CH59 Sneaking around the temple
Wandering the extensive catacombs for an hour, Alex and Fufi found themselves in increasingly narrow corridors branching off the main paths. The sealed burial slots, some large enough for several people, created an unsettling feeling of trespassing in a vast final resting place.
"Hey Fufi, please tell me there aren't zombies in this world," Alex stuttered.
"Mmm, do you want the truth or a white lie?" Fufi asked.
"Oh, never mind. We should try to head back up. The deeper we get, the narrower things get and the more dead ends we find," Alex sighed and gave a last glance at the narrowing passageway.
Lost and unable to retrace their steps, the pair wandered through the confusing paths. Some passages were completely dark, forcing Fufi to illuminate their way with the gem on her forehead. They also noticed the head of a regal-looking bust following their movements as they passed.
Alex waved the hero plushie at the stone figure, saying, "Don't make me use this."
The statue did not respond, simply staring at them with its creepy stone eyes.
Fufi took the opportunity to pull the doll's chain.
"I will defeat the Demon Queen!" the stuffed doll proclaimed with conviction.
"Stop that, we're trying to be sneaky," Alex said with a laugh. The recording was just too ironic not to laugh at.
Having navigated the catacombs by consistently choosing upward staircases, the magical girl and the flamingo finally emerged on the ground floor, as indicated by the evening light filtering through the windows. Both felt a wave of relief, and Alex sensed the presence of ancient, potent entities best left undisturbed below.
They discovered they had entered the temple's male side. As they passed a priest, strikingly similar in appearance to the others, he offered a greeting: "Praise purity."
Alex gulped and forced a smile. “Praise purity.”
The man nodded and continued down the corridor.
“Well that was close. I’m glad he didn’t recognize me.” Alex said when they had turned a corner.
“He probably recognized you as every other priestess in this place.” Fufi whispered back.
Dejected, Alex returned to her assigned dorm room. She longed for her warm clothes before facing the bitter cold outside; without her wings, the journey would be arduous and uncomfortable.
The room was vacant. Alex went to the chest where her clothing should have been, but it was gone. Only a freshly laundered set of priest's robes remained.
“Ah, it is gone.” Alex despaired.
“Too bad they didn’t just partially transform you. If you would have turned avian at least you’d have some feathers to keep you warm.” Fufi said.
“Well what now?” Alex asked, wanting to escape, but also not wanting to freeze.
“You could double up on these robes but I still don’t think that would be enough.” Fufi mused.
“Do you think it would be suspicious if we asked someone where the laundry was taken? Actually, did they even take it to be laundered? I’m quite sure that it was clean.” Alex prided herself on cleanliness. Getting dirty reduces one’s cuteness afterall.
“I hope they didn’t throw it away. That outfit was one of your better ones, it is full of fluff.” Fufi lamented.
The pair decided to head back to the library.
A male librarian was there, sitting behind the reception desk. “Hello Yuti.”
Alex looked around, trying to see if there was someone else the receptionist was addressing. Fufi nudged her trying to correct the obvious mistake.
“Ah, sorry, yes I’m Yuti.” Alex stumbled to avoid admitting she wasn’t just another copy of the purity clergy. “Ekta I presume?”
The librarian nodded. “Yes, probably one of the oldest ones around.”
“Ekta, you wouldn’t happen to know what they do with dirty clothing would you?” Alex asked.
“The younger priestesses will collect them and clean them. There really is only one outfit so there is a laundry shack near a fountain. Also, your tamed bird has decided to remain by your side. You should be grateful that she didn’t abandon you as soon as your class switched. Anyway, follow the path and you should get there.” The priest pointed in a direction.
“Thanks, I’ll be going then.” Alex turned to leave.
“It looks like you are a new initiate. Remember, the goddess lives on through us.” Ekta said with conviction.
Alex and Fufi quickly left the area, taking a cobblestone path through farmland. The path was bordered by cultivated land, featuring both flowing and dry irrigation ditches. The overall impression of the area was its large size and sparse population.
“This place is so creepy now. I wonder what it was like back in the day and how it came to be like it is now.” Alex said while walking down the path. “Also, do you know what he meant by losing your class?”
“I imagine that this place slowly declined after the demon queen’s armies swept the area. They either didn’t know about it or decided that it wasn’t worth marching an army through the frozen mountains.” The flamingo paused. “As for losing the class. You can’t really lose your class. That is one of the escalations the deities have agreed not to cross. People have come up with ways to do that but they are all taboo. Anyone that actually succeeds is fair game for divine punishment for any god. They usually get a really nasty punishment from the god who gifted the class. Transgressions that cross that line usually end in a quick death or wishing for a quick death. The only normal way to lose a class is to die or willfully abandon it.”
Alex hummed. “Wouldn’t that mean that what they are doing should get divine judgment brought down on them?”
