Chapter 3: Tethered

 

The fortress temple stood in its own smaller courtyard, about a quarter of the size of the castle’s mess hall. Despite its rather humble origins as an ancient library, the grandeur and cleanliness of this small building had always struck Mercedes with a sense of awe and bemusement. No other room in the castle was this ornately decorated, meticulously groomed, and carefully guarded.

The two Ravens who stood at the temple’s entrance greeted the Sparrow with matching baleful frowns that shifted into confusion as one of the blue-masked Acolytes opened the inner doors to greet the albino before escorting her inside.

Two more Acolytes intercepted Mercedes the moment she crossed the threshold. She raised her hands, half expecting them to pat her down for weapons, and stiffened as their leader approached. The white-masked Acolyte gave the Sparrow a brief head-to-toe examination before dismissively waving to the back of the chapel where the High Priestess waited.

Mercedes clenched her jaw, torn between annoyance at being deemed harmless so quickly and relief that the Acolytes did not appear to have their guard up towards a mere Sparrow.

She glanced up as her escort led her towards the end of the nave, where a beautiful stained-glass window held a depiction of Serenitus, the deity to which all of humanity prayed for deliverance and guidance, portrayed as a handsome, youthful man with sky-blue skin and hair the color and shape of sea foam, dressed in robes of blue, white, and gold. Mercedes had always found the illustration strangely disturbing since Raven Ray admitted that even the High Priestess had never seen Serenitus face to face.

‘All my life, I’ve been hated simply for looking different, and yet even the Queen of the Empire is said to gladly bow and kiss the feet of this deity’s High Priestess.’

Mercedes understood the difference as much as she resented it. Elysian needed Serenitus, his High Priestess, and, more importantly, the deity's magic, which was the only thing keeping the hordes of undead at bay. Of the limited resources the Elysian Empire relied upon to survive, the three things they never ran out of were faith, bullets, and orphans.

The Acolyte guiding her cleared his throat as they approached a door behind the prayer table, then knocked sharply on the polished oak frame.

“Come in,” the High Priestess’s voice commanded with the faintest hint of annoyance.

The sardines in Mercedes's stomach flipped unpleasantly as her breath caught in the back of her suddenly dry throat. She forced herself to blink and then take a step forward as the Acolyte opened the door and motioned for her to enter without him.

‘Breathe. Fucking breathe, damn it!’

The Sparrow took in the small but comfortably furnished room with a curtained off bed, a regal desk for writing, and between the two, a round white table upon which sat a porcelain gold and white tea tray, a matching pot, and two steaming cups that filled the room with a foreign sweet fragrance Mercedes had never smelled before.

Her attention shifted to the occupants of the table, Raven Ray and High Priestess Primula, the latter of whom now stared at the albino with a single arched blonde eyebrow. The cold, imposing look in the High Priestess's pale blue eyes snapped Mercedes from her stupor.

The Sparrow quickly knelt to one knee, head bowed in reverence, as she recited the greeting Ray had taught her in preparation for this meeting.

“Please accept my humble greetings, High Priestess of Serenitus. May his grace and wisdom light our path in this dark hour. May your presence here renew our hope and dedication. Neither Sparrow nor King shall fall without his notice. With faith as our shield and his light as our weapon, we stand ready to fight the servants of darkness at your command.”

The words tumbled out faster than Mercedes would have liked, even as their poison burned down her throat. She kept her gaze locked on the intricate pattern of the luxurious white woolen rug mixed with blue and golden silk threads.

“You trained her well,” Primula said with amusement. “So, this is the albino you mentioned in your letters.”

The albino resisted the urge to flatten the curling ends of her short white hair as she focused on maintaining her posture and breathing.

“Rise, Sparrow, and come closer,” the High Priestess continued with a faint chuckle. “I cannot see you properly all the way down there.”

Ignoring the mockery in the woman’s voice, Mercedes rose smoothly to her feet and stepped cautiously toward the table, stopping when Raven Ray raised his hand in warning.

“Those pink eyes,” Primula murmured as she left her seat and approached the Sparrow standing at attention. “They’re almost pretty. Don’t you agree, Raymond?”

Mercedes maintained a neutral gaze between the two, noting the Raven’s hesitation before he answered.

“I have never seen their like, your Eminence.”

“It is not such an unusual color in the upper realms,” Primula continued casually as she circled the Sparrow with even, measured steps. “I’m sure you’ve heard stories of vampires, Sparrow.”

“Yes, your Eminence. But they are just—stories,” Mercedes replied, blinking as the High Priestess moved to stand directly before her.

“In much the same way magic, necromancers, and the undead were all just stories,” Primula continued with a faint smirk.

