Plague of divinity

Chapter 2

He stared at her. He had a feeling something bad had happened but there was a part of him desperately clinging to the hope it was just him being unnecessarily fearful, he tried to swallow but the lump that had formed didn't leave "uncle Gaurin is also gone from the plague and your cousin Cylssandre has been missing for months," he put his head in his hands, eyes welling up as a wave of emotions finally took over, first his co-workers, and now his close family members. Why had nobody told him?! He began to shake with rage and stood up suddenly, slamming his hands on the table and speaking in an angry tone, louder than he intended "Why am I only finding out now?! Anyone could have sent a message at any time to tell me this, you could have sent me a message! But instead you leave me in the dark to assume everything is ok. I would have come back sooner if I had known things were going so badly over here! I could have- I could have-..." his frustration was soon overcome by waves of guilt as he noticed how his mother flinched at his outburst, he sat back down shamefully and rested his head back in his hands. "No one knew where you were," his mother looked away, appearing hurt as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I told...-" he went quiet. The only person he had told was his brother. No wonder they couldn't get to him. The only way he had found out in the first place they might need his help is from someone who happened to pass nearby the village and had heard of a nasty illness that had taken it. The room was quiet apart from shaky breathing coming from the only two people habiting the room. "...I'm... I'm sorry. I need some time to process this," He slowly got up from where he was seated, picking up his mask as he went past and left for his old room.

Waking up next morning he asked his mother of his sister's whereabouts and left with a chunk of bread. Sliding torn off pieces under his mask as he walked along the once more quiet streets. As he went of his way the corner of his eye caught sight of something grey. Tilting his head slightly he noticed a skinny animal slowly padding after him, tail and head lowered in caution, it's eyes flicking towards his birdly face and the hunk grasped between his gloved fingers. Enrick looked down at the bread before returning his gaze to the dog. With a nonchalant sigh he dropped the bread on the ground, once he had stepped far enough away the ravenous animal hurried forward and snapped up the remains eagerly. He adjusted his mask before continuing towards the temple, hoping it wouldn't be as bad as he assumed.

As he neared he could hear a ruckus sounding on the steps leading up to the temple. His eyes glanced over the people that had gathered, meeting with a darker pair belonging to a young man with ruffled black hair appearing to be in his 20's. It was subtle but Enrick could tell the man was assessing him from a distance due to the slight flicker of his eye movements. His gaze was soon broken however by a kerfuffle at the front of the crowd. Moving around quickly, Enrick could see people closer to the disturbance stepping further back as someone fell to the ground. The person let out a few coughs as a robed priest stood over them as they gasped for breath.

"Be there no mercy for the one who defiles the gods, for their hollow soul shall rot in the underworld," a hand slipped out from under the robes, a sticky red substance lacing his wrinkled fingers. His mouth was downturned in a look of disgust at the person next to his white sandals. "Hideous fiend, have you any remorse for your actions?" another cough sounded out before a voice croaked out from the figure on the floor. "You're right, I do feel remorse," they hissed and shakily got to their haunches "...That I didn't bring any more paint-" . Enrick couldn't see their face from where he was stood but he assumed the priest did not enjoy the person's expression for in the next moment his face twisted into a snarl and his foot flew forwards, colliding with their stomach and instigating a groan from the grounded person.

Enrick felt guilt rise within, his inner doctor calling him to do something as opposed to standing as a bystander watching the violence take place but he only had just arrived... should he really be interrupting something when he didn't know the full context of the situation? It didn't feel right to disrupt someone as important to the village as the priest when doing a task such as this but maybe if he just...-

"uh- good priest!-" the words from his mouth slipped out unexpectedly... and far too loud to take back, oh gods was he really doing this?

The priest turned his head to search the crowd for the source of the noise, his sight landing on Enrick. His eyes narrowed and questioning at the boldness of his tone, trying to figure out if he knew the man in the odd mask as he stood over the person "who is the one that speaks?" Enrick swallowed, trying to hide his nervousness as the crowd watched him walk forwards. As he got closer he noticed a couple of statues in the temple had been vandalised, red paint dripping from new angry inscriptions, leading a trail to where they currently stood. His voice got caught in his throat but he managed to utter out a few words "I see a terrible crime has been committed?" The priest's eyes stayed narrowed. "Yes... I do hope your purpose interruption wasn't only to state the obvious..." Enrick shook his head "-no no, of course not I just wanted to bring up that the crime was done against the gods right?"
"Correct."

"So... wouldn't justice best be served through their doing?"

"As priests it is our duty to carry out the will of the gods. This person is deserving of punishment and therefore I am carrying it out in their names,"

"But good priest- take a closer look at them,"

The Priest stared at him, studying him for a moment before turning back to the person he had been dealing with.

"Does he not show signs of illness?"

"What point are you trying to make..."

"Is bad health not caused by the gods themselves? Surely inflicting this one with sickness is evidence of a god's punishment?"

"You're suggesting there's no need to inflict any more punishment upon this criminal? The crime they committed was grave."

"-and they are feeling the penalty of their actions through the will of the gods. If they wished to inflict any more, this one would be dead,"

The priest paused for a moment, thinking, eyes turning back to Enrick before letting out a quick breath, almost in mock amusement "Your statements speak reason enough. The gods are kind and merciful. Ok then, once they remove the damage they have inflicted we will leave their judgement up to the gods." Enrick could feel relief flow through his body. The priest grabbed the person's collar and yanked them up, initiating an ungraceful cough from the recipient's chest.

"Wait-"

The priest turn to look at Enrick, eyebrow raised slightly in curiosity as what this overly bold man could possibly have else to say. Enrick swallowed, hoping what he was saying wasn't going to be a mistake.

"Do I have your word?"

The priest gave a smile, their eyes narrowing slightly.

"Of course my boy, I give you my word."

Enrick watched the person as they were dragged away. He had a feeling due to their weakened of illness, any more beating received from the priest could have been fatal. He could tell the priest wasn't too thrilled about having to debate the punishment of such a criminal with a masked stranger but the points he brought up were hardly ones the priest could dismiss in front of such a crowd and he was just glad it was over quickly.

Feeling he shouldn't hang around for too long at risk of attracting any more attention he turned around and started to walk, only to feel a hand on his shoulder a moment later. He froze. Was it another priest? He looked back and his eyes were met with a darker pair, the man he noticed earlier? He could just ignore him and continue walking but there appeared to be something he wanted to say, an idea dancing behind those deep eyes of his.

The man stared at him for another few moments before the edges of his previously relaxed mouth curled upwards slightly into a small smirk, his hand lifting from his shoulder and being returned to its owner "you're a smart one aren't you?"

Enrick looked at him, normally he would just take the compliment and be off but there was something about this guy that stirred the sense of an ulterior motive, something about the way his eyes were narrowed slightly.

"Uh... thank you?"

The man snorted quietly, although Enrick wasn't sure what there was to be amused at. "Something tells me we'll meet again soon enough," and with those nonchalant words the man turned around and walked off, disappearing into the crowd.

Enrick watched the spot he was lost in, his eyebrows knitting together, who the hell was that strange man?