“Priestess Neiliel?”
It was another morning in the Arcadian capital. The sun slowly rose through the buildings around the destroyed church, its walls were mostly destroyed, what was left was only rubble and grass that took over the ruined building. A lone woman with long black hair was silently praying to the remains of a stone altar in the center of the church; she wore typical clothings for a priestess, composed of a white long robe with gold trimmings with purple edges on her sleeves.
She turned around to face the other nun standing just outside the ruined building. Neiliel’s deep blue eyes locked in a bittersweet gaze with hers as she tilted her head slightly.
“Yes? I was just finishing my prayers to the children.”
She stood up, her long white dress had dirtied green spots on her knees from the moss covered rubble she was on.
“Ah, I’m sorry to interrupt you. It’s just… we’re in need of more food. We’re almost out of food.”
“I see. I’ll see what I can do.”
Door on door, the priestess would ask for the merciful help of the citizens, though mostly denied, others simply ignored her pleas. There wasn’t really a shortage of food, but the prices had risen considerably since the war started and with the church of the goddess receiving less and less support, most of the orphan children didn’t have anything to eat, relying solely on donations and even so it wasn’t much to go on.
“Priestess…”
Neiliel was winded up from walking a whole district searching for a merciful grace but it was all for naught as her hands were empty. She closed her hands tightly in frustration.
“I’m responsible for those children. The other priests are busy working to raise funds for all of us, I can’t let them down.”
“But Priestess, you are no adventurer, you don’t need to push yourself so far like this.”
“What do you suggest we do? Leave them to starve to death?”
“N-no that’s not what I meant-”
The two stopped near the exit of an alleyway as a group of four adventurers caught Neiliel’s attention, two seemed to be an archer and a thief with their faces hidden under a hood while the other two were a fully armored knight and a female barbarian of pale blonde hair and emerald eyes.
They were apparently heading to the guild and the priestess decided to tail behind them.
“Priestess? Priestess Neiliel!”
Following her, the nun started to see where exactly they were heading. She stood in front of Neiliel to stop her. They were only a few meters away from the entrance of the guild.
“Wait, Priestess, you’re not considering actually becoming an adventurer, right?”
“I’ll do what I must. Sister Rabiane.”
She put her hand on the nun’s shoulder to gently push her away but the frail woman stood her ground.
“Please I beg you Priestess , reconsider it. We had others try to raise coin that way only to meet their deaths, you can’t-”
“Aaaaaah!”
The thief who was previously walking alongside the group was thrown out of the guild by someone with great force as the individual skidded through the floor on his back, eventually stopping near Neiliel’s feet. His face was a bloody mess, with thick crimson liquid pouring out of his nose which seemed broken.
With almost no time to react, the priestess saw a bulky woman come out of the guild wielding a hammer ready to smash the man’s skull to bits.
“Oh ever merciful goddess of light, protect thy children from harm, Protection!”
A translucent golden barrier swiftly erected around the thief, managing to stop the incoming blow that would have taken his life instantly. Almost consumed by rage, the muscular woman shifted her attention towards the priestess.
“Oi! Why are you protecting this scum?!”
Neiliel raised her open hand motioning her to stop.
“Calm down, why don’t we talk this out? I’m sure you would rather do that than be taken into custody for muder. After all, it is in the middle of the day in a busy district.”
Looking around herself, the barbarian noticed many eyes looking at her. Some whispered to each other, while others used the opportunity to quietly leave.
“Tch, religious trash.”
She lobbed the hammer over her shoulder and stomped back inside.
“Sister Rabiane, could you take care of this gentleman? I’ll see if we can solve this problem.”
The nun wanted to protest but Neiliel was faster than her and chased the barbarian inside the guild. It was rather easy to spot a tall woman amidst the average height adventurers that frequented the place. She chugged mugs of mead one after the other, still angry from whatever happened between them. The priestess approached the round table she was sharing with the other three of her group and despite everyone’s gaze at her, Neiliel didn’t feel intimidated.
“Hello, I would like to know what caused you to attack that man.”
