"From this day forth, you are stripped of your right to serve the light. Leave this place, Julian. You no longer belong to the covenant."
Julian stood still, the silence pressing against his ears until the world itself seemed like it was spinning. Everything he had fought for, all the sleepless nights, the endless training... all his efforts gone in an instant.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and completely soaked. Strands of golden hair clung to his forehead, and his pale blue eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Is this a joke?" Julian muttered, brows furrowed. "I passed your trials. I outperformed every single candidate. And now you're telling me I'm unworthy?"
The priest did not move. His expression was calm, almost pitying. But amidst all that was the faint trace of disgust, which didn't go unnoticed by Julian.
Julian lowered his head in understanding. "So it's like that. I figured as much."
The priest sighed, placing his hand on Julian's shoulder. "It's not my decision. The order came from above. We can't, in good faith, allow you to become an exorcist."
"Yeah, I know a eunuch like you can't make such a decision. But seriously... throwing me out because of what my parents did?" Julian scowled. "Do you think I had a say in any of it? I was a child. I had literally just been born."
The priest took his hand off Julian's shoulder and turned around, grabbing the door.
As it began to close, he paused, just long enough to glance over his shoulder and speak one final truth:
"I am sorry, but there's nothing any of us can do, Julian. You are just..." A faint smile tugged at his lips. "You are just unlucky."
The door slammed shut right in Julian's face. For once, he had actually expected that things would go right in his life.
He had been cast aside by every single exorcist organization. The covenant seemed the most promising. He was just one final examination away from being accepted as an exorcist. But then he was hit with the same truth as the previous times.
It was raining, and the streets were flooded, the water reaching his ankles. Clearly, someone was shit at their job. Even the streetlights overhead flickered every now and then, while a few completely shut off.
The familiar stench of rotten incense entered his nose. It was miasma, which meant there was an evil spirit nearby, and it had already killed someone.
Julian rubbed the back of his neck in irritation.
"If you're following me, then do it some other time. Today's not the day."
With the miasma still clinging to his nose, Julian continued along the dark street and eventually reached his home in the suburbs.
It was a small one-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of an old brick complex that he managed to just barely buy with the leftover money. But as it stood, he would get evicted next month.
Still, he got inside, showered, ate what passed for dinner, and burned the textbooks he'd spent the last night memorizing.
As he kicked his feet up on the table, he heard his door open, then swiftly close.
"..."
The stench of miasma returned, this time several dozen times stronger. But instead of the usual rot, the air carried the scent of roses.
Soft footsteps crossed the floorboards and stopped behind him. Before he could even speak, a pair of arms slipped around his neck, embracing him.
The scent of roses grew stronger and the arms tightened slightly, almost possessively so.
"You've been avoiding me," a feminine voice whispered against his ear.
Julian frowned, and after slipping out of her grasp, he glanced at the woman who had just entered.
She had long black hair that cascaded down to her knees and piercing crimson eyes, which, despite their intensity, were filled with affection.
Julian rubbed the gap between his brows in irritation.
"Elizabeth, what do you think you're doing?"
Elizabeth stepped back, faking surprise.
"I can't even visit anymore?"
As if she ever really visited him with good intentions.
"I didn't invite you," he said plainly. "I just bought a new scented candle the other day. You're ruining it."
Elizabeth looked him up and down, a faint smile appearing on her face.
"My... I just came to ask how the final exam went. But it's the same as usual, isn't it?"
"..."
She just stared at him.
"You know, you wouldn't have to go through all of this if you just made up your mind."
Anger built up within Julian, but he forced it down.
"I'm not in the mood to deal with your constant teasing. Leave."
Instead of backing off, she approached him, her expression turning serious.
"I'm serious. You've always told me to leave this, leave that, but I've never heard a straight answer from you."
Narrowing her eyes, she added:
"Julian, I owe your parents a debt, and you already know we have a gateway to the Reverie Realm. I can help you get across to the other side."
For a second, he thought she had something smart to say.
"I'm an unawakened. And I know for a fact you don't have the gateway to where the exorcists awaken."
She shrugged, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"You're right on the mark, but have you ever heard of Second Heaven?"
Seeing his confusion, she continued.
"It's a place where those who enter the Reverie Realm before going through the awakening arrive. Legend says Second Heaven is a part of the Reverie Realm, but no one knows its exact location."
She smirked.
"Only one in one hundred million leave it alive, and only one in a billion leave with their sanity intact."
Elizabeth tiptoed around the couch and walked around him in circles.
"I talked with someone who had retained their sanity, and what do you know? The way he survived was by hiding from all the evil spirits, among other things, and eventually finding a soul artifact that brought him back to reality."
He listened carefully and then nodded.
"So he escaped because he was lucky."
She smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"But he also came back as an awakened who went on to become an excellent exorcist."
Her expression became serious once more, and the floral scent from before grew even stronger.
"You always postponed my proposals. Now, I'm offering you a chance, not to join me, but to become an exorcist. That's all you've ever wanted, is it not?"
Although he was conflicted, he remained quiet. It was really dangerous. Honestly, if anything, he would be much safer finding a regular job.
But at the same time, he had known Elizabeth long enough to know what type of person she was.
She never lied to him.
The more he thought about it, the more the gears inside his mind began to turn, and her next words were just the nail in the coffin.
"Do know that I will be on your side, even if you become a person who is the polar opposite of me. I am both stupid and naïve that way, which is why I want you to make your choice, Julian. Do you want to waste your life away, or do you want to become an exorcist?"