Aleone came out holding Yugo, a knife nearly glued to his carotid artery.
She pushed him forward, always taking care to keep the knife in full view of the clergymen. As the woman swept her gaze over the municipal courtyard, the sight of her husband lying on the ground in a pool of blood, made her look sombre, and she tucked herself behind Yugo's back.
"ARGH!"
He clutched his shoulder, while gasping loudly.
"Move!" shouted Aleone.
Once in front of the stairs, she stopped right next to her hostage, tightened the grip of the knife on Yugo's neck, and addressed the bishop.
"I've been expecting you, your highness!" she said, smiling.
"Oh! Miss Aleone... But what are you doing?!" asked the old man, surprised.
"But nothing other than the will of the gods!"
Upon hearing these words, the bishop froze. He raised his sceptre, and his men, already prepared to swarm over the two newcomers, stopped advancing.
"The gods, you say? You expect me to believe that you know what the gods want?"
"Of course? I couldn't show it clearly next to... this man...".
She paused briefly, looked at her husband, and continued.
"...But I am one of your most faithful followers, thanks to the holy education I received."
The priest, increasingly intrigued, frowned.
"You? One of our followers? And yet, I don't remember seeing you at even one of my sermons or church services!"
He patted his white robe, still dirty from his fall, and continued.
"You want to lie, and use your foul venom to corrupt our faith, like the viper you are."
"It really hurts me that you say all that, your highness. Yet it was for the sole purpose of helping you fulfil today's prophecy that I decided to sacrifice myself carnally by marrying this guy!" Aleone retorted, feigning offence at the, seemingly, cruel and harsh words uttered by the man of faith before her.
The priest hesitated.
"A-Ah?! Really?! So you seduced this man of little faith just to help us?"
"But of course! What beautiful, sane, and dignified young woman would willingly want to marry a man as disgusting and cowardly as the one I'm married to?"
Hearing Aleone insult her husband, the old man laughed.
"So it's really true that you didn't love him!"
"Absolutely not! I did all that, just to be of help to our cult."
The priest then began to think seriously. There was something in the statements of the woman before him that rang true. Yet, It was common knowledge among the citizen folks that she was "The Queen of Vipers", a manipulator who used all sorts of perfidious means to achieve her ends.
Furrowing his brow, the old man shook his head to ascertain his disbelief over the words of the woman.
"I still don't believe you. If you are so faithful to the teachings of the gods, swear on their names and that of your family that you are telling the tru-"
"I swear! And even more, I can give you proof of my love for the gods and this church!"
He froze.
The fact that she, whom he regarded as ungodly, would swear so quickly and without hesitation on such seemingly serious a subject, was already a great deal. But he was not to be fooled.
'Devils are all manipulators and false preachers!'
He sighed.
"Do so! Give proof of your faith!"
"It's quite simple, Your Holiness! Where do you think the mysterious donations came from, that enabled the cathedral to complete its renovations five years ago? Or why do you think visits and pilgrimages suddenly increased when my husband became mayor? Or again, the orphanage run by your cathedral didn't have enough funds, yet miraculously received help from the mayor's office. And I'm not talking about the so-called anonymous warning you received, which enabled you to have the barrier neutralised. That was all my doing." Aleone replied in a nonchalant, yet confident, gesture.
The old man hesitated.
'There's something wrong. She said things that are public knowledge, but the pilgrimages and tourist visits coincide well with this man's arrival at the council. And the warning...'
The priest was visibly confused. His mind had split into two opposite sides and he was now torn between both. On one hand, his faith, and the facts put forward by Aleone stood strong. On the other, his guts and instinct told him that it was all a lie.
However, the scales were tipping a little too far in favour of his religious belief.
He lingered for a bit, then shook his head again, dismissing as such any corrupted ideas that could have made him further hesitate, or worse, go against what he thought the gods wanted.
But still, the bishop needed one last confirmation.
"Even if you say that, most of these are from public knowledge. What proves to me that you're not lying?!"
"Nothing. Just remember that I'm the mayor's personal assistant, but also his wife. You said it yourself, I simply seduced and influenced him to turn his actions more towards our beloved cult. And when all was about to fail tonight, I acted again for the proper fulfilment of the prophecy." She said, tugging at Yugo's scarlet hair.
There it was.
