Sister Irene looked up at the evening sky, painted blood red by the sun. She quickly said her prayers, crossing herself, as she stared up at the haunting Abbey of St Carta.
Her parents had sent her here to begin her training as a novitiate, but there was something amiss.
It was too quiet; and she didn't need a vision to tell her something was very wrong here.
She felt a presence, and whirled—finding her face to face with a priest; only he was young, about her age; with white hair and a red scar.
"Huh?" Irene asked in surprise. "Who are you? And why are you dressed as a priest?"
"I am a priest." He answered simply.
"Your…something different…I feel something else about you. More like a soldier than a priest." Irene shook her head. She had been told not to speak of her power so carelessly. "Shall I escort you into the convent?"
"Yes please. Thank you." The priest rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, further enforcing the fact that he was a teenager as she was.
"Why are you wearing a hood and gloves in the summer" Irene asked, opening the door. "Must be hot. I'm Sister Irene."
"I'm Allen Walker." The priest said. "It is a bit warm but sometimes you have to deal with it. It's not too bad though."
"Seems more like your hiding something." Irene muttered and then said aloud. "So is it Brother Allen or have you completed the priesthood and it's Father Allen?"
"I suppose…brother?" Allen said, taken aback by her line of questioning.
Irene smiled. "I haven't taken my vows yet either! I'm so nervous! I—" Suddenly she stopped. "Sweet Lord! What is that!"
The two gazed up at the convent. There, hanging from the window, was a nun. Her skin was the black of scorched bone, cracking into ash. There was blood on the steps of the abbey, and the nun was desperately clutching something in her praying hands.
Reacting quickly, Allen shielded her eyes. "This is not something you should see, Sister. We should tell someone about this."
"I-I should think that this is why you were sent her brother. The Vatican would never send a man to a convent without good reason…" Irene stubbornly brushed his hand aside and approached the deceased nun. "She…she's protecting something…"
Allen followed her protectively. "Be careful." Was all he said, but he gazed at the corpse with a knowing look.
Irene touched the Sister's prayerful hands and took a key from her. "Brother Allen, does this mean anything to you? This sister died protecting it."
She held out the key, but did not hand it over.
Allen looked at the key. "I have no clue. Would you happen to know?"
She knew he was lying. That was the same knowing look he had given the corpse. There was more going on here. Something the Vatican knew that she did not.
"No. But…" Irene looked up at the abbey. "Can't you hear the souls crying out to us? This abbey…it is no longer a holy place… "