Rituals

Ritual 1

There is a way that you can bring back a loved one after death. I wouldn’t recommend it, though. Death is final and cheating it always leads to bad results. But you’ll want to know anyway. Well, here you go:

Go to the cemetery that your loved one is buried in. This only works for those who’ve been buried, though (there’s probably another method for cremation or something, but I don’t know it). Make sure that you take the one material object that is most important to you with you. The emotion from this object, this sacrifice, will provide your power. Take it to the plot of your loved one and bury it over their grave. You don’t have to go very far down, so don’t worry about running into the slab or anything. Before you cover up the hole with your object, don’t forget to add a few drops of your blood to it. This imbues the ritual with your own life essence and… draws them in.

Then comes the final steps. Take a small handful of dirt from where you buried your object and swallow it. Disgusting, but necessary. This creates the link between you and where you need to go. After that, get yourself as comfy as you can and fall asleep upon the grave.

If everything was done correctly (and you get a bit lucky) you’ll awaken to find yourself standing at the gate of the graveyard. It will be dim, foggy, and you’ll notice a lack of color in this drab place. You’ll also see that there seem to be people wandering around the gravestones. Exactly how many and what they’ll look like will depend on the cemetery you went to, but I’ve never heard of a location not having at least a few dozen of them wandering around.

Whatever you do, stay away from them. These are the shades of those left behind from failed rituals or weak spirits drawn from the surrounding areas to the power of your blood and object. Even if you recognize some of them, do not go near them. They’re little more than instinct now and desire one thing above all else: life. They want another chance to live and crave nothing more, even if the shade’s mind is so far gone it doesn’t even recall why. And if one catches you, it WILL try to steal that life away from you.

They may notice you, they may not. If they do, evade them. It shouldn’t be too hard as they’re reflexes and control are not nearly as sharp as they used to be. Avoid them and look for your loved one. The person may be at their grave or wandering the walkway. You may even find them hiding, terrified of the scene before them.

When you finally see your loved one, stop. Don’t go near them yet. Call out the person’s name and wait. If the response seems genuine, everything is going as plan. If the response is delayed, quiet, distant, or not even present, then hold on. Ask, from a distance, what was the one thing the person hated in life. As these shades progress and their minds dwindle to nothing, some of the first things to go are the memories of the things they hated in life. Any bad memory that makes life seem terrible would slip away to be replaced by that deep desire to return to the living. If your loved one’s answer seems legitimate, take their hand and pray that you weren’t wrong. If you are, you may find yourself as a replacement shade wandering this foggy graveyard.



Be aware their hand will be cold. Freezing. Like grasping solid ice; but never let go. Even if your hand starts going numb and your fingers turn black, do not let go. After feeling that rush of life touching their hand and immediately losing it moments later, your loved one may not be able to resist the urge to take it all from you.

Take your loved one back to the gate, avoiding other shades as you can. More may notice you now as your living body is connected to their realm via your lost loved one. Be quick, be decisive, and DO NOT let go of your loved one’s hand.

Should you make it and step through the gate of the cemetery, you’ll find yourself back in the living world; however, this time your loved one will have rejoined you at your side, still clutching your hand.

To the rest of the world, it will just seem like your loved one went on a long trip somewhere and recently came back. Nobody will be able to recall where it was they went or what they did there (well, nobody except you and your loved one) but they will be happy to see the person’s return.

After this, I suggest that you never stay in one place too long. Keep moving, keep roaming. The more random your journeys, the better. The moment you start to see the sickly, pale look come across your loved one’s face or the bit of decay that might start forming on your skin, move. Death hates to be cheated, and if he catches up with you and your loved one, he’ll make sure that you both feel every bit of the rotting sickness that will build up in your bodies until your loved one once again falls to the grasp of death and returns to the cemetery. This time, however, they won’t be alone. You will be joining them.

Maybe you’ll get lucky, though. Maybe someone might make this journey for you. They’ll take your hand and drag you back to the world of the living… only for it all to start over once again.I

Ritual 2
Have you ever visited Edinburgh? Beautiful city, no matter what time of year you go. The castle that sits at the centre of the city is awe-inspiring, looking down on the surrounding area from the Mount. The peaks and valleys of the land have resulted in a city that flows with the landscape. Streets that surround can be steep, with the numerous sprawling alleyways even steeper. It is here that we find Fleshmarket Close.

