NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1.9
Nene sat down at a table in the deserted hall of the inn. She had got paper, ink and an oil lantern from Father Cosco. She was about to spend all night discerning that mystery. She was sure she had gathered all the necessary pieces of evidence, she just had to figure it out. She began sketching notes, starting with Eidelhan.
The story she had been told about Nila's father was unbelievable. Hadn’t it come from a reliable witness, she would have taken it for a fictional story. She had learned that Eidelhan had arrived in Dena around thirty years before. He had settled down in the village even though people were treating him with coldness and suspicion. He had built a reputation for being a sorcerer, wore bizarre clothes, had an unusual accent and speech, and had knowledge inconceivable to most people. Father Ilio, Cosco's predecessor, had even considered contacting the Church to report him.
That is until Ezio approached the mysterious stranger. They were both scholars and soon became friends. Over time, Eidelhan became an invaluable asset to the village. He used to claim that in his homeland mechanical contraptions did almost all the heavier manual labor and that people rarely died of any illness. He shared his knowledge with Ezio and the whole village. He had designed the state-of-the-art mill and directed its construction. He had helped the community on numerous occasions. Soon, he went from an outcast to a beloved member of the village.
A few years later, another outsider, a woman named Hilde, came to Dena. It was just as hard for her to integrate into that narrow-minded community, but Eidelhan, having lived through the same situation, was friendly to her. A couple of years later the two married. It was Cosco, by then a full-fledged priest, who had celebrated their union. The two had a daughter, Adanara. Three years later they had a second one, Nila. Shortly after Nila was born, Hilde ran from home with her eldest daughter. Her husband never revealed the reason for their separation, not even to his friends, and raised Nila by himself.
About ten years later, Adanara came back home, alone. She said she had lived on the outside with her mother until she had died in a fire. Those events rekindled the sinister fame of Eidelhan, who, however, never stopped helping the village, and took care of his daughters in an exemplary manner.
Then, one night, he took his own life.
The people of the village learned of his death when Nila ran to the church for help. She claimed that his father secretly suffered greatly from the death of his wife, and had enough in the end. They found him in his home, his throat slit by a kitchen knife. Adanara, the eldest daughter, was missing. Nila had no idea where her sister had fled to. Terrible rumours spread about them. Some claimed that Adanara had killed both her parents. That girl's rebellious attitude had contributed to giving her a bad reputation, but her guilt was never proven. Finally, Nila was taken under master Ezio's wing.
«And here we are», Nene commented to herself.
Nene wrote in no particular order everything she had learnt until that day, everything that stood out: Ostiir's house, the ancient ruins in the woods, the history of Nila's family, which the whole village seemed to want to cover up, perhaps to keep her safe, or perhaps for more obscure reasons.
«The carpenter's son hasn't been seen around for several days. Neither he nor his father went to church today… And neither did Nila…»
The mystery of Eidelhan's family was tormenting her, even though it wasn't her priority. The oddities of that man and in particular of his eldest daughter would have deserved an investigation by the Inquisition by themselves. However, at that moment, she had a real emergency on her hands: where had the damned gone? They couldn't just have disappeared into thin air.
Disappeared into thin air.
Disappeared?
She figured there were too many disappearances in that story: Hilde, Adanara, Gil and finally Ostiir. Except for the carpenter's son, all of them had one common factor: Nila.
Still, on the night of the church theft, Nila was with her. There was also the mystery of the iron bar Ostiir had commissioned from the blacksmith, the same day that Cosco had discovered blood in the stoup and had sent a letter to the Inquisition. The most logical conclusion was that the carpenter was hiding something. The tragedy of Eidelhan's family was fascinating, but it might have been unrelated.
Suddenly, Nene had an intuition, and her blood ran cold. She remembered sister Liaria's macabre tales settled decades before, when the Knights had been sent to a mountain village from which nobody had heard news for weeks. Once they arrived, they had found the entire village victim of damnation, for a long time. Liaria had read the reports, which spoke of people who had become feral, like rabid beasts, and endowed with inhuman strength. The Knights had managed to purge the area, but many of them were injured and some even killed. If the damned hiding in Dena had become such a beast, lost their human reason... If Ostiir had hidden his son for weeks, bolting the door, tying him to the bed... If that same son had then become unmanageable, to the point that the father had to feed him with human flesh...
A sacrifice.
«Nila!»
