_________________________
In the middle of nowhere, there was a village, as there was in many middle of nowheres but in this village, there was no church or chapel, the small church was away from the village, hidden behind a hill and a few tall trees.
The villagers were too lazy to climb up that little hill, so the sole monk of the church was left alone for a long time, his sole company being the few other monks and priests that went on pilgrimage nearby.
One day, as the night was slowly coming, a knock came to the door of the small church, the monk went toward the door, expecting yet another of his colleagues in faith, he had since long stopped expecting any believer to come to this place.
Opening the door, he was left in shock, it really wouldn't have hit him so hard a few years back but now that he saw one, he realised that it had been a while.
Right in front of him, stood a woman, the priest had bee, right in his assumption however, seeing her attire, she was a priestess.
Noticing his thoughts straying from proper, he bit the inside of his cheek to clear his head and spoke up, tasting blood in his mouth.
"How may I help you sister?" he said as casually as he could, the priestess didn't seem to take notice of his stiffness.
"Sir, I am on my way to the grand monastery, may I rest in your church for the night?" she asked in a soft voice.
"Of course" responded the monk with a calm face, hiding the storm that was happening in his head.
He pointed to her where she could stay for the night, waited for her to walk to there as still as a statue.
Once she closed the door behind her, the priest turned to face the wall and punched it with all his might, scraping his fist, causing a subtle but piercing pain.
The monk did his best to calm himself, repeating the process everytime an impure thought appeare in his head, no need to say the walls of the church hadn't seen such brutality in a long time.
He prayed for the gods to give him strength but it didn't help him much, the priestess wasn't just a woman, she was very beautiful, at least to the monk.
She had bluish hair that layed on her shoulders, beautiful eyes and an enchanting smile-
The monk punched himself in the face as he realised he was doing it again.
The monk breathed slowly, it would be alright, the priestess would only be there for on night, he just needed to focus on something else until then, he had managed to keep his lust in check before, just a bit of isolation wasn't what was going to push him over the edge.
That night, the monk couldn't sleep, it seemed like it was harder than he had first thought.
He knew how to avoid commiting a sin, it was really easy in fact, rather than punch walls and flagellating himself, he found a much better way to stop his thoughts from treading into a dangerous direction.
He just had to put his hand over a burning candle, that was certain to put his mind in another place, this way, by only severely burning his right hand, he managed to avoid commiting a sin, he would still have to do something about his impure thoughts however.
"I thank you for your hospitality..." said the priestess, the monk was about to respond casually but her next words somewhat stunned him.
"...It is a shame you aren't younger, I would have thanked you some more" with these suspicious words, she strolled away, leaving the monk with a highly confused expression on his face.
'What did that mean?' was all he was thinking about.
_________________________
I remember my short encounter with her, I had thought that my wavering resolve was due to my own inaptitude but it seems like it had simply been the work of her charms.
I didn't know it at the time, but the young priestess that I had sheltered for a night was , the girl who would go on to assault many virgin saints at the grand monastery.
I was fortunate enough to not be a viable target in her eyes.
However, now that I hear that she is to be burned at the stake, I am writing this letter in her defense.
I strongly believe that such a punishment is only fitting for pawns of the devils and devils themselves, she is, just like us, a earthly being, a human.
That some of us, as imperfect as we are, would stray from the path of good is to be expected and to be understood.
Had she been an agent of Asmodeus, she wouldn't have hesitated to corrupted a follower of faith, her picking and choosing is a sign that she is but a lost one, as many of us fervent believers have been once.
As such, I ask that you do not go through with that punishment as it would be tainting yourselves, as righteous as it may be, I don't believe you should give in to anger, just like we can bring back criminals on the right path, we can bring onto the right track as well, no matter how severe, there is nothing we do not believe to be unforgivable.
_________________________
Having finished reading this old letter, Gregory didn't do anything for a few moments as he looked at it.
He had searched without stop for information, going from churches to churches to search for old documents, searching libraries as well, he had found next to nothing on Lust, all he had found were a few documents, letters speaking of a certain priestess.
Normally, he would have doubted that they were about Lust for sure but the fact that the priestess's name was gone from each of those documents in an unnatural manner, it could only mean that it was her.
It was of no help however, Lust didn't seem to have been making use of any particular skill or ability back then and it seemed like he had even found someone with the gall to think she could be brought back to good.
"That's wrong, she's a devil in the flesh" he muttered to himself.