THUD!
Mary slammed the book shut.
"These voluptuous abominations shall make of thee a sinner!!!" The roaring command from decades ago echoed hauntingly in her mind.
"Mary! Mary!!" The young man's voice shouted from outside the window, calling back the maiden whose mind had drifted into haze.
"Oh! I am coming!" Mary rushed to unbolt the chapel door for Edward, who had been waiting in vain.
"Thou didst make my heart leap with anxiety. I thought a giant spider had devoured thee whole!"
"Forgive me... Whenever I am engulfed in darkness, I tend to hear strange sounds."
"Pah! Do not be alarmed. No phantoms nor specters dare haunt thee here—this is a holy chapel, after all."
"Perchance... Aye... the chapel shall protect us all," Mary murmured, her words laced with hidden meaning.
Edward held his lantern close, stepping toward the desk to inspect the documents, which Mary had already returned to the wooden chest beneath the drawer and locked away as before.
"What is it that the Father seeketh?" Mary asked him point-blank.
"I know not of what thou speakest."
"Father Sereza, what reason hath he to conceal these matters from us?"
"Merely ancient folklore, nothing more. Pay it no mind. That which concerneth me far more is the cure. The Father spoke of a great calamity that shall fall upon the city of Caslette within a few dawns. The townsfolk are utterly panic-stricken, and the Father hath grown somewhat paranoid of late."
"Thou speakest truth. Yet if what he foretells should come to pass, what shall become of us? If there be one with malicious intent lurking behind the Father, he might drag us all to ruin."
"Fret not yet, Mary. The Father putteth his faith in the Almighty. We are like a flock of sheep awaiting the Shepherd's command... as thou well knowest."
"I shall go wash myself at the waterfall; my temples throb with pain."
Hearing this, Edward handed her his lantern. "Take this, and return swiftly. The folk of these parts look not kindly upon outsiders."
Mary nodded, using the lantern's flame to illuminate her path out of the sanctuary. She navigated through the dense thickets until she found the mountain waterfall. Setting her garments and the lantern upon the riverbank, the biting chill of the night air was replaced by the soothing warmth of the water. Marilyn cleansed her mortal flesh without haste, lulled by the faint chirping of fireflies and the whispering night wind. She cast her gaze upward at the luminous full moon.
The maiden washed her face and dipped her feet into the river. Yet after a moment, a pale petunia-violet light radiated from beneath the dark waters. Noticing the glow, she plunged her arm beneath the surface to seize it—only to raise her left arm into the biting wind and realize that it was her own flesh that glowed.
"..." Mary stared in paralyzed shock. "This is..."
Meanwhile, at Mrs. Bishop's house, the journal Mary had left open was caught by a sudden gust of wind blowing through the window. The pages flipped rapidly, as though turned by an unseen reader, until stopping abruptly at page 214—the log recording the journalist's strange transformation:
'Log of Transformation, Date: 28 / 12 / 1411 — I can control it no longer! With each passing day, that whispering voice calleth my name without respite, as though striving to commune with me! Doth this entity seek to devour me whole? The harrowing nightmares I behold sever me entirely from reality. I can no longer discern... whether it be a nightmare or truth... Those wailing cries... my father and my mother... They call out for their child. I must go... I must go to them.'
"Marilyn Baritha Hennes..." The maiden snapped her head toward the origin of the whispered voice emerging from the dark shadows of the bushes beside the stream.
"Who goes there?" she called out, swinging her lantern toward the dark. "Edward!? Art that thee? I am bathing!"
Mary yelled, yet no voice answered.
Suddenly, the howling of wild hounds echoed from above the hill, as dark clouds swallowed the moon. The maiden's eyes darted frantically in terror. The freezing wind swept past her skin, bringing to mind the cold touch of a lifeless human hand.
"It shall pass... It shall pass soon..." she whimpered to herself as the surrounding leaves rustled in the wind.
"It shall pass soon," she heard her own voice speak—though her lips had not moved at all. "Trust in me."
Marilyn looked down at her left palm.
"Maryy~"
Upon her very palm, a human mouth materialized, repeatedly chanting her name.
The maiden's face turned deathly pale with terror.
"AAAARGHHH!!" Mary shrieked at the top of her lungs, snapping awake as her lungs gasped for air beneath the surface. Struggling frantically, she thrusted herself upward, breaking through the water. She floated back to the riverbank and reached out to grab a fallen log to pull herself up—only to find her fingers grasping the leg of an old woman clad in a stark white hood.
Realizing her mistake, Mary quickly bowed her head in apology.
"What art thou doing here? The ritual is about to commence!" the old woman barked.
"I-I beg thy forgiveness, noble mother!"
"Finish thy bath and follow me! Father Sereza tolerateth no delay from any of us!"
The old woman tossed a white cloak onto the pile of clothes and stomped ahead to lead the way. Mary quickly dressed herself, draping the white cowl over her head.
