When it became completely dark, the Young Count stepped into the ruined building, and the five people behind him were following him in step.
"Are you establishing a pack for yourself, Alpha Wolf?"
Nafız spoke when he came to the middle of the crowded structure, while her eyes were looking at the valley where cool winds blew.
"Yes sir, I am thinking of having influence here!"
Jashua spoke without losing an ounce of his respect but didn't refrain from defending the thoughts in his mind either.
"I am not going to stop you, I just say don't forget that we won't stay here for long!"
"You never know sir, maybe I might prefer to stay here!"
Nafız turned her head to the Young Count standing in the middle of the darkness. After a long time, perhaps for the first time, she was looking at him this sternly. While the steps of the five people standing behind Jashua moved backwards, the hulking youth stood tall.
When a period of thirty breaths passed in this state, Nafız suddenly turned her head towards the valley and fixed it on a certain point on the horizon.
"Did you feel something just now?"
When she asked Jashua for confirmation, she saw him shaking his head to mean no.
"This place is entrusted to you tonight; you can settle your wolf cubs in a corner!"
While Jashua bowed slightly and greeted, Nafız had already descended half of the steep slope going down to the valley. Her run downwards continued with such big steps that she managed to descend dozens of meters in a single move. When she landed on the ground, a sound as loud as a drop falling into a puddle came out, and she advanced towards the depths of the forest before a second passed.
"So you are calling only me; how can I say no to this invitation?"
When the young girl whose red hair shone in the darkness took action, inside the Garbage House, Jashua was about to confront the five and make a speech.
"My name is Jashua, Lord of the Bloody Moon Fiefdom, and the person you will call leader from now on. Does anyone have a problem with this?"
During the short silence, the wind coming from the valley brought the smell of blood resisting to leave the ruined house to the noses once again.
"The first rule is that no matter what happens to the person you just saw, you will not retaliate and stay away from her as much as possible.
The second rule is unquestioning loyalty. Those who will walk with me stay; those who have even the slightest crumb of doubt in their hearts leave this house immediately!"
Jashua, for some unknown reason, was as hard as steel this evening. The man who taught them a lesson in the arena during the day was gone, replaced by a complete despot.
"We are in; we made this decision before coming here. We are willing to walk wherever the road takes us!"
Jashua scanned each of them one by one, from head to toe. immediately after, five blood crystals flew out of his hand, one falling to each.
"Take these and start assimilating them; you need to become capable of not dying because of my attacks within a few days!"
After completing his words, the Young Count moved to the corner vacated by Nafız and sat down, seemingly thinking about something by closing his eyes.
"I combined blood essence with my sonic booms; now it's time to add you next to these two!"
Muttering, Jashua started meditating; the six people inside the Garbage House had disconnected from this world and entered their own mental worlds.
Meanwhile, inside the sect, in a room in the Temple, an interesting scene was taking place. Lareina had combed back and tied her hair covering her face, looking at the objects in front of her by grimacing her face almost identical to her mother's.
"How can you ask me to do this, mother?"
Taking the white object resembling a small ceramic egg, Lareina opened it right in the middle and left the upper part on her bed. A small spoon stuck inside the black powder residue was looking at her, and the young girl knew exactly what she had to do with this.
After filling the spoon halfway, she took the other object in her free hand. Opening the cork closing the mouth of the bottle with a wide bottom and thin neck, evidently made of the same ceramic and having red embroideries on it, she inhaled the scent spreading into the room.
The powder had no smell, but she was no stranger to what was inside the bottle; this was the liquid that gave its name to the sect she was in. She waited for a while; while seconds chased seconds, at the twentieth breath, she threw the powder in the spoon into her mouth and drank the liquid in the bottle on top of it.
Although she wanted to do it in a single move, due to the disharmony in her movements, the powder scattered in her mouth, and the blood she swallowed from the bottle wet her lips. Despite this, Lareina didn't give up; clenching her teeth, she sent whatever was in her mouth down her throat.
She was covering her mouth with one hand and squeezing her throat with the other so that what she swallowed wouldn't come back up. The young girl waited like this for a few minutes; only when she was sure she had swallowed the powder and blood, she started to weep bitterly.
"I will do it even if it's hard, mother; I will fulfill this last wish of yours!"
Lareina continued to cry burying her face in her pillow inside her wide bed; the items she took from the secret room stood in the other corner as if waiting for her.
In the moments when the gloom of the night covered the Holy Blood Sect, different events were happening in every corner. While time flowed for everyone, Nafız also managed to reach the place she wanted. Standing in front of the hollow with a wide entrance, she was looking around as if searching for something.
"Is this the place with a crazy light flash?"
The reason she suddenly got up and came here while sitting inside the Garbage House was the light flash that attracted her attention; it was burning like a star in the dark night.
Waiting outside the cave-like hollow for a few more breaths, Nafız dove inside rapidly as if rebelling against inactivity and started advancing from the first corridor she saw.
It was pitch dark; the narrow corridor was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and the wind hitting her face was telling Nafız that there was an exit here. It was telling, sure, but the gradually decreasing wind suddenly cut off with the stone wall appearing in front of her; a dead end had been entered.
"I wonder what interesting things will happen again; the sect isn't a sect but a realm of mysteries!"
For Nafız, whose eyes were accustomed to seeing at night, the environment she was in was far from being challenging; she wanted to reach out and examine the wall but couldn't succeed.
"Come on!"
With the exclamation of astonishment coming out of her mouth, she extended her other hand too, and now her two arms were buried in the stone wall up to her shoulders. Taking a deep breath, Nafız pushed her whole body inside, took a step to the other side, and a breath later, collapsed on the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut.
Her eyelids were closing; although she wanted to keep them open with all her existing strength, it wasn't happening, she couldn't see anything except for blurry things she saw through a tiny opening.
"Close your eyes!"
After this voice rang in her mind, things got even harder. Nafız was resisting, the full and calm voice was trying to overcome her. She didn't have the strength to move even a single finger; she was resisting not to lose her vision which had now turned into a thin line.
"Close your eyes and see more. Surrender, grasp your self!"
After the last words, Nafız, having no strength left, let go of the last branch she held onto and completely passed out; there was nothing she felt except the violent wind wrapping her body and practically lifting her into the air.