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My dear Lord
Please save my soul
From this desire
That is burning up my insides
Manalus feverishly prayed, his legs numb from kneeling on the cold floor, hands outstretched and directed towards the heavens, his beautiful face stricken with a look of desperation unlike any other.
Save me from this temptation
For I fear Your wrath
I am a righteous man
So don't let my heart go astray
On the path of light
Keep me steadfast
How had this madness started? Manalus could recall that day clearly, as if it had been yesterday.
He had been looking out of his window, admiring the rainy day from the comfort of his warm estate sitting atop a hill, overlooking the sprawling city below from its lofty position. White smoke bellowed up from the chimneys of the little houses dotting the landscape, feeding into the grey haze of rain and smog.
What caught his eye, however, was the hunched over form of a person on one of the little roads, one that had been abandoned by the people upon the arrival of the pouring rain.
A woman, he realized, who had her form concealed by a long tan-brown overcoat and a richly embroidered headscarf was bent over, seemingly petting a... stray cat, as it eagerly ate from a small wooden bowl. Manalus squinted his striking, forest green eyes, strangely taken in by this scene of kindness.
It wasn't that he had never seen others being affectionate to the stray animals of this city, after all, these cats in particular kept the rodent population in check. Manalus supposed it was perhaps her smile, small and hidden from the rest of the drowning world, intended to be seen by no one.
Long after she had left, and the cat had burrowed itself under the wooden crate that the woman had made into its makeshift shelter from the drizzling rain, Manalus replayed the scene a few more times than he would have liked to admit.
The next time he had seen a glimpse of her was in that great, domed blue house of worship, set in the centre of the city. For a moment, against all the odds of this world, his eyes had met her (e/c) ones for a moment, and by God, had his heart thumped a little harder.
Hurriedly, yet regrettably, he had cast his glance aside, lest his thoughts devolved in a direction that wasn't proper. Shamefully, and with a growing sense of desperation, Manalus realized he couldn't focus on his prayer for the very first time.
