Of Evil and Angels

Chapter 3

The painstakingly slow trek to the abbess’s office was sucking the life out of her. The leisurely trudge bothered her to the point of violence. She bit her lip as they shuffled along, made a few turns, and climbed a set of stairs, finally arriving at their destination. As they stepped in, Alyssalee quickly scanned the furnishings of the abbess’s office. It looked the same as three years ago when she received her sentence for punching a visiting novitiate monk. She couldn’t recall her name as the monk took her vows soon after the incident and left the area. The blows were over a simple annoyance during a ceremony; she couldn’t recall the insult.

“Alyssalee, take a seat, please.”

She obliged, slouching into the worn synthleather of the gothic chair. The Reverend Mother cleared her throat. Alyssalee abruptly bolted upright in a way Gwendelyn would be proud of.

“I have reviewed your transcripts and the footnotes from your various teachers over the years. You have been an aspirant since reaching adulthood, which spans...” The abbess paused, thumbing through a file on her desk.

Alyssalee interjected, “Three years.”

“Yes, three years. Do you know how long the typical candidacy period is to become a novice?”

Alyssalee shrugged.

“Two months to one year, at most. Your file indicates that you do not desire to live a life of contemplation or ministry. Is this correct?”

“Yes, Reverend Mother.”

The stately woman pursed her lips, searching Alyssalee’s face. “Take solace that the One Unified God has a plan for you, Alyssalee. It is time for you to choose your path, and as such, UNUM has an assignment for you to help start you on your way.” The abbess closed the folder in front of her.

“You have been selected to serve as a sacristan assisting Vicar Emsworth. To be clear, this is a position within UNUM, not the Sisters of Light. You would receive a stipend along with room and board for this assignment.”

Alyssalee’s heart skipped a beat. “Sister, when you say, ‘room and board’, is that here or outside the Sisters of Light?”

“Outside, my dear. Vicar Emsworth is on a mission and will travel wherever the diocese directs.”

Alyssalee quickly calculated the pros and cons, and the cons paled in comparison. Serving UNUM was all she knew, even though she had no conviction for the Calling. She didn’t see how this job offer would change anything, except she’d be out of the dungeon she called home—with dijcoin to boot.

“When do I start?” Alyssalee asked.

“That’s an obedient servant of the One Unified God!” the Reverend Mother said, chuckling. “You are to meet the vicar tomorrow for further details at the Unified Light Parish at eight a.m. Visit Sister Kline at once to be issued your vestments... and Alyssalee, make us proud. This is an important assignment, and you were recommended for it.” The abbess gave Alyssalee a look as if she had just saved a dying animal from the wild.

Who would refer me for any role in UNUM? “Thank you, Reverend Mother. I’ll do my best.” And with that, she added a smile and left. As she walked back to the dorm, her biggest concern was wondering how easy it would be to find holocades during her travels. Alyssalee frowned, realizing she should have asked what kind of stipend she’d receive. It had to be more than the allowance she received from the Sisters of Light.

She wondered what her life would be like outside this place. Scenes of the glorious locations she’d travel to played in her mind. White sand beaches and luxurious hotels, exotic meals that she never had or even heard of. After five minutes of this, reality snapped her back, and Alyssalee realized she was in front of the nursery though no infants were currently in residence.

She turned on her heels and headed to the supply depot to get her new, gray hoodie. One nice thing about living in an orphanage of UNUM was that all the staff lived here. Office hours weren’t a thing. It was twenty-four seven servitude. Sister Kline’s dorm room was just next door to the sacrist’s office. She knocked on the Sister’s door and waited. She heard that Sister Kline had served here for fifty years, which was unbelievable, and the notion of this sent a pang of sorrow through her.

Fifty years of this s**t, she thought.

If you were a street-smart resident of the orphanage, you went out of your way to be helpful to Sister Kline. Alyssalee was always the volunteer to be a pack mule for Sister Kline, unloading supplies and hauling heavy boxes around for her. As such, Alyssalee and her dorm room were never in disrepair. Her motivations were selfish, just as with anyone. But Alyssalee truly liked Sister Kline.

Sister Kline opened the door, followed by a quick hug for Alyssalee. “My girl, you are leaving us. What a sad time for the Sisters of Light.”

The abbess knew Alyssalee well—so well, Alyssalee figured, that it was a forgone conclusion that she’d accept the assignment. “Thank you, Sister. I guess you heard.”

“Indeed I did, and as much as we will all miss you, we are so very pleased about your selection. Now, I have set aside a set of the best Franciscan cassocks we have—only one previous owner. We haven’t needed cassocks in so many years. It’s nice to see them put to use again.”

A single owner of UNUM vestments at the orphanage was a great boon for the new owner. Less used vestments meant only minor mildew stains, rough seams, and the rest.

“Thank you so much, Sister Kline. You’ve always taken good care of me.”

“It’s the least I can do. You have done the same for me since you were old enough to help. Did you know I was present in the sanctuary when we found you swaddled on the steps of the admittance room?”

Taken aback, Alyssalee replied, “I never knew that. Why didn’t you ever say so?”

“UNUM has held that all wards of its orphanages be raised knowing that the One Unified God is our connection to this world. Anything that detracts from that connection is frowned upon.”

Left at the steps of the admittance room... Did someone share this tragedy with the vicar? she wondered. “Yeah, that seems like something UNUM would teach,” Alyssalee said.

Sister Kline furrowed her brow. If she’d known all these years, it would have given her a real human connection, something, anything to hold on to, if she had been aware that Sister Kline had been there from the beginning.

“This makes me wonder then... Alyssalee, did anyone ever tell you where your surname came from?”

