The Priestess snorted a laugh, shaking her head underneath the hood of her white cloak.
“No. It is the choice of the village on who they will sacrifice to him. We have no say in this, especially since we do not know what will happen. This could bring prosperity to your people.”
“They are just trying to get rid of me!”
“True.” She sighed, stepping away as her mask tilted downward and then back up, as if she was looking over her outfit. “But he offers a protection ward that is more powerful than anything we humans can produce with our weak magic.”
“Your magic is considered just as unholy, and yet you aren’t allowed to be sacrificed.” Apparently, the magic inside of humans was disgusting, and Demons and Duskwalkers didn’t like the taste. For this reason, they were often left alone when travelling between villages and towns.
“What if it is the same? We could anger him. He could kill me and desecrate the entire town at the same time!”
“You do not need to be afraid.” The Priestess stepped away from her while pulling back her sleeves. She knelt over a bucket of water to clean her arms and hands after touching Reia as though she was a vile disease. “You will become his bride. You will be safe.”
The thing was, Reia didn’t feel afraid. She was livid!
She had experienced her own family dying, and then had been treated as a disgusting outcast. She wasn’t allowed to speak to anyone, wasn’t allowed to look upon anyone.
The only reason she’d never been thrown into the prison cells permanently, despite the fact she’d never committed a crime in her life, was because they were worried about upsetting some higher cosmic power.
She was only allowed to live on her own and could only leave her home to get food from the other villagers in the ground square. Always at noon, the highest point of the sun, like they feared if it was any closer to darkness it would mean their certain death.
They gave it to her freely, but she would have to place her basket on the ground and wait for it to be filled while standing several feet away. The villagers tossed the food and water inside, often missing, and Reia would be forced to pick it up herself once they were gone.
“Then why does he need a new one every decade?” She wanted to shout her rage, wanted to kick and scream like a child, but knew it was pointless.
She was to be compliant, or they would toss her into the cell they had created beneath the ground and leave her there to rot. Even though she didn’t want to be sacrificed to the Duskwalker, she didn’t want to live inside a cell for the rest of her life more.
Maybe I can run away from him. She could find freedom since she had never been able to escape the village. The guards watched the only two exits and never permitted her anywhere near them.
She’d been caught a few times trying to climb the walls and they had tossed her inside the prison cell as punishment, which was why she knew how terrible it was down there. They were underground to save space within the village.
Reia knew just how dark, cold, and lonely it was.
Reia had fight in her, always had, always would. She wanted freedom. She clenched her fists once more. I will be free. She would not live chained in this village, nor to a despicable nightmare.
“We do not know. He may have a harem, he may kill them himself, they may not be able to survive in the Veil. We do not know if that place is safe for humans to even breathe.
The shroud of darkness could be poisonous.”
There was a black mist that hung like a cloud around the edges of the forest of the Veil that met the cliff walls and, occasionally, rose between the trees deep within.
“So, basically you are saying I’m going to die regardless,”
Reia stated with a dull expression. “How is that safe?”
“Is it not better than being trapped in this village, cursing the innocent people that live here? Or are you that selfish?”
Reia could almost imagine her raising a singular brow at her in question underneath her mask.
Reia’s lips thinned in annoyance as she bit her tongue.
I don’t care if I’m selfish.
The woman sighed and waved her hand forward.
“Come. He was spotted making his way towards this village yesterday.” It was how they knew to make sure Reia was prepared since he was coming here rather than one of the other two towns nearby. “We no longer have to wait for his arrival. He will come today.”
As if the woman had the power to see into the future like a soothsayer, a bell began to ring in the distance, warning them of his approach. Shouts carried to Reia’s small home before someone yelled directly at her door, refusing to come any closer or even knock.
“The sacrifice is supposed to be someone who is pure and willing,” Reia stated, feeling a crawl of dread slipping down her spine like the ghastly cold finger of a ghost. Her eyes darted to the door while her feet remained rooted to the ground, not wanting to meet her death. “He will see through their lies.”
“You meet all the requirements. You are pure, since no man would dare lay with you. You are willing, as it is either this or the cell.” The Priestess opened the door to her home and held it open, waiting for Reia to leave. “And you will have greeted him knowing what he is and that you will become his bride. You are allowed to stay here and not greet him, other sacrifices have been prepared, but once he is gone, you will be taken underground to live the rest of your days.”
Once more, those flames ignited in her chest, spite-filled and hateful.
“Your hearts are all vacant,” Reia spat with venom in her words before stepping through the threshold.
Jingle bells that had been tied to the sides of her flower crown chimed with each step she took towards the town square – the balls inside them the song of her doom – where she would eventually meet her grim reaper.
Reia’s dress was too long, and she had to lift the hem as she walked down the pathway that led from her outcast home to the town centre. Her white cloak dragged along the ground, weighted and heavy, but it did little to keep out the wintery chill as it sunk beneath her clothes. Goosebumps prickled along her skin before they danced throughout her body as light shivers.
Only those brave enough to lay eyes upon the Duskwalker dared to surround the centre, and they gave her a wide berth as she entered. They no longer seemed to fear looking upon her now that she was going to be taken away.
“Are you ready to go, angelus mortem?” the village chief asked, like them all, refusing to speak her very name as if even its mention would bring death.
