It felt as though an aura of wickedness was slowly seeping into the Mystic Island chapel as Alisa finished polishing one of the candle stands atop the altar and set it back down in its place. The air seemed to be growing colder by the second and despite the sunlight that shined through the stained-glass windows throughout the room the atmosphere was terribly dark and foreboding. Though she was visibly unsettled by the eerie presence within the room Alisa nonetheless went about her chores, hoping it would eventually disperse in time. The strange sensation instead continued to make itself at home within the sacred walls of the church and culminated with the loud crashing of the entrance doors as they violently swung open. Alisa let out an audible gasp as she quickly turned around to the face the source of the noise but became somewhat relived when she saw it was only Mark in the doorway.
"Oh! Mark." She sighed calmly. "You just about scared me there."
With the sun's light casting down from behind him he appeared almost like a shadow, a silent silhouette. His body was slightly hunched over with both his fists clenched at his sides.
"Is something wrong?" Alisa asked when he refused to even greet her.
She could hear as he laughed under his breath. "With me? No, I'm fine dear, really."
Though he was never one to lie to her she couldn't help but sense that something was incredibly off about him. While there was no denying that the two of them were being to grow fairly close to one another with the passing of the recent seasons his choice of the word "dear" to refer to her was anything but normal.
"Well, that's a relief." She replied uneasily as she cautiously began to approach him. "What brings you here today?"
He buried his hands in his pockets and looked off to the side. "Oh, nothing much, just thought I'd drop in and see how my good friend was doing today." His eyes bounced around the room as if in search of something. "Nathan's not around is he?"
"No, he's out on Meadow Island today preparing for the Goddess festival in a few days." She answered, now standing in front of him.
"Hm, such a shame," He began before removing his hand from his pocket and using it to gently caress her cheek. "Leaving poor little Alisa all by her lonesome out here…"
Though the sensation from the touch of his hand had managed trigger a blush in her cheeks a growing sense of anxiety started to rapidly spread throughout her body. She carefully backed away from him, trying to hide as her body began to tremble. "I-I'm fine… really…"
Ignoring her attempt to put some distance between them Mark took a step forward and slid right back up to her. He was virtually towering over her.
"What's the matter? Afraid of something?" He smirked.
She only continued to try and back away from him. "Mark, look, I-I have a lot of work to g-get done today an-"
She was viciously cut off midsentence as without warning Mark lunged at her. Spinning her around he wrapped one of his arms around her body to pin her arms to her side and clamped his other hand down against her mouth, digging his fingers into her cheek.
"Just take a deep breath and relax…" He cooed menacingly into her ear as she struggled to break free of his grasp. "You wouldn't want to ruin Mark's big day would you?"
If the situation had been any less frightening she might have questioned his use of the third-person in reference to himself but she only found herself thrashing around in his arms, her muffled pleas barely able to even escape through his fingers. With a great amount of force he lifted her up off the ground and began to carry her over to the altar before them as she started to wildly kick her legs about in an attempt to disable him.
"Please," He laughed at her futile efforts to remove herself from him. "You're only making this worse for yourself."
Once they arrived at the foot of the altar Mark tossed her into it face first as the thick cloth draped over it did little to protect her from the hardwood surface underneath. Though her head was more than likely bruised she used her brief moment of freedom to try and escape but she only managed to turn herself around before he managed to pin both her arms down against the tabletop.
"Mark, stop!" She pleaded as he dug his nails into her wrists. "Whatever you're trying to do just stop!"
"Come on, we both know this is what he wants." He menacingly laughed back.
When he removed his grip from her right hand and began to caress her thigh with all her might she began to pound her fist against his back and attempted once more to wriggle free but it was to no avail. He was either simply too strong to notice or simply didn't care. Slowly, he lifted up the bottom of her dress and began to lightly glide his hand up her leg. Just as he managed to reach her upper thigh once more her eyes bolted across the table's surface and caught sight of the candle stand she had cleaned earlier. Her eyes bounced back to her distracted assailant and without so much as a second thought she quickly reached with her free hand and snagged the metal casted decoration before smashing it against the side of his head. Mark screamed in pain and gripped his head with both hands, releasing her from his clutches, before stumbled down the steps of the altar.