The High Priestess appeared to be waiting for a response, but since she had not asked a question, and Mercedes had been warned not to speak more than necessary, the Sparrow remained silent. She flinched when the High Priestess reached out suddenly to poke her ribs.

“This Sparrow is practically skin and bones—and yet you say she defeated a swarm of shroom zombies that breached the castle?”

“Not a swarm,” Ray corrected, leaving his chair to join them, though he avoided looking in Mercedes’s direction. “It was an outbreak—inside the Sparrow’s Unit Barracks.”

“I read your report,” Primula replied with a nod. “The autopsy confirmed that ten of them had turned—and in such a short amount of time.” She reached up absently to flick her fingers through Mercedes’s hair, filling the silent Sparrow with confusion. “No doubt the Lich King or one of his necromancers implanted some hybrid parasite inside the contaminated Sparrow.”

The High Priestess stepped back before offering the albino a single nod. “You are to be commended, Sparrow M731. Your valor saved not only your life but that of your fellow Sparrows. If you had turned tail and run as many might have expected you to do, the outbreak would have spread and engulfed the entire fortress, and we—the Empire—would have lost this valuable, indispensable stronghold.”

“We were locked in by one of our own,” Mercedes replied quietly, gripping her wrist behind her back tightly. “I had no choice in the matter.”

“Humble to a fault, I see,” Primula said in a flat tone that seemed to express boredom. “Well, no matter, your record speaks for itself. Though you have done little of note before this unfortunate incident, your progress has been quite impressive. It’s almost as if this near-death experience awakened something within you.”

Despite the High Priestess's seemingly encouraging response, the glance she sent to Raven Ray, who maintained his distance from them both, sent a tickle of unease down the Sparrow’s spine.

“You are a refugee from Islia, I believe?”

“Yes, your Eminence,” Mercedes replied, noting absently the thin folder tucked beneath the tea tray.

“You were an orphan from birth. Your foster parents were Mr. Edward and Susan Bennet. Mr. Bennet was a professor of lost languages with an obsessive interest in the occult.” The High Priestess pressed a knuckle beneath the albino’s chin, forcing the Sparrow to meet her gaze. “Tell me, did your foster father, Mr. Bennet, ever mention anything to you regarding vampires, dhampirs, or perhaps blood magic?”

The Sparrow forced herself to remain still beneath the intensity of the High Priestess’s gaze that patiently waited to discern the truthfulness of her reply. “Mr. Bennet was interested in all forms of magic and mythical creatures,” she answered carefully. “I do not recall him ever mentioning dhampirs, nor do I remember him being particularly interested in vampires or blood magic. His interests—”

The familiar image of a crude magic circle carved into the basement dirt floor of the modest two-story family home came to the Sparrow unbidden as the scent of blood and the horrible sound of teeth rending flesh filled her senses.

Mercedes took a quick breath and blinked the memory away before resuming, “—were more aligned to the history and folklore of demons and witches.”

A smile spread across the High Priestess’s lips as she offered the albino a nod of approval before commanding, “Give me your hand, Sparrow M731.”

The Sparrow hesitated for only a moment as she removed the death grip on her left wrist and offered the Priestess her right hand. The albino’s pink eyes narrowed as the High Priestess unbuttoned the cuff of her jacket, pushing the stiff woolen material back to reveal the old scars, both jagged and clean, that ran along her wrists and forearms.

“And did Mr. Bennet give you these?” Primula asked with a note of curiosity as she traced the overlapping scars with a fingernail.

“Yes.” It took everything in Mercedes not to remove her hand from the Priestess’s offensive touch. The uncomfortable, prickling pain that blossomed in her chest with each shallow breath now shifted into an unpleasant burn.

“For what purpose?” Primula’s blue eyes narrowed once more as they fixed themselves on the Sparrow's face. “Why did he cut you?”

The albino’s tongue and chest felt heavy as she averted her gaze and responded through gritted teeth. “He wanted to use my blood to open a door between our world and the Mystic Realms.”

The High Priestess’s eyes widened with something akin to surprise, disgust, and a certain satisfaction. Then she turned the Sparrow’s hand over and patted it like a parent offering sympathy to a child. Mercedes pressed her lips together to hide her revulsion and waited for the next question.

“Do you know what you are, Sparrow M731?”

Mercedes stiffened in response. ‘What, not who?’ She took in a shallow breath before answering honestly, “No.”

Primula smiled with something that might have been sympathy as she released the Sparrow’s hand and turned to Raven Ray. “I think that will be enough.”

“Your Eminence?” Ray replied, his tone mirroring the albino’s uncertainty.

“Her answers were honest—however guarded. In any case, the test will tell us all we need to know.”

“Test?” Mercedes echoed, buttoning up the sleeve of her uniform.