A lonely young woman with no family left, an outcast of the community. She was the perfect victim. She was pretty defenseless and it would have taken some time for someone to figure she was gone. The closest thing she had to a relative was master Ezio, who could barely stand. She cursed herself for suspecting Nila when she should have come to her rescue instead. She picked up the lantern and rushed out.
It was difficult to walk around in the dark, even more difficult given her state of mind: she felt stupid and guilty of whatever might have happened to Nila. She made an effort to keep calm and to remember the way to her home, that bizarre house deep in the woods. The light from the lantern flickered with every step she took, it painted creepy shadows all around her. She hoped to be wrong, that she hadn't ended up in what seemed like a horror story, but her more emotional side had taken over. The shadows around her felt like menacing entities following her everywhere. They made her feel as if she was being stalked, watched, and in danger. The unrhythmic sound of her breathing was her only unnerving company. She could have sworn that that place had never been so quiet. During the daytime, the village was busy and noisy, and at night insects and small animals of the forest could be heard in the distance. That night, however, there was no sound except her footsteps, the roar of the stream, and the abnormally warm breeze that blew from inland.
Suddenly the bush gave way to a small clearing. The light of her lantern shattered on those bizarre red clay walls, a house of unusual construction, built by a mysterious stranger, inside of which God knows what tragedies happened. What left her speechless though was not the story of that house, nor its appearance…
The front door was open.
And from within came an artificial light.
There was someone in there.
Nene caught her breath for a second. In all likelihood she was about to face whoever had masterminded that devious, macabre scheme: Ostiir, the fool whose son had been defiled by the Evil One, and who had condemned his soul to eternal damnation, hiding him from the Church instead of doing the right thing. That same Ostiir who had… She didn't want to imagine what he had done to Nila. She hoped she could still help her.
She held back the tears and anger, left the lantern on the ground, drew her sword and dagger and approached the light that came from the house, trying to be as silent as possible. She arrived at the door and noticed how the basket containing eggs and wildflowers was still there. Nila had never picked it up. Her feelings got numbed by an even stronger sensation, which caused her disgust at first, then genuine terror: Ormel's bone. Or rather, the same horrific, gut-wrenching, courage-shattering feeling she'd felt in church, when she'd perceived what she believed was…
A witch.
She walked through the door.
A noise from inside caught her attention, as if someone were rummaging through something. On the right side of the single room, an oil lantern similar to hers was resting on the ground. The white walls and polished floor reflected the ghostly flickering flame, and the figure she saw in the dim light caused her a new wave of disgust and fear:
Bare feet were the only human feature she could immediately distinguish. The creature was bent over the baskets where Nila kept food. With patient movements of its hairy arms, it was transferring the contents into a burlap sack. Its back was imposing and covered with white feathers, its head was hidden by a cloth hood. It was eerily silent except for the patter of bare, muddy feet on the floor. Nene held her breath in disbelief. What secrets had Ormel's bone been hiding up to that moment? She had read that witches were mad worshipers of the Evil One, people who voluntarily gave themselves up to It, who exploited witchcraft to change their appearance and bewitch the unaware, to convert them to their cause, but she never would have imagined finding herself facing such a monstrosity. Was that the true nature of a witch, or was it the consequence of the Evil One's influence upon them? An abomination somewhere between a human and other animals that raided food during the night?
She wasn't prepared for that fight. How could she have been? No Inquisitor had ever encountered a mythological creature. It was no coincidence that they were called "mythological". Seeing one with her own eyes left her frozen, unable to act. Although her teachers had taught her even about the most absurd and hypothetical scenarios, she had never thought it was possible to experience such fear. She had been taught not to hesitate, not to give quarters to the servants of the Evil One, to act as a Knight in an emergency, to attack first, and investigate later, but she failed. She stood motionless, watching the thing as it stole Nila's supplies.
Until the thing turned around.
Nene felt like she could pass out on the spot. She met its gaze. The flickering light of the lantern illuminated its strangely recognizable features. It was a human face, the one in front of her, with piercing dark eyes that stared at her in terror. It had the appearance of a young woman, and the raven black hair that came out from its hood almost did not match the fur that covered its body. They stared at each other for several seconds, both scared. Nene was too overwhelmed with emotion to speculate. She was fighting with herself, her muscles refusing to move. She had to strike, she had to cleanse the world of that blasphemous creature. She had to survive, find Ostiir and save Nila.
Her hands shaking, she took a fighting stance. The creature took a step back and grit its teeth.
