A priest knows better than to not follow the words of his saviour, his goddess. As a one and only high priest of the Sun, love was not something for me to experience yet I longed for it for countless days. How sinful…

But I held myself back from acting on my thoughts. Surely, just fantasising about it isn't sinful. I won't break the sacred rules of the Sun goddess, I never will. That's what I say to myself everyday as I flip through another page of this book. A book meant for the younger, more adventurous elves. Not for a high priest like myself. 

"Your radiance Thevaris," a priest across me in the moving carriage called out. 

My hands shook somewhat. Have I been found out? 

"Your radiance Thevaris sure is diligent about your studies of solarism. You are even reading them on your way to Elvenhya." 

The corner of my lips curled into a faint smile. I have not been found out, rather my trick of disguising this forbidden book as a religious text worked splendidly. But I did not say anything back. Lying is a sin but being silent isn't. 

I darted my attention back on the words on the page. A love between a siren and a fisherman. Forbidden indeed. I was starting to get into the better parts of the story. The part where they…How would that even work, I wondered. I dared not imagine such obscurity, especially when they were both males. 

I sighed and closed the book as the man started to undress himself. I could feel my cheeks burning but I was most grateful that I had thick skin. I made sure I sent the book back to my chamber with magic, where no one could find out my little guilty pleasure. 

I looked outside, trying to think of a way to pass the time. After a few hours of listening to the horses trotting, the busy roads outside the window were replaced with the never ending greens of the forest. The change of scenery quickly reminded me of why I was in the carriage going to Elvenhya in the first place. 

As per the order of his majesty, the King of outcasts had done it again, planting a curse in the land of the light elves due to a grudge he held over a few centuries. And as a high priest, I was normally assigned to handle cases with such severity. I sighed. 

These days I have been unable to sleep well. Due to the king of outcasts and his underlings causing the missing numbers of light elves around their youth. To admit shamefully, it is all my fault. The one he held his grudge over was me. I deeply wronged him that very day that I vividly remember. But why had he not come to me directly if he had wanted to see me suffer. I'm sure a weak high priest like myself is an easy prey for a dragonoid like him. 

"We have arrived, your radiance." 

I could tell so by the eerie sense of the overflowing curse energy around the area. It extended to such severity that I had not seen or experienced before. I felt a cold sweat run down my back under my loose robes. I steadied my breath and calmly got out of the carriage. 

Usually I travel on my own to such places infested with curses, but right now I'm starting to think it was a good decision on my part to have brought the paladins and a few priests along with me. I wasn't scared but worried things might take a turn for the worst. This amount of overflowing energy radiating from a single source wasn't usual. Must be because the place was so full of life. 

Curses like life. 

I surveyed my surroundings and quickly found some withings of trees at a distance. Seeing that It had not consumed the entirety of the land, it was okay for me to assume that the curse was discovered rather quickly. 

I led the troops to the place of the withering. The trees had shrunk and turned mushy on the inside as leaves turned black and wrinkly. No to mention the oozing ground that acted most like a quicksand. But I have grown accustomed to such things as a high priest. I quickly casted a spell that allowed us to walk over liquids like it was hard ground and thankfully no one fell victim to such filth. 

Not long after, we found the source of the curse. It was in the middle of which seemed like it used to be a spring. The water has been consumed by darkness and the fish has been long dead and has shrivelled up. The stench of it invaded my senses so violently that I was almost gagged by it. Luckily I figured I wasn't alone to experience it. 

As for the curse itself, it looked as if it was a tree that had been chopped off at its trunk and its head was replaced by a curse orb. The luminous orb on its head was awfully beautiful and luminous. It was no doubt that the curse was well above the complexity than a normal priest could tame. But I was positive I could undo it with ease. After all, if I can't, who would be able to? 

I turned to give a glance at the priest, signalling them to cast a barrier immediately. One that will prevent anyone from entering the field and to exit it. The barrier covered a large scale of land, up until the very place the curse had leaked. 

I summoned my sun staff and prayed, "May the mother goddess give me strength to disperse all evil."

I approached the curse, letting my pristine white pants sink into the body of filth and analysed the curse with an appraisal spell. The results were not far off from my initial expectations. This curse drains the life energy of its victims and thrives to fully mature and become a national disaster. 

My eyes widened slightly in realisation.

If the curse needs to fully develop to cause a disaster, why would the caster leave it in such a vulnerable position. Something is off and awfully so. 

"Your radiance? What are you waiting for?" one of the paladins who were observing me asked. 

