"Lissandra" someone called my name.
No.
Actually, they were shouting to me, and their screams dissipated among the fire as I watched the gate vanish before my eyes. The pope and the archbishop were dead. Their corpses just a few meters away. I could not believe…
Our mission had failed. And they were gone, they were all gone.
A single teardrop fell down from my left eye, the one I still could maintain open. The sour taste of sweat and blood made me nauseous. I looked around, searching for something that could help me hide from the demons that might come, bug there was nothing.
The gates of the hell closed right in front of me, and as the fire calmed down as I stared at it.
It was kind of mesmerizing watching it dance like that, like it was a living creature... recognizing the intruders were sent back home.
It was only a shame that I was the one left behind to burn alive.
SIX HOURS BEFORE THE GATE CLOSED
I could see the snow falling from the inside of the palace.
The clerical palace exists since the ancient times, it's almost an entity. The people under the white clocks, as we used to call them, were men of faith. Their only purpose is to serve the heaven's will and to fight the demons. Our world's been like this for a while now... There's too few of us against too many of them, but there's such a thing as a battle worth fighting for.
I traced a line with the tip of my finger on the foggy windowpane, where all my hopes melted away. There were a strange movement around the palace, but, once again, nothing was ever normal, at least not since the demons started to showing Up in the human realm...
The sound of a trumpet echoed, and I knew I had to go. Leaving the freshness of the snow behind, I ran downstairs, to the hidden chapel under the palace, reserved for the rituals of passage.
They were already there. All of them. The pope was wearing a red vest, his fingers holding the bible like his life depended on it. The rest of us had the usual white uniform.
"I think they're also a little nervous, don't you agree, sister?"
Kim MinJae rose up next to me. His sudden move almost caused me a heart attack. My brother shook his head with a frown on his face, pointing to the group of men ahead of us. They were shaking.
"Indeed" My voice was low, but I knew he could hear me.
"Aschnners" someone called. Kim MinJae and I looked back, searching for the person. That was our stepfather's last name, the same one given to us after we got baptized at nine years old. We also had a different name in the sacred ground. Kim MinJae, my brother, was Eyrene Aschnner. And I was named Lissandra Aschnner, the second priestess in command.
The first in command was My stepfather. Nefestos Aschnner was special in the god's guard, he had a special gift and for that he held a special position. He was what we could call an ascendant with a connection to the heaven realm, he could receive direct orders and instructions from the gods.
Nevertheless, I still don't know why he chose me to be second in command to this mission, but again, we still don't even know what's this all about.
"Let's go, Mina. Papa is the one who's calling us." Kim MinJae still calls me my old name when we're alone, but never in front of others. This means he is really nervous and that he probably knows something I don't.
Even though I'm more prepared than Minjae, and papa thinks I have a special gift like him, He trusts him more. They have a special male bond I can't quite understand or overcome, it's not the same relation we have as brother and sister, and nor the same as father and daughter.
We stitched our way to the back of the line, where reverend Menodora was holding a glass next to Papa. He welcomed us both with a hug, like always, but something was odd. Menedora didn't say a word. The air aluno them was oddly heavy, sad, I risk.
"This is different from the other missions, isn't it?" I finally asked. "What's going on?"
"We'll no longer be sending words to the gate, Lissandra. I just spoken to the god's above the veil , They... We need you to hold the gate open for us to pass through the realm, like the last time we practiced." He held my shoulders with his eyes piercing me full of certainty. "You can do this, right?"
"What? No, I can't... It's one thing to send one person to the other side, or the words from prayers to comfort the lost souls, but to send these much people? I really cannot..."
"You can. God is telling me you can. And you won't be doing this alone, we are right here with you. Here... Drink this" Papa took the glass from the reverend's hand and shove the liquid down through my throat in one rapid movement.
"This will help you gain more strength to support us passing through the gate. Its Água Benta. Are you ready?"
Minjae was next to Papa. I felt strange… Somehow, I knew that my answer didn't really matter, so I should at least try doing my best. Even though I was not confident, that was my mission and I would not fail the heaven.
Papa led us to the front, said a few words of encouragement and started with the prayers. Our mission was to defeat the demons, to unleash the god's work through the service we were meant to do. Menedora passed trough the sea of cloaks delivering the blessed swords with my brother by her side. He saved me for lady, giving me papa's sword as I'd be in more need to chanalizing spiritual energy.
We were ready….
Were we ?
"Our servevê begins now. Shall we stay under shadows? No! We rise now as local serventia of gods for a better tomorrow. If not in earth, in the infernal realm itself we shall go." Papa was confident, the pope, the bishop, everyone... They were hoping for a britgher future, one we could live with no demons invading our realm, hoping for a different world, one free from the monsters whispering from the beyond.
I closed my eyes, unified my hands, and tried to canalize the blessing from the heavens to open the gate between the realms. A tiny light sprung on the air, the light created a fissure in a format of a dor. White, bright, too hard on the eyes.
"You can do it, daughter. You can do it." I heard Nefestos's voice and felt secure enough to put more pressure on the fissure. In a moment, the shine slid to embers of the fire from the Hell, showing the darkness of all evil's land.
I didn't open my eyes, but I could feel everything. As I walked into the gate, a shake spread up my spine.
"It is done, father. The Gate is open." I let out a sight. "Do you have any other requests, sei?" My father shook his head.
"Not for now."
I nodded.
"Then we shall enter." I was the first human to lead the way through the fire bridge, all in white, among the tortured souls that could never stop swimming from their pool of suffering. The first snow to melt into the fire grave.