5 years ago

  "Moira, look at the shells." Manolis held a bunch of them in his hands. That childish wonder, still as bright as a star, gleamed in his amethyst eyes.

  The Seryani coast of the Kyanos Sea was usually very rocky, filled with crab pools that you could scavenge for. Today the tide was low. The damp sandy beach was finally revealed under the gaze of the sun. Manolis looked like a spotted deer with his freckles out, but she couldn't say anything because her face was sure to be spotted as well.

  "They're very pretty, Mani," she smiled as he handed them to her. They sat down on the sand, and Mani's spear sat close with a basket of fish. His linen trousers were soaked with seawater, and her own dress was covered with sand from tumbling about on the ground. She grabbed the small blade she kept with her for her healing services. Poking little holes in the shells, she strung some yarn to make a necklace.

  Manolis placed his chin on his hand, his elbow on his knee. He watched her fondly. Always making something, she was. "The fish should last us a while, and with hunting season coming near..." They would be set for a while. Moira could rest from healing people with her blood.

  "I can't just stop, Mani. The people need me and it's not as if I can control the visions," Moira replied with a sigh. Her sudden trances came without warning, and so did the people. I can't just say no if someone is injured in front of me. "Yes, it costs me some blood and energy but I have this gift for a reason. By the will of God or whoever is up there, I have to use it!"

  "But...it is your gift," he said, not understanding why she was so selfless. His sister was letting people use her so easily. What if someone took advantage of her? Especially when I'll be gone for my hunting apprenticeship.

  Dropping her necklace, she grabbed his hands to hold them in her own. "It will be alright, and I'll take a break."

  Manolis' eyebrow raised; he gave her a dubious look.

  "I will try to take a break," she corrected. And then Moira added with a mysterious hushed tone as if she was unveiling a prophecy, "And you will be the greatest hunter to ever grace Seryani. Every deer in the Elpis Hills will tremble from seeing your spear."

  "Don't get my hopes up, Moira." He let go of her hands, but a grin was still evident on his face.

  "It's true though!" She leaned forward, hand reaching up to shake the sand out of his black hair.

  He yelped playfully. His own hands moved to get her off. They tumbled again and again until they lay down on the sand together, staring up at the clear blue sky.

  "I'll miss you. I always do," Manolis said quietly.

  Moira could only think the same. "I know, Mani. I will too."

  ?? ? ??

  She stared at the wall beyond the rusty metal bars. How long had she been here, in this damp, dark, cold cell of a dungeon? A torch sat on the wall; it was only lit when a paladin came down to give her some meagre food or when the serpent came down to stare at her with those green eyes. Sharp and gleaming dangerously like jagged emeralds.

  In a couple of minutes, he would come down again. He would light the torch and walk up to her cell. Giuseppe would place his hand on the bars, and his golden rings would sparkle mockingly. Next, he'd come inside and crouch down to where Moira sat against the wall.

  She didn't even need to divine it. The High Priest was becoming predictable.

  And then he would say, "Moira, surely your wrists and arms are aching from those chains?" That gentle smile was as fake as his words. It was true, her wrists burned from the rough iron. Her eyes hurt from weeping. Moira's legs felt numb from sitting on the hard moist floor. Her stomach felt sick from stale bread and the questionably grey soup they brought her.

  High Priest Giuseppe was trying to get her to join the Church, but Moira knew that if she did her entire life would be tied down. Not just her wrists and arms. Moira had to leave the Kingdom of Alberia, she had to leave the capital of Ramos. Could she do that whilst she was chained to a wall? No. Most definitely not. However, she couldn't leave without giving him an answer.

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  "You'll live in comfort, Moira," Giuseppe would continue to say. "Seryani is no place for a saint like you." He had been preaching this sentiment to her for days yet this girl was stubborn and she seemed unfazed by her conditions. Only staring at him with a wrathful glare.

  Saintess. If she shook his hand, Moira would become a saintess. Chained by his religion, by the people's faith. The people need me. Was she blessed by God or some deity? Moira had wondered how and why she had been given such powers.

  Perhaps I'll be able to find out. Alberia has real mages that have knowledge of sorcery. The Royal Academy... All I need to do is become a saint. How hard could it be?

  Pushing down that sickening feeling in her stomach, Moira finally agreed, "I'll join the church."