“That is a good point. I don’t know what having a bunch of classless people who forget who they are would accomplish.” Fufi’s eyes widened. “Wait, they might be using a low level demonic immortality technique.”
“What’s that?” Alex asked.
“Well, the demons' goal is to cultivate enough to become immortal.” Fufi explained. “At least the ambitious ones want to defeat death. Anyway, some will sacrifice their younger kin to extend their lives. Maybe sacrifice isn’t the right term. They copy themselves to a younger demon of the same kind, keep their same powers but have a younger body to work with. It is just that this technique is flawed. Because you can’t make a perfect copy. It sets back their cultivation and the new one loses a part of themselves.”
“Why would the followers of purity sink so low as to use demonic techniques? It doesn’t make any sense.” Alex complained.
“I don’t know either, but things must have been really bad for them to even consider it.” Fufi continued down the path.
Upon reaching the cleaning shack by the fountain, they found it empty of people. Robes hung drying on a nearby clothesline, and inside, priest's robes were folded tidily. Alex and Fufi searched through both clean and dirty clothes on the shelves but discovered only similar outfits in various sizes.
“Ugh, what did they do with it?” Alex kicked over a trash can in frustration.
Trash spilled out on the ground. Fufi headed to a bundle that looked rather big. “Hey, good thinking I believe we’ve found your outfit.”
Alex scowled and picked up the soiled outfit. “So rude. I worked hard to sew this and now look how dirty it is.” She grabbed a washboard and some soap and proceeded to clean the outfit in the fountain. It only took a minute to get it clean.
“Your cleaning skill is impressive.” Fufi tried not to laugh
Alex snorted. “I’m not going to leave this on a clothesline. They obviously can’t be trusted with my outfits.”
“But how are you going to dry it?” Fufi asked.
“Let me try something.” Alex grabbed a nearby feather duster and dusted off the fur robe. Oddly, the water turned into mist and blew off into the wind. “I can’t believe that worked. I didn’t even have the magical duster.”
Alex folded the robe neatly and tucked it under her arm. “So, what now? Should we head back?”
Fufi considered this. “We could, but I don’t think we could make it on foot before it gets dark. I don’t want to do it either but we should stay at least a night here.”
“Okay, but where should we stay? I don’t want to go back to the dorm they gave us. I don’t trust them to not throw away my clothing again.” Alex stomped.
“Hide it under your robe maybe? It is a bit thick but you might be able to wrap it around a leg. Or we could hide it somewhere and come back later?” Fufi presented some ideas.
“If nothing else we can sleep outside somewhere. It’ll be like old times when we first got here and I slept on a rug on a stone table with a couple articles of clothing for a pillow and a blanket.” Alex chuckled sadly.
They took a strip of cloth and tied the bundled robe to Alex’s inner thigh and headed back down the path towards the temple.
“I’d like to finish that journal now that we have some time. I saw that it was still on the podium in the library. Do you think that the priest there will suspect us if we go back?” Alex said.
“I don’t know for sure. There is always running away and hiding as a backup plan. You might not have all your dolls but I have confidence that you are not the same Alex that would get jumped by barbarians in the middle of the night from months ago.” Fufi sounded encouraging.
Having walked back to the main temple, they entered the library and exchanged greetings with the librarian before settling down to read more of the journal.
The journal's initial endless praise for the hero eventually shifted as the high priest at the time lamented the hero's abandonment. Initially, humanity united in condemning the hero's perceived betrayal. However, following a decisive battle loss and the subsequent demonic counterattack, a refugee crisis ensued, and families were torn apart by the escalating war. Consequently, the followers of purity, along with the hero, were blamed for the deteriorating situation.
As years passed, civilization crumbled, and Catalina's name became a curse. Her followers faced persecution, driven from towns or killed as losses mounted. Eventually, people could no longer pray to Catalina for a class, and those with her classes began to die of old age. To preserve the temple, the clergy, facing their own demise, voted on an unconventional preservation method. During the initial outbreak of bird flu, harpies posed a significant threat.
By luring a harpy to the temple, they utilized a modified ritual involving a hot spring. This allowed them to overwrite the harpy's mind and transform it into a copy of a priest or priestess.
Alex and Fufi just gaped at the slippery slope. “Darn, I mean I know it is wrong what they did but would I do the same thing if I was in their shoes?”
“I think I might have heard something about this. I heard something about how she planned to smite the hero but the evil gods objected saying that the hero was under their protection and if she wanted to do something rash they would consider that an escalation.” Fufi whispered back. “So if she’s written off this world then it would explain why there are no new priests of Catalina.”
The librarian coughed quietly, “You know most people consider it rude to talk in a library.”
Ekta stood up and glared at them.
Alex and Fufi gulped. Had they been caught?