Anastacia sat at the top of the stairs, waiting for the stunned paladins to make a move. At first a couple of the braver members of the church tried rushing up the stairs but, for reason they didn’t understand they were thrown back to the bottom.

”She’s a demon!” One of the fallen paladins accused as he was helped up by the others. “How can we fight against a demon without a priest to protect us from her unholy magics?”

Being called a demon didn’t make Anastacia happy. She had tried her best to hold back and kill as few as possible in the temple, but she still had a lot to learn. It surprised her how little the murders bothered her, sure they were the lowest of the low, but still, shouldn’t she feel at least a little bad about it? Maybe she was way closer to a necromancer that would just slaughter everyone on this square without a second thought than she admitted.

After a long enough wait, she could see a familiar white hood move towards her amongst the crowd. The appearance of a priestess boosted the morale of the so called holy warriors and one of the paladins shouted hubristically. ”You’re done now, demon! A priestess has arrived!”

Emilia shoved him aside and started climbing the stairs. “Stay back my brothers! I shall take care of this.”

The paladins cheered as the priestess got closer and closer to Anastacia without being thrown back. But slowly the encouraging shouts died down when they realized that neither of the women on the stairs acted hostile toward each other,

“Anna, could you give me the medallion?” Emilia asked, confirming the doubts that had started to present themselves among the paladins.

“Oh, it’s this one? Can I keep the tiara? I kinda like it.” Anastacia said and handed over the relic. She briefly protested when Emilia snatched away the crown as well.

“I didn’t know they had relics from other temples here. Was there anything else?” Emilia asked. She investigated the two she had and was relieved to see that they were indeed the authentic relics.

Anastacia briefly pondered whether she should tell her about the broken one. “Uh… yeah… just this napkin. Totally didn’t have anything else. I checked twice.” She lied and handed over the napkin.

The priestess was overjoyed about the additional relics and marveled at them, almost forgetting where she was. All that was cut short by a shout from the crowd.

“That wench is no priestess!” an unfortunately familiar voice revealed. The voice of Emilia’s previous partner had burned into Anastacia’s mind during the episode in Valor. ”She’s just a delusional drunkard that was thrown out of the church!” Alex stood in front of the other paladins, wearing a new set of armor with even more decorations and jewelry. He had clearly gotten a promotion after getting released from the guild’s prison.

“And the other bitch is just one of those disgusting necromancers from Mournvalley. Luckily, I have something just for the likes of her” He continued and took aim with a crossbow he had in his hand. As the bolt was released, Emilia tried to protect her friend but was just a fraction of a second too late. The bolt hit Anastacia in the throat and pierced it, grazing her spine. She began choking on her own blood and fell on her back.

It took a second for Emilia to realize what had happened, and when she finally did, there was nothing she could do. “No! Anna!” The priestess yelled and fell on her knees next to Anastacia.

The dying necromancer clawed at the bolt sticking out of her throat but didn’t have the strength left to actually do anything about it.

Emilia started to fall into a panic. There was no miracle for this, especially something that worked fast enough. She held her friend’s hand as the life left the greenish turquoise eyes.

“Wake up, tiny necromancer”

Anastacia flinched awake. She tried to look around but all she could see was white light. She could remember the bolt hitting her throat, but nothing after that. “Did… did that asshole just kill me?” She asked, not exactly sure if she expected to get an answer or not.

“That indeed appears to be the case. I can only apologize that our plan led to this.” The seemingly disembodied voice said in a sad tone.

Anastacia tried to look around for whoever was talking to her, but could only see white. Or that’s what it felt like, it was entirely possible that she wasn’t really seeing anything. “Who are you! And why can’t I see anything?” She asked.

“I am the Goddess Sylvia. Your lack of sight is caused by your lack of devotion to me, not that I hold that against you.” The voice revealed.

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Anastacia was skeptical of it at first, but figured that she was dead anyway, so might as well just go with it. “So you’re real then, and Emilia isn’t just an insane person? Why am I talking to you?” Anastacia couldn’t feel or see her body, but somehow felt the warmth of something embracing her.

“I took your soul from the flow.” The goddess replied bluntly.

Not knowing what ‘the flow’ was, Anastacia continued her strategy of just going with the flow. “Okay… and?”

“Your part is not done yet. I am going to return the soul to your body.” Sylvia explained slowly, like she was talking to a child.

“Maybe remove the bolt from my throat too? It’s kind of important”. Anastacia remarked snidely, slightly insulted by the patronizing tone.

The goddess let out an audible sigh and continued. “There is a slight issue though, my priestess is not listening to me. I need her to put the medallion on before I have the power to do what is needed.”