  That smile became genuine... No, it became an unfeeling smirk. The look of someone who was getting what they wanted and would continue to do so at the expense of others. "You have done the right thing, my saintess."

  However, as the paladin returned to unlock her chains and lead her out of the dungeons, she could only think that this was the beginning of something terribly wrong.

  The Grand Cathedral seemed so wide and large that being inside made her feel suffocatingly small. She followed the paladin and the High Priest down the long hall. Both of them were so quiet, they didn't even seem to be breathing.

  She was hardly listening to the High Priest's talks about the Cathedral.

  "Down this hall and in that room is the infirmary for the sick. The chambers opposite are the kitchens. Do you see the courtyard down there? That is where we train the paladins..."

  God, Moira wanted a small, clean room and a bed so she could have an actual night's rest. The large stained glass windows glowed with a color that seemed to enlighten the harsh grey stone of the structure. They spanned the entire wall until they reached the high vaults. With such intricate designs and murals that told stories beyond mortal comprehension they made her lanterns seem like a toddler drawing with a stick on the Kyanos sands.

  The High Priest watched her wide-eyed expression and the paladin beside him rolled his eyes.

  This was the main hall and chancel of the Cathedral. Moira stood in front of what seemed to be an altar. A great white marble statue of a man was behind the altar. So large, that he almost reached the ceiling. Craning her head upwards to look properly, his face was that of some stoic hero. Aeternitus, the god of eternity and of all who lived in Aetyrnis, the world that owed its name to Him. His hair was adorned with a golden laurel wreath that must be larger than her entire arm individually. His white toga was draped over His body, pooling and folding in ripples as if it was actual satin.

  God's hand reached out, a bangle on His forearm. As she squinted her eyes she could see it wasn't such. It was an ouroboros, a golden snake curled around Aeternitus' arm. It's own tail in it's mouth, symbolising the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth. God's other hand held a spear planted into the pillar He stood on.

  A spear. Like the one Manolis had. The High Priest hadn't told her yet if he was dead or not. For a moment, she could only see that dark street again and Mani on the floor as the paladin raised his sword...

  "Raphael, go take the saintess to her new room," the High Priest. There was another command but it stayed unspoken. And keep an eye on her.

  Raphael bowed his head, firstly towards the statue of The Eternal and then towards the High Priest.

  Moira followed behind the paladin, her eyes still darting towards everything. The gorgeous glass walls, the different halls. The monks and nuns walking past who also glanced at her, and especially towards Raphael. A cautious look she realised. He must be someone important. Raphael's gaze was so steely with his grey-silver eyes. And with his ash blond hair as well, he looked like he could blend in with the stone structure of the place.

  He unlocked a room and opened the door for her. "Your room, Saintess."

  Moira stepped inside. It was a good room. Better than anything she had ever seen before. Well, Moira had been living in a cabin that had only two rooms. (One room as a living area and bedroom, and one as a bathroom. Moira and Manolis usually ate outside on the beach, and they both had mattresses on the floor of the first room. A humble life.)

  "Better than Seryani yes?" He asked. Raphael leaned against the wall as he watched her walk around in a stupor.

  Moira opened the large wooden closet finding robes of white in there. She was starting to see a pattern. The monks and nuns wore black, the paladins wore armour of silver and black clothes, and the High Priest wore white robes with golden accents. The lighter the clothes the higher the rank. A hierarchy. Manolis would be proud of me for remembering. The Saintess would wear white like the High Priest and Raphael... Wait a minute. Raphael was wearing white and silver clothes.

  "You're the commander of the paladins aren't you?" She asked cautiously. He had been in Seryani and was involved with her capture. The other church people had looked at him with respect. A holy knight. No wonder he was so cold, the High Priest must have been a mentor to Raphael.

  "You're smart, Saintess," a small smirk on his lips. "Or was that your gift thinking for you?"

  Was he calling her naturally stupid without her blessings? How rude. Moira didn't know how to respond for a moment. "Is my brother dead?" She asked, getting straight to the point.

  That wiped the smile from his face, it returned to stone. "No, we left him on the ground...alive," he said. He got up from the wall, opening the door to leave. The key was still in his hand and he certainly wasn't going to give it to her.

  "We don't kill, your divinity. We proclaim Eternity, and we silence those against Him."