"A sprinkle of blood orange juice..."

The juice splashed the cold dirt, where inscriptions were carved in a circle.

"The skull of a fawn..."

A skull was placed in the center of the circle. It began to emit a slight green light at this point.

"Two pieces of wood turned stone..."

Two small chunks of petrified wood were placed in each eye socket on the skull. The light got brighter and brighter.

"...And a word of summoning..."

Iugulare stood on her hind legs. The infection supported her as she watched the dark surroundings grow brighter and brighter with the green hue. She grinned - all the pieces were in place, everything was working. She just had to finish it.

"Oh valde malum phasmatis, exsisto existo!"

With a burst of light, the offerings on the ground were swallowed up, and soon after a form took shape within the center of the ring. It was a creature unlike any that ever walked on the Earth, a creature from another world. Iugulare's summoning ritual was a success.

The light faded, and before the infectious stoat was a young dragon. The creature's skin shimmered in shades of green and white, and her eyes were a dark green that stared at the one who summoned her. She had great wings and two legs, along with a long tail. She was much more interesting than Iugulare imagined her to be - she had no mouth, but instead, had a slit in her chest. Two small arms were at both sides of the slit. This was most curious to the stoat.

"The great...and terrible...Anirapio. You have been brought here to aid in my quest to claim this world.", Iugulare said to the dragon. The creature looked back at her - it strangely understood the language, and was able to reply using a form of telepathy, "Why would I serve you? I could easily...", but she stopped the sentence, examining her summoner for a moment, reluctantly saying, "No...you lack a soul. Perhaps I will help you."

Iugulare was pleased to hear her reply in such a way, and at once requested, "Show me what you are capable of."

Anirapio scanned the area. There wasn't much life around, but sniffing the air, she caught a whiff of something close by. Turning, she leapt past one of the shrubs nearby, and at once, Iugulare heard the sounds of a raven crying out in pain and terror.

The dragon returned to her 'master', showing Iugulare the captured raven. The bird was held by Anirapio's two arms, where she then placed it into her pouch. The bird struggled and cried, but the more it moved, the deeper it sunk into her belly, until it was completely sucked in.

"It isn't much of a meal, but it will serve as your example.", Anirapio said to the stoat. Iugulare watched as the bulge in the dragon's belly continued to struggle, it slowly moving down the dragon's body. At one point, the raven gave up it's fight, and Anirapio turned, placing her tail in front of the stoat. The raven came out of a second slit at the tip of the tail, its body shivering. Iugulare could tell what was done - the raven was much thinner than it was, and furthermore, it seemed to be paralyzed, not having one shred of the fight it was demonstrating before.

Anirapio looked to Iugulare, "What you see here is now a soulless raven. His spirit will suffer within me for an eternity." The stoat was impressed, "I chose well. Now, carry on and capture more spirits. I know you need to get a feel for this environment before we continue on with the plan.", she said. Iugulare then approached the body of the raven, and placing a paw on it, infected the bird and transformed it into a minion.

The infected raven stood and looked to its master. "Scout the area for more minions. We must feed our guest.", she said. The raven flapped its wings and flew off. Anirapio spread out her own wings, lifting from the ground herself. She followed the raven - it would lead her to the next soul to feed off of.

Pleased, Iugulare retreated to the subsurface. She would rest for now, as the summoning took a good bit of her own energy to create. Everything was working as planned, and with a new evil soaring in the skies, the land would become even more dangerous.

-----------------------------------------

"Something doesn't seem quite right...", Trunks said to himself. The old ghost perked his ears - trying to catch the faintest sounds of the Forest. Things were too quiet. Something terrible was going to happen, he just knew it.

"Please! Help!", he heard someone cry. The ghost stag at once burst into a run, leaping over a fallen tree and making it to an opening in the trees. There he slid to a halt, and looked in surprise at the event unfolding before him.

A young fawn was backing up while something larger was cornering him. The creature was nothing that Trunks had ever seen before, but it didn't matter - the innocent was in trouble, and he had to stop the beast from harming him. "Leave him alone!", Trunks cried out.

Anirapio looked over. She was a little surprised, not realizing he was standing there. In actuality, she went into a slight daze over the new stag. He wasn't like the others she had seen. He was...appealing...

She changed her attention back to the fawn, knocking him down with her face and grabbing him with the long arms she had. Trunks ran at the creature, but it was too late - she was quick to stuff the poor fawn into her belly pouch, and at once she lifted off of the ground and hovered above him. Trunks looked up, watching her belly as the fawn writhed and cried out.

"This little one is only an appetizer. Next time, I'm coming for you!", Anirapio said telepathically to Trunks, and at once she soared off.

Trunks watched as the creature vanished over the tree line, and he collapsed. His body shivered for the first time in years.

"I couldn't save him...", he said, "I couldn't protect the innocent..."

Guest character needed here! (read my comment below)

To Be continued...