Hearing all this, the bishop could no longer refuse to believe that what she was saying was true. However, he wasn't stupid enough to simply let himself be influenced like that. She must surely have had some ulterior motives in doing all this.
An idea then occurred to him, sparking the light of a dark ember that danced deep into the dark well of his mind..
'That she-devil thought she had me! Eh!'
He moved forward a few metres, stopped and then motioned to one of his henchmen to come over.
"You, use your grace to make us a table and chairs."
The man circulated the Kilith through his body, then incanted.
Appearing from almost thin air — If said thin air, here, meant the lugubrious darkish roots and some of the flowers scattered near, and around, the area — a tree trunk, cut at the base, stood in the middle of the municipal courtyard, and two smaller ones appeared right next to it, on each sides.
At the same time, the tree standing a little further away, above the hole next to the gate, began to crumble and disappeared in a cloud of wood dust, taking away in the same vein, the roots and flowers that were around Karlen and the second guard.
When Yugo saw this, he wanted to move, but Aleone pressed down on his broken arm. The pain spread throughout his body and he almost fell to his knees from the pain. Nonetheless, he stood up, panting, and looked at the woman with killer eyes.
"You... I-"
SBAF!
He didn't have time to finish his sentence before he was slapped across the face.
"Shut up!"
Straightening up, Yugo muttered inaudible words.
Aleone squeezed his arm again, and hit him on the back with the handle of the knife.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear anything."
The bishop, seeing the scene, smiled and began to applaud. He even whistled.
"To succeed in harming and even subduing a reaper... What an extraordinary and fearsome woman you are!"
"Thank you, your holiness!"
Raising his hand, the bishop presented the table and wooden stools to Aleone.
"Let us sit down, then... to negotiate."
"Negotiate?" asked a surprised Aleone.
"Yes, of course! You've proved to me that you are indeed one of our followers. However, we both know that there's more to you than just the desire to carry out the mission entrusted to you by the gods. Am I right?"
She smiled awkwardly.
"Do tell."
"Well, I don't know. But quite simply, I'd say... your daughter!"
Aleone froze.
"She may bear the corrupted blood of that coward, but she is still innocent of his sins. Who knows? With a little more goodwill on your part, she might... uh... receive absolution... "
A vicious grin birthed on his decrepit face.
"...And divine, as well as carnal protection."
Aleone flinched, then lowered her head, immersed in a reflection that only she knew what was at stake. After a moment without saying anything, she raised her head.
"Agreed. Let's sit down and negotiate." She said with a nervous smile, expressing her unease at the situation.
The old man stepped forward and gestured. Another of his followers joined him and pulled a thick cloth out of a canvas bag, folded it several times and placed it on one of the improvised stools.
The bishop sat down and waited.
Aleone, seeing that his interlocutor was ready, pinched the bridge of her nose as she raised her head, then descended the steps of the residence staircase and set off in dead silence.
Yugo was still in her grip and was obliged to follow her, the slightest attempt to move resulting in pain in his arm put in the splint.
When they reached Karlen, she stopped, made a diversion and crouched down in front of her husband's body.
The young woman bent down, letting go of Yugo, and kissed her husband's forehead, then kissed him and caressed his cheek. She got up and made her way back to the "negotiation table", where she sat down on the second wooden seat. She was not, however, entitled to the comfort of an upholstered seat.
"What on the heavens was that?" the bishop asked in shock.
She bit her lower lip, sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"He may have been a coward and unclean, but he was still my husband, so I ended up getting a bit attached to him. So he at least had to go as such." She said, swinging her hand nonchalantly.
She stared into the old man's eyes, a spark of unshakeable will shining in her gaze.
"But make no mistake. He was nothing compared to our mission and my daughter."
The resolution with which she spoke finally convinced the cleric that she meant what she said.
He smiled.
"I see! It's an honourable gesture. Even he deserved a little affection after all. Of course, that's what our creators are all about: loving your fellow!"
"Thank you," replied Aleone, inclining her head.
"So, let's get back to our main subject. The heart of the angel."
"The angel, eh? Well, there it is, in our residence."
The bishop, delighted, beckoned one of his followers to approach.
"Perfect then! You, go and-"
"No! The only person I allow to see or touch this crystal is you, your highness! No one else." Aleone cut in.
The bishop froze. He frowned and put on a disgruntled expression.