“We call it the Test of Faith,” Primula answered without reservation, gesturing for the Raven to retrieve a small chest from her pile of luggage. “It’s a trivial matter, really.”

The Sparrow doubted that but said nothing as Ray pulled out a silver chalice studded with sapphires and a sealed glass vial containing clear, translucent fluid. It was the third item he pulled out next that set the albino’s teeth on edge—a curved steel dagger inscribed with runes and a gold ornate hilt studded with a single enormous ruby.

“Calm your nerves, Sparrow,” the High Priestess murmured as she continued to monitor the albino. “The test requires only a single drop of blood.”

Her reassurance didn’t exactly ease Mercedes’s discomfort or racing thoughts. ‘How exactly will a drop of blood prove my faith?’

“It is at the discretion of each Raven to choose their replacement before joining my Acolytes,” Primula continued, perhaps deciding that conversation would help distract the pale albino from the dagger Raven Ray carried toward them. “Not that I expected him to find such a person in Eldermoor.”

The Sparrow remained silent as the Raven offered the dagger to the High Priestess, who once more held out her hand expectantly.

“Your left hand this time,” Primula clarified in a commanding tone.

Seeing no way around this, Mercedes silently offered up her left hand while Ray filled the silver chalice with the suspicious, sparkling fluids of the delicate glass bottle. “What is that?”

“Something akin to holy water,” Primula answered, adjusting her grip on the Sparrow’s wrist as Ray held the chalice between them. “Now, hold still. This will only hurt a bit.”

“Deep breaths, Mercedes. The pain will be temporary. Daddy doesn’t want to hurt you, so hold still like a good girl.”

The Sparrow inhaled stiffly through her nose as Primula drew a small, clean cut across the tip of the albino’s left index finger before twisting her hand over so that the drop fell neatly into the chalice. A crimson-red ring formed along the surface as the dense, darker fluid slowly separated into a floral-like bloom.

Mercedes eyed the reaction curiously as the High Priestess released her wrist to observe the chalice. At first, the albino’s blood appeared to behave normally as it disappeared into the clear liquid. The Sparrow looked away briefly, distracted by the cut on her finger, only to later frown at the curious sight of her blood reforming into a single dark orb at the center of the chalice.

“That’s—not supposed to happen,” Ray murmured, focused on the chalice, which he shook slightly as if to test the blood orb’s stability.

“Wait!” The High Priestess ordered sternly before the room fell into an uncomfortable silence as the Sparrow’s blood slowly formed into a diamond-like shape.

“Well,” Primula said as her cold blue eyes returned to the albino. “That confirms one thing at least. You’re not human.”

Once more, Mercedes didn’t know how to respond as she resumed her previous position, with both hands interlocked behind her back, the blood dripping softly from her cut finger onto the white carpet below.

“How very curious,” Primula murmured dryly as she took the chalice from Ray. The sapphires brightened as the High Priestess murmured a spell while Raven Ray observed her nervously. “Oh my—this is—unexpected.”

The Sparrow shifted her stance cautiously as she leaned forward to watch as a thin, dark root of blood stretched out from the crimson diamond towards the surface as if looking for a means of escape.

“What does it mean?” Ray asked with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety.

“It means your albino is already tethered,” Primula replied, her tone and gaze bristling with hostility. “To another deity who has blocked me from viewing her information.”

“But that’s—impossible!” The Raven turned his panicked gaze towards Mercedes. “Wouldn’t that mean she’s allied with Necrothorn?”

“That seems doubtful, but it doesn't matter. The Sparrow failed the test. Not to mention she deceived you into…” The High Priestess fell silent as her unfocused gaze drifted toward something in the air behind the Sparrow.

Raven Ray glanced at the Priestess worriedly, then stormed past Mercedes, casting the Sparrow a warning glare as he yanked the door open to summon the Acolytes waiting outside. “Come and arrest this traitor. Take her to the dungeons. We can deal with her after the banquet.”

“There is no need to wait,” Primula replied solemnly as her blue eyes refocused on the silent albino. “Serenitus has identified the Primordial she is tethered to—” The High Priestess’s glossy pink lips twisted into a grim smile as she summoned a burning globe of radiant light above her left hand, “—and he has offered a hefty reward for her immediate execution.”

The corner of Mercedes’s lips twisted into a cynical smile as she unfolded her arms and finished drawing the blood circle on the carpet below. “How strange, my Primordial Master offered no reward when he ordered me to murder you.”

The High Priestess’s eyes flared with divine wrath as she unleashed the devastating spell towards the Sparrow—just as a dark, shadowy void cloaked the albino from view, plunging the small room and the entire temple into complete and utter darkness.