The smell was rancid. A rotten noxious stench that burned to breathe. There was a gritty sensation all around her mouth. Licking her teeth felt like tasting sand. To make matters worse, it was thick. Breathing it felt like gulping water, swallowing large bubbles yet left her throat feeling dry. It was horrid.

The taste did not compare to the sound though. It started quiet and creepy. Then it grew to a dull roar. Then she found herself swallowed by the cacophony of anguished wails. On and on they screamed, their agony shaking her very bones. This terror, this despair, it was agonizing, not just for her. In fact, she could tell that her pain was insignificant to the pain that caused these wails. This miasma, it was the very essence of their soul rending agony. Somewhere, deep within the miasma, they were crying, begging, pleading for help. Anguish and despair oozing into the air and thickening into the putrid miasma that seeped into the hall.

She jolted up, her eyes popping open, Saya desperately panted for air. “Saya!” Aria grabbed hold of her. “It’s okay, you’re safe now.”

“What happened?” asked Saya.

“You fell unconscious. We think it was due to that strange magical energy pouring out of the Restricted Sanctum,” Penelope explained.

“Really?” Saya looked around. The room was a dimly lit, a few beds lining the large room with lanterns dividing them, most of them left dark. “Where are we?”

“This is the nursing room,” Lillia stated. “Penelope guided us here while Aria carried you all the way here.”

“You make it sound like it was some big deal,” Aria blushed.

“It was quite the walk,” Penelope chuckled. “I’m rather impressed you managed to carry her all that way.”

“Hey now, she’s not that heavy” Aria squirmed a little. She looked to Saya as she clutched her hand. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I will be fine,” Saya gave a meek smile.

“What exactly was that miasma?” Lillia looked to Penelope. “You seem to know something about it.”

Penelope sighed. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but the miasma comes from the Restricted Sanctum,” she twiddled her thumbs. “Like I said, the Purification Chamber is in there, and apparently, all the miasma pools in there from the purification rites… or so they say. I’m surprised though.”

“Surprised?” Lillia asked.

“Yes, while the miasma can affect normal people,” Penelope looked to Saya eagerly. “This kind of reaction is said to really only happen to people who are sensitive to strong magical energies. It’s a really rare trait that only mages with powerful magic can attain. You can train to gain that sensitivity, but it takes a long time,” she chuckled. “I bet that means you have a lot of potential for using magic, Saya.”

“Y-yeah,” Saya nodded. “I h-have been told that before,” she tried to lie.

“Oh, you still seem really tired. Are you going to be, okay?” Penelope frowned.

“I think I will be fine,” Saya gave a small smile. “I think I am ready to continue.”

“Are you sure?” Lillia frowned. “We can always come back later.”

“I will be fine,” Saya insisted.

“If you say so,” Lillia sighed. “Well, where should we head next then.”

“Let me think,” Penelope placed her curled hand beneath her chin. She flinched as a knock sounded on the door. “Hold on a second,” she opened the door. “Yes? Who… oh, Reginald?”

“Good, I found you,” a tall muscular man stood outside the door. His spiky hair swayed as he shifted in position. He looked around the room, his eyes narrowing. “I see you have guests.”

“I do, yes. I was just giving them a tour,” the priestess explained. “Would you care to join us?”

Reginald crossed his thick armored arms. “I see,” he glared. “I think you should wrap it up for today.”

“Why’s that?” Lillia asked.

“Sorry girls, but we have received reports that we have some intruders, and we’re currently trying to find them,” Reginald grimaced.

“Intruders?” Lillia blinked sharing a concerned look with the others.

“Reginald, what is this all about?” Penelope asked.

“Sorry,” Reginald shook his head. “I don’t know the whole situation,” he frowned. “But they have been ordered to hunt these intruders down.”

Penelope’s eyes went wide. “They…” Saya watched as Penelope’s eyes trembled. “I… I understand,” she swiftly nodded. “Everyone, I hate to cut our tour short, but this is an emergency.”

“I understand,” Lillia nodded. “Thank you for showing us around today.”

“Sorry I have to catch you all at a bad time,” Reginald gave a soft smile, “but I have to get back to searching myself. Take care all of you,” he waved as he exited the room.

“Let’s head out too, okay?” Penelope stood at the open door, directing them out.

“Hold on a moment,” Saya asked as they entered the hallway. “Which way are we going exactly?”

“Well, after you fell unconscious we had to backtrack and take another of the hallways,” Aria explained.

“The entrance we originally came in from was the Northern stairway,” Penelope said as she pulled the hood of her robe, cladding herself entirely in the creamy robes. “The Restricted Sanctum was to the South, and we’re currently in the South-Western corridor. Lillia, Aria, keep an eye on Saya so she doesn’t get lost, okay?”

