Chapter 35 - Destiny

...

Time continued to pass by and the pair of old and young kept on getting lost in their own thoughts. After what felt like an eternity Casta seemed to have come to a conclusion. She looked towards the old priest and spoke to him,

"Thank you very much for your help, Father Petro. I will make sure to relay it all to that devotee. Besides that, I can tell that you came here for some other reason. Is there something I can help you with, Father Pedro?"

After hearing the soft voice next to him, the old priest came out of his thoughts as well. His desire to protect his Goddaughter was extremely strong and he wanted to let out the truth right in front of her.

Unfortunately for him though, even the walls couldn't be trusted in the church now that the enemies were already around both of them. The old Priest had enough experience to know how tricky these upper echelons could be. Knowing how to achieve his objectives, he coughed thrice loudly and began to speak to Caster,

"Dear child... the time has come for you to repay all that the Church has given to you. An unprecedented tragedy is happening to our brothers and sisters in the far west of the Continent."

"To prevent the huge loss of lives and innocence of countless humans, your battle strength has been asked for. The higher-ups from the Holy City have arrived today and asked for your assistance. You must prepare to depart with them at the earliest possible time. Remember my child, the world needs you."

Casta appeared stunned upon hearing the words from the old Priest. For all her time at the Church, he had been a pacifist and an advocate of nonviolence. She had only been trained in combat to act in defensive circumstances. And now, that same person was telling her to go fight somewhere far away.

Before Casta could say anything to that though, the old Priest signalled for Casta to remain quiet, while he gestured towards the door. While not understanding the reason for the old Priest's odd behaviour, Casta still decided to act obediently and kept waiting to voice her own thoughts to him.

The two continued to sit in silence for a long time, before the old Priest side in relief. He took a pendant from his pockets and started to do some lip movements to relay his true thoughts. He had never imagined that such survival skills that he taught her at such a young age would come to use like this right now.

'Open this after you leave the Church. Stay alert. Trust nobody. Believe in goddess. Believe in love.'

After making sure that Casta replied back the same words to him, the old man sighed in relief again. This time though, a cunning smile came upon his face as he thought to himself,

'You people thought that I would stay quiet while you put your hands on my daughter? Now that she would know everything, we will see exactly who becomes the Sheep and who ends up turning into the Wolf.'

After hugging Casta's head in a soft hug one last time, the old Priest left Casta's room in a hurry. The Act wasn't over for him yet.

...

After departing Casta's room, the old Priest's steps became lighter, while his eyes gained a firm look. The earlier defeated self of him was long gone, and in his place was a man full of vindication.

Although Casta was more than capable enough to protect herself, it didn't mean that he would remain a Soul-less puppet for his devious superior to make use of.

'It was your bad luck to have encountered me. If it was someone else, perhaps they would have agreed to bend their backs for you. Unfortunately for you people, my loyalty lies with the Goddess rather than the church itself.'

'Well, since you people have dared to harm my goddaughter... be prepared to feel the wrath of a father.'

The old man vowed silently to himself, as he soon reached the meeting room. As he had suspected, the mechanism he had set to detect entry and exit from the room after his leave has been disturbed.

That confirmed his suspicions that he and Casta were indeed being eavesdropped on by the three from the Holy City.

Gritting his teeth in anger, the old Priest took many breaths to calm himself down. After he was sure that he had regained his earlier self of a pitiable weak old man, the old Priest opened the room and walked inside with steps full of lethargy.

The young man opposite to him was very kindly observing his actions ever since he had entered the room, knowing that he had to leave no traces of his real thoughts behind, the old Priest's eyes began to shed crocodile tears as he wept by himself and reported back to the young man,

"Y-Your Excellency... I have told Casta everything that you wanted me to. She is awaiting your orders for departure. However... I have a little request for you, Your Excellency. Please permit me to state it."

The young man appeared to be very confident with himself and looked pleased since everything went as he had desired. He silently sipped the warm tea while his wind magic kept sending soothing waves of cool air to his face.

After mocking the cowardice of the old Priest within his heart, the young man swirled the sweet tea in his mouth, before he finally spoke,

"Speak."

The old Priest went down on his knees. He brought as deeply as he could in front of the Church Official as he tearfully pleaded to him,

"Your Excellency, I beg you... please don't let my Casta be mistreated. She... is just an innocent child. She is unaware of the complications of society. Please protect her from all Evil, Your Excellency."

