Kylus had been pacing back and forth with worries weighing heavily on his mind. A crate had been delivered that Paetines had taken in at some point while he was out doing daily devotions with the less fortunate. He couldn't remember who had delivered the crate and it had no known markings anywhere on the aging wood. Yet he could feel, inside, that there was something terrifying within that he needed to get into the vaults right away. Such a large package wasn't able to navigate the stairs, though, so he was resigned to opening the crate and needing to handle exactly what was inside.
“Kylus! Father Kylus!” It was Aensa. She had been staying with him for the past two weeks, taking the offerings of the church in helping her to become well once again. She was a strange woman with a strange past, as much he gathered. Straightening his robes he turned in her direction, a little dismayed when he saw the young man following close at her heels with some form of excitement. This could only mean bad things.
“Aensa. It is good to see you. How are you doing this evening?” He began to stride towards her, but immediately she walked right past him towards the large crate.
“Hey! What's this things ya gots here?” She began poking at the box and it took all his strength he could muster to not slap her hand away like some young child reaching for a burning log in a fire pit.
“It is simply a delivery that needs to be brought down into the vault. Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”
“Ain't never gonna gets down the stairs likes that, Kylus.” Again she gave the box a good old slap on its side, hard enough that the priest cringed. “Ye wants me to open it up and get it down there fer ya?” Raziel waited patiently, as he always did, for her attention to move back to him. The priest had decided long ago that the two had a pretty strange dynamic, but it worked for them.
“No, Aensa. It will be alright.” With a glance towards the young man, the priest focused on Aensa once again. “Aensa, is there a reason you brought your friend here along? You know I can not allow such couplings under the roof of the church.”
With a quick thrust upwards, Aensa jumped atop the crate to sit, legs dangling downwards. Her heels knocked against the wood now and then in an idle rhythm. “I know. I was jest thinkin, I ain't gotta spend every night here, right? I means, ya gotta trust me a bits. I respect ya. I'm not abouts ta go and get back in the slump, ya know? I mean, hells bells, Kylus. I ain't no kid and you ain't not father. I mean, you are a father, yer jest not my father.” She was starting to ramble. It was obvious to the priest that this woman just needed a night away from the church to be herself. It wasn't as if he were holding her captive. To the contrary, she was the one that suggested she stay there in hopes of remembering what her mind had never forgotten. She was a lost soul in need of finding her way, and wasn't that what being a priest was all about?
“Aensa, it's fine. You can leave here any time you want. Just always remember that this place is your sanctuary. You can return whenever you need. Our doors are always open.”
“Yer always so good ta me, Kylus..” She jumped off the box with a grin. “Let me do somethin' fer you and get this monsters down into the vault fer ya.”
He quickly started towards her, waving his arms, “That isn't necessary, Aensa. Really,” but it was too late. Aensa had already wedged the top off the crate and was beginning to sift through the hay inside to find whatever it was that needed to go down stairs.
“What the-” came a mumbled retort to seeing the item for the first time. Up from the hay she lifted a heavy cube of some sort, plated in gold and looking much like a puzzle. It seemed as if she could just find the latching mechanism the whole thing would shatter into bits in her hands. It felt right in her hands. It felt familiar in her mind. But the feeling drifted and passed almost as quickly as it had come. The lopsided grin came easily to her face as she tossed the cube up in the air and caught it easily as it returned downwards. “Well, gonna be much easiers ta get it into the vaults now, eh Kylus?” Her azure gaze drifted to the priest. “Kylus?”
The priest stood, stricken with fear looking at the object. To him, too, it felt familiar. It did not feel right, though. It needed to be locked up and it needed to go now. His face drained of all color as his eyes sat trained on the cube in the woman's hand.
“Raz, grab the Father and brings him to his room. It's jest over there. Poor guy looks likes he's gonna fall down. I'll gets this thing locked in the basement and we can heads out.” She pointed out the direction of the priest's room and instructed Raz to just lay him in his bed. Hopefully after some sleep he would feel better. Herself, she started the journey down the winding stairs to the vault. After pushing the large bar out of its lock and opening the door, she placed the cube on the desk inside for inventorying and closed the massive iron door once again, barring it tightly. She knew once it was inventoried it would be properly locked away in the vaults and she was certain no harm would come to the cube until then. Paetine's would be back in the morning and give it it's number and lock it away, certainly.
On her way back up the stairs, she heard the door click to Kylus's room and figured Raz was ready to go. She met him by the exit and together, talking madly of what they planned to do when they got to their destination, they exited into the night. Just as the door began to close, there was a muffled noise so weak that Aensa wasn't certain she had heard it. With a simple shrug it was ignored and the door to the church closed for the night.
Kylus, on the other hand, had just opened his eyes from where he lay in his dark room on his bed to see the gleaming gold of the strange gift seated on his night stand beside his desk. The muffled noise was the cry of a man who feared he would be driven insane.
