Rain and Nun Cathleen came up from the crypt.

It struck him weird how the lady seemed a little too composed despite the kids all being missing. He had been expecting her to panic, but her gaze was completely placid. And that was not even the worst of it all, her words down in the crypt had been quite astonishing.

She had simply said in a plaintive tone after his look of shock concerning the situation, “Oh. You didn’t know about them leaving then? I’ll have to report this to the Archbishop. We should head up.”

And in the nave they now were. But the Archbishop was nowhere to be seen. Alice, on the other hand, was seated at the edge of the frontmost pew, her gaze, despite being shadowed by eyebags, as vigilant as ever. Her hand was well placed on the hilt of her sword sprawled across her lap.

She barely got to sleep last night? I wonder what her plan was, but at least we survived through the night. Rain took a discreet glance at Nun Cathleen. Now we just need to get the hell out of here before anything happens.

“I’ll go and report the situation to the Archbishop,” Nun Cathleen said. “Breakfast will be served soon.”

“There’s no need for that.” Alice rose up, strapping her sword to her waist and picking up her bag. “We’ll not be having breakfast as we will be leaving now. Our journey’s a long one, after all. A single second wasted is night coming faster.”

Nun Cathleen gave off a faint smile. “Oh. I see. That is understandable… But haven’t you noticed that your little boy isn’t with us?”

Alice narrowed her eyes as though she knew nothing of it. Rain decided to take the initiative.

Since he had already made his plan known to Alice prior, he was not afraid that she wouldn’t know what words to spew out after he’d talked. The problem was with the rest of the kids vanishing. She didn’t know about that and it was going to put a dent on it all, surely.

“He said he wanted to ease himself. So I had J go with him.”

Alice nodded with a slightly twisted expression. “Well, I guess that’s fine. How long now?”

“Uhm… It should be clocking about twenty to thirty minutes already.”

“I see. Then he should be on his way back. We’ll intercept him.” She turned to the nun. “Thank you for your hospitality, but that’s that. We’ll be leaving now.”

Nun Cathleen pursed her lips. “If that’s the case, then I’d like to accompany you.”

Alice frowned. “That won’t be necessary. We can take care of ourselves just fine.” She picked up her bag and wore it over her shoulders, completing her preparations.

Nun Cathleen chuckled. “You’ve got the wrong idea. I’m only accompanying you because my kids have gone missing.”

“Your kids?” Alice’s expression slacked. She stole a glance at Rain and noticed his visage had twisted. “What are you talking about?”

“Exactly as you’ve heard,” Nun Cathleen replied. “I think they must have gone with your kid.”

Alice sighed, taking a brief moment to think. “I see… Well, I think you should stay back and prepare breakfast for the children. I’ll make sure to relay to them to come back if I come across them. It seems the Archbishop is still asleep, you shouldn’t leave the cathedral just like that.”

“Ah, but I’m wide awake.” The voice was the Archbishop’s. They all turned at the same time to see him appear onto the sanctuary with his hands tucked behind his back. He stopped just behind the altar, peering down at them from there. “What’s with the early morning noise?”

A mien of displeasure appeared on Alice’s face. She did not even make a single attempt to hide it. Rain remained silent, watching. He was already sure that things would escalate so he was trying his best to come up with various means to guarantee his people’s safety.

It was easier said than done, though.

His plan had been to remove Nun Cathleen’s focus from Ella and Sean and have her focus on the rest of the children as a result of their morning prayer. But, that plan was down the drain now. The way things were moving, if the Archbishop was really adamant on keeping Sean, then a battle would be unavoidable. Considering he and Alice were weaker, it wouldn’t bode well.

“Good morning, Archbishop.” Nun Cathleen bowed at the middle aged man. “The children have gone missing. But not to worry, I’ll go out and bring them back. They must be playing nearby,”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Hmmm…” Archbishop Jude Bale nodded. “Do just that.” He then turned to Alice who was visibly seething at him and smiled. “I thought you would have left by now.”

“We’re about to.”

“Oh. Very good. At least now you can see that we bear no hostility towards you.” She scoffed. The Archbishop ignored it. “No breakfast?”

“We’re not interested,” Alice responded. “Thank you for your hospitality. Rain, let’s go.”