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

A loud laughter ran out as soon as the old Priest finished his request. Still, rather than doing anything else, the old Priest kept kneeling and bowing to show his sincerity to the young man and front of him.

The Church Official stood up, after which he approached the grovelling old Priest and began to pet the side of his face with weak slaps as insulted the old man and spoke to him,

"No worries I will make sure to take 'extra care' of her, in my own way of course. Good job so far, old man. However, your presence is not needed here anymore. I believe it's time to have some fresh blood running the things around in this area."

"So, you can go and pray wherever you want to, old man. Actually, very soon, a subordinate of mine would pick up the vacant position of the Head Priest of the Church. Now, since you are not needed here anymore... get out of my sight, before I really end up losing my patience, alright?"

Despite hearing the cruel words from the young man, the old Priest only continued to express his thankfulness for his mercy and care, and slowly walked away from the meeting room. His lonely back looked increasingly more desolate as he soon disappeared from the building.

...

After the old Priest left her room, Casta's heart began to panic from her old memories resurfacing. Ever since she had joined the Church, she had always seen the old Priest's kind smile and carefree attitude.

This was the first time that she had seen such a look of urgency and abject sorrow on his face. The sudden change also reminded Casta of when she was just a child and had to continue to fight for her own survival every day.

Releasing how things were about to change directions, Casta decided to first quell the confusion within her heart. The one that Casta trusted with absolute blind faith was the Goddess herself.

Never had she suffered when she trusted her voice within her mind. Since things had come down to this extent, Casta decided to evoke the Goddess's presence within her soul. Although she could only use the power of such connection once a month or so, Casta still decided to do it anyways as she wanted to be sure of herself, especially in such times of crisis.

Castor clasped her hands in front of herself and called out to the Goddess, hoping that her call for help would be answered by the Goddess.

Soon afterwards, Casta felt a soothing sensation all over her body and soul. She realised that her prayer had been answered and the Goddess has decided to respond to her call.

As if a flash flood had broken a dam, all the worries bothering Casta were tuned out by the ethereal feeling within her soul. All of her anxiety was let out towards the Goddess and had been swept away. Casta knew that she couldn't waste such a precious chance, hence she quickly prepared the question to ask the Goddess.

Knowing that getting only a word back as a response would be the extent of her abilities, Casta decided to ask the most troubling question for herself at the moment. Almost shockingly, it didn't have much to do with the Church affairs as the thing bothering Casta the most was...

'O, Great Goddess. Please advise this naive child of yours, on... whether I should really be concerned about that man or not. If this is really what Father Pedro had spoken of. If these feelings that I am getting for the first time in my life are the ones of love between a man and a woman?'

Casta finished her question and began to silently await to hear the Goddess's reply. After a few moments of silence, an ethereal voice rang out within her mind.

'Yes.'

After that single word, the soothing presence around her soul slowly dissipated, while Casta did her best not to lose her sanity from the sudden withdrawal of such divine ecstasy.

A few minutes passed by before Casta took a deep breath and opened her eyes again, after which she continued to sit still in the same posture as earlier and closed her eyes as she spoke,

'Thank you for your guidance, O' Great Goddess. As both Father Pedro and you have guided me... I will not let these feelings of mine be wasted anymore. As Father Pedro spoke earlier, a Man and a Woman predestined are to be together are sure to be blessed by you, O' Great Goddess.'

'Since both of you believe that to be the case, I, your faithful child Casta, vow to you, O' Great Goddess, that I would never abandon this love that I have found. I will cherish this feeling with everything that I have.'

'Also, if I ever fail to uphold this vow of mine to you, O' Great Goddess... I will give up this life of mine in repentance. I know what to do now. Thank you again for replying to my prayer this time. I hope to be blessed with the chance to hear from you again in the future."

Casta sat there remembering all of Father Pedro's earlier descriptions and explanations regarding the affairs between men and women.

A strange desire took form at the moment, one that forever refused to be sedated or quenched. A desire so big that it may last beyond a lifetime. That being, to know more and more about the man within her thoughts.

...

A/N: Sorry for the long break everyone. I am hoping to improve the release rate soon.