"What is thy name, child?" the stranger asked.
"M-Mary."
"Ah, little Mary herself! The one dwelling in Mrs. Bishop's cottage?"
"Indeed. May I ask... what is Father Sereza doing at such a late hour?"
"Hmm~ We have uncovered another evil spirit. A servant was gnawed from within by a fiend; he is no longer master of his own soul."
"Oh, how wretched a fate..." Marilyn murmured, offering a silent prayer.
The two ascended the steep hillside, and before long, a gathering of villagers clad in white robes emerged from a cavern holding burning torches. Marilyn spotted Father Sereza standing near the edge, gazing up at the moon as it began to break free from the night clouds.
"O my little lambs," the Father's voice boomed, "I speak these words unto thee that ye may find peace within us. In this world ye shall suffer tribulation, yet take heart! For we... have overcome the world! We need no mediums nor sorcerers; seek them not, lest ye defile yourselves for their sake..."
As the vicar delivered his sermon, Mary caught sight of Edward standing on the opposite side of the crowd. She squeezed her way through the throng toward him. Once they met, they exchanged low whispers.
"Thou didst vanish entirely, Mary! What business brought thee to this place?"
"An old woman led me here. At first, I intended to return home," Mary replied, her expression fraught with anxiety.
"Follow close behind me on the way back," Edward advised with an innocent facade. "Should the Father discover us here, there shall be dire consequences."
Suddenly, Father Sereza raised both hands high and roared at the top of his lungs:
"If any man curse his father or his mother, his life shall be forfeit! Having cursed those who brought him into this world, his blood shall be upon his own head! O, my flock of lambs~ Bring him forth!!!"
As his sermon concluded, the last group of villagers emerged from the cavern, dragging a man bound securely to a heavy log. The devout followers hurled curses and insults at him without mercy.
"Where is my wife!? What hast thou done with her, Sereza!? I knew it—all of this madness happened because of thee, thou lying fraud!!"
The condemned man was heaved upright at the edge of the cliff, positioned so that a single tilt of the wooden post would send him plummeting into the roaring bonfire prepared below.
"We require thy compliance, Jesper," Father Sereza spoke softly, stepping close to the bound soldier.
"(Spit!) Then return my wife to me! Wert thou not the one who burned her to ashes!?"
Overhearing this, Mary's eyes widened in horror.
As the vicar listened to the man spat curses, he remained calm. "That which I require from thee is merely the key, Jesper. The key to Castle Castlette, our final sanctuary from the coming disaster."
"Thy words are nothing but hollow fabrications!"
Hearing Jesper's defiance, the devout followers clenched their fists in fury.
"Impertinent fool!" / "A black sheep hath no right to speak!" / "Thou shouldst be grateful the Father burneth thee not this instant!"
"Silence~!~" Sereza's voice bellowed, instantly subduing the angry crowd.
"I am no longer thy soldier, Sereza..." Jesper gritted his teeth. "The Royal Guards of the Throne answer to no man. Thou must carry thy own arrogance through those gates—for we shall never allow anyone to defile that castle!" Jesper shook his head in defiance.
"Jesper... He is one of the royal castle guards who vanished..." Edward whispered, his face pale with dread.
Sereza glared with terrifying intensity, seeking to force Jesper to yield the secrets hidden beneath the castle.
"Perchance this shall alter thy mind. The irony is... thy wife hath not gone far."
The vicar motioned for a cloaked woman to step out from the crowd, pulling back her hood for Jesper to see.
Jesper's eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets as he beheld his beloved wife standing beside the vicar.
"Matilda... Thou... how can this be...?"
"I had no choice, Jesper," Matilda spoke, her voice tremulous. "A clouded heart brought me to stand here. Come with us, my love. Thou and I shall be safe; we need no longer live in fear so long as the Father is by our side."
Matilda pleaded with her husband before turning to kneel in reverence at Father Sereza's feet.
"What sorcery hast thou cast upon her!?" The bound soldier's rage erupted like a torrent.
"The Lord ever worketh His divine will within His children!" Sereza declared. "Wherefore should I not show mercy unto this faithful woman? Thy wife, though she strayed into sin, preserved her faith in the Lord! I can discern the hearts of men: those devoured by evil spirits seek only to condemn me, as thou dost! Matilda was once half-consumed by the evil beast, yet she conquered it through her own faith. Now look upon thyself, Jesper!"
"Heh... heh-heh-heh!"
Jesper broke into bitter laughter, casting his gaze upon the vicar arrogant eyes.
"Thy adopted daughter, who perished in the flames that night... she must be exceedingly proud of thee, no? What was her name again? I can scarcely recall..."
Jesper feigned memory, recalling the maiden burned to ashes decades ago.
"...Dorothy..."
SLAP!
"How dare!!" Father Sereza struck Jesper across the face in sheer humiliation and rage.