This is not good… If this nun follows us what are we going to do? What can I do? Rain tugged on his backpack’s strap as he closed the distance between him and Alice. But as they were about to walk on out of the cathedral, Archbishop Jude called out to them.

“I have a request,” he’d said, prompting Alice and Rain to turn around.

“I doubt it’ll be doable, but I’ll hear you out,” Alice replied.

Archbishop Jude smiled. “The boy, Sean, leave him here.”

Rain had already figured out that this was their goal, but hearing it come out of the Archbishop’s mouth made it feel as though a nail was hammered into his chest. He wondered if his body tensing up in preparation for battle had caused an animosity message of his to be produced, but he did not care too much at this moment for it to be bothersome. What he was waiting for now were those of the nun and the Archbishop.

“Heh,” Alice grinned. “You devilish bastard. I knew you were a crackhead all along.”

“Like I said, I do not wish you any harm. You just have to give the boy up to us.” His smile vanished. “Or we’ll have no choice but to take him by force.”

Alice instantly drew out her sword at that moment, exposing its blue luster to the early morning sunlight making it into the cathedral. And as it shimmered beautifully, the message Rain had been anxiously awaiting appeared…

[Side Plot]

Players Jude Bale and Cathleen hold animosity towards you and Player Alice. Survive.

Shit… Rain spat, unsure of which action he should take.

“Hey!” Alice barked. “Snap out of it!” She took off her bag and threw it at him. He caught it with a hug. “Get out of here and go get Sean. I’ll hold them back.”

Rain’s breathing hitched for a moment there, his heart forcing his lips into parting but his brain stopping him from telling Alice that what she was planning on doing was basically suicide.

But of course she knew that. She did. That was why she had given him her bag. And that was why he knew her plan wasn’t to win against these guys but to keep Sean away from them.

At that moment, words he had never seen before took his view hostage.

[Player Alice has transferred 10 Golden Points to you]

Golden points?

Before Rain could fully process what those words meant, Alice added in a morose tone, “Give those to Sean… He’ll understand.”

At those words, Rain bit down on his lower lip and turned around.

The points were for Sean, not for him. Whatever their purpose was, now was not the time to dwell on attaining answers—even though this could well be the last time he would talk to Alice.

Saying nothing, he immediately dashed out of the cathedral, making his way as fast as he could towards the meeting location he and Ella had agreed upon.

…

Archbishop Jude smiled as he watched Rain vanish from his sight. “Quite noble of you. But do you think you can take us both on?”

Alice scoffed. “Don’t you worry about me now. I’m tougher than you might think.”

That was baseless. Only one of them was considerably stronger than her; taking on two was a death sentence.

The plans she had made prior at night to defeat them in battle was now futile, considering it had been conjured while taking into consideration the horrors that came with the fog.

Her plan had never been to fight the Archbishop and the nun head on if she had been attacked at night. It was to get the fog and the Wraiths into the cathedral’s nave, plunging them both into its horrors while she escaped into the crypt to keep herself safe from whatever would happen.

Well, that would never come to be now. Alice knew that. There was also nothing she could come up with here that could save her. A human was weaker in physicality than a beast of a Glade, but they were still the hardest beings to defeat.

Since it had come to this…

Then I should at least buy enough time for Rain and Sean… I should at least do that much.

The situation was somewhat laughable. After all she’d told the children, she had come around to putting herself in harm’s way for them. This action of hers went against all her words, but for some reason she was glad Rain had not questioned her about it.

He was a smart boy. He could definitely survive on his own. Sean would be safe with him.

A faint smile appeared on Alice’s face. I’m doing well, aren’t I, Rachel?

Archbishop Jude opened his mouth then, replying to her initial claim, “Yes. Yes. I do agree that you are tough. And that is why I have decided to honor your resolve by taking you on myself.” Alice frowned. “Cathleen, go after the boy.”

Nun Cathleen nodded. “Yes, Archbishop.”

In that instant, her shadow rose from the ground, and like a cloak, she wore it over her body. Bit by bit her figure vanished, until she was nowhere to be seen anymore.

Alice felt an ominous sensation come over her body as her stomach tied a knot; it was like she had been bathed with a bucket of ice cold water dug out of a frozen lake. But… There was nothing she could do.

“Now,” Archbishop Jude called her attention back to him. “Shall we get on with it, then?” In his hands had come to rest an Ak47.