The purification chamber trembled with sacred light.
The silver scripture burned across the marble floor in rotating circles while prayer bells rang rhythmically overhead.
Candles lined the walls from end to end, their flames bending unnaturally toward the center of the chamber where the possessed girl writhed against the glowing restraints of the exorcism seal.
The air smelled heavily of incense and burning myrrh.
It should have felt holy but instead, it felt like standing inside the mouth of a storm.
“Hold the circle steady!” the high luminar slammed her staff against the floor.
The scriptures beneath the girl flared brightlyand the possessed girl screamed.
The sound that came out wasn’t like a human.
It was like a monster roaring when they’re being torn apart from the inside.
Black veins spread violently across her throat and shoulders now, pulsing beneath her skin while shadows leaked from her mouth every time she gasped for air.
Several novice maidens struggled to maintain the outer prayer ring.
One of them had already burst into tears.
Another maiden looked moments away from fainting from the horrifying sight.
The demon was stronger than expected and was giving them a nightmare of a time to handle.
Laliya remained kneeling directly beside the girl despite it all.
Her white robes pooled elegantly around her knees while soft lumen glowed softly beneath her skin.
Unlike the others, she did not recoil whenever the demon snarled or snapped toward her.
She stayed close and kept her compassion in a steady pace.
The possessed girl convulsed again.
“IT HURTS!” a deep masculine voice echoed through the chamber walls hard enough to shake the candle flames.
Laliya immediately reached for the girl’s trembling hand.
“I know it hurts but bear with it. Once the purification is done, you’ll be free.”
“MAKE IT STOP!”
“You’re doing well. Don’t let the darkness inside you win. You must press on, that’s the only way to be free.”
Black tears streamed down the girl’s face.
“It’s inside my head…” her body jerked violently.
Then the demon inside her surfaced again.
“SHE BELONGS TO ME. LIGHT HAS NO RIGHT TO INTERFERE!”
The shadows around the circle exploded outward suddenly.
“Aahhh!” Several maidens screamed and backed away.
The prayer ring flickered dangerously.
One of the novice girls lost focus entirely, causing part of the scripture seal to crack.
Darkness burst through the opening.
It lunged forward but not at the wardens or luminars, it went directly for Laliya.
Gasps filled the chamber.
The possessed girl’s body twisted unnaturally as black smoke erupted from her mouth in the shape of clawed hands reaching straight toward the holy maiden’s throat.
“Lady Laliya!” her fellow maidens called out, panicked.
But Laliya didn’t move, she neither run nor flinched in the face of danger.
Instead, she lifted her hand calmly and pressed it gently against the possessed girl’s forehead.
She repeated chants she’d seen the holy lord use before.
Right there, silver light exploded through the chamber.
The demon shrieked.
“Arghhh!” A horrifying sound came from the girl’s mouth.
It was like metal scraping against hard bone.
The black smoke recoiled violently from Laliya’s touch as though burned alive.
The holy maiden’s voice remained soft even as she addressed the scared girl.
“You are not alone anymore. The sanctum is with you and no demon has the power to overwhelm the light.”
The possessed girl broke into sobs. Find the original chapter at g.com.
This time her voice sounded human as she cried out in pain.
Laliya’s lumen pulsed brighter.
Without her realizing it, warm silver light spread slowly through the girl’s body, pushing back against the spreading corruption inch by inch.
The demon screamed louder.
“SHE WILL BREAK. STOP IT!.”
Laliya’s expression softened sadly.
“Maybe, but I have full faith that she’ll be just fine” she whispered.
Then her eyes lifted slightly.
“Because darkness will not win today.”
The prayer ring stabilized again around them.
The elder luminars noticed the miracle and immediately resumed chanting while sacred bells rang louder overhead.
The chamber trembled in radiance.
Light and darkness collided violently around the exorcism seal.
The possessed girl screamed until her voice broke raw.
Then suddenly, everything stopped and silence slammed into the room.
The black veins vanished and the shadows disappeared.
The girl collapsed unconscious directly into Laliya’s arms.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
No one dared to breath out in fear of summoning the demon back.
Then one of the novice maidens whispered shakily, “…it’s gone.”
Relief crashed through the chamber instantly.
