In the land of humans, in a certain house under the night sky, in one of the rooms, a group of people gathered around a large bed.
Upon this bed lay an old and weary woman. She hardly opened her eyes, and her whole body looked like a tree twig, with not an ounce of energy visible in it. A large black blanket was laid upon her body to warm her from the coldness of the night. But the persistent woman refused to put her hands under the blanket.
"Eek, Grandma, why can't you just live another one or two years with us?" Among the group, a young girl leaned onto the bed, crying while holding onto the hands of the old woman. The bed shook a bit with her action, which twitched the eyelids of the old woman.
"Clara, don't cry in front of Grandma right now," the young girl's mother said hurriedly as she tried to pull her back.
Clara, like a lifeless doll, was pulled back by her mother's hand. But suddenly, the old woman's hand clenched Clara's.
The old woman tried to open her eyes but ultimately failed to do so with her weak strength. "Clara, you're a beautiful young girl. You have to be careful, do not let any of those youngsters take away your purity," muttered the old woman with her dying breath.
The hand that held Clara's hand let loose and fell to the bed again. The bit of life that could be seen in her body with the ups and downs of her chest vanished as it stopped.
Crying sounds echoed through the room from the people around the bed. Clara cried while holding her grandmother's hand, while her mother, father, and other siblings' faces were painted in deep sorrow.
As time passed, one by one, they left the room and moved to a wider area in the house. The house was not very large, but the area they went to was a bit larger than the room with Grandma's bed.
The last to leave the room was Clara. For a while, she refused to believe her grandmother was really gone. The closest person to her, the one who cared for her the most, even more than her own mother, was her grandmother. She was more attached to her grandmother than anyone else.
But as the coolness seeped through her grandmother's hand, Clara knew the truth: the grandmother she adored and cared for was now gone.
She slowly stood up, like a doll, and walked out of the room. She heard the others talking about how to arrange the funeral and how to divide the land that belonged to her grandmother.
Clara leaned onto the wall in the room and slowly sat down, the sorrow she felt still dwelling within her body.
---
In the lonely room of the old woman, her body lay upon the bed lifelessly, not a single movement visible after her death. But at this moment, the tightly closed eyelids slowly twitched.
At first, it was unnoticeable, but within a few seconds, a clearly noticeable twitch appeared on her eyelids, and they suddenly opened with a gasp from the old woman.
"Wha...where am I?" the old woman muttered, confusion evident on her face. With her awakening, the weariness and lifeless feeling that had enveloped her body disappeared, replaced by an unusual energy. Now she looked much better than the old self she had been before.
The old woman looked at herself, her old hands and body, lost in her thoughts.
"Is this my punishment?" muttered Calista, who was now inside this old woman. "It's disgusting, unbearable. I, the Archangel Calista, to be bound in this lowly body. Argh, I need to calm myself." While Calista tried to calm the raging thoughts in her mind, Clara in the other room stood up from where she was and walked toward her grandmother's room.
When she heard her parents and others talking about her grandmother's funeral, she felt the urge to see her grandmother's face once again.
But the moment she entered her grandma's room, what she saw shocked her—her grandma sitting on the bed, checking her own body.
"Grandma!" she exclaimed and rushed toward her, jumping onto the bed and hugging her tightly.
The family members heard her and quickly ran to the room, only to find the grandmother who had her last breath a moments ago, now sitting up alive and well in bed.
"what are you doing, get off me you lowlife!" Calista tried to push away Clara, but her weak, old woman's strength couldn't budge the young, lively body of Clara.
She hated it—this very being she had looked down upon was now clinging to her, as if she were part of them.
"Grandma, what's wrong? Why are you acting like this?" The way her grandmother acted confused Clara. She slowly released her hug and stepped back.
"Grandmother? It looks like this body is her grandmother, and they might be her relative," Clara quickly thought to herself. "Tch, that explains it. I should act for now without making anyone suspicious. Since I couldn't feel any power within me, it would be the best choice right now."
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"Oh, child, I'm sorry for acting that way. I'm just a bit confused right now, and I can't seem to remember what happened to me just before. It's like most of my memories are covered in a misty shade," she said.
The other family members suddenly began to talk among them self most of them is diubhts about the grandmother Hearing them Clara alos became clueless and a bit suspicious of her. They couldn't understand how the woman who was dead just moments before was now alive and talking, and her sudden memory loss added another layer of questions and concern.
"I'll contact a priest for now," Clara's father spoke up among the group. Soon after, he and another man beside him left the house and went through the dark path, illuminated only by a fire lamp.
After they left the room, Clara was left with two kinds of people: one side was those who gazed at Calista with suspicion and confusion in their eyes, and the other side was Calista herself, on the verge of breaking down under their scrutinizing gazes.
On top of being in a body she despised she has to endure their pitying looks, it infuriated her.
