Down in the abbey’s cellar…

Left in disarray and prolonged neglect, the scent of finely aged wine was long gone from its darkened interior. Now, all that remained was the stench of rotten meat in the air and the sound of vermin skittering scarcely upon the floor.

With manacles clasped around her hands and legs, Sister Alyssa lay slumped against a wall. Blindfolded, she could feel the tips of her elvish ears twitching at the approaching vermin all around her, kept seemingly at bay by another far more sinister force – the humming of a shrouded idol enchanted with eldritch sorcery that kept hers at bay.

“The prophecy…”

Truly, how long had she been in here? Time itself seemed to crawl to a halt here in the darkness of her blinded sight as she felt herself lapse erratically between what felt like fitful unconsciousness and lucid darkness. All while she imagined, in darkest fathoms as she considered the words of ‘Father Edwards’, the fate of her fellow devatas. Of what had happened long before her arrival, of what horror lay just beneath her feet for the past few weeks when everything had been going so well for her in the world.

“Fulfilled. That was what he said, wasn’t it? He knew because I told him the full extent of my plan, that I had tracked down a descendant of Abaddon’s lineage to use her blood and soul to reforge the Hellbringer anew. No one believes a madman, after all.”

Father Edwards’s voice carried with it the same air of warmth, as though this was but another weekly service for the villagers. And yet, now all she could feel within her when it graced her ears was seething disgust. That, and a sorrow she could not put into words as she remained silent, her purple eyes open within the blackness of her blindfold to gaze straight ahead into the dark.

“Nobody would. How could they even fathom that Abaddon’s lineage still exists, now that Elicia, damn her, controls this world? That a scion of his bloodline would serve as one of her clergy, no less! Assuming the rabble even know an inkling of the past after what Elicia’s dogs have done to banish the truth. I wouldn’t have either, if great Aria hadn’t deigned to bring me into her realm so as to divine to me the truth…”

He paused for a moment. Sister Alyssa remained silent. She could not see him, nor did she want to, but she could hear the heaving of his breath in the darkness. As though in a way, the words he wanted so badly to say were hurting as they remained within him.

“But anyway, I know this might come off as inappropriate, given all that’s happened,” Father Edwards said, breaking the silence between them. “But I’m sorry about what I said at the alley. I… I didn’t mean it, saying those awful things to you. In truth, I… really respect you. Yes, I do. Back there, I wasn’t lying when I said I liked you too. Your faith in Elicia, damn her… reminds me of someone I once knew. Someone I… felt so strongly for in my heart, so many years ago. We were to be married… to serve and grow old together as occultists of the Black Legion.”

With her back still slumped upon the wall, Sister Alyssa looked towards the sound of his voice expressionlessly. Alongside the silencing aura of the eldritch idol, it was grating upon her nerves. She could not, even in the numbness of her consciousness, stop thinking about what he had done to her, and to everyone else none the wiser.

“But Ebondrake, he killed her, you know? All because that Malphas broke loose from its bindings! It wasn’t even her fault, damn it! He didn’t care that it was still an experimental process, he just…”

Sister Alyssa frowned. The way he seethed upon mentioning the Lord General of the Black Legion by name, she was sure, would have unsettled her greatly as did the madman’s frantic screaming just weeks prior. But now she was tired. So very tired.

“You know… she had purple eyes so beautiful like yours. They were wide open when the executioner’s axe came down upon her neck. Just like that, a bloody trail ended it all like she never existed, like she was nothing.”

Even so, she found herself nodding in the dark at his pained words. In truth, she had yet to ever come close to the northern parts of Arcadia far past Wintervale, where the Ecclesiarch’s reign ended and that of the Lord General’s begun. Like any other great city of Arcadia, as per the Covenant of the Faithful, there were devatas and cathedrals of the Central Church within Black Legion territory, especially so in the great fortress-city of Shadowgate. And from all that she had learned from her fellow devatas who had been there, there was nothing good about him and the way he ruled his subjects, even if things ran like clockwork. Even if it was all in Elicia’s name.

“But damn, how long ago was that? In truth, I… I’ve lost count. So many years of hiding, so many years of plotting for this day to come as I studied the eldritch rites of the Hellbourne far beyond the Black Legion’s grasp. In truth, I… don’t even remember her name or her face. Now, I just want…”

“Revenge…?” Sister Alyssa rasped weakly as she tilted her head upwards. “Is that it? Tell me… is it that important to you…? To hurt everyone… innocent people just for it…”

“YES!” Father Edwards roared, spittle flying furiously from his mouth as he spoke. “Because of him… I lost everything I ever cared about! Everything that mattered to me in this damned world.”

“But now, you don’t even know her name anymore…”

“Shut up, damn you! I remember it, her name was…”

Gazing silently into the dark ahead of her within her blindfold, Sister Alyssa waited quietly for an answer. When nothing but cries of exasperation graced her ears in the moments that passed, she found her lips curling up painfully into a grimace.

“You don’t even know your own name now, do you? ‘Father’. For this… revenge of yours. Aria, whoever she is… what did she do to you?”

Her question was left unanswered. She nodded quietly to herself as she heard Father Edwards scream out loud a cry of fury soon followed by a cry of pain and the sound of something crashing into the wall beside her that spilled forth crumbs of mortar and dust upon her sleeves.

“It’s not too late, you know? Give… give up this madness, and turn yourself in. I… I will pray and plead for mercy on your behalf.”

These words of hers were met with silence. And then cackling laughter, maniacal and ravening with amusement as she felt him reach for her blindfold with fingers wet and reeking of fresh blood that swiped it off her eyes, splattering spots red upon her face when he brought up close a candlelit lamp between them both. Such that she could see, illuminated dimly in the dark, the dementedness of his grin and the dried tears stained upon those red eyes of his that she once adored so much.

“You’ve made your choice,” Sister Alyssa remarked, closing her eyes as she grimaced. “This prophecy of ours…”

“It’s all I have left, Sister…” Father Edwards said with a tired nod. “Revenge against Ebondrake with the Hellbringer reforged…”

He placed a bloodied hand upon her cheek, caressing it gently as he gazed wistfully into her purple eyes.

“I’m sorry, for everything that’s been done, and will be done.”

“So am I, for you.”

As Father Edwards left with the lamp in hand, Sister Alyssa lay back against the damaged wall, her eyes upon its dying light as it grew further and further away with every passing moment. She closed shut her eyes, tears forming in them as she thought of Sister Natasha and Sister Violet, of what felt so far away and out of reach now that she was all alone in the dark, far from home. Facing, all by herself, a prophecy fulfilled.