She asked without any concern. Even while sitting, the barbarian was the same height as her. Her muscular arms were almost the same size as the priestess’ head, showing how easily she could kill someone even unarmed. She looked at the goddess representative from the corner of her eyes before focusing on the freshly served ale by the nervous waiter who wore a stained brown apron on the simple clothing.
“It’s none of your business.”
“Look, the guards will be here soon, if you don’t talk now you can just talk later when they take you for interrogation.”
“Tsk.”
The barbarian clicked her tongue as she put her feet up on the round wooden table.
“Fine, pay me another round of ale and I’ll consider.”
Everyone in the immediate proximity laughed from what the barbarian had just said, openly mocking a religious figure could have serious implications, though the priestess unexpectedly humored the ferocious warrior.
“Waiter. Another round for the barbarian lady.”
The man who hoped to scuttle away before the situation got any more serious slumped his shoulders before heading to the back of the bar to grab more beverages. Dazed by what the priestess had done, she lowered her feet from the table as she grabbed another mug and started to chug down, only after she was done with the empty mug she started to talk.
“Alright then… apparently you’re serious about this.”
Over a couple more mugs of ale, the barbarian told how her group was tricked into working for the thief she had knocked out cold. It took part of Neiliel’s persuasion to change her mind about bashing the man’s skull in. Though not much longer after she was done talking, the guards arrived, heavily armored individuals with different weapons, ranging from longswords to polearms standing right outside the guild’s door.
Most of them wore full plate armor with a red cape around their necks that extended over the left shoulder down the shin, the center of the velvet was trimmed with a golden eight pointed star accompanied by two swords crossing the mid section of the celestial symbol. One knight in the center wore a winged helmet and a different blue cape from the rest, he was the captain of that troop and while he himself didn’t have a heavy weapon, the two knights flanking him both had a pole-axe capable of beheading an unarmored opponent with a well placed strike.
Three of the group of eight knights went inside, the captain’s metallic sabatons echoed inside the main hall of the establishment, essentially announcing his presence to everyone around the entrance.
“So, who was responsible for a fight this time?”
No one responded to his inquiry save for the priestess who stood up from her seat and headed over to the armored commander. He stood a few centimeters above her head.
“Captain. I’ve already inquired about it and I’m sure you’ve seen the gentleman lying outside, he’s a swindler that tried to steal from this group of esteemed adventurers.”
“Priestess Neilie… I wasn’t told you were already here.”
While it wasn’t possible to see his eyes, the slight movement of his helmet gave away his glances from one side or another as if he was scanning the room. After locking eyes with the barbarian for brief seconds he turned to Neiliel and bowed slightly with his left hand peeking out of the cape. She did the same courteous bow before the knight prepared to take his leave.
“I’ll be taking him into custody then, stay safe Priestess.”
She nodded with a warm smile on her face.
“Thank you captain.”
The knight trio exited the establishment, the guild was silent until the barbarian started to laugh while slapping her own knee.
“I can’t believe I’m seeing this. You really did it, eh priestess?”
Neiliel turned to her with an intense grin on her face as if she had plans stored for the hulking woman.
“The goddess graces those who repay their debts, miss barbarian.”
The bulky woman raised an indignant eyebrow. Neileil kneeled on the wooden floor with her fingers clasped, the quiet calm voice filled the room with prayer.
“Oh ever merciful goddess of light, bind this soul unto my faithfulness unwavering duty, Confiteor!”
A divine glow surged from the barbarian’s chest, eventually enveloping her whole. Everyone watched in awe at what was happening, the hulking woman was not pleased however as she reached for the priestess collar, raising her high enough for her feet to not be able to touch the ground.
“What the hell did you do to me?!”
“As a believer of Eleonora’s holy light, you have been blessed by her boundless radiance. You and I are bound by duty, to make right by the people who deserve it.”
“Hah? I never agreed to help you, if anything you’re the one who should be thankful that I didn’t smack your face!”
As she winded up for a punch a strange force of golden energy seemed to curl from her chest to her right fist, locking it in place. No matter how much strength she tried to muster she couldn’t move her tightly closed fist.