"Clam down, calm down. I cannot cause any reckless distraction; it's the last thing I need in a place like this."
A sigh escaped from Calista, her heart that was raging a moment ago began to calm down a bit.
"Ahem, it's a bit uncomfortable here, isn't it? Would you all mind leaving me alone for a bit?" she asked the group of people staring at her.
"Oh yes, Mother, do you need anything else? Perhaps some soup?" Clara's mother said, ushering her relatives out of the room.
"No, no need. I just want a bit of peaceful atmosphere," said Calista, trying to imitate the way an old woman spoke as much as possible to avoid arousing any suspicion.
Clara also left with the others, her eyes filled with suspicion and disbelief.
After everyone had gone, Calista leaned back on the bed.
"Tch, this is like sleeping on a rock." The comfort the bed offered her was nowhere near enough to satisfy her.
"It's sickening to act this way towards them, but if I start behaving even more unusually, they will surely accuse me of being a devil incarnate and burn me at the stake."
While Calista caused disruption throughout the realm of humans, she also occasionally started to study everything about human history and their traditions. Because of that, she had vast knowledge about them, but she never thought that knowledge would be helpful in a situation like this.
"Just where am I? Definitely not in a city." In her room, there were two main windows, but at the moment, they were completely dark due to the night. The reason she thought she was not in a city was that she didn't see any street lamps shining, which were a common sight in human cities.
In the living area of the house, the somber people who had earlier discussed the funeral of their mother were now silent. They felt confused, fearful, and uneasy. All they could do was hope that the others would arrive soon.
"Mother," Clara said, sitting closer to her mother and resting her head in her lap. Her mother gently stroked her head. "Don't worry, let's just wait until the priest arrives before jumping to any conclusions," she said soothingly.
At that moment, they heard the sound of a horse and carriage arriving and stopping close to their home.
One of the men hurriedly ran to open the door and saw a traditional-looking carriage, adorned with unnecessary curves and luxury, parked right in front of their doorstep.
"Look, I think it's the priest," Clara's mother muttered upon seeing the carriage.
The man who opened the door also opened the carriage door. Out stepped a man wearing a long robe and a head mask that covered all of his eyes with two lines of cloth.
In one of his hands, he held a coin with the divine mark of the rising sun engraved onto it.
"You called, I arrived. Now, what's this about a devil incarnation that I heard about?" the priest spoke, his manner of speaking causing Clara's mother, who was the first to greet him, to become somewhat perplexed.
"Benevolent priest, I would not dare deceive you with false news, but this situation that has befallen us is highly suspicious, and we truly want to confirm it," she said.
"Hmm. So what happened?" the priest asked, and Clara's mother explained everything that had occurred to the grandmother.
"Unusual indeed. To confirm it, I should see her myself," said the priest. He then took a step back, walked out of the house, and got back into the carriage, closing the door. In the next moment, the horse screamed again as they retreated, turning the carriage around and rushing through the dark road once more.
Mother of Clara and her family members looked at the departing priest, their faces puzzled and unsure.
As the priest's carriage sped through the road, they passed by a faint lamplight.
"Huh, isn't that the priest?" Clara's father, who was returning after seeking help from a priest with his brother, gazed at the departing carriage.
Other than royalty, no one else is qualified to travel in the same carriage with a priest, so they hurriedly ran back after the priest left for their respective tasks.
"Is it over already?" perplexed, the father hurried his pace and returned to the house.
"What did the priest say?" he asked his wife, only to be met with a more perplexed expression on her face.
"What happened to you!?" he asked hurriedly, fearing something had occurred because she looked like she had seen a ghost.
At that moment, they heard the sound of horses again and saw the faint light of the carriage approaching from afar. It arrived rapidly, making noise as it sped along the road and stopped in front of their house.
The father stepped forward and opened the door to welcome the priest.
"Let's go, now I'm ready," the priest said as he stepped out from the carriage. In his other hand, besides the coin, he held a lantern with a chain wrapped tightly around his hand.
The father was baffled by what was happening, but Clara, who was quicker to regain her senses than anyone else, stepped up hurriedly.
"Please come in, this way, Priest," she invited the priest inside. Through the living room, she guided him to the room where her grandmother was. As the priest went, the other family members also regained their senses, realizing that the priest must have returned to retrieve something he had forgotten.
Calista already heard the footsteps of people walking towards her room, so she glanced toward the door, anticipating them.
The first to enter the room was the young girl Clara, followed by the priest.
Seeing the priest, Calista became a bit joyful.
"From his attire and instrument, he must be the priest they talked about,"
The priest cast a glance towards Calista, and the only thing he could see was the gentle appearance of the old woman. "Is this the one you said was devil incarnated?" he asked with doubt.
"Oh, priest, we are afraid. She was just dead a moment ago, so how could she be alive?" Clara's father, who was related to Calista as her old body's son-in-law, hurriedly knelt in front of the priest and uttered.