And, to her utter amazement, it spoke.
«Shit! The Inquisitor!»
Hearing intelligible words from that being shocked her almost as much as its grotesque appearance. Nene's throat was parched. She forced herself to sound firm, but her voice came out shaky.
«W-Who are you? What are you doing here?»
«Damn it!», the witch shouted. «Can't you just fuck off like everybody else?»
The creature's voice was incredibly normal. It rose to its feet and grabbed a gnarled wooden stick which was left leaning against a wall. It was only then that Nene realised she had been mistaken, thanks to suggestion and the lack of light: what she was facing was not a beast straight out of stories, but a woman dressed in animal fur. She wore a feathered cloak and heavy padded trousers. It was somewhat taller than her. She was casting her huge shadow towards her, making her feel tiny. Her astonishment disappeared, but not her disgust and fear. Even though the witch looked more like what she’d expected, she wasn't going to let her guard down.
«Tell me who you are! Did you bring the Evil One's plague to this village? Did you steal holy water in church? What do you know about the carpenter and his son? What are you doing in Nila's house?»
She ended up raising her voice more than she had intended to. Her tone seemed to intimidate the hag, who pointed her staff at her. It looked like it was just a large branch. Even if the witch had received some martial training and despite being physically superior to her, Nene doubted that she could overwhelm her. However, she was facing an unknown entity, she had no idea what trick or sorcery she might be hiding.
«You pain in the ass!», the witch yelled. «You Church maniacs are nothing more than that!»
The witch was up for a fight. Nene would have at least wanted to try using the cross before attacking, but she had no other choice. The woman continued to back away until she found herself with her back against the wall. It was her chance to cleanse her.
It was then that she heard heavy footsteps behind her. She couldn’t turn around in time.
Someone grabbed her by the hair and with tremendous force threw her to the ground. She hit her face against the cold floor and was stunned for an instant. She tried to fight back, to turn, to get up, but a heavy knee struck her in the back. The unknown assailant began stomping on her hands until she let go of her weapons while screaming in pain. A giant hand pinned her face to the ground. She tried again to squirm, but in vain.
«You said she was back at the inn!», the witch shrieked.
«Yeah, well… this brat always does as she pleases»
She recognized Argor's voice. She was left in disbelief. The innkeeper was the witch's accomplice. Were they somehow connected to the Ostiir affair? She couldn't believe it. Argor seemed genuinely fond of Nila, why had he done her dirty like that?
«What do we do now?», the hag asked. «More will come»
«You should have thought of that sooner!», the man yelled.
Argor began to tie her legs. Nene tried to hit him, kicking and elbowing him. She received in return a punch in the kidney that left her breathless. She was soon pinned down, a hood was placed over her head. Through the fabric, she could barely make out the shadows in the dim light of the lantern.
«Most importantly», the man continued. «We have to think about how to get out of it now»
The witch paced frantically around her, cursing and calling her in the worst ways. Nene was on the verge of tears. Was that her end? Her first assignment had degenerated into a scenario that would make even the most seasoned Inquisitor's skin crawl. What hope did she have, young, inexperienced, unable to defend herself from a simple thug?
«I’ve got an idea», the woman said.
«I'm kinda tired of your ideas…»
«No, listen! I can get all of us out of this. I'll just have to think what to do with the nun»
«I don’t get you»
«I'm not sure it will work. It would take me all night to explain. Do you trust me?»
The innkeeper grumbled. Nene felt huge hands grab her shoulders and lift her as if she were weightless.
«What do you need?»
«I need her. And a wagon»
«Are you going to leave again?»
The witch grabbed the lantern and gave it to Argor.
«I'm sorry, but I don't want the whole village to get involved»
«If an Inquisitor goes missing, Cosco will report it, and then of course we'll all get involved! You know what they say about the Knights»
«I… I hope Cosco will understand…»
Nene, leaning on Argor's shoulder, began to scream and headbutted him. He slapped her on the back of the head, with such force to leave her dazed. Her ears started ringing, her senses were dulled.
«Stand still, stupid brat! You're such a pain!»
«Bring her to me», the witch said. «Then find a wagon and join us»
«As you wish. Be careful, don't show around. This pipsqueak has got everyone on alert. Cosco is suspicious of you»
A series of rhythmic jolts informed Nene that they were moving. She was one step away from despair. She should have tried to escape that awful man, but she had no clue how. Fighting didn't seem like a viable solution, it would only get her more beatings. Could she somewhat scare him? She began to think about what to say, while he was heading to who knows where, following the orders of the witch.
