**Chapter 12: The Ritual**
**Iriel**
Maloth was ready.
The paladins have all been subdued. Rella was assigned to deal with them as she pleased. The Abbey rang with moans of pleasure and shrieks of pain. Or was it shrieks of pleasure and moans of pain? It didn’t matter. The Abbey was theirs. They’d won.
Maloth had won.
A dark cloud hung over the Abbey and the mountain it was nestled into. No one had been able to visit in months, but now nearby villagers began to talk. One low and thick cloud, purple and filled with black lightning, hung over the Abbey. Just the Abbey. It didn’t move. It didn’t burst. It hovered and waited.
Maloth was ready.
The Staff of the Eclipse went with Iriel everywhere. Her goddess wouldn’t let her put it down. She wouldn’t let her sleep for fear that her eyes would fall away from it. She wouldn’t let anyone else touch it. Not Prim or Rella or Melior. No one. They needed it for the ritual.
Maloth was ready.