was something like the sound of wind, or a woman singing softly.
"What tune is that?" Mars asked in puzzlement.
Alfred, who had experience working as a radio host, answered, "A lullaby."
The soft black soil on the ground began to coalesce into a sculpture that looked very much like Kallen.
Everything was settling into quiet and peace.
The violent energy fluctuations within the bone in front of Kallen subsided as well. Kallen pulled the remaining portion out of his chest. It floated quietly there, then slowly sank.
A streak of