31 Amanises

After a month....

Northern Continent, Kingdom of Night.

Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!

As the believers entered the gothic style church under the light of the rising sun, the church bells rang loudly.

This vibrant street was filled with passing carriages and bustling crowds. The ladies' and children's chatter and laughter were ever-present.

The newspaper boy could be seen shouting about on the turn, with the most recent news.

There was also an unusual store in the long line of buildings; the store was painted white, a stark contrast to the city's entire style, as all of the buildings were mostly dark in colour.

There was a black sign with the words "Tarot Divination" and the price written on it.

The passing people, on the other hand, paid no attention and ignored this peculiar shop.

A beautiful woman walked among the passing crowds, her long black hair reaching her hips. She was dressed in a black layered gown with sparkling lights that resembled stars in the night sky and a black gauze over her face.

Despite walking among the throngs, everyone avoided and ignored the black-haired woman subconsciously, depsite woman's temperament and aura were divine and otherworldly.

The black-haired woman eventually came to a halt in front of an alley and turned to walk into it.

As she walked into the alley, the sun's rays dampened, leaving nothing but thick darkness in front of her.

The darkness moved frequently, as if it contained demons that seemly emerged from the terrible nightmares itself.

Even after seeing this, the black-haired woman continued walking into the darkness. With her in it, the surging darkness calmed down and cleared away, revealing the scene within.

A girl's whimpering voice echoed, and the ground was stained with crimson blood. In the midst of it all, there was a corpse of a man with no upper body and a teenage girl with a torn dress that revealed most of her body kneeling on the floor with a white bone knife in her hand, which she was tightly clutching. Her hands and blade were covered in crimson blood. Her eyes were wide and never left the corpse.

The entire scene revealed the tragedy that occurred here.

The white bone sword was coated in darkness, which frequently let out wisps, causing the light in the surroundings to dim.

The black-haired woman looked at the teenage girl in silence for a moment before approaching her.

The girl sensed someone approaching her and immediately pointed her sword at the black-haired woman.

"Please don't come-me ne-ear me-e..." The girl stuttered as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Pleas-se don -n't, I be-eg you..." With panic in her eyes, she pleaded, her voice becoming smaller as she spoke.

Even after seeing this and walking forward to her, the black-haired woman's expression behind the gauze didn't change in the least.

"No." As she realised this, the girl let out a painful cry.

However, she was immediately drawn into an embrace, which swept away all her fear and panic, and she almost felt like she was back in her mother's embrace.

As her grip loosened, the white bone dagger in her hand fell to the floor. But there was no sound of it hitting the floor, as if the dagger had vanished in the middle.

"Everything is fine." A black-haired woman's ethereal voice sounded, and she immediately fell completely relaxed; all the painful experiences that had been replaying in her mind vanished, leaving her completely tranquil. "You are safe now."

The black-haired woman raised her hand to the air, then a the black veil apprered in her hand, she used it to cover the girl body due to her torn cloths.

The black-haired woman finally let the girl out of her embrace after the girl stopped trembling, but the girl didn't let go and was still clinging to her.

The black-haired woman's tranquil eyes finally showed pity as she looked at the girl.

"Can you tell me your name?" She inquired softly of the girl.

The girl finally separated from her embrace as she heard her voice and clung to the veil draped over her, then she looked at the lady before her in silence for a moment and whispered.

"Ariana.."

"What a lovely name... " The woman with black hair complimented.

"Yours?" Ariana questioned after a some hesitation.

"Amanines.." The black-haired woman replied lightly, then asked. "Where is your mother?"

"She passed away." Ariana whispered this as tears welled up once more. "Attempting to save me from the monster raging across the blood river. I begged and prayed to the goddess countless times, but there was no hope..." Her eyes became dim, while her voice become quiter. "She left me alone in the world, with broken promises and a white dagger."

"Dagger!?" Ariana panicked when she realised the dagger had vanished.

"Here." Amanines handed over the dagger, that she was holding in her hands.

Ariana snatched the dagger from her grasp and turned to face the Amanines with vigilance, but she immediately felt her eyelids become heavy and her vision was becoming blurry.

"I am sorry, Ariana." She eventually fell asleep after hearing the Amanines' voices.

Amanines looked at Ariana in silence, her expression couldn't be seen, as it was completely hidden by the black gauze that covered her face.

When she turned around, a man with black wings appeared behind her.

"Bring her to church. Make certain she grows up well." Amanines spoke to her angel in an etheric voice. "Her mother was Angela, one of our martyred saints from the crimson night." She stated,

"Yes, m'lady." The angel replied and inquired with confusion "We could have done it for you, m'lady..."

Amanines interrupted him. "I'm here for another reason, but I noticed her as well on the way.."

The angel nodded, before taking Ariana and disappearing soon afterwards.

Amanines finally turned to look at the man's broken body lying in the pool of blood and raised her hand, as an ethereal soul was pulled out of his body and reached her hands.

Without even looking at it, she crushed it in her hands. The man's body then faded out of existence along with his soul.

Finally, Amanines approached the white building with the tarot divination sign written on it and entered it.

Ring!

The bell rang as she entered the strange and dimly lit room with only one table in the centre and a man sitting on one of the chairs, holding a deck of tarot cards. There was crystal ball on the table with candles.

"Amanines, sit down" Looking at his customer, the man with short white hair said calmly.

"I never took you for a charlatan, Aucuces." Amanines said with a actual smile, but as she looked around the room, she felt a sense of déjà vu.