Clutching the ornament with both hands as tight as she could tears began to stream down her cheeks as she slide down the table and onto the ground. After a brief moment a fuming Mark turned back to face her as the massive gash besides his left eye continued to bleed profusely.
"You little bitch!" He hissed before raising his arms up and charging her.
Alisa shut her eyes tightly and with all her might swung the stand at him once more. The loud crash of metal smashing against bone filled her ears before what sounded like his body collapsing against the carpeted surface of the floor. She brought the candle stand close to her chest and filled the empty chapel with the echoing sound of her tears while trying to bring herself to open her eyes. As she grappled with the choice of accepting what had just occurred viewing the resulting scene a thin purple mist began to expel itself from Mark's body and floated up to the ceiling before dispersing.
"M-M-M-Mark…?" She whimpered as she peeked one of her eyes open.
Without even so much as a grunt of pain as a response Alisa slowly opened both her eyes and immediately dropped her bloodstained weapon and trembled in horror. Sprawled out on the floor before her laid Mark's twitching body with the fresh blood from the blow she had inflicted on his head slowly seeped out of his head and darkened the red carpet it rested upon.
"MARK, NO!" She cried out as she scampered across the floor and over to his side. "No! No!"
She carefully lifted him up into her lap and cradled him. His lifeless eyes drifted off into the distance near the back of his head as she placed her hand besides the gash in the side of his head and caressed his cheek.
"Mark… No… no…" She sobbed. "What… what have I done…"
She gazed in horror at the murder weapon that sat behind her before peering down at the bloodstains on her dress.
She couldn't even try to deny it, she had killed him.
Yes, it had all been in self-defense but her fragile mind wasn't ready to handle any of this. She was a nun of the church, not a murderer. What was she supposed to do? What is Nathan going to think? The islanders? What about the Goddess herself?
"Mark please…! Stay with me!" She cried as she shook his unresponsive body. "Please…! Don't die on me!"
She pulled him into her chest and felt as his last few breaths brushed against the side of her neck.
"Please…"
As Alisa continued to sob a wicked cackle began to fill the church's halls, though it remained confined to a different realm, that of the spiritual world. From behind Alisa the Witch Princess appeared in a thin purple haze and clapped while looking over the broken girl's shoulder at the mess before her.
"My, my, my, that couldn't have gone any better even if I actually tired!" She laughed as Alisa remained unaware of her very presence. "What's the matter?" She grinned as she leaned over Alisa's shoulder and looked down at Mark's dead body. "Something happen to your boyfriend there?"
She proceeded to resume laughing manically for about another minute before another voice began to boom throughout the chamber.
"What have you done?" It cried out.
The Witch Princess's brought her laughter down a tone as the Goddess appeared in an eruption of light from behind her.
"Hmph, I was wondering when you'd show up and ruin my fun." She smirked as she turned to face her green haired rival. "Looks like you've showed up just in time to catch the end of it."
The Goddess's eyes trembled with horror as she gazed down at the mortal pair before them. "Why have you done this…?"
"Don't you play dumb with me." The Witch Princess snapped. "We had a deal, I was going to cut back on my mischief as long as you and your little cult left me alone but then you had to go and ruin it by sending your pretty little stand-in right next my new home. You can't blame me for trying to take matters into my own hands when you've let this go unnoticed for so long."
"I had nothing to do with the establishment of this church!" The Goddess argued, her tone just short of full blown rage. "They came here on their own accord! They had no idea you were here!"
"Like it makes a difference." The Witch Princess muttered as she crossed her arms and turned away. "What's done is done. This little runt got what she had coming to her for a long time now."
The Goddess floated closer towards Alisa and fixated her view on Mark, examining him closely.
