Lowly Ascent

Feet moved about, the clamoring footsteps echoed in the sewers. Servants of different gods moved silently as their target was on edge, holding a great sacrifice in their inner sanctum.

The doors opened, and a gruff man with his head sewn all over carried a cage forward towards the stand.

Cain's eyes shifted around the room. He was surrounded by people with stitching; some having more than others. They all looked at Cain with interest, their gazes fervent for what was to come.

Locking onto the altar, the Raven saw a Counselor and Priest, along with two others he had never seen before, the two, a man and a woman, had stitching like the Counselor and Priest they stood beside.

"Here is the bird, Head Idol."

With his mouth sewn, the Priest smiled and took the cage, placing it on the altar.

On the altar was a large stitched-together puppet, much like the idols the believers carried with them. Only, this one was far more ominous and lifelike.

The Priest began, (Brothers and Sisters. Today we will do something we have wanted to do for ages come and gone. Today, we will be blessed by God! We will become closer to him!)

(Pray! Pray to God and tell him of our success! With the raven comes our ascension! With the raven we become God!) His voice resounded throughout the chamber.

"With the raven comes ascension! With the raven we become God!" The crowd repeated.

...

"So, do we even know who our targets are?" Isaac asked Laimir, the team captain for the mission.

"No, but we did a preliminary recon and know it's one of three cults. The Sewn Brotherhood, Scorched Heaven, or the Thrones of Bell Tower, also known as just Bell Tower.

"The Sewn Brotherhood's main base is in the Sewers and they are the weakest. Scorched Heaven and Bell Tower only have outposts down here. However, Bell Tower recently made their outpost which leads us to believe they are the culprit we are after."

Isaac nodded, "So what's with these cults, what do they believe in?"

"Didn't you read the file?"

"I skimmed some parts...." He shyly scratched his face.

Laimir facepalmed. "Sigh. The Sewn Brotherhood is the most peaceful, they mostly only deal in the black market trade. They believe in the Stitched Puppet and think if they stitch their body like their god they can become god. But don't be fooled, the areas they seal contain untold power when unsealed, it's the blessing their god gives its followers. From what we know, their leader is called the Head Idol, and three lesser Idols deal with the cult's day to day."

He was about to continue but a sound came from down the tunnel.

"Who!"

From around the corner, a group in red robes walked forward. Their robes seemed to be poorly stitched together, with different colors of red patchwork. The smell of blood also wafted from them.

One of the agents exclaimed, "Shit, it's the Blood Draped Orphans!"

"Who are the Blood Draped Orphans?" Isaac asked.

Laimir put his hand back, signaling to not move. "Not now Isaac." He then raised his voice, "Why are you people here? Is your leader with you?"

One of the red-cloaked men stepped forward, "Well Well Well. To think the Bureau caught on to what's happening down here. And no, Cromwell is not here, this is below him, it's only a bird after all."

"A bird?" Laimir questioned.

The cloaked man began to laugh, "Hahaha! What's this, the Bureau doesn't know they lost one of their birds to a few walking voodoo dolls? Hilarious! Anyhow, we must be going, truce? After all, you would rather not face us right now when a descent might happen."

Laimir's face froze, the tunnel was left in silence and none of the agents dared to speak up.

Seeing this, the red-cloaked figures just left in the confusion.

After a few more minutes, Laimir muttered, "A descent? That's impossible, what would even warrant that? Why a bir- oh no."

"What's wrong?" Isaac was starting to get anxious.

Laimir turned around, his expression deadly, causing the mood of the group to plummet even further.

"James, radio the Bureau, tell them the Sewn Brotherhood is sacrificing a raven. It could be the one we've been looking for." He then turned back and started to run down the tunnel. "The rest of you, follow me, we must stop this, or else thousands might die!"

...

Cain watched the people pray while the altar began to glow. His eyes narrowed on Darla who was in the first row.

'Should I start now? I haven't found an opening. Those two next to the Priest keep staring at me....'

The prayers continued as the altar lit up more and more. Cain was increasingly getting worried about waiting, so he activated the mark on Darla.

The young girl began to feign feeling squeamish and went behind the altar under the counselor's guidance so she could watch but not have to see Cain getting sacrificed.

(Now! The final act of our story is upon us, with my blood spilled god will take his prize and grant my daughter his boon, we will rise from the old ways and enter a new era!) The priest turned around to Cain, taking a knife and cutting a deep wound in his own arm.

The Priest proceeded to let his blood coat Cain and the altar as its glow reached its peak.

Crash!

A guard at the door was shoved into the wall, and a group of red-cloaked figures entered the prayer hall. Each of them lifted their hoods, revealing their faces and their eyes focused on the raven in the cage.

"So it's true, there is a raven out of its cage. You damn doll, stop and offer the bird to us and you won't have to die. I can't say the same for your people though." As the man spoke, his tongue was revealed to be gray. His words were strangely compelling, causing many of the cultists of the Sewn Brotherhood to lower their heads in recognition.

One of the lesser idols spoke, it was the woman with stitches around her neck and arms.

"The Gray Tongued Hysteria is not welcomed here. You and your god can go to hell!" The few stitches on her legs unraveled, and her speed increased as her flesh opened up to the world.

"Damn insane freaks!" The leader of the group stepped forward. "Slow down you old bat!"

His words were compelling, causing the Lesser Idol's speed to decelerate.

The leader then pointed at Cain, "The sacrifice is about to be complete, get that damn bird! Now!"

Revealing their gray tongues with their wide smiles, the group members pressed forward. But there wasn't only one cult setting their eyes on Cain.

Boom!

A section of wall in the sanctum was blown to bits, killing a few believers in the process.

"Oh, isn't it Lexi Kchev, the Little Orphan." Stepping through the rubble, a woman holding a staff embedded with bells stepped into the sanctum.

"Melina... I should have known they would send an eccentric bitch." Lexi barked.

The woman called Melina snapped back, "Watch your tone! Unless, do you want to start a fight now before the raven is safely out of these freaks' hands?"

The Lesser Idol screamed, "You will not take God's possession!"

Her arms unraveled into a monstrosity of flesh, her tendons reformed and her skin flipped inside out to create monstrous arms that shouldn't belong on a fair old lady. She flailed her new weapons like hammers and destroyed the floor where Lexi was standing.

"See, the problem with you folk is you never train, if you did that, when you unsealed yourselves you wouldn't be so weak. A pity your god's blessing has such an offset."

For the Sewn Brotherhood, the longer they sealed themselves the stronger the effect was when unsealing themselves. But due to this, they never unsealed themselves, thus never learning how to use their powers.

The other Blood Draped Orphans were on the stairs of the Altar fighting the other Lesser Idol with the last Idol, the Counselor, not far behind.

Cain was excited, 'Now this damn priest needs to be distracted and I can evade the most dangerous problem!'

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots came from the hall and another group of people in short scorched cloaks tried to run before being gunned down.

Melina commented. "Looks like Scorched Heaven sent the weakest batch, of course, their god doesn't care for the ravens, it's already completely gone insane."

Joining in the inner sanctum of the brotherhood, Laimir and the Bureau saw the chaos falling upon the room. Cultists were still lowering their necks to be cut as they became casualties in the battle of higher-ups while those from the Bell Tower watched and oversaw everything.

Near the Altar, two people fought a group of red-cloaked madmen, and the Priest was still focused on the centerpiece, a blackbird on an ominous glowing altar.

"The Raven!" Laimir found his target.