“I asked one of the Sisters a long time ago, and she said the abbess names the abandoned children.”

“Hmm... have a seat while I get your vestments. Then we can have some tea, and I’ll tell you the complete story,” the Sister said with a smile.

“That’d be nice. Thank you,” Alyssalee said.

She looked around the Sister’s room, amazed at the minimal keepsakes and décor: a crystal snow globe, a handful of framed photos, and a tattered tome of UNUM. There were a few items in the tiny kitchenette including an ornate silver teapot.

After fifty years here, and this is what this woman’s life has amounted to. Alyssalee would not live minimally and decay like the frail onion skin pages of the Sister’s tome.

Sister Kline returned with a neatly folded stack. “It is true that the abbess typically assigns names from a list, but not in your circumstance,” she said as she handed her the garments and made for the teapot.

“The day you arrived, there were fierce clashes between the paladins and the anarchists. Those times were prone to power outages, which was the case on this day. You were placed in the nursery along with two other infants. The clergy were busy attending to the wounded. It was chaos, and several of the evening checks of the nursery were missed. As the wounded were triaged, they discovered that there had been a fire in the nursery. It seemed a lantern had fallen and broken, sending burning oil flying. This oil lit the supplies stored at the bottom of the bassinets. Somehow your swaddling blanket had smothered the flames. The person who saved all of you was never found, but it was decided to name you with a portmanteau of the other children’s forenames—Alyssa and Lee. The children were both reunited with their parents soon after. And that’s the story.”

Alyssalee was silent, taking in all this new information. “I did not know. Thank you, Sister. Why isn’t my blanket all burned up?”

Returning with a silver serving tray holding two steaming cups of Earl Gray, Sister Kline said, “We refurbished your blanket. As a matter of fact, we have repaired it several times over the years. New lining, new stitching. I thought it would be important to you as you grew older. A day such as today.”

That explains its unusual longevity, Alyssalee thought. “You have been watching over me all this time.” Something was pulling at her heart. Her story of captivity within the Sisters of Light was rapidly unraveling. There had been covert nurturing going on all this time.

“Did you ever feel that wasn’t the case, dear one?”

Alyssalee shrugged. She couldn’t make eye contact with the Sister. Not with all these feelings springing up. “Thank you again, Sister.” She stood to leave.

“You don’t forget about us with your exciting new life,” Sister Kline said, wrapping her in a warm hug. “If things don’t work out, you will always have a place here.”

Alyssalee wasn’t very good at hugging but did her best at conveying warmth to the woman and left her godmother of sorts for the cafeteria. The growling in her stomach reminded her she was famished. Breakfast wasn’t her thing, as additional sleep was the top priority—but now it was dinnertime. After a flight of stairs and a couple of turns, she found herself in front of the empty nursery again, this time a deliberate detour. She entered the small room. Any fire damage had long been repaired from the looks of it. She had the feeling that there was something she should remember of this room—something she knew but couldn’t articulate. With a disquieted huff, she turned and headed to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was large enough to seat all the roughly four hundred occupants of the Sisters of Light. This evening there were a handful of novices, aspirants, and two Sisters present. Alyssalee knew all of them and received a couple of nods, acknowledging her arrival. These long years hadn’t led to any of what Alyssalee could call close friends. Who would really miss me here? People seemed to tolerate her, but she shut them out when in danger of growing new affections.

Alyssalee looked for solid meat and potatoes, but the closest she came was some tofu stir-fry. Very dissatisfying. As she left the serving area, she found Gwendelyn eating alone. She sat down across from her.

“Done,” Alyssalee said as she sat with a smile.

“Done? Done with what? You just started eating,” Gwendelyn said.

“I’ve got an assignment. I’m leaving the Sisters of Light.”

Gwendelyn almost knocked over her tray, jumping from her seat. She quickly heaved around the cafeteria table and yanked Alyssalee up by her armpits. Gwendelyn pulled her in close. “Tell me, tell me, tell me,” she giggled. “I didn’t know my words carried so much weight with you.”

“I guess I was selected, somehow, for an assignment. I don’t have a clue how. What have I ever done well enough to be selected for... anything, especially as a sacristan?”

Gwendelyn released her. “A sacristan?” she asked, dumbfounded. “When do you start?”

“I don’t know yet. I am supposed to meet with Vicar Emsworth tomorrow morning.”

Gwendelyn frowned. “Emsworth, Emsworth... that name is familiar, but I don’t know him.”

They ate their meal and embellished many years of embarrassing stories about each other, laughing and disagreeing vehemently. Gwendelyn was a genuine friend, and Alyssalee realized then that she had taken her for granted.

***

ALYSSALEE SLEPT SOUNDLY that night. The lack of plans for a life outside of the Sisters of Light had weighed on her all these years. Tonight, she rested with the knees of the world off her chest.

“Al... Al... Al... wake up!” Alyssalee opened one eye and took in her dimly lit dorm room. Gwendelyn’s face came into focus.

“What... what time is it?” Alyssalee asked, sleep still impairing her.

“I remembered. Vicar Emsworth. I remembered how I heard about him, and it was in Religious Studies.” Gwendelyn trailed off as if in deep speculation.

“And you needed to wake me for this? You freakin’ book nerd. Let me sleep.”

“Al, he is the leading scholar of the Elder Gods, specifically demonology.”

Alyssalee shot bolt upright. “Demon... what?”

“Demonology. You know, the evil spawn of the devil and their hatred for the Unified God’s chosen.”

Alyssalee slouched back on her pillow. “Yeah, about as real as the tooth fairy.”

Gwendelyn nodded, thinking for a moment. “But Vicar Emsworth’s area of expertise is demonic possession.”