«You will be considered as an accomplice if you keep serving her!»
«I know», the innkeeper replied. «Could you do me a favour for once, and put in a good word for me?»
«I'm dead serious! The Knights will have no mercy on you, or anyone in the village! You were already in trouble, if they find traces of a witch and I don't come back, they'll think you're all accomplices! They will burn every house to the ground and behead everyone!»
«And who do we have to thank for that, uh? You nosy midget!»
«You can still save the town! Hand over the witch! You'll get away with imprisonment, and they'll leave the others alone. They are innocent!»
«Fuck it! Should I bow down and prostrate at your feet, as everyone does, when you come and kill a mother, a son or a friend? Why don't you try to save them for once?»
«That's exactly what we do! There is no salvation for the body, once it has been given to the Evil One, but at least the soul…»
«Shut up! I'm sick of your bullshit! I've read all your stupid books, full of nonsense that only an idiot would believe! But do you know which story has impressed me most of all?»
The big man snorted. They had been walking for a few minutes. The sounds of the forest and the wind surrounded them, and she couldn’t hear the running water anymore. She had no idea where they were headed, but she was sure it was far from the village.
«The story of Saint Arianna», he went on. «The Saint who healed the damned... And the Church declared her a heretic! You are just assholes in love with your power, and if I have to die to have the satisfaction of spitting in your face just for once, so be it!»
Nene lost any hope. That man was out of his mind. She didn't know where his grudge against the Church came from, but it seemed so deep as to make any attempt at persuasion futile.
«Saint Arianna lived over a century ago», she explained. «We don't even know if she had miraculous powers for sure. In any case, she’s gone, and the Archangel offers us salvation. The price is high, of course, but…»
Argor hit her in the face. Her breath got stuck in her throat and she moaned. The pain silenced her, she recognized the feel of blood trickling from her nose down her face, smearing her forehead and hair.
«You're wrong. Perhaps Arianna no longer exists, maybe she’s never existed… But we can still make her real»
What heresy was that fool babbling? Perhaps the witch had promised him to bring the revered Saint back to life? Whatever it was, it surely had to be a fraud. Only a fool would believe such a promise. Suddenly, Argor stopped. They were close to a light source. He knocked. Shortly after, someone opened a door for them. They entered a building, filled with the unmistakable smell of the witch. Nene almost lost consciousness, but she was awakened by the pain: Argor dropped her on her back to the ground. She curled up on herself. Tears began to flow down her face. She tried not to make a sound, not wanting to give her captor the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
«What happened?», asked a male voice, which sounded familiar.
«The brat caught us. One more headache»
A sound of footsteps interrupted them, and Nene hardly believed her ears.
«Are you okay?», Nila asked.
Nila was alive! Maybe she could still get her out… Or at least that was what Nene's irrational side suggested. The truth was much more disturbing: why was Nila safe and sound, together with these people?
«Yes», Argor answered. «But I had to tie up your little friend»
Nila ran beside her and pulled her hood off. Nene recognized her, her eyes swollen with tears. Nene's face was a mess. She had been beaten soundly, it was soaked with blood, sweat and tears. Nila turned to Argor.
«Why did you do that?!», she cried.
He looked intimidated, but shrugged.
«I didn't have much choice, she was about to kill your sister. She caught us, we can't let her walk around. She will report us to the Church»
«Oh, poor thing…»
Nila caressed her face. She froze, almost unable to process what was happening. The herbalist moved away for an instant and she took the opportunity to observe the surroundings, looking for an escape route. They were inside a hut built with stones and straw, lit by a fireplace and some candles. To her right was a bench and a round table, above which something was hidden under a cloth. Beyond the table, she recognized the main source of light and a shelf from which Nila was gathering some items. To her left, in front of the entrance door, Argor and Ostiir were whispering to each other. The conspiracy was bigger than she had imagined. Argor had also mentioned Nila's sister. He couldn't have meant the witch, it couldn’t be…
Adanara, the alleged assassin.
A witch who had killed her parents. Were Nila and the other villagers protecting her? Judging by the look of that place, perhaps she had never left, perhaps she had lived secretly not far from town. But someone, a shepherd or a woodcutter, should have noticed sooner or later. Did they have the whole community on their side?
Nila bent over her again. She wiped her face with a damp cloth. She rested another cloth under her head and finally stood staring at her, looking on the verge of tears.
