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Varnalia
3. Eyes of Madness

3. Eyes of Madness

The inside of the church was adorned with candles faintly burning. Flickering as the doors shut. The smell of wooden pews were heavy in the air. A tapestry hung from the back wall with the churches sigil. At the back of the church the pedestal stood. Where the priestess would teach and discuss the history of Varnalia, teach life lessons, and comfort those that needed it most.

"Who are you!" She demanded. Her entire body was tense as she looked at the cloaked woman in front of her. Why had she let her into this holy place? She didn't even realize until now that she had just complied without a second thought. Fear gripping her tightly. The realization that even in her church, she was not in control right now.

"Please, be quiet." The cloaked woman said softly, taking the covering off, draping it over a a pew. She lifted her head up, seeming to look at the tapestry, studying it in silence for a moment. The air was tense and heavy. "You sit in this building and pray to them, every day, even before you go to bed." She walked past the priestess, her hand reaching out, touching and tracing a finger over every seat as she walked up the middle aisle towards the pedestal. "Are you to blame for your ignorance? I don't really think so. This brainwashing and deceit has been happening long before you or I were even born." Her voice was gentle, echoing a bit in the nearly empty church.

She put her hand on the pedestal, taking her place behind it, tilting her head downward, to the holy woman. "Twin dragons created this existence and then after all of that, they decided to just take a eternal nap? What a farce." She scoffed. The priestess clenched her fists, anger boiling up. "Y.. you speak blasphemy!" She stammered before regret filled her. Her anger getting the better of her. The violet haired woman laughed at her words. "Blasphemy?? You don't even worship all of your so called gods!" She laughed more. "You don't even know what the moons really are." The priestess stared at her. Fear crawling back up her spine yet again, clawing at her mind. "W..what? What do you mean??" She said meekly.

The woman was silent, opening her eyes fully, causing the holy woman to flinch. "Do you really want to know? It has it's cost." She reached up, her finger moving close to one of her eyes. Which were anything but normal looking. Spirals of energy, broken and twisted. Filled with chaos. She pushed her finger in suddenly. It sinking into her eye without resistance. Like dipping a finger into a pool of water. She grinned as she did so, the finger sinking deeper inside, red tears streaking down her disfigured and scarred cheek. "You will learn regardless. You'll be the first of my servants to see the truth." She started to laugh. Plunging her entire hand into her own eye suddenly, sinking it wrist deep. Her eye yielding to the impossible intrusion effortlessly. The church filled with her laughter.

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"? A body?" Hunuki looked to the guard who had rushed in. "Y..yes, outside the capital along the road." The soldier's face was pale. "It w..was crushed somehow." The prince looked over to Illiya, who went over to them. "Take us there, please." The soldier nodded, reluctantly starting out. The two following them.

A crowd had gathered on the road leading out of the city. Guards keeping them back. Illiya knelt down to the body. Or what was left of it, trying to hold back her disgust. She looked to him. "This is... high level magic. No academy here teaches anything like... this." He looked at it it. A sense of dread filled him. "I'll inform my father. See if you can find any traces of where this person went." He started back into the city but stopped, looking back to her. "Be careful!" Illiya nodded, watching him leave, then looked back to the body. "I've never seen magic like this.." She whispered, frowning.

"Do you see now? The truth?" The woman held the Holy woman's head in her hands. "Yes! I've been blinded for so long.. I see everything now. It's all so clear! Thank you Mistress Lunadea!" The priestess raised her head to the ceiling. Her body shaking. She clasped her hands together tightly, sobbing. Blood dripped onto the floor. The pews and tapestry stained, drenched in crimson. "You are free now.. Free to spread the truth of the world. Tell them the reality they have been blinded to." Lunadea smiled, taking her blood stained fingers, putting it on her lips, puckering them and licking them after a moment. She pulled away, leaning down and picking up her prizes, still hanging down from the holy woman. The eyes of the priestess. Blackened and still attached by the optic nerves. She rubbed her thumbs over them, watching as the woman twitched and spasmed in silent agony. The smile never leaving her face. Lunadea licked her lips, pulling them upwards, the nerves were taught, straining slightly. "Always better fresh." She opened her mouth, biting down with a hard crunch. Liquid spilled down her lips and chin, dripping onto the floor. The nerve endings snapping. Lunadea's face flushed. She took a step back as she chewed, enjoying the taste. Her face stained. "So sweet!" She said quietly, reveling in her meal. The priestess slowly stood up, shaking but bowed to her new Mistress. "I will spread the truth for you Mistress Lunadea!" She moved effortlessly to the tapestry, seeming to still be able to see even without her eyes. She tore a strip off and tied it around her head, Covering the gaping holes of her eye sockets. Blood already staining it, making it wet and shining in the candlelight. She started out, pushing open the church doors, still smiling.