It could be mistaken for any other darkened causeway in the city. It sits among the shops and tourist traps, relatively non-threatening, and can be used as a short cut to get down to the station if you are in a hurry. The name has been justified, through some who point out that fleshmarkets were a local term for butchers, and through others who suggest it a hangout of women of the first vocation. These are incorrect. There is a market on the close, but flesh is not the product. It is the currency.

Market hours are dusk until dawn, and the entrance fee is one mouthful of your own blood. Prepare a glass, and progress down the alley. As you get halfway down, swig from the glass and spit it against the wall. The blood will bubble and spread across the wall, coagulating into a hardened scab. This will then start to flake and scatter. A rather anti-climatic door will be revealed beneath. Stepping through is disorientating as logic will tell you you are stepping into a building. The space you are stepping into has no walls, with darkness shrouding the edges. It is at the penumbra that a number of stalls are set up, run by individuals who look like market traders from across the globe, from Arabian merchants to Cockney grocers to New York street con-men. All of their clothes are splatted with blood and offal

These figures will entice you to come speak with them and will gesture to numerous signs around their stalls regarding the sales they are currently having. Upon approaching one of the stalls they will start to pressure you to make a deal with them. You are certainly welcome to do so, and the products that are available are certainly worth consideration.

Starting at the cheap end of the spectrum, you may wish to offer one breath. A lungful will net you knowledge of the weather for the next day. In itself a rather pointless purchase in this age of smartphones and the Met office, but centuries ago invaluable. Taking this offer will result in the seller reaching out with his hand flattened, then quickly grasping it into a fist. The air will literally be stolen from your lungs, and cause a few moments of gasping as you catch your breath.

Are you attached to your fingers? How attached? I mean, do you reckon you could do without your little finger? This sale will provide you instant forgiveness from any one person you desire for any wrongs you may have encroached against them. Agreeing to this one will cause the trader to grin and shout “One Yubitsume Special, coming right up”. They will lunge forward and grab your wrist, pinning it to the table. Don’t resist, because no-one likes a tough sell. A flash of steel and you will be minus one digit. Just remember you can only pay twice.

Now make no mistake, it will hurt. There will probably be a lot of blood, and if you don’t take care of the wound, it may even get infected. As the price goes up you may want to consider taking precautions regarding what you trade. Tourniquets and sutures would certainly not go amiss.

Now some of the trades will seem familiar and may hark back to stories and legends that have existed for millenia. This is the influence the market has had on our culture, leaching in over the centuries. A pound of flesh will make it impossible for the next person you make a trade with to renege on the deal. Especially useful if you don’t trust the company you keep. It has no use within the Market as all of the traders here are trustworthy, and will honour a purchase to the letter and the spirit. Best to leave this transaction until last.

How about one of your eyes? Depth perception is over-rated any way. Offering up one of them will allow you to converse with our avian friends. You will be able to call down the birds from the trees, and they will be able to answer any questions you may have. It is advisable that you avoid ravens. They have their own agenda, and it is not in your best interests. The salesman will grab you around the throat and slowly prise his fingers into the socket. A snap of the wrist and your visual organ will rest in their palm. Another snap, and it will disappear.

It is at this point where you may want to consider stronger measures to ensure your survival of payment. In this strange little world or ours, the market is hardly the strangest. Artifacts and incantations exist that can allow the body to continue to function long past the point at which mortal coils would be shuffled from. One or two can be picked up here, but few are willing to live without their sexual organs. It seems eternity is that little bit colder without the ability to get your rocks off. I’m not going to go into the details as to how they are taken, suffice to say that it is unpleasant and messy.

At this point the prices become a little more …..Vital. What would you take for your stomach? In this deal it would merit you the ability to understand the desires of anyone you talk to. Whilst you converse with them, your mind will be filled with the images of that which they covet the most. This would provide a significant advantage to any budding salesman, and the deal has been taken up by several of the stallholders themselves.

Some may argue that such a gift would be more poetically suited to the heart. That vascular muscle, however, is apart of an altogether different deal. By bartering with your heart, you can guarantee the happiness of any given individual for the rest of their life, however long that may be. The removal of these types of organs can be significantly painful, but the dealers will allow you a moment to prepare yourself before they will produce a short, keen blade. One practised swipe later, and they will be digging into your tissues. They have unerring accuracy and a level of cleanliness that rivals any surgeon.

