The Bearer of the amulet

Chapter 2 : The Test Of The Seven Sisters

"Wanda, dear. Please do come in". The high priestess welcomed me with a tired smile and wrinkled eyes. She was a very old woman but never once did she let the age barrier get hold of her, not until today that is.

I saw many sisters in that room, however, all were ordered to leave the moment I was invited in. Something was wrong, and I was involved somehow.

"Sit down, please". She said quietly

I heeded as the chair shrieked beneath me. I joked, failing to convince myself that I wasn't fat and that the ancient chair was to be blamed. I did that to ease my anxiety. I knew that the high priestess wouldn't ask for me unless it was important.

"Wanda, do you mind asking you a sensitive question?"

There was only one available answer to this tricky query.

"Of course not" I tried to reassure myself.

"Did any man touch you before?"

This again. Why all of this intervention in my past personal life all of a sudden?

"No ma'am, no one touched me"

"Are you sure?"

What kind of stupid question is that?! Unless I had amnesia, I would be damn sure if a man had a relationship with me!

"Yes ma'am. I am sure. Please forgive my audacity. But why is everyone is interested in my virginity all of a sudden?" I didn't mean to sound rude but I had enough of this nonsense.

"That means I am not the only one who asked. Good, it makes me feel better knowing that the sisters here understand the seriousness of the situation we have reached..."

I blinked. I was right. Something was not right. Something that made the whole church paranoid all of a sudden.

She grabbed my hand as she stood up. "Come with me, your task awaits you in the basement"

The basement! This place is forbidden to all the people. Rumors say there is a demon trapped in there but such a thing doesn't exist, right? In fact, I went to the door of the basement once when all the sisters were asleep. I listened to anything coming from the other side. But I always heard the same sound.

Dead silence.

"But it's prohibited to go near there. They all confirmed it's a cursed place!". I teased so that she could give me more info.

She didn't pick up the bait. She picked up the pace instead as we left her office and headed to the basement.

I saw all the sisters there waiting in obedience with lit candles in their hands, standing in front of the basement door, with bowed heads, dressed in their usual black uniform.

The more I got close to that door, the more my spine shivered more and more.

Is this ritual made for me? Am I getting sacrificed for whatever or whoever is behind this door?!!!

That's when I finally snapped.

I pulled my hand away from her grasp.

The anger was visible in my loud mouthpiece. "Ok, I really need someone to explain to me all this dark ritual thing because I am not getting to that basement before someone tells me what the hell is going on!"

They all looked at me with dull eyes, as if I was the one who had gone mad.

The high priestess turned around and called to me. "The Amulet of Life"

My eyes flickered in excitement. Legends were all I knew about this jewellery. Yet no one knows what it looks like or why it is very well hidden.

"What about it?" I asked.