"This… this was the mortal wasn't it…?" She asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about." The Witch Princess denied.
The Goddess began to drift towards the Witch Princess. "The boy you used to speak of, this was the one."
The Witch Princess appeared to only cross her arms around herself tighter.
"You feared you were losing him to her didn't you?" She asked. Her attitude had begun to shift to one of understanding and not rage.
It was faint, but she swore she heard as the Witch Princess gave a quiet sniffle.
"The one you spoke so highly of... you stopped talking about him right about when she arrived didn't you..." The Goddess continued.
"What was I supposed to do...?" The Witch Princess answered in a whisper. "She was a mortal... a much better choice for him..."
"So you let your anger get the better of you and go-"
"Shut up!" The Witch Princess quickly snapped. "You have no idea what happened! I would have been fine had things been differently but no. She had to go and start filling his head with all of that crap of yours! All that, be wary of evil, never trust a witch, give yourself to the Goddess shit. There was no going back for him, he might as well have already been dead to me."
"Then why go and get him killed for her?"The Goddess questioned.
The Witch Princess turned her back on her once again. "What does it matter anyway... The lifetime of these mortals is nothing to us, the mere attraction to this one wasn't even close to the blink of an eye for me... Another will come in time."
"And that suddenly makes it okay?" The Goddess fumed. "To go and destroy not one but two lives all because of a simple attraction?"
"Perhaps I wasn't clear," The Witch Princess began. "These mortals are nothing to me, just a bunch of insignificant creatures here to keep me company. If something doesn't go as planned with one than I'll just go and find another to play with. The countless lives we've seen lost before never mattered in regards to the grand scheme of things so why should they now?"
"You're... you're evil..." The Goddess uttered. "The life of a mortal might be nothing to us in regards to time but they experience life all the same!"
The Witch Princess raised her hands up and slightly backed off, a crooked smirk on her face. "Easy there now, no need to get all worked up. Besides, you always worried about how this one seemed just a day away from breaking her commitments of virtue and purity. If anything you could consider this an interesting case of divine intervention." That warped smile of her was practically spewing venom out at her. "Lets just say I did you a favor."
The Goddess all about snapped at that remark. Her face grew ready and appeared ready to burst as she began to crouch down in anger. "Don't you dare try to pin this on me!"
The Witch Princess threw back her head and laughed. "My, someone's certainly angry. I'd hate to leave you hanging but I'd just as much hate to start something with you in a place where you have the home field advantage." She taunted with a wink. "I'll leave you to mourn your significant loss."
The Goddess watched in silence as the Witch Princess took her leave via teleportation before finally returning her attention to Alisa. The devastated girl now knelt besides Mark's body after having closed his eyes and gazed down at his lifeless body with her red puffy eyes, tears still streaming down her cheeks. The Goddess gently glided over to her side and, though Alisa could not feel it, rested her hand on her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry my child..." She whispered. "If I only I had known... If only you could know..."
The poor girl hadn't the slightest clue that her actions were all part of the sick and twisted plot of a cruel uncaring force. If only a spirit of the Goddess's prestige had been permitted to interact with her own children then maybe she could try and sooth her soul but for now all she could do is helplessly watch as her young follower was now thrust into a nightmarish world that could have been avoided. She wished that could remain by her side and face this peril with her but the Witch Princess's words carried a faint bit of truth.
The world was a big place, filled with countless lives. She couldn''t dedicate herself to safeguarding just one.
She withdrew herself from Alisa and looked down upon her one last time. "Forgive me..."
Later that evening the bells that rested up in the church's steeple rang throughout the silent collection of islands. Their song of sorrow sang not just for the departure of Mark but also for the disappearance of Alisa, who had left only her pendant of the Goddess behind. Unable to face the islanders with the burden of sin she fled had fled into the unknown. Though the Goddess could sense that she was indeed still alive she had become just another unrecognizable face in a sea of mortals. One who in the blink of an eye would hopefully finally find peace and understand the truth.