Stolen dreams

Arrival at St. Valerie

It's a classical story of ascending to power by any means necessary. A group of up and coming priests wanted to take over the cathedral and by that also this part of the city. Apparently the former priest had other plans and elected people from other churches to come rule over St. Valerie. This didn't sit right with the ones who already made plans. They didn't show it, instead coming up with a plan to get rid of them. They took upon themselves to improve the cathedral before the other priests arrival, the biggest change being a massive chandelier located in front of the altar.

Normally people would use the weight of a chandelier to kill the ones below, but that's messy and ruins the delicate work that went into building it. So the priests along with the ones building it devised a plan to have knives in every part of the chandelier holding candles, and there were many. It was a wide range of knives from fake candles that were bigger than an arm to tiny birthday candles on the edges. No one suspected a thing. They invited the priests to admire it, along with the former head of the church, who they placed right in the middle under the chandelier. They asked them to look up, because the ceiling was altered as well to reflect the lights so it looked like a star map unfolding.

Before they knew it they died looking at the marvel. Some of them even caught glimpses of the knives raining towards them from above. Most of them didn't.
By the time it pierced their eyes, skulls and bodies it was already too late. Justice from above has been made.

No one saw the scene except for the priests that remained. No one talked about it out loud. They don't dare. But behind closed doors, in the dark pits of catacombs or hidden under deserted alcoves...you can hear whispers of it.

Over time St. Valerie got a bad reputation. People stopped showing up for sermons. Some priests stopped showing up all together. The cathedral was still well kept and cared for, but not as popular as it was. Little by little people started deserting it in favor of other churches around.

A while ago it was rumored that people started gathering in it again. The lights of that beautiful chandelier shining outside with an eerie glow. No one knew the ones going in there. No one was curious enough to find out either.

After dropping off the monorail and heading towards it i could see why those priests were hoping to control this part of the city by religious means.
St. Valerie was massive, it's towers looking down on the rest of the houses and buildings surrounding it, like mushrooms around a rose. It looked delicate somehow and the bad feelings about it didn't hit until I got closer. That's when it's towering height made me feel trapped, like it's going to crush on top of me. I shrugged it off and kept going.

The perfect vantage point happened to be it's dome housing the infamous chandelier. It's walls were smoother than Verlain's, having minimal ornaments on the lower parts. Still, it's nothing my claws and feet can't handle, it just took a bit of getting used to. The roof of the dome was covered in metal, with tiny glass windows scattered everywhere to give that starry illusion on the outside as well. Whoever came up with the design clearly intended it as a sight to behold, pity it got used in other ways...

The note said i should be there a quarter before midnight, i took my liberty in arriving earlier so I'll see if there's anyone there preparing me a surprise. A few figues started showing up. They gathered in front of the church, one of them opened and I shifted my position towards a window so I'll see inside. Nothing unusual, just a gathering of priests, dark brown robes and everything. More followed in the next hour, all of them quietly getting inside the church to their places of worship, all of them carefully avoiding walking under the chandelier, but managing to not make it obvious.

If this was a bounty Hunter gathering it was starting a bit boring. I heard of religious fanatics, so maybe it was that. The more I thought about it the more something wasn't right. If they were actually after me to catch me, why didn't they do it right after i left work? Why didn't they follow me home or here to catch me in the act? Maybe they were comisioning me with a task so they could frame me? But why would they since people clearly heard about my family. Maybe this people actually weren't bounty Hunters at all and actually wanted my help.

My train of thought was disrupted when I noticed him at the altar. For all intents and purposes he was just your average middle age guy with nothing special or distinct to make him stand out. Except everyone else didn't know where to look for to see something distinct in him. I squinted my eyes, forcing my bird pupils to act and focus on the dark silhouette. The first clue he was important wasn't that he was in front of everyone, but how everyone seemed to be gathered there for him, entranced and in awe of his presence.
Zooming in i saw his face, again surprisingly unremarkable except for his expression. He masked his grief and hatred well with a face of piousness, but i could tell he was suffering from a long time. I was more than certain this was the man who had commissioned me. He wanted me to solve something. Steal from his enemies or maybe even kill them. For the latter i would have to decline his offer.

Caution is a virtue in my line of work, yet surprisingly i found myself abandoning it partially for the sake of curiosity. Since I wouldn't know what the man wanted unless I would actually climb down and ask.