“Uh, sure,” Aria answered, Lillia and Saya sharing a nervous glance. It was clear to the three that Penelope’s demeanor had changed. She clearly meant to maintain her easygoing calm visage, as she tried to keep a smile and excited tone. Yet she was visibly shaken, her eyes trembling, her movements jerky and fast paced, her words picking up in speed, and a general nervousness permeating off of her.

“Why is she so nervous?” Lillia whispered to Saya. “We have reason to be, but why her?”

“Does it maybe have to do with whoever her friend was talking about?” Saya wondered.

“I have no idea,” Lillia frowned.

The group sped through the halls, décor whirring by in their rush. They turned again, finally emerging in massive great hall they passed through before. Saya took a deep breath as she focused. They weren’t far now, they just had to… They stopped as they looked up toward the stairway leading back to the ground floor, a lone paladin standing in their way. He turned his head towards them, his gaze falling upon them.

“Oh no,” Penelope trembled. “All of you, go. Down that hallway now,” she instructed, pointing to the hall across from them, oddly not toward the stairwell.

“Wait, hold on,” Lillia objected. “But that’s,” she blinked, taking a good look at the paladin’s face. She began to smile as she recognized a likeness, one she had seen so many times over the course of her life. “That must be… Brother! Zerv!” she waved.

“No, you mustn’t! He’s…” she turned her eyes to watch him unsheathe his blade, its glowing edge gleaming with light. “RUN!” she ordered, as she lead their way. The others listening to her as their minds raced in the panic as the loud clattering of armor began to echo behind them.

They reached the end of the hallway, turning down another hall, granting Saya a brief moment to glance toward their pursuer. He marched ceaselessly towards them, a cold vicious look in his eyes. In that simple moment, Saya’s blood began to freeze as if frozen by his very glare.

As they ran down through the hallway, more paladins began to emerge on the opposite end, each unsheathing their blades. A series of orders echoed down the hall. ‘Slay them.’ ‘Don’t let them escape.’ ‘Grab the heathens!’ Each one felt like a barbed weapon itself, a snarl of a murderous beast readying their claws to sink into their flesh.

“Dammit, we’re surrounded,” Aria grimaced as they looked around, noticing yet more paladins down a perpendicular hallway.

“Then there’s no choice,” Penelope sighed.

“What do you mean?” Lillia asked.

“This is a spell that was taken from witches long ago,” Penelope explained, shocking the three. “But I see little other choice, but to use it.”

“A spell taken from witches?” Saya repeated.

Penelope removed a wand from her robe, the lengthy thing inscribed with various runes. “Grant me thy power and strike my foe with your blinding might!” she commanded, the runes on the wand lighting up. “Lumero!” a circle of light surrounded the four as a pulse of light erupted from the circle.

“What just…” Aria began to ask as she eyed the paladins. Each warrior quickly covered their eyes, wailing in agony as they writhed from the pain. “That light… You blinded them!?”

“Yes, but it will not last long,” Penelope said. “Quickly, inside there,” she pointed to the middle of a series of three doors.

“But…” Lillia began to object.

“Just do it!” Penelope shouted as she darted for the door, the other three following her.

Saya looked around perplexingly at the room. It was a simple space, a study of what seemed to be some important individual, with bookcases on each side, each full of books. A simple placard on the desk reading “Alvis Denarius.”

“Now what?” Aria demanded.

“Quiet,” Penelope hushed. “There’s a secret passage over here,” she flicked her wand at it, a book on the shelf lighting up in response. The bookcase began to swivel open, revealing a dark passage. “Hurry, and keep quiet,” she waved them inside, the three obeying. As they entered, Penelope flicked her wand at the bookcase again, prompting it to close, an audible click marking its locking back into place. Penelope whispered another spell, causing her wand to light up, waving them further inside the passage a ways before coming to another wall of stone, which she flicked her wand at once more.

The three shared a curious glance as the wall opened, Penelope waving them in and closing the wall behind them. Penelope took a deep breath. “We should be safe now,” she sighed.

“What is this place?” Lillia asked.

“Remember how I said the Cathedral was built on some ancient ruins? This is some of them. Only certain people know of these passages,” she explained.

“There was just one conveniently in that study?” Aria inquired.

“They’re actually all over the place,” Penelope continued further down the passage, the others following. Another room down the hall had one as well. “And don’t worry, none of the paladins are aware of them. The clergy specifically keeps them ignorant of them and how to use them.”

“That’s all fine and good,” Lillia frowned, “but how do we get out of here now? Everything looks the same, how are we supposed to navigate our way out of here?”

“Simple,” Penelope lifted up her wand, “this wand acts as both a key and a guide to navigate these passages.”

“Is that why the paladins don’t know about them?” Saya asked.

