The two persons removed the veil that covered the chair within the five-starred figure on the ground. Sitting on what could best be described as a throne was a person that was resting his head on his right hand's knuckles that in turn rested on his leg. He looked like....... nothing the initiates had ever seen. The person looked up when the veil was removed, looked at the initiates and stood to his full height of more than two metres. The height in itself was impressive but that was not what was so different. Rather it was the goat’s legs that the person stood upon that really did the trick. The initiates were pushed forward towards the star and could now see the horns that protruded clearly from his forehead and the long fangs that stuck out of his mouth. The rest of the face was covered in curly hairs, as was most of his body.
Hortan turned to run away, but Fluffy was there behind him his biggest smile plastered on his face.
"Easy buddy, nothing bad will happen."
Hortan looked towards Plissken who was staring blindly at the apparition before them.
The man in front of the star opened the large book and looked into it.
"Bring the first initiate forward."
The dark voice almost growled the words out, and Vardonx moved over with PickAxePete to stand before the star.
"State name of the initiate and reveal secret name of the champion"
"I am Malphas and I sponsor PickAxePete."
The person in front of the star removed his hood and revealed John Eldritch, but bald and with tattoo's covering most of his face.
"I am Belial. Bring forth your gift and proceed."
Vardonx found a small bottle and placed it in front of John. He then grabbed Pete under one arm and pushed him into the five-pointed star. Pete kneeled and the large person inside the circle bent low over him while the chant from the choir got higher. Suddenly there was a thump like a body hitting the deck plates immediately followed by some shuffling of feet. The person as well as everyone else looked up and saw Hortan lying on the floor, fainted, and the back of Plissken as he ran out of the bar in complete panic. Urim was standing next to Fluffy, an immense grin on his face.
"Heavy shit man, TGFT are vampire devil worshippers. That explains so much."
The show stopped and the acolytes that had been chanting revealed themselves as members of TGFT and two from PA. Tohasandra was the first to kneel beside Hortan, slowly saying his name while stroking him across the cheek. John took the latex hood off and looked concerned down at the unconscious Hortan and then up at the TGFT members that had crowded in.
"Stand back damn it, give him some space."
Hortan slowly woke up under the healing hands of Chi, opened his eyes and saw his usual saviour.
"Ms Chi."
He smiled and looked behind her directly at the horned and fanged beast behind. He promptly fainted again. John looked at where Hortan's gaze had rested before he went under again.
"Buzz, go have a drink in the bar will ya?"
Buzz nodded, took the fake fur off his cheeks and got some help from Neagoth getting off the stilts. Together they walked over to the bar where Ecka and Waldoze were sitting already. Buzz had to get a drink with a straw since the fangs precluded him from closing his mouth.
Hortan woke up again, this time without devils around. He looked around thoroughly confused and got up with John's help.
"Are you okay buddy?"
"I feel a bit dizzy, not sure I remembered to eat my pills."
John looked at Chi who nodded in the direction of Hortan's room. He nodded back and grabbed Hortan under his right arm.
"Come on, let's get you back to your room for some rest."
Hortan nodded and staggered along helped by John and Chi.
Urim was still standing in the middle of the room, the same insane grin on his face.
"Hey man, I am so ready Belial dude. Hail and shit."
Fluffy shook his head and led the initiate over to the bar where the real initiation was to take place, namely a drinking binge of enormous proportions.
###
Azumi thundered the X-1 towards CLM HQ at maximum speed, hardly braking before impacting on the docking cradle. She jumped out and ran for the control room, not even bothering to take the sweaty flight suit off. Sharingan and Lebermac were on duty, well in reality only Sharingan were active. Lebermac were desperately trying to calm his unnatural need for real Tequila by flooding his neural receptors with the cheap substitute Teh Killah that had the same ingredient list as military grade engine coolant. And to be fair, it looked like he had succeeded; the snoring was loudly drowning everything out.
"Shar, we need some help. Look and yoda are inbound with my Warthog and they have Retractile on a stretcher. I am not sure if he needs medical attention but we need to make sure."
Sharingan nodded, paged Wittman and Mystic and got up to leave with Azumi. The four of them met in the docking area as the Warthog was merely 300 metres away.
"Good to see you are decently dressed Azumi."
Azumi looked at Mystic and then down at herself. She was just about to tell her what she was wearing underneath when she thought better off it. She merely smiled at Mystic instead.
The Warthog docked and dropped the cargo bay. After a short delay yoda came out pushing the anti-grav stretcher. The waiting CLM members rushed over to greet Retractile and help him to the medical centre. The person on the stretcher was covered by a sheet that Mystic removed. Underneath was Look... No hands.
"Yeah, Look passed out roughly halfway here. Killed a two-litre bottle of pure ethanol by himself too. Retract is inside in good health. But you may want to walk him out."
The group went inside to greet Retractile and help him out, but it turned out not to be necessary. The hour it had taken to move to Latos from Jallik had been enough to steady him on his feet and he could stagger to his room by his own power. Cheating Death didn't seem to have significant side effects.