“Try as you might, you may not harm me, for we are bound together. Until you repay this debt wholeheartedly, this spell will not fade.”
The barbarian clenched her teeth tightly in anger, she slowly lowered her right hand but suddenly tried to go for an uppercut but once again the golden light kept her fist from hitting the priestess. Eventually she let go of the religious proxy, fuming with anger.
“Nnnnngh…! You dirty Priestess!”
Neiliel fixed her clothing by straightening the creased parts of her collar. She chuckled before gazing into the barbarian’s angry eyes.
“If you help me do good, I’ll consider your debt repaid, even if you don’t feel like helping.”
“And if I don’t help you?”
“That glow will stay on you until you do.”
Looking down right in the middle of her chest there was a pulsating golden glow periodically shining. It wasn’t anything blinding but it was surely annoying.
“Grr…”
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The barbarian stomped her way to the table and grabbed the hammer that lay against the edge of it. She finished a mug of ale from another adventurer that was with her and turned to the priestess.
“Fine! Let’s go then!”
Neiliel smiled as she motioned outside to her.
Their adventure started on the most uncommon of circumstances, between a jobless adventurer and a big hearted priestess, from mundane cleaning jobs to slaying groups of dangerous bandits. Eventually they found themselves relying more and more on each other, traveling far and wide across the land in search of riches to help the poor. Neiliel had found solace in adventuring, though it only served to avert her attention from the growing corruption of the capital.
In the end, Neiliel was no longer recognized as priestess of the Eleonorian church in Arcadia and was forced to leave the capital as a heretic that abandoned her duties, however what most didn’t know was that she still kept helping in secret. Her actions were of pure benevolence and goodwill.
“Why do you still do this Neiliel?”
The duo were camping in a ruined sanctum of the goddess of light amidst the Empyrean mountain range, it was dark and only the crackling bonfire illuminated the washed white rubble that covered their bodies from the cold winds. Laura was sitting on the opposite side of the priestess who had just finished her prayer and was getting ready to tuck herself in.
“Eleonora’s light will shine whenever I am recognized by the church of men or not. I believe to do right by the people in need is the true purpose of a priestess.”
“Even so, it was them who left you, don’t you feel angry about that?”
“Anger is but a fleeting feeling amidst what we go through every day. Don’t you think it’s better to live a fulfilling life rather than seek retribution for mundane acts against oneself?”
Laura became quiet, only staring at the ground in front of her. The sound of crickets singing in the dark forest accompanied by the swaying snapping fire filled the silent night. Neiliel covered her body tightly with the thick fur blanket while half smiling as she started to talk.
“I never expected you to stick with me for so long Laura. I thought you’d leave me the second our contract was over.”
The barbarian chuckled sourly. Truly, she didn’t want to admit but traveling with the priestess and doing good for the people who actually needed it was more gratifying than throwing coins in ale and other needless extravagance.
“Life has a way of turning things around unexpectedly, that much I learned from being with you all this time.”
Laura closed her eyes in a chuckle and when she opened them again, the priestess had moved over beside her, sharing the thick fur blanket with her. It was surprising, but not unwelcome since the weather was starting to become colder due to the change of seasons.
“Come on. Let’s rest, Phoebe and Jonathan are waiting for us in Zenith.”
Like a fleeting dream, the moment Neiliel opened her eyes, she could barely see someone yelling over her body. Her vision was dark and blurred, she only knew who it was because of the loud voice calling her out.
“Neil! What happened? Neil, talk to me!”
The barbarian was trying to help the priestess but with her torn hands it was difficult to unfasten the belts of the breastplate armor armor. Hurriedly, Phoebe and Leona made their way to the two, the elf managed to remove the priestess’ breastplate which seemed to suffocate her as the princess tried to make sense of what was happening.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry...”
Neiliel was muttering weakly while shifting her head from one side to another apparently in pain. Leona reached for her forehead with her left hand and placed the right on her own to compare the temperature but it was barely necessary as the priestess face was burning up from heat.
“She has a fever. I need some water, Krieg can you fetch water from the rain?”
