sacrifice-eng

s a c r i f i c e

art director @fromvurtz

makeup artist @itismagnolia

set design @seniserper @heavyswaggy

photographer @lourie.ph

brand c.ordyceps

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p h o t o s h o o t

myth

SHE — THE ONE WHO SHED HER SKIN

⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋Name: Astra
Archetype: The Initiate
Pain: imprisoned of her own past
Her Sacrifice: the old skin

⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋Our messengers, delving deep into the caves of Monte Castillo, found records of an ancient ritual that promised to elevate mortal flesh into a loftier form of being. The priests could never decode some of the symbols completely, yet still they reached almost to the buried core of the ritual’s secret.
The chronicle tells:

⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ Astra sought the altar not for salvation but to cast away weakness. Her life was penned by others — how to breathe, whom to love, who to become. In time, that version of herself turned into a prison beneath her flesh.

⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋She turned from fate’s path, venturing into the cursed caves. Legends of Monte Castillo murmured: it was possible to perceive truths the Gods had hidden from mortal souls. For two nights and three days Astra had been wandering the empty corridors of the caves, her hunger gnawing at sanity, and she____ tasted her own flesh. The first cruel step to relinquish the old shell and feed the new. ⁮᠋Then a Stone Chalice emerged in the gloom before her. There was something primal in it, ancient beckoning…

⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ She clutched the vessel of her past. Countless hands — cold, desperate — were grabbing the Chalice. She heard their whispers ___ the echoes of former selves clinging, trying to hold her back. They hold no hate. Only terror at oblivion.

⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋She ripped the Chalice from their grasp, raising it high and _ Her knees press to the altar’s stone ___ acceptance.

HE — THE ONE WHO REMEMBERS

⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋Name: Erisan
Role: ancient entity bound within the Chalice. For endless ages he has feasted on human suffering and memories. Doubts, habits, old roles.
He hisses: “Stay as you were — it was safe there.”

⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋⁮ ⁮᠋᠋᠋᠋Her rite demands one thing: to kill him inside of her.

RITUAL

The hands of the past clung to her, tearing at flesh. They were dirty, insistent, familiar. Their voices swelled ____ louder____stronger.
She shut her eyes, rejecting the voices from without, and lifted the Chalice above — breaking the chains of memory.

Crossing Between Lives

A chasm was in front of her. The walls were engraved with runes — ancient laws of transition. One step forward — the abyss. Behind — the clamor of shadows, closer with every breath. A shard of pale light pierced from the cave’s crack, guiding a path. She stepped ____ fear is the only door.

The Crimson Lake of Transformation

The Altar. A basin filled with the blood of those who succumbed to Erisan and to the spectres of their past. They are doomed to ____
Astra leans over the surface. In the dark red ripples she saw the reflection of herself, the reborn version of her
Outsider voice had faded. Her own power began speaking. She was peering more and more into the ritual crimson liquid — a mirror of irrevocable change.

She chose new skin

Now the choice stands before you

A new being must bear a mark.

Begin by wearing it upon your flesh.