The chapel had grown quieter.
Not in a lifeless way but in the way a storm settles before it shifts the wind.
Father Vauren noticed it first. His sermons were met with bowed heads and hollow prayers, yes but also with something more subtle.
Stillness.
Composure.
As if the boys were beginning to... resist.
Not outwardly.
Not in defiance.
But in spirit.
And it began, Father Vauren was told, with Elyom Aetherin.
The boy who knelt too long after prayers ended.
The boy who helped others when no reward followed.
The boy who told bedtime stories in whispers, like he was trying to anchor them all to something they couldn't name.
One of the younger Sisters a timid woman named Lira brought it up first in hushed tones during the dusk meal.
"They're listening to him more than they listen to us."
Father Vauren didn't react immediately.
He only said, "Good. If he can instill obedience, let him."
But that wasn't what Elyom was teaching.
Sister Catherine knew it.
She watched from doorways. From corners. From silence.
Elyom wasn't preaching obedience.
He was planting something far more dangerous.
Hope.
Sister Catherine's POV
I didn't mean to care.
Truly, I didn't.
It's dangerous to care here.
But the first time I saw Elyom kneel in the snow for another boy's dropped bread offering his own half in return I felt something in me unravel.
He looked like my son.
Not in the face, perhaps.
But in the way he moved.
In the way he held silence like it was a prayer, not a punishment.
I lost my boy six winters ago.
Buried him with frost still in his curls.
After that, I let discipline replace grief.
Routine became my absolution.
But this child…
This Elyom...
He didn't ask to be seen.
Didn't ask for pity.
He reminded me of something I had locked away.
And try as I might to remain distant, I couldn't stop watching him.
Meanwhile, in the halls…
The other boys had started to gravitate toward Elyom.
Not with admiration.
With trust.
They passed him extra rations in secret.
They mimicked the quiet strength with which he met harsh words.
They huddled closer when he spoke in the dark.
Even boys known for cruelty like Jorel, who once tore pages from another child's prayer book began to soften.
Not because they were reformed.
But because Elyom never fought fire with fire.
He fought it with light.
And light is the slowest, most disobedient revolution of all.
That night, in the upper chapel office…
"Keep your eyes on the Aetherin boy," Father Vauren said flatly to Sister Catherine.
"He's becoming… distracting, And inform every single development with respect to that boy."
I nodded.
Didn't speak.
Because if I opened my mouth, I wasn't sure what I'd say.
You'll never break him?
He's stronger than you think?
Or maybe just
He reminds me of what I lost.
I will not lose him twice.
Later that night, while watching Elyom and Kenny in the dormitory...
Kenny rested beside Elyom now almost every night.
They laughed in whispers.
Shared warmth beneath the thin blankets.
Told stories like the walls couldn't hear.
If anyone still felt fear, it was no longer of being alone.
That's what he changed.
That's why I watch.
Not to control.
Not even to protect.
But to remember.
To witness the quiet defiance blooming like candlelight in a room built to stay cold.
And when the storm comes because I feel it coming
I will not stand beside Father Vauren.
I will stand beside them.
Guarding them.
Protecting them from the devils of this church wearing the skin humans.
That Same Night
I watched from the doorway of the dormitory.
The boys had finished their prayers. The candles were extinguished.
Yet the warmth lingered.
Elyom and Kenny lay close beneath one of the threadbare blankets. Kenny's small body curled against his side, his face peaceful for the first time in days.
They whispered to each other soft stories. Not ones from the Holy Texts. No. Stories from memory. From home. From hope.
I saw how the other boys leaned in not obviously, not foolishly. Just enough to catch a word. A rhythm. A kindness.
And for the first time in years, the dormitory did not feel cold.
It felt alive.
And that terrified me more than any sermon ever had.
Because now… I had to make a choice.
The Decision
If I wanted to save them Elyom, Kenny, the other boys still learning how to be human I had to betray the institution I had once trusted.
I had to watch Vauren more closely than ever.
I had to document his patterns. His punishments. His "confession rituals." The bruises that bloomed on soft skin. The boys who stopped speaking after his sessions.
I couldn't alert him.
Not yet.
I would be careful.
I would be clever.
And when I had enough
I would bring him down.
Not for revenge.
But for them.
For that i have to start collecting evidences against father vauren.
Evidences to prove how evil and rotten is the mind of father vauren.
Because one day, this church would fall.
And when it did, I wanted to stand with the children not among the ruins.
Making sure that elyom and other boys have slept.
I will start making plan to bring down father vauren and this church from tomorrow.
Tonight i let let myself dream about the beautiful boy in the dreams were i can embrace him for as long as i want.