She turned around at the knight who was already in the process of standing up.
“On it.”
He proceeded outside carrying what seemed to be a waterskin on his hands. Phoebe decided to start healing her right away after noticing just how badly her left arm was. Laura held the priestess’ right hand tightly, lowering her forehead with a silent prayer.
“Oh merciful goddess of light, may your blessing radiance guide us towards the rightful path of redemption, upon this weary body and soul, bestow your gracing gleaming hope so that it may live and fight another day in the name of the light.”
Surprising everyone around her, Laura’s unexpected prayer seemed to spark a tiny light in Neiliel’s chest. Her long black hair which was usually tied in a tight bun was now all over the floor, the deep blue eyes full of life was now slowly extinguishing as she mustered all her strength to reach the barbarian’s face with her right palm, gently caressing her left cheek.
“Don’t cry… You- you did great out there.”
Laura held her hand while trying to contain her tears inside with her eyes closed, her lips trembling as she tried to speak.
“Stop, save your strength. You mustn’t talk. You’ll be alright, Phoebe and Leona wil find a way to-”
“I never once in my life thought that the one person you would pray for would be me. I’m… I’m glad.”
The barbarian’s eyes opened to an excruciating painful sight, as Neiliel’s words slowly came out of her mouth her arm started to feel more and more heavy. The faint shimmer of light in her chest vanished along with her life in a quick breath. Neiliel was no more.
“Neil, come on… we promised to walk this land together, to do right by those who were wronged! I vowed to take care of you, you can’t- you can’t die like this! Neil!”
Laura’s cries fell on deaf ears, she didn’t want to believe. Phoebe’s spell started to slowly diminish as much as she didn’t want to the truth, the priestess who once helped her greatly was now lying dead in front of her. Leona lowered her head trying to hold back her tears as she clutched her pendant.
Seeing how the elf had stopped, Laura suddenly grabbed her shoulder as she started to yell.
“Pho what are you doing?! Heal her! She’s not dead yet! She’s-!”
Laura’s wrist was held by someone else who stood beside the elf. Jonathan was staring intently at her as he spoke.
“Laura, please stop. Neil… Neil is dead.”
That made her look once again at her friend’s body lying motionless on the ground with both eyes half open in an unfocused gaze. Laslow slowly made his way over the priestess face and gently closed her eyes before moving her broken left arm over her stomach. He closed left hand into a fist and closed the other one around it as he lowered his head, muttering quietly to himself.
Krieg had returned in the meantime with the waterskin full of rain water, but seeing how everyone was kneeling around the still priestess he could tell what exactly happened. He lowered his head with a quiet sigh as he leaned his back on a nearby wooden box. While he wasn’t directly responsible for their lives, one could be hard pressed to find allies like these. He knew it and seeing another person parting filled him with a bitter sensation of incompetence.
‘This is my fault… if only we took one more day, one more day and this wouldn’t have cost both Luke’s and Neiliel’s life.’
Leona clenched her fists tightly as she reprimanded herself. While haste was necessary, precaution when dealing with a path on a march was just as important as timing itself. She read books about it, how armies could lose even before fighting because of the terrain or living conditions, but she couldn’t imagine the scale of her current situation, which is why it led to casualties. Casualties that could have been avoided.
“Neil…”
Laura couldn’t let go of her friend’s hand, her eyes were closed shut from the encroaching despair within her. The bond they forged while on their travels seemed indestructible, first bound by duty and then friendship. The barbarian felt her chest tightening as she started to recall all memories she could from the kind priestess that stood by her side all these years.
“Dammit!”
She hit the floor with her full strength, the wooden planks snapped and rose from where she had punched, reaching her elbow. Boiling with hatred, she couldn’t stop trembling, for everything they went through together, death was something she could not begin to understand.
“This is his fault… Alexander, I swear on what little importance rests on this world, I will end your life.”
Her words echoed amidst the rainfall, with nothing left to lose, there was no point in striving for a fulfilling life. From that day onwards, she lived not for grace or righteousness, but for vengeance.
