“Anaqielle!”
Laliya yanked awake, panting frantically.
She slept that dreamt that Anaqielle was forced down to hell for her sins and sentenced to burn for eternity.
The heavens demanded her fire be made extremely hotter than the normal hellfire.
The sight of Anaqielle burning and her screams forced her eyes open.
Laliya wiped the drops of sweat that had gathered on her forehead.
It was then that she realized she was still holding the feather in her hands.
She inhaled and exhaled.
Clearing her lungs of the bad feeling before she got up.
Quickly, she changed her beddings, opened the windows to let in fresh air and then took out a plain white dress that she planned to wear that day, she didn’t forget the prayer beads before she gathered more belonging and prepared to head to the public bath.
Her mind was taken over by thoughts of the fallen angel to the point that she dreamt of her.
Laliya massaged her chest, she still couldn’t believe that she got unsettled and feared for the fallen’s safety.
It was so unlike her.
“Good morning, lady Laliya,” a warden greeted her.
Laliya smiled and replied warmly.
“Good morning to you too. I hope you slept well.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Radiance preserve you.”
“Radiance preserve you too.”
Laliya walked on.
She arrived at the bathing room and headed inside without hesitation.
The other maidens inside stopped whatever they were doing and glanced at her as though seeing an alien.
Her reputation had spread, skyrocketing with holy achievements.
Some looked at her with envy, others found motivation when seeing her while others felt like they were staring at a star, too far and unteachable.
One question plagued all of them: what was she doing there?
Being the highest ranking holy maiden in the grand veiled sanctum, Laliya not only had her own private wing but it was equiped with a private bathing room, a prayer chamber and she had access to many silver scripture scrolls that they could only dream of.
To see her coming to access public utilities like that felt so out of place for her.
All eyes followed her until she settled in a wooden bathtub in the faraway corner.
Paying no heed to the eyes on her.
Laliya set her belonging on the side table next to the bathtub, picked up a bucket and fetched bathing water.
That little task stunned the other maidens.
It was so simple and something they haven’t seen her do in forever so it was like watching an angel doing minial mundane tasks.
One of the maidens rushed over.
“Lady Laliya, let me do it for you,” she couldn’t see her do something so beneath her.
Laliya offered a friendly grateful smile.
“We are equals here. There’s no need for you to do this for me. I can do it myself,” she politely rejected the offer.
Letting the girl fetch her water for her felt like she was above her in rank and Laliya hardly liked being spoilt or acting spoilt.
It wasn’t in her nature.
One of the other maidens scoffed.
“If you didn’t want every single maiden here offering to fetch your water for you, why come here at all?”
Laliya poured the water into the bathtub and went to fetch more because it wasn’t enough.
She didn’t bother with the butter maiden.
But the maiden couldn’t control herself anymore.
She had entered the sanctum at the same time with Laliya, trained just as hard and prayed even harder yet she still wasn’t recognized and neither Radiance worked for her as the stories spoke of it showing up for Laliya.
That didn’t settle well with her.
“You say that we are equals but clearly you don’t think so. Why else would you act like you can’t see me?”
“Ashlynn, no,” another maiden warned the bitter girl to drop it.
Her remark had drawn the attention of every maiden in the bathing house.
They were all watching to see how Laliya responded and where the argument led.
Most of them felt like Ashlynn was representing the feelings they had but didn’t dare let known and wished she would press further so they see how Laliya reacts to such feelings.
“Why should I stop? It’s not everyday that we have the holiest maiden in our present and I just want to exchange some words with her,” she said it loud enough for all to hear.
Laliya kept filling her bathtub without responding.
It wasn’t that she had nothing to say or felt afraid of confrontation, it because for one dark moment, she considered how Anaqielle would counter Ashlynn’s confrontation and the dark ideas that popped into her head scared her.
She was busy chanting mantras under her breath to return her peace of mind and wade off the dark thoughts.
She refused to allow herself to stoop to a level of a fallen angel, there was a reason Anaqielle had fallen from heaven and following her lead would mean falling from the path of ascension.
