Gift of a Miracle

Chapter 23

A breath of heat brushed against Iliana's cheek, a low continuous mutter tickled the senses in her ears. The coolness and firmness of the ground on her other cheek gave her a sense of stability. Her eyes flickered open. Her vision was blurred at first, though

after a few blinks she saw the round, black fire pit an arm's length away from her. She

stole a moment to watch the fire dance high up from the coals at the centre of the pit,

until her mind was suddenly revived with the memories of what had happened before

she blacked out. She immediately rose from her lying position onto her feet. As she did

so, her eyes caught a man on his knees dressed in black with a white collar.

'Father Benjamin...!'

The muttering of words stopped as the priest wearily raised his head. The fear that had conquered his eyes radiated across the rest of his face at the sight of her.

"Iliana." He whispered.

The moment she neared him, a line of Tainted humans suddenly appeared from the shadows of the room. The hoods from their cloaks were now pushed back revealing their contorted, fractured faces. They formed a semi-circle around the priest with black spears in their hands and the sharp point directed at Father Benjamin. Iliana took a step back in shock.

The priest took a swift glance at the spear pointed inches from his eyes before looking back up at Iliana. Anguish tugged at his eyes which were framed with puffs, dark circles and redness. Had the priest been crying?

"I am so sorry... I never meant or expected any of this to happen. What have I done?"

Iliana gazed down at him, her heart ached to see him in such a state. "What happened...? What's going on...? Where's Kazuki...?"

Father Benjamin's gaze shifted and settled on whatever had fixated his attention. She followed the trajectory of his gaze, when she found his target... her heart skipped a beat.

A black cloth was tied around the wrists of a young man whilst the other end was tied and knotted around the butt-spike of the spears, which had been jammed securely into the wall. The young man had his bare back facing them, his head was dipped low and his shoulders slouched in a despaired mien.

"Kazuki." Iliana breathed.

She wanted to run to him and break him free from his confinement but the sound of footsteps echoing through the air locked her to a standstill. The utterance from Father Benjamin for her to run past her ears like a forgotten breeze. Her eyes trailed down the length of the long hallway which she found herself in... they were at the entrance of the City Hall. Only this time, black fire pits lined either side of the long hall like a walkway. The black cross spears which had once hung on the walls as decors were now used as weapons by the Tainted, who had gathered down the other end of the hall like an awaiting army near the circular reception desk. There had to be over fifty of them, the largest quantity Iliana had seen of Tainted humans at one time. There was no light radiating down from the glass rotunda above the reception... surely night hadn't fallen already? How long had Iliana been unconscious for?

The Tainted began to disperse from their tight gathering and allowed a freeway for whoever the footsteps belonged to. The fire from the pits lightened, the face of the figure... Lord Baddesley. Iliana's blood burned under her skin. Jung's question swirled in her mind in a vacillating notion... does she still really want to Purify the man after what he'd done?