The epic expansion of the unknown is before me. It’s calling me, that uneven, mysterious darkness, and I feel compelled to obey. But I am still on the land of the living, not yet claimed by Death.

The High Priest is at my side, hand upon my bare shoulder. From the corner of my eye, he turns to face the crowd behind us.

“Now we shall witness,” he says, throwing his hands up to the sky, “the all powerful Death as he claims this Lost Child as his own, creating a Found in her place.”

He pushes me down, and I fall. Deep, deep, deep into the crowding darkness; my body going numb and my eyes closing. The Dark tears into my skin—ripping it.

Then Death claims me for his own, my sacrifice for a good cause. Now I am Found, forever one with the original darkness of the Earth.