"You're insane!"

"Assumptions make an ass out of you and--oh, we're here."

Deeper in the Woods than ever Malen has gone, there lies a stone altar, splashed with dried blood. Over it looms a boy as pale as Malen's captor, who currently has his teeth around the neck of a weakly struggling child. Only a moment after Malen glimpses the gruesome sight, the child goes limp, and starts to fall to dust.

The boy-thing sputters, before looking up reproachfully at the early evening stars.

"You know," he says, seemingly at the the sky, "this would be much less icky if you didn't make them crumble so quick."

He spots the girl and Malen. "Oh, hey Vorvo, brought another victim?"

"It's Vorvolaka in front of the mortals, Jure. But yes."

She finally squirms enough to get a proper kick at the vampire's chest.

Vorvolaka seems bemused. "This one's a kicker. Help me get her onto the altar, it's my turn."

The two vampires of indeterminate ghostliness hoist Malen onto the stone altar, each pressing her done against the cold, smeared stone with one hand.

Vorvolaka gets into position behind the altar. "Oh, greater spirits of darkness, we call upon you to..."

She seems to have lost her words. Looking up, she asks "Line?"

"Accept this sacrifice to the All-Consuming Chaos and pour your blessing upon us," hisses a rather familiar voice.

"Right, thanks, Soph--I mean--Accept this sacrifice to the All-Consuming Chaos and pour your--"

Jure raises a hand. "Uh, hey, while we're all here, or we're here and you're wherever you are," he says, nodding up at the sky. "Has casting for the All-Consuming Chaos been finalized yet?"

"Don't question my brilliance!"

"I'm not, I'm just saying, if you haven't decided on a spirit for the Big bad..."

"Then you pick me!" Vorvolaka interjects.

"Casting choices will be revealed when the time is right! Not at the beginning of the story!"

"Did anyone ever invent theatre we're you're from, Sophia?"

"The antagonist isn't revealed in the prologue! The All-Consuming Chaos is a force of mystery and despair, you plebians!"

"But the actors know who's playing who. So they can--ya know--rehearse and stuff."

"You're meant to improvise!"

Jure takes his hand off Malen's chest so he can cross his arms with proper petulance. "This seems very chancy creatively."

Vorvolaka also seems a bit distracted, judging by how lightly her hand rests on the captive. "You don't want to have to start over. It looks really bad when you're a fosterling."

"Do you two want to be smited?"