«I'm sorry, Nene», she said.
«What… What are you doing? I… thought Ostiir had kidnapped you»
Nila covered her mouth and ran away. She disappeared behind the shelves, but Nene could still hear her sobbing. Meanwhile, the two men approached the table and peeked under the cloth. Ostiir paled, and Argor put a hand on his shoulder.
«Don’t give up, pal. It will all be fine. No one has chickened out, despite her», he said, pointing to Nene.
«I'm scared», the man confessed. «I could never have done it without loyal friends such as you... I owe you everything»
The two exchanged a brief hug. Nene took the opportunity to squirm a bit. Unfortunately, the ropes holding her were thick and the knots tight. As if that wasn’t enough, the pain was diminishing, thus leaving room for a spectrum of emotions that made her feel even worse. She felt betrayed, stupid, cheated, disappointed… But more than anything else, shocked by the incomprehensible blasphemy that was happening before her eyes.
A knocker thundered in the hut. Nila's sobs stopped. Argor unlocked the door and the stench of witch overwhelmed Nene. It was her. The hag dressed in furs and feathers entered. Unlike earlier, she looked radiant.
«Is anybody missing?», she asked. «Nila?»
«I’m here», she answered.
«Come here, you must hear too»
Gathering her retinue, the witch took both of Ostiir's hands and smiled.
«I found a way to spare your life»
The ominous announcement seemed to trigger a wave of collective euphoria. Argor burst out laughing, and patted the carpenter on the back, who wept tears of joy.
«This is good news!», the innkeeper exclaimed. «You've always been a smart girl. So, how do you do it?»
The witch looked at Nene. Her gleeful expression turned to one of contempt as if she were looking at a nasty bug on her floor.
«She’ll be the one»
Nene was in terror. They wanted to do her… what? It couldn't be any good. Fear took hold of her. Her breathing became laboured and ragged. She looked around frantically searching for an escape.
«Ada, no!», Nila said. «We can't!»
She had called her "Ada". Seeing them side by side, Nene had to give in to the evidence: that was Adanara, Nila’s mysterious sister, as well as a witch servant of the Evil One. On top of that, she was planning to involve her, who had sworn to protect the innocent and purge the damned, in God knew what evil scheme of hers.
«Wait», Argor interjected. «If we kill her, the Knights will come after us. You said you found a way to solve this too, right?»
«I did», Adanara replied proudly. «But we have to hurry. Besides, I think she will survive»
«You “think” so? Or are you sure?», Nila asked.
The witch exhibited a little black book. Nene recognized it: it was a volume that was printed on a large scale in the Capital, a manual that was distributed to young people containing a summary version of all the Archangel's teachings.
«Inquisitors receive a blessing upon their appointment, making them resistant to the Evil One's power. She should be immune to contact with a damned…»
Hearing that abomination use the terminology from sacred texts made Nene seethe with rage. She prayed to the mighty Archangel that the witch was instantly incinerated, in vain.
«But…?», Nila asked.
«But… I can't be sure. We are attempting something that no one has ever tried before»
Adanara's eyes shone with enthusiasm, unlike her followers, who looked worried and frightened. It was Argor who broke their contemplative silence.
«What if she dies?»
«I don't know…», the witch admitted.
They exchanged anxious glances. Were they aware of the consequences of their actions? What made them keep going? What madness had ever brought them down that path, what insane devotion to the witch, or what spell, had bound them to her? Argor, once again, was the first to open his mouth.
«By now I assumed I was a goner, and Ostiir too. I say it's worth the risk. At least we'll have a chance»
The rest of the group nodded, except Nila. Her sister grabbed her by the shoulders, and she wept.
«We have to try, Nila. For Dad. I admit it, it's risky, but… we will save the world from the Church if we are successful tonight»
The herbalist was shaking. Whatever they were about to do seemed strongly against her personal beliefs, and yet she was there, she had played her role in that heresy for who knows how long. Nene naively hoped that she would have changed her mind, that she would have got her out of there. Her foolish thoughts were shattered when she saw her compose herself.
«How c-can I help you?»
«Try to keep the nun calm. Don't touch her, though… It's not safe»
«What about us?», Ostiir asked.
«Bring her up there»
Adanara approached the table and threw the cloth on the floor. Nene, from down there, couldn't see exactly what was up there, but she recognized a dangling hand: there was a person over the table, and they were unconscious, or worse.