This curse…It's made with lunar magic, I realised. If I try to use solar magic to undo it, it will feed off of the life energy to grow immensely and mature. 

This is a trap.

A sudden cry of a young voice from the other side of the spring interrupted my thoughts. I glanced up and found a young elf girl covered in filth walking slowly towards us. 

"H- help me…" she uttered

My eyes narrowed. This must be some kind of trick playing. After all, all elves had been ordered to leave this place before we had arrived. It was unusual for a little girl to be left alone in such a dangerous place. 

"This must be the castor…" the crowd collectively agreed. 

The paladins drew their weapons and pointed at the little girl to which she replied with a scared flinch. 

"Please don't hurt me!" 

"You won't trick us, fool!" they yelled. 

I didn't avert my gaze from the little girl. Something is definitely off. Why would the caster show themselves so easily? 

Before the paladins could do harm to the girl, I raised my hand to signal them to stop what they were doing. They were confused but they dared not turn a blind eye to my command. 

"Why are you here, little one? All the other elves have left this place," I asked gently. 

"I- I…I don't know…Where am i…?" 

Confusion, fear and anxiety. The girl was filled with all of it. But still, it was too early to decide if she was innocent or not. I quickly ordered the paladins to surround the priests in a protective stance as I moved past the curse and approached the girl on the other side. The girl cried and looked at me with such pitiful eyes. 

"Please… help me…" she begged. 

Something tugged at my heart, seeing such a poor child.

"I will…Take my hand," I said as I put my hand out for her to grab onto. 

She came closer to me reluctantly before taking my hand.

Heaven will know I did not lie. It was true that I was helping her, except she is now screaming in pain due to my solar magic travelling deep within her soul. 

"Come out of the girl," I sternly commanded the caster. 

I held her hand tightly as I released more of my power through her body to force out the caster who had been using her as a vessel. But I had to be careful with separating two souls inside a body. One wrong move and the girl's weak soul would reduce to fine particles and never return. She screamed and convulsed in agony. The sounds were more than I could handle but I knew I had to be strong. Because the girl had not been the one screaming but the evil within. 

With a few more pushes of my solar magic, the girl went limp and fell into my arms whilst a dark shadow separated from her body. 

Soon a sinister laugh filled the air. "You dare trick me, wretched little elf?" the shadow growled as it transformed into a dragonoid with its horns peeking from beneath the dark cloak. 

A dragonoid I assumed. It seems to have taken some damage from my power and was self healing. I took this chance to take the child and distance myself away from him by teleporting inside the circle the paladins had formed. 

"Your radiance!"

"Take the child and heal her," I commanded 

No matter if he is a dragonoid or not, judging from the way he gets weakened by my ordinary spell, he must be no stronger than a novice mage. In that case…Shall I deal with him now or capture him? 

"Let us handle this, your radiance," one of the paladins interrupted my thoughts. 

I thought for a moment before I hummed in response, "Don't lower your guard." 

I watched as the paladins marched towards the dragonoid in careful, calculated steps, walking past the curse orb. This further aggravated the dragonoid more, leaving him a mess of his mind. Hastily, he uttered the incantations of a familiar magic. I would be a foolish high priest if I didn't know what he was going to do.  

"Advanced teleportation spell? Don't make a fool out of yourself," I sighed at the dragonoid. 

The satisfaction was more than I could handle to have tricked him into believing this barrier casted around the field was just an ordinary one. I turned my head away as the paladins split him apart with their combined pierce. It would have been sinful if I watched him perish and enjoy every second of it.

After pleasure comes the guilt. I let them kill another one of Llewellyn's, the king of outcast's underlings again. Does this tarnish my purity to have done that…? At this point, it didn't matter. I would never see him again anyway. Forgive me Llewellyn. I couldn't stand up for you once again.  

I placed my hand on the core of the curse as I prayed. 

"Your divine light shall bring us peace, for I am the only high priest of the Sun." 

Lying is a sin. And I sinned again, for the sake of the people, for the sake of myself… 

The curse orb was quick to be undone with the magic of divine metamorphosis, overwriting the nature of the inflicted curse. The veins of curse immediately vanished into thin air but the residue will take more time to fully reduce. May the essence of life bless this place again… 

"Done," I mumbled to myself before turning away. Another order completed. 

To be honest, I was quite content with myself this time. It had been a few decades since I had to use the magic of divine metamorphosis after all. My skills have greatly improved since then.

I turned away from the place as I walked back to the priests that I had brought. 

"Let us return to the-" 

I saw the despair on their faces before I felt the pain in my abdomen. 

A…dark spike…? Piercing through my body…