Now it is acknowledged in some places that once the deal has been sealed, a buyer may have second thoughts and may want to back out. This is not one of those places. Most of the contract is left unspoken, but you are expected to have done your research. The buyout clauses are a killer.

Whilst most of the body can be put on the table, there are limitations. The fact of the matter is that the brain is the seat of sentience, and cannot be fully placed in. I say fully, there was one individual who offered to lobotomise the part of the brain that holds memory as a part of the deal. The problem is he cannot remember what it is he received in return. I hear he suffered night terrors for the rest of his days.

Now at this point I offer a warning. Up until now I have detailed the price list for your own body parts. What ever you do, do not attempt to purchase anything in the market with organs of another. Every figure in the market will stop and stare at you, and the one you attempted to defraud will scream “THAT IS NOT YOURS TO TRADE!”. What ever it is you have tried to barter will, that body part will be taken from you as punishment. A very literal eye for an eye.

Despite whatever theological perspectives you may hold, offering your own soul will elicit the same result. There have been many theories postulated for this response, but the honest answer is we just don’t know.

The market has been trading in blood and bone for as long as civilization has existed, though the entrance has moved from city to city. Many have visited and shook hands with the butchers, though not quite as many got those hands back. A smart man would wonder how it is that these individuals are capable of honouring the deals they broker. A smarter man would ask himself why his body parts are of such high value in this economy. Just understand that it is supply and demand.

And as long as there are fools willing to supply, you shouldn’t need to concern yourself with who is doing the demanding.

Ritual 3

If you want to lose your grasp on reality, and destroy your complete sanity, just listen to the clock.

But this will not be easy let me tell you right now. This is not something to mess around with. It’s just an easy way to lose your mind within the confines of your own home. But there are a couple guidelines to follow. First, pick a room with no windows. It can be a room for anything, but it just can’t have windows. Second, you can start at any time in the day, even if you wish to start at night, for the process will take exactly 24 hours to complete. Third, cancel all appointments you have for that day, turn off your phone if you have to, for there can’t be any distractions for you to focus on. Fourth, make sure it is a calm and quiet day outside, and not windy or storming outside. Lastly, to start the process, you must go into the room you picked, put a clock inside (the clock must make the distinct ‘tick-tock’ sound when every second passes), turn off the lights, and light a candle. That candle will be your only source of light. Once you have done all of that, I honestly want you to ask yourself one question, “Do I really want to do this?” If your answer is yes, then may God have mercy on you. I’m here to merely prepare you on what to expect. Alright, let me tell you a little bit of information about the procedure. Back in the mid-1800’s, radical members of the Christian, Muslim, and Islamic faith used it as a way to “connect” with God. It was kept under wraps due to its extreme nature and unusual method to connect with the supernatural. The clock represented life on earth, and how short it can be, and the candle represented God as the only way of guidance through life. Most often than not, each person that would go through the procedure, would lose their minds and within a day and due to their insane actions, would kill themselves from what they claim to have seen. But if you were one of the lucky ones, you can keep your sanity, like me. Ok, now here is what to expect.

The first 3 hours are the least eventful, mainly because nothing really happens, but prepare yourself in these hours. These are the only hours in which you may choose to leave the procedure.

In the 4th hour, you will not be able to escape by any means. The lock on your door will lock by itself and you will have no way to move it.

In the 5th hour, you will start to sweat profusely, and will start to have feelings of anxiety. You will start to look behind you many times, and every time, there will be nothing there.

In the 6th hour, you will hear noises. Not noises from the house or from outside, but thuds and thumps throughout the hour in ten minute intervals. With each noise getting louder.

In the 7th hour, you will pass out, and dream. But this will be the only pleasant hour throughout the process. You will dream about the best moments in your life. Every great accomplishment, wonderful memory, and friend you have made will appear before you. It will have been the best dream you have ever had in your life. Even events from the future can appear.

At the beginning of the 8th hour, you shall wake up. But when you do, you will feel an extreme sense of elation and comfort, similar the effects of smoking marijuana. Now for some this could be considered another pleasant hour, but what comes after will be the start of your suffering.

In the 9th hour, you will, in a sense, go from one drug, to another. Your feelings of elation will change to that of extreme adrenaline and energy. Similar to the effects of any stimulant drug. But a warning, you must try your hardest to keep yourself under control. You’re unpredictable, there is no telling what you will do in this state.

