Children of the Eternal

II

Will looked up. "You aren't going to die."

His words were weightless. Neither of the strangers in the room looked up. Fear shone in the girl's eyes.

"You aren't," he repeated, as if that would give solid truth to the words.

"My mother was said to be Gripped by the Dark," she whispered. "They purified her. They killed her."

Will swallowed.

"They really didn't like that my mother wrote articles that questioned the Sacred State of the Eternal." The chains clinked as her hands trembled. "So they quietly killed her—in the name of saving her."

The golden glow of the prayer pool seemed to have a new, unnerving quality. It cast an eerie glow on the girl's blank expression.

"They pushed her under water, again and again. They burned her with the holy Light. Her body didn't even look like my mother anymore."

Will shrank from the image. "They wouldn't have..."

Her eyes watered, but no tears fell. "But they did."

He swallowed. "It wasn't intentional. They are strict and harsh, but they only want to save people."

Her beautiful face twisted up. "Fine! Be like everyone else. Blind yourself with the Light, see if I care!"

He turned from her. She was probably corrupted by the Dark. Her hysterical words shouldn't carry weight, shouldn't hit him so hard.

"I don't want to die."

The frail whisper sent shivers through Will. Her words ate away at him. He didn't know the specifics of the purification ritual, but he knew it involved water. People only ever spoke of it in hushed tones.

He swerved around. "They won't kill you."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "They can always do worse."

"What?"

"Do you read the Dark Chronicle?"

There was a familiar sound to the name, but Will couldn't place it. He shook his head.

"It's a newspaper, declared illegal by the Sacred State." A faint smile passed over her face, as if she took pride in the paper. "Last week it contained a report of a man who denied the divinity of the Eternal Light."

"What?" Will blinked. "The Eternal Light is divine, a manifestation of the deity who protects us from the Dark. That man must've been Gripped by the Dark."

"They declared him Gripped." She nodded. "They forced him into a purification and between the water and burning light, he came out a reformed believer. Do you know what Mr. Believer did? Turned his wife and brother over to the Sacred State. His wife just disappeared."

"Does anyone know what happened to her?" Will asked.

She shook her head. "Most think she is imprisoned in a sanctuary like this one. Soon she'll be dead or she'll be like her husband. She'll have lost everything of herself. She'll be nothing."

Will's skin crawled.

She stared up at him with her piercing eyes. "Do you want to know more?"

He was just about to dedicate himself to the Eternal. Questioning the holy Light was wrong. But questioning was his nature.

"Tell me," he said.

His eyes went wide as she lifting her knee high until she could reach her stocking. A crinkling sound filled the air as she pulled a paper from her stocking. She settled back into a kneeling position and smoothed the paper out before handing it to him.