Infiltration

The night felt particularly dark. Maybe it was because it was a new moon, or maybe it was just nerves. The innermost temple had towering pillars that created dark shadows, heightening the ominous feeling as she continued to trespass the holy halls.

Maybe the presence of Lux was more powerful in this place? But if so, he really should have struck her down with lightning by now. Instead, she was making her way deeper and deeper into the temple.

Stained glass of religious myths and stories decorated the walls lavishly, and the minimalist feeling of piety had all but disappeared as gold-plated tiles started to appear on the ceilings, jewels embedded into statues of Lux. A gross display of wealth, Callisto wondered if this made them feel better about themselves.

After doing a little snooping, Callisto supposed that if they put a valuable piece of Lux anywhere, it would be behind the large vault door that said 'TREASURY' in all caps.

Why did a church even have a treasury?!

And unfortunately for her, it was unbelievably reinforced. She didn't think she would be able to get in tonight. Not unless she wanted everyone and their mother to know what she was up to.

Magic sensors and anti-explosive plating covered the walls around the treasury, and at the very least, she needed some time to create an escape plan.

'Hmm? What's this?'

As she was preparing to go back, Callisto felt a shift in one of the tiles she had walked on. If she was less attentive, it would have passed by her without notice. It was only a small shift in vibration, and the average person walking wouldn't have noticed.

A little prod with her foot confirmed her suspicions, and she got on her knees to search for more loose tiles. As she pulled them from the floor, it revealed a small tunnel, just big enough for her to squeeze herself into.

It was a good thing she wasn't claustrophobic, and she didn't hesitate to get on all fours to crawl into god-knows-where.

The end of the tunnel brought her into a room with no exits besides the one she came from. Based on the detailing of one of the walls, she could tell that it was still connected to the inner temple hall she had just come from. Why would they build a room with no doors? What was there to hide?

Finally taking a look around her, she didn't see anything that would warrant hiding. Common lodger books, loose papers, and correspondence letters of sorts littered the small room. When she took a look at what was written though, it quickly dawned on Callisto why it was hidden.

Letters on staging miracles, profiting off of disease by intentionally allowing them to fester, ledger books revealing obvious fraud. The room was wrought with evidence of manipulating things behind the scenes.

A corrupt religious institute? No surprise there. But there was an interesting bit of info she found strange. What she remembered from history books were events that were depicted much differently in these private documents she read.

Furthermore, there was a brief mention of some historical revision from one high priest to another, and from the look of it, it seemed like it wasn't something new. And, all of it was relevant to Lux. How much of history had been altered to fit a narrative that Lux was absolute? Were some events erased completely? If so, how could she find them?

The problem with historical revision, and religious ones at that, is that the things that happened were so ancient and undocumented that the truth would have been lost ages ago. But if it had something to do with Lux, it could be something that could save her life.

The Saintess had mentioned another god. That was Callisto's greatest hope. If it was something great enough for the church to erase it from history completely, that meant it was a threat.

She perused through the papers, looking for any mention of another god. Even a name would be helpful. She tossed aside papers regarding fraud, extortion, and under-the-table dealings.

An inkling in the back of her mind told her that it was probably important that she took some of it, but disregarded the notion anyways. It wasn't her problem anyway. Not like this choice will bite her in the back later.

-----

It felt like she was reading from ten sources at once, scanning through papers for an unknown name, a name that seemed to be feared, seemed to want to go unspoken. Names of deacons, priests, and sisters passed by her as, like some sort of spell, a name stood out to her, and she felt a pang in her head as she read the name. An unsettling feeling filled her stomach, like something bad was going to happen.

[...locate the relics, and destroy them at all cost. Any remnants of the existence of Alastor need to be…]

The rest was illegible, but even with one sentence, her head felt like it was about to split apart, like she had read something she shouldn't have.

That name… hurt her brain. It felt like her brain was reassembled, fragments of memories she didn't remember appearing at the forefront of her mind. A hand over her face. A voice telling her she shouldn't have been so curious. Over and over and over again until-

"Ugh! My head. I… what was I just doing?"

Huh. Why was she holding a blank piece of paper? She was searching for information about the other god, wasn't she? It looked like there wasn't anything, just more about fraud and-

Wait, what was this? How could she have missed this?

Her pupils were shaking out of fury. Somehow, her eyes became redder than they already were, and her hands were furiously crumpling the papers she was holding.

Lists of first names. No last names, as par for commoners. Names crossed out in different colored inks.

It was something that may not look like much, but for someone who had experience with it, there was no doubt as to what it was.

Just a ledger filled with names? No, a child trafficking scheme. Her stomach dropped as she recognized the more recent names. Roye, Ally, Jane. Kids she knew. Kids she played with.

Kids she hasn't seen in a few days…

"How dare they." The voice that came out of her didn't feel like her own. It came out as a growl of a beast who had been trapped in a cage and starved. Vicious, bloodthirsty, and vengeful. With a short teleportation spell, she left the room. Callisto wasn't in the mood to get down and grovel like a dog.

As she walked, she touched her hand to the wall. Where her fingers met material, trails of dark magic came out, spreading like wildfire and corrupting the magic in the surrounding area, in case they had some sort of surveillance magic she didn't sense.

Creation is the opposite of destruction, that was for sure. The plague-like blackness that tainted the inner temple was in opposition to the white marble, truly.

They would get what they deserved. Callisto would make sure of it.