[Jay POV]
The world, even before it ended, was not exactly a beautiful place.
"______! Pay attention!"
A slap from one of the Sisters hit my face. I didn't even flinch from the harsh impact.
"____! What is your response?!"
Another hard slap. My face was starting to redden from the hits, standing out obviously on my pale, almost white skin.
"Yes, Sister." I respond obediently, an answer which she accepts with a click of the tongue.
She barely hid her disgust at my empty expression, the lack of reaction enough to draw the emotion out of her.
"You're truly an ominous child…"
She shook her head at me, and continued droning on about the context of the 'scripture'.
I returned to studying the religious text that I had on the desk in front of me, filling my mind with the writings that were within, and the ramblings of the Sister.
After a few hours more of this, I was dismissed, not without a thorough, vicious scolding for my inappropriate, off-putting behaviour.
This wasn't an uncommon day for me. I had grown up within the boundaries of this compound. All I knew were its' teachings. But, unlike the sisters who had willingly dedicated themselves here, I was something of a freeloader.
Someone abandoned me here as a baby, I heard. An old fashioned practice, but for whatever reason, the head nun at the time didn't leave me to die.
I never got to meet her, either. By the time I grew up, enough to understand the people around me, she had passed away as well.
I was left in a compound of people who believed I did not fit with them, in a religion I didn't truly believe in.
A sudden force yanked me out of my own thoughts. There was a hand on my shoulder, gripping tightly, enough to hurt. I looked up and saw the Head Nun.
Her face, which had been serene only seconds ago, distorted into one full of annoyance. The gentle demeanor she put on for others was lost once I came into her sights.
"_____? Wandering around without dedicating yourself to service? You should be ashamed of yourself…clean the dormitories, now!"
I mindlessly complied with a nod, wandering off in silence.
"I swear, that child…they're just like that damned…"
The Head Nun cursed, carrying a bundle underneath her arm, tied up in fancy cloth.
Despite my listless demeanor…it was something that my eyes did not miss.
-----
It took a long time to clean the dormitories. It was back-breaking work. This compound was located far away from the city, nestled comfortably into a forest.
I always heard odd stories about the forest, but I was never allowed to explore it. I wasn't allowed to do many things.
I studied, I pretended to pray, and I cleaned.
My daily schedule was always some variation of those three activities. I was only allowed the grace of sleep once the others had retired, themselves. That was the only time that nobody could say anything to me, after all.
Despite the Sisters hating me, they were eager to control every aspect of my life. Perhaps it had more to do with their image as kind Sisters than an actual concern or duty to me.
I wiped sweat from my brow after finishing. The sun had finally gone down, and I was sure that most of the Sisters had retired to their rooms.
Of course there were still some of our mysterious visitors around, but they cared even less of me than the Sisters.
Instead of sleeping, I wanted to investigate something tonight.
I remembered hearing the Sister speak of something earlier. She tried to hide it by mumbling, but I could clearly hear her. Listening was almost exclusively what I was allowed to do.
So, I snuck around. Not outside of the compound, or into the forest, but into the head Nun's office.
There weren't locks on any of the doors. Why should there be? This place wasn't one that harboured criminals, after all. And there shouldn't be anything impure to hide.
Or so the reasoning went, when someone asked.
So I just eased in.
The place was…off. The air was stale. I could tell that it hadn't been opened for a long time. And there was a reason for that: the head Nun didn't go into this office, not that often.
I didn't really care about her personal circumstances. I clambered behind the desk and pulled at one of the drawers excitedly.
As it pulled out, I saw it: a new, shining tome. Different from the standard religious texts they had me study.
But I wasn't excited because of a new version of the same old 'scripture'. No, I was excited, because this version mentioned just what I was looking for:
"Devil."
I spoke, my voice raspy and unused. That was what my teacher had compared me to, under her breath.
Just speaking made me cough, but I suppressed it and continued reading.
Of course, I knew the concept.
The enemy of everyone. The Devil. An eternal adversary named throughout the entirety of the scripture. It went by many, many names.
However, a unique quality of this religion was that sometimes it didn't just present itself spiritually, but through people. Literally.
Specifically, that it always descended in one person in every generation or two. That person was considered the 'Devil' by everyone else.
A person meant to be revIled by everyone. Hated. Maybe even more than a person like me.
This book, a reprinted version, meant for the modern generation of living practitioners, named the current living Devil.
"Alyssa."
Her name was mesmerising to me. Enough that I forced myself to speak, through the dryness of my voice.
Maybe I wasn't captivated by her…but by the idea of her.
She suffered at the hands of these people, just like me.
She must be out there, suffering, enduring all on her own.
But by reading her name in this book…I felt a connection to her.
It was the first time I felt truly connected to anything in this world. For once, I felt like I had found something that I could care about.
Not myself, not this religion, not the people around me…but her.
'The people who dared to call her a Devil are stupid.'
I thought, holding the book against my chest.
She was more holy than anything or anyone I had read about in the scriptures. I was sure she was a far better person than the Sisters who begrudgingly raised me, treating me like trash.
Someday, I want to meet her.
My Saintess.
Luckily, my request would only take about two more years to come to light.
-----