"Why shouldn't my men have the right to lay their hands on the heart?"
Aleone glanced sharply in the direction of the men in brown robes and sighed.
"Forgive me if this displeases you, but I have sacrificed far too much to obtain this gift for you. So I don't trust anyone else..."
"Hmm. But still..."
"And furthermore, just as you assumed that I was just a heretic, actively working with this idiot, and therefore against our faith; what proof do you have that there are no envoys of the evil one among your ranks?"
This question, however simple and obvious, became one of a dozen in the old man's already full head.
Of course, he should have asked himself whether all his men were absolutely loyal to him and to the gods. But he had never thought it necessary to doubt the faith of others, at least not until now.
And yet, the presence and actions of the one in front of him had proved that anyone could work with all their soul to achieve an objective, even if it meant being loved by their enemy by playing the faithful servant, and hated by their allies by being seen as a traitor and sinner.
The mere presence of this idea in the old man's mind made everything he had ever thought he knew about others, especially his loyal followers and henchmen, collapse like a house of cards.
"I-I see! Yes, I understand better!"
He stood up.
"Let's go then! On the other hand..."
He waved to the man he'd called, who approached.
"I'll carry the crystal. However, even if he doesn't come into contact with it, he can at least accompany me as my bodyguard... Right?!"
Aleone frowned, then raised her shoulders.
"I don't see any problem with that."
So they got up and headed inside the residence.
Inside, they found no one, but the cleric didn't think much of it. They went straight into the small lounge, where the documents were still on the table, and Yugo's huge bag was sitting next to the armchair where he had been sitting.
"It's here!" said Aleone.
The priest stepped forward and pulled on the two strings that fastened the leather bag. In the main pocket he found the enormous crystal, which he took with great care and attention.
"The heart!" said the old man, admiring the gigantic rounded gem that shone with purplish reflections.
His eyes were lit up with sparks that vibrated to the same rhythm as those of the little flashes of coloured light from the Negacion core. He infused it with a little of his Kilith and the gem shone even brighter.
"Ah, the gods really are good to their faithful!" he said, continuing to admire the gem.
The believer accompanying the bishop immediately fell to his knees and said a short prayer. The cult leader passed the crystal over him in a ceremonial gesture and urged the man to rise.
The man obeyed and admired the crystal, tears welling in his eyes.
'They really are mad!' thought Yugo.
Once they had confirmed that the heart crystal was indeed that of the Negacion, they went out again into the courtyard.
The bishop presented the jewel to his followers and the whole troop of fanatics reacted in the same way as the first, allowing the old man to resume his ritual action.
Aleone watched all this in silence, waiting for the bishop to finish his circus.
Once that was done, she spoke again.
"Good, your highness! Now that that's done, we can move on to what's next."
"What's next?" asked the bishop, a bit surprised.
She smiled.
"Don't play dumb... I'm talking about the awakening ceremony!"
The old man smiled, fixing his gaze on her with a mixture of distrust and surprise.
"You little snake... how far have you snooped?!"
"Didn't I tell you? I was doing all this to fulfil the prophecy, so I owe it to myself to know what must happen!" exclaimed Aleone.
The bishop huffed.
"Well... That'll make things easier for us. I'd even go so far as to say that we could do great with more devotees like you."
"Oh... Thank you." Aleone replied, smiling.
He turned back to his followers and spoke.
"Dear faithful, tonight we will welcome an angel once again, and this time, with him will come the saint we've been waiting for."
"Praise the gods!" replied the believers in chorus.
He called the man who had the cloth bag. The man approached and held out his package, where the old man carefully placed the creature's crystal. Once this was done, he said a brief prayer to the gods and grabbed the bag himself, clutching it to his chest.
"Good! Let's get back to the house of our creators, so we can celebrate the rest of the advent!"
Immediately, the faithfuls climbed into the vehicles they had come in, and some were already about to leave off.
"Father, I have a much quicker way of getting us to the cathedral." intervened Aleone.
The old man looked at her, showing a new layer of surprise on his face.
"Really? Is that so? And how?" asked the man, a little incredulous.
She pushed Yugo forward roughly.
"This young sinner here happens to have the ability to move instantly from one place to another!" she said, tightening her grip on Yugo's jugular with the black knife.
The bishop's face, wrinkled and full of keratoses, lit up at this news.