Looking at the steamboats that nearly filled the sea's surface and the believers standing in neat rows upon their decks, Charles felt a shiver run down his spine. His instincts told him something monumental was about to happen—something truly terrifying.
He didn't know what the Pope planned to do next, but his mind raced with ways to stop the fraud. The man had already sacrificed over ten million people to summon the Feast-Goer; this was no small matter.
Charles turned his head and looked around. The four types of sacrificial offerings sat quietly within concentric circles. At the very center was a peculiar rope, thick as a giant tree and woven from blood and flesh, light and shadow.
The massive rope was pulled taut, stretching from the platform floor all the way into the sea. It was slowly retracting, as if dragging something from the depths.
