Leonidas stared at the words for a long, long time, his eyes turning glassy, his mind coming to a stop. The first phrase, [Fear Sacrifice, Bane of the Gods], was ominous enough. After all, what could threaten the gods themselves, being of power so immense they could shatter the universe with a snap?

Obviously, something could...seeing how they were dead. Then there was the second phrase, [Admire Sacrifice, Herald of the Unseen], an equally insidious phrase, perhaps even more so than the first.

Herald, a being fearsome enough to threaten the very existence of the gods, to become their bane, was a mere messenger for something greater?

What were the Unseen? Were they the beings that had brought the downfall of the divine? Were they the profane beings that had cursed his world to a hateful end?

Leonidas was burning with anger at the very thought. Not because he was sad the gods had been killed, even though he was. The gods were like parents to every mortal that had ever been born.

Leonidas was mad at the fact that some invisible bastards had doomed his world, after all, the Labyrinth had appeared 50 years ago...and the gods had died the same year as well. He didn’t believe in coincidences.

Forcing himself to breathe, Leonidas thought about the third phrase, the one that had brought him such surprise and fear, in equal measures. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

[Hail Sacrifice, Eldest of the 27], but there is no God of Sacrifice.

From the phrases he had read, it was clear that Sacrifice was the God of Sacrifice, only that there was no such god.

It was common knowledge that there were 27 gods, collectively referred to as ’The 27’

Inevitability - Rebirth - Bloom

Hunger - Void - Peace

Madness - Dreams - Hallucination

War - Wrath - Contract

Distance - Memory - Soul

Plague - Poison - Ash

Transformation - Imagination - Love

Spite - Sound - Silence

Sight - Heat - Energy

There were many of them, Peace and Bloom being one of them, but no Sacrifice. No matter how hard Leonidas thought, he could not remember any reference to ’sacrifice.’

Yes, Sacrifice fell under the domain of many, Contract and Peace being one of them, but those were just part of their domain, not a singular whole.

The gods were named after their domains...mostly because said domains came into existence after the gods themselves. The concept of peace was given birth after the God of Peace was born, just as with the rest.

The God of Peace was also the god of many other things—absence, stillness, inevitability, among other things—yet he was always referred to as ’Peace’ simply because that was his name.

Just like how Leonidas was named ’Leonidas,’ the God of Peace was named Peace.

Despite the lengthy explanation, everything led to a simple truth...there was no god named Sacrifice.

Which meant either one of two things: either he was deliberately erased from existence, his name, his power, his very memory removed from the annals of history.

Who would do such a thing? Obviously, the gods he was their bane after all.

Or there was another, much simpler explanation...the inscriptions were lying. Leonidas heavily doubted the latter of the two, but there was always a chance.

Too much...my mind feels like it’s going to explode. What the hell have I stumbled upon? What happened to Sacrifice? Did the gods strike him down? Did he escape, defected to the Unseen?

The image of god striking down another of their own brought a certain memory to Leonidas’s mind.

The man bound in chains...as if being struck down by god...

As if lightning had struck him, Leonidas’s heart skipped a beat. The symbol had been on the remnants of a burnt carriage he had seen in the vision of his Bloom Edict. Not only that, the image had been carved into the very walls of the Sanctum he was in...

The Sanctum of Sacrifice.

Slowly, as if two ends of a magnet finally meeting, the pieces clicked together in Leonidas’s mind. He glanced back at the altar, but this time it seemed different.

No, it wasn’t the altar that was different, but his perception of it. He no longer saw it as a ghostly dais for a satanic ritual, though it still looked like that.

Instead, he saw an offering for the bastard god who had defected from his brethren, bringing about their ends.

With hollow steps, Leonidas slowly backed away, careful not to make a single sound, as if not to awaken a slumbering beast.

His back slammed into something hard with a loud thud. Leonidas turned ashen, his eyes listless.

Goddammit!

The obsidian wall had somehow made its way behind him...probably when he was trapped in his consuming circle of thoughts.

What the hell! Why is my life so unfortunate?

He was clearly being forced by the sanctum to sacrifice himself. Had he learned too much that there was no other option?

But hadn’t he been forced to come here by the very sanctum itself?

Ahh, it’s too confusing.

However, Leonidas still didn’t move, sticking to the wall as if he could phase through. How nice it would have been had Willow been here; she would have simply turned the stupid barrier into a useless gas.

The wall moved forward again, ever so slowly, as if it was enjoying the suffering and fear Leonidas was feeling.

His desire to curse was at an all-time high. How sad that it was beneath him.

Leonidas was pushed further and further in by the damned wall, until there was little room to breathe. The altar was pressing into his body, the curved edges stabbing harmlessly into his skin.

His gaze landed on the cracked mask, and immediately a spectral premonition passed through his mind.

He didn’t know why, but his instincts were screaming at him to get away from the infernal thing. He tried, oh gods knew he did.

Alas, life was cruel. The next instant, the mask flew over to his face and latched on like a parasite, and all Leonidas could do was scream in horror.