DEEP INTO THE NIGHT. The red moon's glow was now fully visible against the dark sky, casting the only light over the surroundings. The eerie silence of the forest was broken only by the occasional chirping of insects.
A woman in white, draped in a crimson hood, appeared in the middle of a circle of lit candles, kneeling in their flickering glow.
Before her lay a thick, open book. She placed her right palm over its pages and, without hesitation, sliced it with the dagger she held.
"O, potentia nigra... exaudi orationem meam..." she began to chant the strange words. "Hoc sacrificium offero in commutatione sanguinis vitae."
Dark crimson dripped onto the white pages.
"O, potentia nigra... exaudi orationem meam... Hoc sacrificium offero in commutatione sanguinis vitae." she repeated with fervor.
"O, nigrum potentia... corneli exaudita est oratio... Quod oblatum ... in commutatione sanguis vitae!"
As the wind howled, black smoke slithered from the pages. The woman chanted over and over, her voice rising with each repetition, as the smoke spread like a creeping mist.
The moon's glow dimmed. A veil of black clouds swallowed its light. Thunder rumbled in the distance, followed by a streak of lightning tearing through the sky.
"O, nigrum potentia... corneli exaudita est oratio... Quod oblatum ... in commutatione sanguis vitae!" She chanted louder, her voice blending with the roaring winds and the deafening cracks of thunder.
The ground trembled as an enormous iron gate materialized before her, towering and foreboding. A chilling aura seeped into the air.
She continued her chant, her voice growing in intensity, the words echoing in an otherworldly cadence. Raising her bloodied hands toward the gate, she unleashed a powerful force. The doors burst open, dragging the black smoke into the void beyond.
A sudden, piercing cry tore through the darkness—a cry of terror.
The creatures of the night stirred. The time had come for their reign of terror to end.
They were beasts who hungered for blood. Vampires, as they were called. And yet, this was to be their undoing. The smoke carried a curse—the end of their existence.
Their anguished screams reverberated through the realm of shadows. One by one, their bodies crumbled into dust.
"Haec est maledictio! Filius tenebrarum, immortalis, aeternus—damnatus in perpetuum!"
"AAARGH!!!" Agonized roars filled the void.
The woman's lips curled into a smile. She was certain—she had finally found what she sought: the suffering of the Prince of Darkness.
The prince fell to his knees, weakened. Dark veins pulsed across his skin. His fiery eyes, once filled with power, now burned with pain and fury.
He was the strongest, the most powerful of them all. But now, he could not fight the dark mist consuming his castle, nor could he save his kin from the devastating curse that clung to their realm.
A final, agonized scream tore from his throat as the black smoke engulfed him. His fiery gaze dimmed to abyssal black.
Heat. Like the furnace of death itself, it scorched him. The cursed smoke drained his strength, his power. He could not understand the source of this sorcery—this force that bound him.
Once more, his tormented roar echoed into the void.
"Haec est maledictio! Filius tenebrarum, immortalis, aeternus—damnatus in perpetuum!"
The woman clasped her hands together, resisting the force that threatened to interrupt her incantation.
"Fili tenebrarum, immortalis et aeternus—perditioni traditus! Claudatur ianua, et tenebrae consummentur!"
A thunderous crash shook the heavens as the gate slammed shut.
The woman could feel the immense power coursing through her veins. The black mist embraced her, seeping into her very being before vanishing into the void along with the portal.
Silence fell over the world.
A slow, satisfied smile curled her lips—the smile of victory.