“See that? She’s acting like I am not worth a response from her. How is that equality?” Ashlynn was enraged at that point, she walked up to Laliya and slapped the bucket from hand.
Thud!
The bucket fell to the floor and the water splashed everywhere.
Laliya paused, she stopped chanting her mantras and looked up at Ashlynn.
“That was rude and you just wasted water,” she said, focusing her mind of light response.
“Do you know how many places are suffering from drought at this very moment?”
Ashlynn scoffed.
Her lips parted in disbelief.
“Don’t act like a saint. You’re just a girl like the rest of us.”
“And when did I say that I wasn’t a girl like any of you?” Laliya asked, she picked up the bucket and raced to the side room where the cleaning supplies were kept.
She fetched a mop and returned.
Without a word, she bent down and started cleaning up the water.
“Don’t you think about the maidens here either, they could slip and fall,” she said, wringing the mop water into the bucket.
Ashlynn was astounded.
The holiest maiden in the sanctum that everyone hailed to the moon was kneeling on the ground in her nightdress mopping the floors.
The Luminars advised them to follow Laliya’s lead but she could never see herself mopping the floors, there were maids in the sanctum for that.
Frustrated by Laliya’s behavior which in her eyes were fake, she kicked the bucket over and the water Laliya had mopped spilled to the floor again.
Laliya paused. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
A frustration building up inside her.
“What are you doing?” She asked, her voice soft and without malice or anger.
“Can you act human for a second? What’s with pretending to be above getting frustrated, huh?” Ashlynn bent down and shoved her hard.
Laliya fell back, her body landing on the wet floor.
She lifted her eyes up at Ashlynn, they were pained but there was no anger in them.
Laliya simply couldn’t understand why Ashlynn was acting out and taking out her frustration on her.
A part of her wanted to understand from where Ashlynn’s frustration stemmed from and help her.
The other part of her asked, ‘What would Anaqielle do in this situation?’
She didn’t have to imagine because right at that second, Anaqielle bare feet stepped into the wet floor next to her.
Laliya stared at those feet.
They looked soft, pale and flawless, almost milky like they were carved from the moon with a skilled artisan.
Her eyes raised from her feet, up the black nightdress and onto the silver hair flowing gently down her back.
She blinked.
The dream she had came haunting her and she swallowed, hard.
Even awake, she couldn’t stand the idea of Anaqielle burning in hell for eternity.
“Who are you?” Ashlynn asked, angered that someone dared to come between her and Laliya.
Anaqielle leaned her head to the side.
His golden eyes flashed with a dangerous glint as she looked at Ashlynn.
The aura of a fallen, crept onto Ashlynn’s skin, she backed away a step.
“Who. allowed. you. to. touch. Laliya?” Anaqielle questioned, her voice was so dark, it froze up the bathing house.
The other holy maidens didn’t dare breath.
They also resisted looking away Incase Anaqielle sneaks up at them and attacks them.
The feeling they had in their hearts was that Anaqielle was capable of much worse that the horrors they’ve read in scriptures about demons.
“What is it to you?” Ashlynn still acted tough and argued away.
Though her body showed she didn’t take Anaqielle lightly as she backed away further.
Anaqielle smiled.
Her whitened teeth were flashed out but unlike with Laliya when the sight melted her heart, with Ashlynn she felt her soul chill.
The sight looked demonic like she was staring into the face of the devil and was about to be condemned to the depths of hell.
She gulped, stepping back.
Her eyes avoided Anaqielle’s eyes and fell to Laliya.
“We… We were just exchanging ideas… right Laliya?” she stammered, unable to catch her breath.
Laliya saw her frightened state and felt for her.
She touched Anaqielle’s feet, like magic Anaqielle’s horror expression melted into a soft, friendly smile as she lowered her head to stare at Laliya.
“Yes, your holiness?”
Laliya shuddered, the way she said it.
She addressed her like she was worship itself and Anaqielle was the number one devotee and that terrified her.
“Help me up,” she said, ignoring the twist in her chest.
“As you wish.”