In the 10th hour, hopefully you have minimal injuries from the last hour. But now you will start to feel normal, and your feelings you previously felt will subside. Now you will hear screaming, but the screaming can vary from what it sounds like, from a little girl, to a full grown man. You will hear screaming at six minute intervals throughout the hour. This hour is going to feel like an eternity to pass.

At the 11th hour, the light from the candle will go out. That’s it. You are left alone in the darkness. You are free to think to yourself, most likely regretting the decision you have made.

At the 12th hour, the light from the candle will reappear. But do not worry, this is another hour of silence. But mentally prepare yourself for what you about to experience next.

In the 13th hour, you shall pass out, much like you did in the 7th hour. But don’t expect happy memories. In this dream, you shall experience every painful moment, suffering, and unpleasant thing in your life all over again. Even suffering in the future, including your own death. This will be the worst dream you will ever have in your life.

At the 14th hour, you will wake up. This is another hour of silence. But the silence will be broken by your own sobbing. Your tears shall continue until the hour is over.


In the 15th hour, this is putting it very bluntly, is when things start to get weird. You will talk to someone. He’s not visible, but he is there. He doesn’t have a name, but I’m giving him one. He is your guardian angel, but you can call him ‘Watcher’ or ‘Protector’. But for me, I call him ‘A*****e’. This may seem funny, but trust me, it’s suits him. The first thing he will say to you is “Ask me anything, and I shall give you an answer.” You can ask him anything about your life, what will happen in the future, and why events occurred when they did. He will give you an answer, but extreme and graphic details, and give reasons for things will not understand, whether it be a tragedy or a death. By the end of the hour, he will say “Farewell” and leave.

In the 16th hour, you will talk to your parents. But they do not make a physical appearance mind you. Now it’s your turn to answer questions. They will ask you questions about what you have done with your life, and if you do not answer one of their questions, they will press on for an answer until you can’t take it anymore. At the end of the hour, they will go away.

At the 17th hour, you will talk to the most important guy in your life, whether it be your significant other or your best friend. He will ask you why and how you became friends. But keep in mind, he is not looking for friendly conversation, he is questioning your friendship with him. Finding every mistake you have done to cripple your friendship with him. Reasoning with him will not work, and will act like your parents did in the previous hour.

At the 18th hour, you will speak to the most important girl in your life, whether it be your significant other or your best friend. She will do the same as the person in the 17th hour did, and ask the same questions.

At the 19th hour, you will talk with yourself. Meaning you will talk with your future self, and trust me, this is the least pleasant conversation. He will tell you things you will not want to hear about yourself, and will ask you questions you can and can’t answer. Soon it will be too much, and you will find yourself screaming at yourself, and anger and self-loathing will be the only emotion you will have.

In the 20th hour, following the events of the 19th hour, you will find any possibility to hurt yourself. Self-inflicting pain will be constant in this hour. Some have even committed suicide in this hour.

In the 21st hour, if you managed to survive the previous hour, here is what will await you. Music. Yes, music. It will be soft orchestral music, with a choir singing Gregorian Chant, similar to church music, but more beautiful. By the end of this hour, your wounds will heal. Don’t ask me why, even I don’t know.

In the 22nd hour, the music will stop. This is another hour of silence. But you have time to think to yourself. The light on the candle will change colors, all colors of the spectrum. This quite a sight to behold, it’s almost soothing.

In the 23rd hour, you will sing Gregorian Chant. But your singing will be the only sound in the room. You honestly don’t know what your singing, but it sounds beautiful, and you will actually want to sing more.

Finally, the 24th hour, this is the most interesting hour. Rumor says you talk to God himself, but here is how it goes. You are pinned to the floor by some unknown force, and someone or something asks you a question at ten minute intervals. Questions like “Are you happy?” or “Would you like to change?”. You must answer, you will feel the need to. The questioner sounds like a man, but at the same time sounds like an animal. Almost like the roar of a lion. His voice is terrifying but yet comforting at the same time. After the hour is up you will be able to get up, and the door will unlock. If you’re lucky, you still have your sanity.

Now it up to you what you shall do with this information. If you want to do this, I’m not stopping you, but I’m giving you fair warning. Some things are beyond the realms of human comprehension and sometimes we just have nothing to explain the unnatural. But whatever it is, at least we know we are not alone. Now remember what I have told you. If you want to lose your grasp on reality, and destroy your complete sanity, just listen to the clock.

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[Helena]

Does this really work....?