Chapter Text
Mainz, Germany, 1602
“So, daughter of the old evil spirit, you still pretend you don't know?”
The setting sun’s deep red-orange glow was shining through a small window on one of the dark stone walls, casting golden light onto the face of a man standing in the center of the room. Before him was an older woman, kneeling, bound by chains. She wearily looked up at the man, her eyes sunken and anguished as she trembled.
“Maybe we have a way to make you remember...” The man stated calmly, glaring back at the woman with detest in his eyes.
“I have done no wrong." She coughed, struggling to hold her gaze up as her body ached. She breathed deep breaths, ignoring the agonizing pain taking her over from days of agony. “Blood shall come upon you…”
The man in front of her smiled slightly, taking a confident step back.
“Torturer,” He said sternly with eagerness, looking to the man behind the woman. “Pull on!”
In the darker corner of the room, another much younger man stood in the shadows behind the main group. He cringed slightly once the woman’s screams began again.
‘She deserves this,’ The man, Gabriel, thought to himself as her screams continued, louder and louder with each ticking moment. ‘Her soul was lost…there was nothing we could do.’
He couldn't look up. His eyes were glued to the floor, the moment feeling like an eternity he prayed would end soon. After a few more minutes of screams, the men realized they were getting no information from the woman nor the demons within her. She spoke nothing but lies and wouldn't confess. The younger man watched helpless as she was moved outside to the place where they will free her soul eternally with the purifying flames.
The last resort.
Gabriel followed them, remaining at a distance behind the group. The sticks below the woman on the pyre were set alight, and the screaming began once more. Gabriel turned away with a wince, not able to take any more as his blood ran cold. He hadn't seen a burning in person before. He never wanted to...
He felt suddenly sick to his stomach as a strong scent of smoke drifted his way. This was all his fault...
‘There was no other way.’ He thought, trying to not focus on the moment at hand. He covered his eyes from the light before him, not daring look up at the blazing pyre where the woman was thrashing in agony. ‘There was nothing we could do…’ He did his best to tune out the screams, but they stabbed through his thoughts as daggers. His punishment for failing her soul.
Once the woman's screams ended, Gabriel began to slink away alone into the night, his mind stuck. The deed was done. He began making his way back to the monastery as he walked down the dirt road, the smell of smoke still drifting and hovering in the air, following him like a ghostly shadow bound to his soul.
The golden light of the sunset was beginning to fade to darkness, a cool breeze blowing eerily through the autumn trees like whispers on the wind. He could see a few shining stars appear in the darkening sky, twinkling calmly above Gabriel as he made his way home, leaves dancing in the road before him.
‘Nothing at all…’