It was the first time I saw a priest heal someone. The holy magic did not feel that different to the arcane magic of a sorcerer. But it was a lot shinier. Green light enveloped Minerva. I could hear faint sounds of nature. Birds chirping, leaves rustling in the wind and the soothing sound of a gentle stream.

Did… did holy spells come with a soundtrack? Did the gods actually pimp their spells? Could I do the same? Or maybe it was simply a reflection of their nature? Was I reading too much into it?

Minerva gasped, her eyes opened. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.” She screamed and started thrashing. Vines shot from the ground, keeping her immobilised.

“LET ME GO! Please, just let me go…” She started sobbing.

“Easy, we are not here to harm you. You are inside Slyphanias temple. I will release you if you stop fighting.” Thessia said in a soothing voice.

I was not sure if the restraints were necessary but we did not know what Minerva would do. She might have hurt herself.

Slowly the woman calmed down. Her breathing slowed and she looked around. “What happened? Who are you?”

The roots retreated into the ground, freeing Minerva. “I am Thessia, high priestess of Sylphania. You were brought here by Amaya, Lucy and Lily because you needed healing.”

I approached the naked woman and offered her a robe from my inventory. “Here, put that on. We can offer you some tea to calm down.”

She looked at me, and suddenly her eyes widened. She glanced around and found Lucy and Lily. She started trembling.

“We mean you no harm.” I said. “We did not know about the magic controlling you before. I have removed its effects.”

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“You… you are not going to kill me for attacking you? Aren’t you a monster?”

I scratched my head. “Uh, no?”

Lily approached the frightened woman. “I am not sure what you were told but my lady is an honourable woman. She gave you back your freedom. The true monsters are those who enslaved you.”

“Am I truly free?” She looked at her exposed navel. The robe I had offered her was still in my hand. She had been too frightened to accept it. “But the runes are still there…” She touched them with her finger. “I… I am free of any commands. How can that be?”

“I have disabled the spell. It could be reactivated if someone captured you and completed the ritual again. But for now you are free and we will do our best to keep it that way. We hope you can provide us with some information on how they transformed you, so we can reverse it.”

I offered her the robe again, this time she took it.

“Why don’t we go to the couch.” Lucy suggested.

Thessia brewed more tea while we sat down. We gave Minerva some time to calm herself and collect her thoughts. We waited patiently until she was ready to talk.

“This is so… weird. I have always been told other races are evil. That humans must stick together. And now you saved me and we are having tea…”

“Who enslaved you?” I asked. “Was it demons?”

“No… they were human.”

“Can you tell us how it happened?” Lucy asked.

“I… I was part of the inquisition. I grew up near the wastes. One day orcs raided our village and abducted or killed almost everyone. I escaped by hiding in a collapsed building.” Her hand touched the scar on her face. “Soldiers found me and the inquisition trained me from a young age. I blamed non-humans for what happened and they happily encouraged that behaviour.”

She still regarded us warily. But we did not lash out. We did not offer judgement. We just listened. Minerva continued.

“I was very eager. And one day they offered me part in a special project. It was overseen by one of the high inquisitors, Elias Richter. I felt honoured. They told me it would help humanity. It would bring peace and safety to the Empire. They… they did things to me.” She shuddered. “They fed me potions, used magic,... I was willing. At first. But it hurt. And it kept hurting. When I asked them to stop they just told me it was for the greater good…”

I walked over to her and gave her a hug. At first she grew tense. But I kept holding her and she relaxed, then the tears started flowing. I just held her.

Lucy approached as well. She put her hand on Minerva’s shoulder. “We will make them pay.”

After a bit we all sat down again. Minerva regained her composure and drank some more tea.

“My memory is a bit hazy but one day the runes were there. They made me weaker and I could not refuse commands anymore. After that I returned to my duties. I was tasked with reporting anyone whose loyalty was not absolute. People I named disappeared for a while. I assume they were enslaved as well. Our methods also turned more questionable. We started using demons…”

“Is the inquisition responsible for those demon attacks?” I asked.

“Indirectly. I am not sure where the inquisition got their information about demons. But things often went wrong. They escaped their bindings and killed our people. I think Elias wanted to enslave them too.”