[Valerianne Yul]

I woke up in a small, stone room, lying upon an uncomfortable wooden bed. I did not enjoy this trend of waking up in a different place every time. A thin, stained glass window featuring flower patterns was letting in rays of colorful light into the cramped room. I turned and saw a triskelion spiral rune etched into a thick, gothic wooden door.

I looked down upon myself and saw that I was wearing the white robes of the acolyte of Virtue.

Ah!

I was in the convent of Virtue! I wasn’t dead. Did I end the evil within me? Or did the church succeed at purging the accursed darkness from my blood? I only hoped that the vampire within me didn’t do anything horrific while he was awake.

“Status.” I whispered, my voice trembling.

Valerianne Yul

[Race]: Human

[Level]: [0] Pathetic weakling

[Progression to next level]: 0% [123’000 points required]

Stats:

[Mana] : 62 [Void]

[HP] : 13

[Affinity] :

[Aura] : 100% White

Inventory:

Divine gem of healing [Order of Virtue] [internal]

Fuck! No, no, no! I had one Void, ONE! How has it increased to sixty two?! I had White aura and no affinity! None! Gathering Void in my body should have been impossible. Did I eat someone while I was out? Oh Gaia I definitely ate someone!

Arghhhh!

I grabbed at my red curls, kneading my head in frustration. I had failed to heal myself, failed to stop the evil. Was I waiting for my execution in this room? Did the church know that I had Void mana within me? Surely they’ve scanned me! I stood up from the cramped bench and put on the red cape, pushing at the door. It wasn’t locked. I emerged into the gothic, stone cloister decorated with flowery spirals.

“Ah, you’re awake.” A young female acolyte said. She was sitting on the bench facing my door, apparently waiting for me to wake up.

She stood up with a smile, blonde hair fluttering in the breeze and winked at me.

Then, she grabbed my hand and started to drag me after her. I didn’t resist. She looked calm, and she clearly wasn’t here to take me to my execution. She dragged me to the middle of the courtyard, behind numerous rose bushes.

“Uhh…?” I uttered.

“You have Void mana.” She said.

I nodded. “I can’t rid myself of it no matter what I tried. Please help me.”

“We will. This is why you are here.” The acolyte said. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell the Legate about your little Void problem yet. I already saw her cut a person in half today. It’s really not pretty. I really don’t want to see another person die today.”

I gulped and started to cry.

She took my hands into hers. “Listen. There is hope. You’re in our convent now. You have a White aura! We can purge this pestilence from your soul, I’m certain. Work hard for the church, heal people, commit no sins and purify yourself through good deeds. I was once gray too and the Knight in charge of me helped me purify myself. Everyone should have a chance. This is yours, take it, believe in the power of Virtue!”

She made the sign of the triskelion spiral over my heart. I hugged her and sobbed.

She tapped an enormous pearl sphere hanging in a white mesh from her belt. “My name is Searcher Alyssa. I’m the official Searcher of the Kleinburg Convent of the Light. It took me bloody forever to find you, but now you’re with us. You’re safe. Me and the others here, we’ll help you, okay? Our Legate is tough, but fair. She saw that you were enslaved by that horrible man. Whatever sins you might have done while being controlled will not be counted against you.”

I nodded.

“I tracked you by your gemstone of healing.” Alyssa said. “But, I don’t see it on you. Where is it?”

“It’s inside of me.” I uttered.

“Hooly craa… Damn. Okay. That sucks.” Alyssa blushed. “Okay. Um. I can work with this. This is fine.”

She didn’t look like it was fine. She frowned, rubbing her chin. “Uhm. Do you know where inside you it is? The Searcher sphere tells me it’s internal, but it doesn’t specify the exact location.”

I shook my head. I had no idea where it could be.

“Welp, that’s no good. We can’t get it out if we don’t know where it is.” Alyssa made a pouting face. “Legate not going to be happy to hear that. She’s already quite miffed. You’ve consumed a TON of mana from the church well. What the hell happened to you on the way to us? Did someone try to muder you several times or torture you? You gotta tell me so that we can dispense justice. Was it Sextant agents? Their ships have been scouting Europa for a while now. I think they’re getting ready to invade us, the sick magitech bastards. Good thing we have the Judgement dome, eh?"

It was my turn to turn red. “I… uh… tried to kill myself. There’s terrible evil in me. A vampire ghost Void Archmage. He can give himself quests and use Void mana.”

“Say what?” Alyssa blinked, quite confused. “I’m pretty sure no such thing exists.”

“He exists I assure you!” I sniffed. “If I pass out or fall asleep, he takes control of my body. Be careful. He’s very, very dangerous. He is threatening me into compliance via Quests.”

“What?” Alyssa’s eyes bulged. “But that’s…”

“Impossible? I know!” I nodded. “Nobody can give themselves Quests! I don’t know how he’s doing it!”

“Okay. Start from the beginning.” Alyssa demanded, sitting down on a stone bench and padding the place next to herself. I sat down and told her of my misadventures, starting after I left the office of Knight Maximillion Rex.

“Wow. That is some crazy bullshit.” Alyssa gave me a hug. “Sorry you had to go through all of that. Listen. I’m going to write a nice summary report about this to the Legate. This is clearly not your fault. You took a shortcut, not expecting to encounter a dungeon. Good on you for destroying the said dungeon, by the way.”