Phoebe gently raised her deceased friend’s head over her own bag as she straightened the beautiful dark hair along over her shoulders. With Laura letting go of her right hand, the elf clasped both of the priestess’ fingers together before offering her a silent prayer. Everyone stood there silently gazing upon their former comrade laying seemingly peacefully on the ground.
“We should give her a proper burial.”
Phoebe stood up cleaning tears off her eyes with the edge of her sleeve. It was certainly not easy to part with a friend like that, especially under those circumstances, but time was still of the essence for their journey.
Laura stared at her blood soaked hands, closing them tightly as crimson liquid dripped from the sides of her palm onto the broken floor below. Strangely, she couldn’t muster anger that normally could overcome her senses, by now she should have ripped the place apart, tearing anything and anyone on her path, but instead she felt empty. The bitter taste of solitude when it finally hit her. Her dearest friend was not in this world anymore.
She grasped the middle of her chest leather armor, her fingers almost digging in the protective gear and smearing a crimson stain across it. Her voice was soft, filled with sadness and sorrow.
“Why… why Neiliel...”
The rest of the group decided to stand up and proceed with the preparations, Leona anxiously left the barbarian kneeling beside the priestess, while she wanted to speak some words of comfort for all it was worth, Krieg gently reached for her right shoulder and shook his head before walking away. The princess gave one last look at both of them and decided to follow him.
Watching everything unfold from near the campfire across the room, the lone demon girl fiddled with a piece of wire she had grabbed from one of the boxes. Her small hands worked swiftly bending the metal with precise movements of her fingers, as Laura raised her head once again, Selene had brought the wire charm to her.
It was the same symbol as the amulet the priestess carried on her neck, a four pointed star charm usually given to the followers of the Eleonorian church.
“I… I made this for her.”
In her tiny scarred hands, the same star was made from wires coiled together albeit a little bent from all her fiddling. It was a suitable parting gift, if one could call it that.
Laura laid her eyes upon the small charm as she slowly gazed at the girl’s seemingly intimidated face. Selene’s small fingers trembled as the barbarian’s large hands enveloped hers gently while trying to speak kindly to her.
“Thank you, Selene. I’m sure she’ll be happy to have this.”
She clutched the charm between her big fingers before putting it underneath the priestess' hands, which at that point was starting to become pale and cold. Laura kept holding Neiliel’s with a sorrowful expression on her face.
Just outside the warehouse, Phoebe and Jonathan had their hoods up digging the mud of a clearing between some trees, the soil was soaked enough to be able to be dug out by hand, but the elf had a more reliable method. By using a tree branch and enchanting it with wind aspected magic, she made a tool that could remove the soil much like a shovel, however since it was very taxing to keep two spells active at the same time she decided to use it first. She worked silently through the soft earth until the thief reached to her with his hand in order to take her place in the miserable duty of digging a shallow grave.
He gently took the tool off her hand and started to dig, all the while Phoebe leaned against a nearby tree as she gazed into the darkened sky above. Lightning periodically struck the forest plateau, thunder reverberating through the woods as she started to ask herself.
“Why must we go through this…? This pain, this anger, this world is too unfair.”
“Unfortunately, it’s where we live. We don’t have much choice other than keep going.”
Jonathan’s voice was being muffled under the constant rain, his usual upbeat attitude was much more washed down because of what happened. He jammed the crooked branch into the soil and scooped a good amount of mud before dumping it on the side of the grave, glancing over the elf who was still with her head hanging low. Between each heap of mud removed, he tried to console the elf.
“One man with a heart more wicked than the demon king himself is all that it takes to throw an entire kingdom into chaos. We’ll be doing everyone a favor by taking him out.”
“Yeah…”
“Besides, you need to hurry back to Eleonora don’t you?”
“He never gave me a time limit, but yes I do. After all, he promised to teach me the ways of the assassin.”
Jonathan scratched the back of his head. He knew how much killing does to people, some become hungry for more, others collapse under the weight of all deaths on their hands. While Phoebe called herself an assassin, however, she only killed individuals whose fate was already to be killed, sinners to be punished by the laws of gods or men. She tightened her hands into fists as she stared into the grave slowly filling with rain water.
