Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 42: Id Part 1

Pollyanna sat on her knees in prayer before a statue of Renthas in her new home; the convent of one of Holy Renthas' daughters, Reena.

Reena was a wise and caring figure in Scripture. She offered intelligence to human beings behind Renthas' back, and Renthas made her live out the rest of her days on a solitary island within the heavens because of it.

Reena was always a somewhat controversial figure in human Scripture due to her actions.

Because of her, humans traded innocence and comfort for intelligence and cunning, and they had never been an entirely happy species since.

Pollyanna didn't know whether happiness and innocence were worth trading for cunning and intelligence, but she found thinking about it a useful distraction in keeping her mind off recent devastations.

It had been a month since her hometown had been burned down, and a week since a healer had told her that she had lost her child.

The healer had placed a hand and ear on her belly in silence after Pollyanna told her that her undergarments had been spotted with blood.

She painfully closed her eyes in empathy for Pollyanna. "I'm sorry. I feel no kicks, nor can my magic feel any heartbeat."

Pollyanna's eyes snapped shut in pain. Tears were squeezed out from the corners of them. She didn't have any strength for words.

She held her face in her palms and felt completely drained.

Now, I am truly a dead-woman-walking. She thought to herself.

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With nowhere to go and no one left to live for, Pollyanna committed herself to a life of servitude and prayer within the convent.

She only heard bits and pieces of what was happening in the outside world, including what had happened the night when she had lost everything.

"The fairies attacking the Maribel border from the front were a feint. It was the west end of the border that we needed to watch." A priestess told Pollyanna. "The Astral Elves intervened because that's what they do. If they see an egregious wrong about to happen, they try to prevent it from happening. They promised to lend us their strength for the upcoming battles against the fairies."

Pollyanna listened, but said nothing in response.

She didn't care about the outside world. She didn't care about anything. She just felt tired and wanted to sleep.

Pollyanna had time to reflect upon her life while she made her home in the convent and lived a life so dull that she had nothing to fear.

Undeniably, when she reflected on her past, it would add another crack to her heart which was one hairline away from shattering.

I wish it would, if it meant that I didn't have to feel this pain.

The other women at the convent pitied her.

She heard them gossiping about her from time-to-time.

"That new girl—I hear she was married to a man who beat and raped her. She ended up losing the child..." Was the sum of what many said.

They had no condolences for her, however. In fact, they actively avoided her.

The judgmental voices of the women stalked her in echoes as she walked through the hallways of the convent and went about her daily routines.

She must be cursed!

Because she had no friends and family left, she decided the eerie, empty halls which she often walked down late at night were her friends.