I sighed.

“No sadness, now. You’re a real hero! They might reward you for that. Like holy she… I mean you’re freaking amazing. A single, level zero acolyte of Virtue defeated an entire dungeon!

It's quite a tale! We’ll have to send a Knight into the forest of Lyrria to check how the Dryad is doing, to confirm things… but if you didn’t exaggerate anything you’re totally gonna move up in the ranks!”

“Sure, I defeated a dungeon, but the monster from its heart is still inside of me. My blood is purple for Gaia’s sake!” I looked at her. “Don’t take him lightly! He’s an incredibly capable foe.”

"Don't speak of Gaia. She is a Green Goddess of farmers. You're a follower of Virtue now!"

"Sorry, it's a habit." I sniffed.

“Okay.” Alyssa made another adorable pouting face and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Believe in the power of Virtue! We’ll totally defeat your inner demon and free you of the curse, don’t ya worry!”

She grabbed my hand and dragged me back across the courtyard to my room. “Rest up. I’ll be back for you right after I give the Legate my report.” The heavy wooden door clicked shut.

I sat down on the bench, cradling my face in my hands. The church of Virtue was my only hope now.

[Legate Ingrid Feuerstahl]

I’ve had a lot of bullshit to deal with through my years of running Kleinburg but this, this was nonsense beyond anything I’ve encountered in my centuries of life. I snapped my fingers and the illusion that portrayed me as Searcher Alyssa fell apart around me.

I stepped into my austere office and reached for the communication sphere.

“Knight Maximillion Rex.”

“Yes, Legate Feuerstahl?” The shimmering image of the Knight of Amarillia appeared within the sphere.

“I need you to go into the Forest of Lyrria. I believe the local forest spirit has been keeping a secret from us for a very long time. Be extra polite to the Dryad, offer her a prayer infused with mana, accept a quest even if she needs something done. Do anything and everything to find out if there was a dungeon underneath her forest.”

“Understood, Legate.” Maximillion offered me a triskelion salute.

“Report back with your findings as soon as you are able.” I turned off the sphere.

“One one four seven b k d five.” I whispered into the blue security gemstone within the wall. A shimmering shield wall came into existence around the convent, doors, windows and gates sealing themselves shut. A green band of magic appeared over my wrist, signifying me as the only person that was allowed to pass in and out.

There! The security shield was on now, just in case.

Nobody would get in or out now, except for me. There was the vilest darkness to purge from acolyte Valerianne Yul. Contrary to what half-breed fools at the edge believed, we were not monsters. For thousands of years we’ve been protecting the world from darkness, taking all gray children and purifying them, freeing them from the influence of evil with the power of our Convent's well.

Yul would be no different. I was certain that we could purify her, for my Convent had never failed to cleanse away sins or curses. Her story about a vampire ghost that was giving itself quests was obviously absurd rubbish. Her surface thoughts told me that she believed her own wild tale. It was likely just fever dreams brought on by great stress and pain.

Regardless of whatever was wrong with our new acolyte, I would get to the truth of it sooner or later. I was an Archmage of the Light, the absolute master of this Convent and no power could dare challenge or oppose me within these white walls!

Alas, I had a meeting with Rimmer Captain Nicodemus booked today to discuss new rare ore orders, but I was sure that my Enforcer and Searcher could handle one level zero girl in my absence.

"I will put her to sleep. If she somehow overcomes the rune, awakens on her own, go ahead and test her virtuousness thoroughly. There has to be darkness in her White aura! The Void couldn't get into her on its own." I told Searcher Alyssa and Knight Lazarus. They were waiting for me in the hall and stood up saluting me as soon as I entered.

"I'll be back in a few hours to deal with her Void if the well doesn't dissolve it. Got it?"

"Yes, Legate." Lazarus and Alyssa nodded.

As I walked past Yul’s room, I activated a sleep rune on the door. The poor girl needed to rest off her ordeal. I doubted that a zero could overcome a White mana rune, but if she did… then there was definitely darkness in her. Darkness that we would find and purge.

I left the convent, assured that I would know more and deal with Yul upon my return. I had raised my two heroes of the Light myself. I was confident in their ability to evaluate Yul, to find what sins plagued her soul.

[June Rim Maldiver]

I exhaled, appearing in the office of the Legate of Kleinburg and leapt towards the still active security gemstone before it could dim.

“One one four seven...” I quickly whispered and a small magical band flashed onto my arm. Success! I could pass through their security system now. Now all I had to do was rescue one insane girl. That shouldn't be too hard, right?

Who was I kidding? This was going to be extremely difficult and possibly painful. I still didn’t even have any clothes on. I had rushed after the Knights as soon as they left, following their scent, which had led me over an incredibly long bridge, past the gates, inside courtyard and into this office. It took all of my skills to avoid detection by the Knights!

I scouted the office for things I could use and found a white robe amongst many similar robes in the back room. I threw it on. It would help me blend in and hide my fox tail and ears. I used my lockpick hairpin to unlock a drawer. The drawer rewarded me with a purse full of gold! Wow! I was terrified of robbing from the church of Virtue before, knowing that some people were too powerful to mess with, but everything was off limits now! It was do or die and I hoped it wouldn’t come to me dying horribly in this place.