“I will end this madness once and for all.”
She was living her life only for the sake of retribution. It was much different from the thief’s past, where he would kill anyone for the right amount of coin, no matter if they deserved it or not. It saddened him, to see a close ally and friend to seek solace in the sharp point of a dagger.
“Pho…”
“Sorry… I’m…”
Footsteps approached them from the direction of the warehouse as Laslow stood there also with his hood up under the rain. He seemed indifferent under the turban’s cover, but it took a few seconds of him breathing in deeply with his eyes closed before he finally looked both Jonathan and Phoebe in their eyes as he said in an unusually dejected tone.
“Is everything ready? Should we bring her?”
“Yeah.”
The thief replied wearily while the elf simply nodded slowly.
“Alright. I’ll go tell Laura then.”
He turned around but as he did, Jonathan called him out, promptly making the wizard stop halfway through without looking at him.
“Las. I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”
Also seemingly exhausted, he nodded once saying a few words before heading back.
“...I’m sorry as well, John.”
Inside the warehouse, Laura, Leona, Selene and Krieg were around the priestess’ body, offering one last prayer as the partially soaked wizard approached them.
“They said it’s ready.”
The barbarian sighed regretfully, her hands gently lifted her friend’s deceased body as she slowly started to make her way outside, each step she took made her feel more anxious. Outside, Phoebe and Jonathan were waiting with their hoods up under a tree, the elf still holding the crooked branch she used to cash the spell. Leona had her torn cloak over her head with Krieg right behind escorting her to the burial site, Selene watched from the entrance of the warehouse, keeping herself out of the rain, but she was clutching her chest slightly.
Laura walked all the way beside the shallow grave, she slowly kneeled and as she lowered her head against her friend’s body she started to sing the prayer for the dead.
“May we forever remember this sorrowful day for a brighter future built upon today’s grief, Neiliel Zio, I, Laura Gannant, yearn for your departure to be a peaceful one. May you find respite in Eleonora's kind embrace, the light shall ever be with you.”
Steadily, she lowered Neiliel’s body in the dug trench which was beginning to accumulate water. Every one of them had their heads hanging low, under the constant rain, Phoebe started to cover the priestess’ body starting from her feet, Jonathan helped her with his bare hands and as Leona tried to help, Krieg held her arm while shaking his head.
“We should give them some space.”
“I- no, you’re right. Let’s… let’s head inside.”
He nodded and accompanied the princess back inside the warehouse, all the while she looked back at everyone’s faces. Not a glimmer of hope, only anger, grief and despair. All she could do was to learn from her mistake and move on with a better plan, if everything up until now was an elaborate plan from Alexander, she had to come up with something that could shift the tides into her favor.
She sat near the campfire to warm herself, resting her back against the creaky wooden walls she pinched her nose ridge between the eyes.
“Are you alright Leona?”
Krieg asked as he sat beside her while unsheathing the greatsword to inspect the blade.
“Yes… I’m just tired.”
She exhaled air from her mouth in a long quiet sigh. No matter what course of action she thought of, the result would be the same.
They would assault the mansion in a few days, search for her father and hopefully capture or kill Alexander in the process but there were too many variables to go smoothly. First, her father could be kept somewhere else other than the mansion itself, making it a waste of their time; second, it could also be a trap ready to catch her, a group of six people could hardly put up a fight if the royal knights were involved. But lastly, what crept in the back of her mind was the idea that her father could be already dead. It sent a chill down her spine, the closer they got to their destination, the more anxious Leona became.
She felt a warm touch on her left shoulder, Krieg’s crimson eyes were staring at hers with purpose.
“Leona, I know not what your plans are for when we go back to the capital, but my blade is yours to command, it always has been.”
The princess couldn’t help but smile at him. It comforted her to know how determined the knight was. She gazed at her hands, there were smudges of dirt on her palm as well as roughened spots from the sword training she went through the last couple of days. She closed them into a tight fist before turning to the knight once again.
“Thank you Krieg. I will make sure we succeed, we must.”