In a small room that was decorated with many different accessories and ominous symbols, a few dark candles were dimly illuminating it, giving an unnatural sense of death.
A strange-looking man with dark red hair, blue lifeless eyes, and ashen pale skin was crouching on his knees with his hand clasped, praying quietly. He was clad in a blood-red robe with a black cape around his shoulder that was adorned with clock engraving on both sides.
This man was one of the archbishops of the Afterlife Church, Archbishop Rahab.
Right now, he was in front of a bare human skull with its jaw open wide and a purple hourglass between its teeth.
This was one of the most known symbols of God of Afterlife that symbolized human mortality and they would pass to the afterlife even if it is a bit later for some people.
The archbishop continued praying for straight 15 minutes without even caring for the 2 people on his side that were waiting.
After his prayers were over, he got up and parted his lips.
"I wish to meet my lord, bathe in his darkness, kiss his feet, and go to the afterlife, I hope I will die. Amen." His voice was dull and made it hard to discern if he just told a poem or just said his wish, maybe a mix of both.
Then he turned to his side and inspected his guests.
One of them was a tall young man with black hair, and deep purple, narrow eyes. There were black circles around his eyes and a beauty mark under his left eye. He was wearing dark pants, a shirt, and a vest.
The other one was a blonde-haired girl that was considerably shorter than the young man. Her face was pale as paper and her lips were purple. It was apparent that she wasn't in good condition, maybe ill. In contrast to her light hair and skin, she was wearing black cloth on her eyes, dark outsized pants, and a robe around her body.
"So, you are the infamous Auriel Weaver, who sexually harassed a few of our sisters of faith and caused one of them to kill herself." Archbishop Rahab said dully. Then added with a slight spite in his monotonous tone. "And you got the courage to show your face without any fear, huh?"
Auriel was taken aback because of the unexpected reveal as no one said that the original Auriel did something like this.
'Probably the church hid the fact that they couldn't even protect their priestesses.' Auriel thought with pity as he didn't like the fact that these hands of his touched a holy woman, and caused her to take her own life.
Though, there was nothing Auriel could do about this crime. So, he decided to appease the archbishop with a sincere apology.
"I am sorry to hear that, Archbishop Rahab. But I don't remember that priestess, or any of my past victims as I lost my memory." Auriel apologized with a low tone and bowed his head.
Archbishop Rahab took a good look at Auriel and his lips stretched a little, showing his slightly longer than normal canine teeth.
"It seems you really don't remember, huh? But that doesn't mean that you are forgiven. Your crimes against sisters of faith still remain." Archbishop Rahab said.
Auriel immediately sighed internally as he was almost sure that a 'but.' was coming from the archbishop.
"But, if you spread the faith and bring a new priestess to our belief, we might overlook your past actions." the dull archbishop completed his sentence.
Auriel couldn't help but narrow his eyes more as he found this ridiculous.
Yes, the original Auriel committed disgusting crimes and if necessary he was okay with fixing the original Auriel's mistakes. However, making him a preacher like this was idiotic.
They themselves called him to make him a member of the church but now they wanted him to just be a measly preacher and bring a priestess to their rank?
"I am sorry again, Archbishop Rahab. But I am not well versed in the belief of the Afterlife and preaching. I don't want to lower the reputation of the church or intimidate potential believers with my inexperience." Auriel explained and requested a different way to 'repent' his 'sin'. "But I would be grateful to do something else to repent."
Archbishop Rahab's already cold expression got colder as he inspected Auriel with his lifeless eyes.
After that, he nonchalantly bit his thumb enough to draw blood. Then the few drops of blood that trickled down, floated in the air at an unimaginable speed and appeared with paper pieces on the archbishop's hand.
Auriel's eyes widened. 'Was that subspace– no it moved just too fast for me to see and brought the paper.' Auriel concluded and wrote this information into the corner of his mind.
Rahab grabbed this paper and placed it into Auriel's hand. "Then you can lessen the worries of some believers." Archbishop Rahab said with a slightly cunning smile and began to explain the situation.
"According to the testimony of villagers, every day a person disappears without any trace. We sent one of our Awakened, a holy knight to confirm it and he did it, but couldn't find the thing that caused the disappearances. After that we sent one of our Masters, a paladin, to resolve the problem, but unfortunately, he didn't come back. He must be in the Afterlife, resting in the shadow of our lord, right now." the archbishop said with a solemn tone.
Auriel looked at the old archbishop as if he was looking at a crazy person, but he quickly recovered his former depressed expression. "Pardon me, Archbishop Rahab, but are you trying to kill me indirectly? You realize that you want me to go and do the job that even a paladin couldn't do?"
An amused smile appeared on the dull expression of the archbishop.
"If I wanted, I could kill you when you entered this room, boy. I don't need something like that." Rahab said. "I will give an Archpaladin on your side to help you for strength if you need it. Show your worth and repent your sins, young blank slate."