“Well yeah, it’s kind of shocking to see your friend get killed.” The necromancer continued with the snide remarks. “Are you one of those gods that have no idea how emotions work?”

After an even more sighing, Sylvia changed the subject. Almost like avoiding having to answer. “You take death admirably well for someone as young as you. I have seen great kings and queens beg for the opportunity I am granting you.”

“So why don’t you just revive them left and right? Bet that would get you some prayer points or whatever.” Anastacia asked.

“…The nature of the flow…” Sylvia started what was clearly a long and complicated explanation about a matter that Anastacia honestly didn’t care about.

“Never mind then! How about we get on the problem at hand? What have you got to work with?” She interrupted the goddess to get the conversation back on the rails.

“Her mind is a mess, but I can make my chosen one hear your words for a brief moment. You seem to have some talent in pestering people enough to make them listen to you.” Sylvia suggested.

Emilia was still holding on to her friend’s hand. All her senses had gone dark, repeating the moment of Anastacia’s death again and again. While the priestess was stunned, the paladins started to climb the stairs towards her.

“Did you really think you could abandon me to that jail without ever having to suffer from it? Well now that shitty brat is dead and once I’m done here, I’ll go visit old Eddy at the inn and make a rug out of that beast you tried to hide!” Alex boasted and led the warriors even closer.

She heard none of the idiot’s ranting and kept blaming herself for Anastacia’s death. If it wasn’t for her idiotic plan, she’d be still alive. Suddenly a deafening ringing noise woke her up, it felt like a cannon had been fired next to her ear. As the ringing died down, she could hear her friend’s words in her head. “PUT THE FUCKING MEDALLION ON, YOU ASS!”

“A…anna?” Emilia asked and looked at her lifeless friend, who clearly hadn’t said anything. Trying to figure out what had happened, she heard a second, far more comforting voice.

“You seem to have been woken, just give yourself to me and rest.” Sylvia advised her chosen one.

Suddenly everything seemed clear again. Emilia grabbed the medallion from the ground and hastily threw it on.

A bright light blinded the paladins who were just about to reach the top. For a couple of hours, the streets of Crescent echoed songs more beautiful than what anyone had ever heard, they told of battles long past and genocides forgotten by mortal beings. The city was finally freed from the churches grasp, one paladin at a time.

Anastacia woke up to the goddess’ voice. With the deed done, her songs now told of peace and joy. Immediately upon realizing that she had been revived, Anastacia felt her bolt-free throat and let out a sigh of relief.

“Do not remove the cover I have placed on your eyes. Concentrate and feel your surroundings, you will understand why.” Sylvia said and stopped singing.

Anastacia could feel every bit of viscera within her range. “What… OH SHIT! on the roofs too?” Even the mental picture of it was too much and she turned on her side and threw up on the church stairs. “What the fuck happened to you being the goddess of joy or whatever?”

Sylvia giggled a bit. “That is a relatively new aspect I chose. Before I was something… else. Tiny necromancer, I have something to ask of you. Could you keep watch over my chosen one? Sometimes the mortal world seems so far off and I can’t directly guide my children.” She pleaded.

As if she had any other options, Anastacia accepted. “Suppose that’s fine, I used to be a goddess too so I get what you mean.”

“Yes, I am aware of the episode with the goblins. Perhaps that means that we will one day meet as equals. In your pocket, I have placed a note. Could you give it to the she-tiger? Do not mention it to my priestess or read it.” The goddess asked, sounding a lot more cheerful than before.

Anastacia searched her pocket and found a small note. It felt like any other piece of paper and certainly didn’t seem holy in any way. “What’s in it?” She asked, fully knowing she wouldn’t get an answer.

“Do not worry about it. I am merely spreading joy to people. But it is about time I part from this world. It has been… interesting to talk with you.” The goddess said and put her hand on Anastacia’s chest.

Anastacia could see a blinding flash even through her blindfold. Almost immediately after it was gone, she could feel Emilia hugging her hard enough for her breastplate to make breathing almost impossible.

Emilia couldn’t believe her friend was alive. “I’m so sorry this all happened, I’ll never ask you to do anything for me again.” She cried.

“It’s fine. Please let go, you’re covered in blood.” Anastacia said and tapped Emilia’s back. The blood on the priestess’ armor started to soak through her clothes.

Emilia quickly let go. “Oh… So is everything else… Just keep that blindfold on until we leave the town… Let me take you back to the inn, I need to make an announcement to the people of Crescent later but you probably should stay inside.”

As they walked down the stairs, Anastacia slipped on a bit of what used to be Alex, and rolled down into a pool of blood. The blindfold did nothing as the necromancer passed out and had to be rescued before she inhaled any of it.