“No, the high priests and priestesses just don’t want them knowing about them. Some of us believe they don’t want the paladins intruding when they’re moving important relics,” Penelope explained.

“Wait, if these things are so important, why do you have one?” Aria asked, giving a staunch look at Penelope. The priestess sighing.

“The truth is,” Penelope shuffled in place a little bit. “There have been things that have been happening that make me, well, concerned about what those high members have been doing,” she admitted. “I managed to snatch this wand to help me sneak around easily when I need to slip in and out.”

“What do you mean?” Lillia asked.

“I can’t really go into detail right now,” Penelope frowned. “But… there’s just a lot of things that have made me realize that some of them are…” she shivered. “Especially Father Denarius.”

“Father Denarius?” Saya said aloud. “That was the name on the placard back in the study. I feel I should know that name for some reason.”

“He’s the head priest of Avtalia’s Cathedral,” Lillia confirmed. “From what I understand, he and father have known each other since before Ethnerta was destroyed.”

“That’s correct,” Penelope nodded. “Father Denarius, he’s…” she gulped. “He appears to be warm and kind at times, but at others… there’s just something terrifying about him. I’ve seen him get serious a couple of times, and it’s horrifying to watch,” she trembled.

“That Mother Risia seemed similar,” Aria commented. “I didn’t get much of a read on that Father Tormell though.”

“Mother Risia is terrifying like you say,” Penelope nodded. “She can be relentless, especially to heretics that find their way to Avtalia. People regale her for her ability to convert seemingly anyone, though I’m unclear as to how she does that,” she frowned. “As for Father Tormell, he’s… just kind of lazy. I hear he’s powerful, and rather resourceful, but he just kind of follows others around,” she shrugged.

“I see,” Aria rubbed her neck. “Sounds like Captain Goren.”

“Captain Goren?” Penelope cocked her eyebrow. “Is that someone at Luxur castle?”

“Yes,” Lillia nodded. “He’s the captain of the guard. Although, I was unaware that he was apparently seen to be so lazy.”

“He is quite lazy,” Saya confirmed. “He often steps away from training and lazes about the castle conducting so called ‘patrols’ to avoid work,” she said bluntly.

“You seem to know him rather well,” Penelope giggled.

“Uh, well, I used to spend time with a lot of the castle knights,” Saya gave an uneasy chuckle.

“I see,” Penelope nodded. “Either way, it must be rather discomforting knowing that the man in charge of your castle’s defenses doesn’t seem to care about that job.” The others fell silent. It was true reflecting upon it. Zerto, their king, their… He seemed to disregard the safety of his own people and putting such a lay about into such a position only seemed to highlight that. Even after Iris’s rampage at Gelin, there seemed to be no support from the castle, at least when they left, for a crisis he helped create. Saya quietly gripped her hand as she thought of that heartless man.

A gentle hand caressed Saya’s own, Lillia smiling at her. “It’s true that the castle doesn’t have strong defenses because of that, but there were plenty of things to bring comfort. Right Saya?”

“Yeah,” Saya nodded as she held the hand of her supportive sister, Penelope making a satisfied chuckle ahead of them.

“Well, we’re almost there,” Penelope stated. “Not much further now.”

“Where are we headed anyway?” Aria asked.

“This passage will lead us directly to a lower wall of the Cathedral. It will open up into an alley that you can sneak out through,” Penelope explained.

“What about you?” Saya looked at her worriedly.

“I’ll have to tie up a few loose ends to make sure there’s no suspicion on me,” Penelope explained.

Lillia sighed. “Listen about all of this…”

“I’m sorry,” Penelope interrupted. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. This isn’t the first time the Cathedral has gone into lockdown like this and guests like you get caught up in all of the mayhem.”

“You don’t think they were after us?” Aria asked.

“It’s possible that someone got paranoid after seeing us come back from the Restricted Sanctum, but we’ve also had people trying to get into the ruins too of late. The paladins get rather aggressive with such things.”

“I see,” Aria nodded, still unconvinced.

“At any rate, we’re here,” Penelope used her wand to open the wall, revealing a small nook facing a door across from them, and a metal gate to their left. “Just exit through this gate and go to the street. If you take a right, you should wind up where we met this morning.”

“Thanks for everything,” Lillia hugged Penelope with gratitude.

“Y-you’re welcome, Princess,” the young priestess blushed.

“Stay safe,” Saya hugged her next.

“Gosh, you’re a very affectionate group,” Penelope giggled. “Take care of yourselves everyone,” she smiled. “Aria, make sure you all get back safely.”

“Of course,” Aria nodded.

The three stepped out of the passage, Penelope waving them goodbye as the wall closed behind them. They shared a nod and exited into the alleyway, sneaking their way back.