«What are you doing?!», she cried. «Nila? What are you doing to me?»
The woman leaned over her and forced a smile.
«Don't worry, Ada s-says everything will be fine…»
«Let me go!», she screamed. «You will be damned forever! The witch will get you all damned!»
«You're wrong», Nila replied softly. «On the contrary, we are trying to save little Gil»
Argor lifted her off the ground. Ostiir's son was lying out on the table, held in place with silver chains. He looked horrible, with a bare face, pale, almost grey skin, and several signs of violence. Only then did Nene perceive the unmistakable nausea caused by the damned. Until then, the even more visceral sensation of the witch's presence had suppressed her sensitivity. The child was damned, his father had hidden him from her and the priest, and the Evil One's servant was about to use him in some dark rite. She was thrown roughly next to the poor boy, her fate awaiting. Her only hope was to reason with the heretics. Among all of them, Nila seemed the most dubious.
«Nila, no! That boy… he needs help! His soul will suffer forever! I can save him, she can’t!»
«Save him?!», Ostiir yelled at her. «I won't let you crazy fucks kill my son! I have nothing but him, and he deserves to live his life!»
Nila nodded. Nene gasped as she gave her an unusually harsh look.
«My s-sister and I can save him. Our father invented a c-cure…It can save the body, and heal from damnation»
«It will never work! Are you out of your mind?!»
«It works, tho! I’m telling you! I know. I saw it…»
Nila's eyes brimmed with tears. Adanara grabbed a knife, and Nene shivered.
«Help me, we need skin contact»
The two sisters dragged her until her head was almost touching the boy’s hand. The silver chains were holding him, causing terrible burns on his wrists. Her nausea became unbearable, and she started retching.
«Nila, how’s Gil?»
Nila ran next to the little boy. She avoided touching him as much as possible and observed him closely.
«The sedative is still working, but he has a v-very high fever»
«Fear not, Ostiir. It’ll be done in a moment,» Adanara declared. «And you, stay still! Don't make things any more difficult!»
Nene struggled with all her might. Rationality abandoned her, all she wanted was to get away from that horrible creature.
«I'll hold her», Argor offered.
«No!», the witch ordered. «It’s dangerous. Nila, you’re up to it»
She nodded. Her body trembled, but her eyes were resolute. She retrieved what looked like knitted gloves from the shelf at first. Nene recognised them: they were the silver gloves used by Church scholars to analyze artefacts and the bodies of the damned, for research purposes. The herbalist dipped them in the basin placed above the fireplace, the basin that had disappeared from Cosco’s church. With that protection, she could have easily touched a damned without taking too many risks. The damned, however, would have suffered unspeakable pains. Nene felt pity for Gil, who deserved a swift demise, and salvation, instead of that savage torture.
Nila didn't use the gloves to touch the boy. Instead, she grabbed Nene by the head and held her down, next to that sordid hand that smelled of Evil One. She screamed and kept squirming, but Nila didn’t let go. Adanara held up a small bag. She pulled out a glass sphere the size of an apple. Was it a witch's crystal ball, mentioned in so many folktales, and used for unspeakable wicked rites? Nene, helpless, began to cry.
«Let me go…», she pleaded. «Nila, please»
The witch put the sphere on top of Nene’s head. It was cold and slippery to the touch, seemingly harmless. Then, she brought the blade of the knife to Nene's forehead, as she resumed screaming.
«Just a little cut, be a good girl!»
The tip of the knife cut her skin very easily. Nene felt an intense pain, she tried to kick her assailants. She screamed until she was out of breath. She felt her blood trickle down her forehead, onto the crystal ball, and finally onto the table. Adanara repeated the same process on Gil's hand. She made a small cut and placed it on the sphere. Then she walked away with a worried look.
«W-what now?», Nila asked, her voice trembling with fear.
«Stay put. We wait»
Nene continued to moan and cry. It wasn't fair, why was it happening to her? She had done nothing wrong. That case was given to her by mere coincidence, why was she facing such a horrible fate, so much worse than death? Her despair was interrupted by a sensation she had never experienced before. All her pain, physical and otherwise, her sorrow, the disgust caused by the closeness to the damned and the witch…
All that vanished.
A delicate ecstasy pervaded her. A sense of warmth. Her muscles relaxed. She felt serene as never before. She felt such peace of mind that her rational side refused to believe it was real. Unfortunately, she understood exactly what it was, behind those tempting and libidinous sensations.
The Evil One was within her.