Standing in one of the open wards inside The Pavilion, the Witch works with Ernest to prepare him for the coming ritual. The body created for Tola lies underneath a sheet on a bed, and Ernest thinks it a strange sight, a never living body hidden as though it were dead that he'll help breathe life into.
The ritual is made more complex for all the missing parts, and Ernest struggles to keep up with the Witch's instructions. Bishop Clement waits and watches the Witch train Ernest from across the room. Ailuros approaches the bishop from behind, and she stops to watch beside him.
The bishop says, "We still need Leonie. How are we supposed to do that with what little time we have left?"
"You aren't worried about assisting the forces of the Underworld?" Ailuros muses.
"I long ago learned to seek council from within when faced with confusion, terror, or otherwise intractable problems," Bishop Clement answers, "And everything within me told me to keep doing as I am doing."
"There is a means of getting Leonie back here on Earth at a moment's notice." Ailuros answers.
"And we have those means?"
"No."
"Then how will we bring Leonie back in time?"
"We won't. This ritual is vital not just for Tola but for unlocking the full potential of the Human souls fighting in this dense, material realm. The Central Sun will seek to stop us. They may even seek to commandeer the ritual for their own ends." Ailuros says.
"What would they get out of it?" Bishop Clement asks.
"Control over the next Human Steward, the person who ushers in the new world with new ways, new institutions, new everything. The old order is dying and soon to be dead, and the old Steward must surrender the power. There is no other choice for him at this point. There never was a choice." Ailuros answers.
"Why the fight then, if there was never any other possible outcome?"
"There's always a fight. The old order always dies ugly. There is a lot to account for, especially for the old Steward of this cycle."
"What's the point of struggling so hard in the end regardless, the accounting just gets worse, not better."
"A lesson Humanity will one day learn," Ailuros says, "But not today."
The bishop goes quiet and watches Ernest for a short time, and seeing the bright look in his eyes is compelled to speak again, "We aren't going to force him to hold a large temporal spell the way we did before, are we? I don't think he'd survive another attempt like that."
"No need!" Yells a voice entering from behind and which bounds past Bishop Clement standing with Ailuros, "With the Witch here on Earth, and the Moon Goddess in her ship on the Moon, we can cast a much larger shrouding spell, one which lets us hold the Blood Moon for as long as we need." Pleni says.
Pleni turns to the Witch, "Are we ready?"
"Yes," says the Witch, "As ready as we'll ever be."
"Wait, don't we also need the Great Mother?" Ernest asks.
"Yes! She is also in position and ready to cast the spatial and temporal shroud over the Earth and its Moon." Pleni responds.
Without another word, the Witch starts walking, heading outside to stand in front of The Pavilion. At the same time, The Moon Goddess stands in a magic circle on the bridge of the Blue Moon and both wait for the initiation of the spell.
Out in space, forming a triangle with the Earth and the Moon, the fourth command ship of the Underworld fleets readies for the shrouding ritual. Standing on the bridge within their own magic circle, the Great Mother chants, her words moving energies both so dense and so fine Humanity is hardly aware of their existence.
The substantial energies gathered by the Great Mother coalesce, the Pale Horse itself absorbing all of it, granting the ship a moonlight glow. With a firing of her forward battery, great spatial and temporal energies mix with the Demonic plasma, firing in a beam towards the Blue Moon.
Upon reaching the Blue Moon, the Moon Goddess redirects the beam through the Moon itself, modulating such that the material making up the Moon is undamaged, but the interactions between the beam and the Moon cause the desired spatial and temporal shroud to form.
A blanketing of the Moon begins as the redirected beam speeds towards the surface of the Earth. The Witch looks up to the skies as a bright light fills her vision, so she begins her chant. The beam of plasma and more subtle energies slams into the Witch, continuing through and around her into the Earth.
Upon reaching Earth's core the energy mixes with the Earth itself, and with seeming mind of its own, the beam reemerges at a different angle, firing back out from the Earth and up towards the Pale Horse. When the beam reconnects with its source, the spell is cast, and the shrouding of the Earth and Moon completes.
Back in The Pavilion, all the others gathered at the top of the steps to watch the Witch, and Pleni, holding a polished moonstone, holds it out for viewing.
Ernest asks, "We'll know when the time is right with that stone?"
"Yes." Pleni answers.
"The Moon will still continue with its cycle within this shroud?" Bishop Clement asks.
"Also yes. When the Blood Moon reaches its fullest, this stone will light up fully red, and the last part of the ritual just performed completes, and with it we keep our Blood Moon for as long as we need."
After a moment's silence Ernest says, "Alright. I guess it's time for the rest of us to get to work."
The assembled company turn and reenter The Pavilion as the Witch walks up the steps to the main entryway, following the rest close behind.
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