Several attendants burst into tears, letting out the rollercoaster of emotions that just coursed through them.
While others collapsed to their knees in exhausted prayer.
The high luminar exhaled heavily before striking her staff once more.
“The demon has been purged.”
The chamber erupted into emotional whisperes but Laliya barely heard any of it.
She focused entirely on the unconscious girl trembling weakly in her arms.
Slowly, carefully, she brushed damp hair away from the girl’s face.
“You’re safe now,” she whispered.
The girl’s breathing steadied.
Around them, the silver scriptures slowly dimmed.
One of the younger maidens looked at Laliya with open awe.
“She stayed inside the circle the entire time…”
“And she didn’t get hurt by the demon,” another whispered softly.
“The Light truly favors her.”
Laliya lowered her gaze immediately at the praise.
“No,” she said gently.
“The Radiance favors all who suffer.”
She was exhausted and even trembling slightly from spiritual strain but she remained humble.
Somewhere outside the purification chamber doors, Anaqielle’s golden eyes watched silently through the narrow opening.
Anaqielle stood hidden in the dark corridor beyond the light.
She was unseen but she saw everything in front of her.
Her expression unreadable because she had witnessed something deeply unsettling.
The demon had tried to attack Laliya directly.
For one brief moment during the exorcism, Anaqielle had seen Heaven answer Laliya’s call immediately.
The answer came with no delays or hesitation and the holy maiden hadn’t even bowed her head in prayer.
The radiance had embraced her completely like she was heaven’s last born child.
The realization twisted painfully somewhere deep inside Anaqielle’s chest.
The feeling was old, bitter and lonely.
The fallen angel stepped back from the doorway before anyone noticed her presence.
She then quietly disappeared into the dark.
A terrible ache crossed her eyes.
She couldn’t understand it.
The same heaven that offered her a means back was also helping Laliya safeguard her place there.
She understood what Isa meant when she said it was an impossible task.
Anaqielle stormed off at quick pace.
She needed to put distance between her and the sanctum.
When she vanished through the wall, a feather fell to the ground.
On the other end, Laliya was dismissed of her duties by the high luminar and ordered to return to her chambers to rest.
“Yes, thank you. Take care of her. Do let her know that I’ll come visit her as soon as I wake up,” she said before leaving.
The walk back felt long.
She kept thinking back to the possessed girl, the moment the demon tried to attack and the light that protected her.
She had no idea where that light came from and hardly felt deserving since she had let sin into her heart.
She exhaled.
A sharp pain stabbed at her stomach.
The harder she thought about light, the worse the pain became.
She avoided other maidens along the way and didn’t respond like she usually does to greetings.
The maidens didn’t take offense, her heroism and bravery had already spread across the sanctum and her name hailed higher than ever before.
As passes by the shortcut to her room, a black feather on the ground caught her eyes.
Anaqielle, the name popped in her head.
She quickly pushed her worries away, raced forward and picked up the feather before anyone else noticed.
She tucked in her ceremonies dress.
Laliya glanced around like a thief, trying to confirm that no one saw it.
Laliya dashed from the spot as though being chased by a ghost.
She didn’t stop until she arrived in her chambers.
She went in and quickly locked the door firmly shut.
She headed to her bed and immediately reached under her pillow and withdrew the other feather Anaqielle had sent her with the letter.
She compared both feathers and as expected they were a perfect match.
She inhaled deeply, “If you don’t want to get caught…why are you so careless?”
Laliya didn’t realize the worry in her voice for Anaqielle.
She pressed her lips together, ran her fingers against the warm feathers.
Despite having fallen from Anaqielle’s wings, they were warm and felt alive.
Laliya glanced at their darkened shade and wondered how beautiful they would look if they were white.
Once again she was drawn to wonder what sin Anaqielle committed to warant her such a dark shade of black into feathers of her wings.
“Was heaven not enough that you allowed yourself to fall to earth?” She asked, drowning in the pull of the warm feathers.
Her exhaustion from the purification faded away.
She lay awake on her bed with a feather in each hand.
A soft breath escaped her lips.
“You aren’t as scary as that demon,” she thought, the image of Anaqielle in a tempting outfit surfacing in her mind.
“You’re a harmless temptation… soft…”
Anaqielle’s golden eyes haunted her thoughts.