The church was dark, but the stained glass shimmered a little, and was still visible in the darkness. “It’s beautiful,” breathed Gateau.
“Our region is known for its stained glass,” Aila said. “My family used to be glassworkers, but the apothecary proved more profitable.”
“That’s always what is is, insn’t it... Sacrafice beauty for profit.” Gateau shook his head.
“...Or just for scrafice,” Tira said, looking at the stained glass windows, rather horrified. She pointed to one in particular, near the door they had come in, of a naked woman being thrown at a terrible monster.
“Hey... she’s naked!” Carrot was suddenly very interested.
Two hands smacked him upside the head - on from the left, one from the right - one Tira’s, one Chocolate’s.
“Oh, yes, that...” Aila looked away.
“'Oh, yes, that...’ What?” said Chocolate.
“The Sijarru... The pagan people that once lived here used to give it virgins. It ravaged the village, killing children, women, anyone who got in its way.”
“Give it virgins? Do you mean feed it virgins?” Tira asked.
“No... It doesn’t eat them... it posesses them. It posesses them and uses their life energy until they give out. They they discard the old body and find someone else.”
“How...?” Tira asked.
“I-I don’t know,” Aila said. “It’s been ages since one had to be fought, ages since one has seen.”
“The girl lies,” said a voice. Everyone turned to find a wizened old woman in the doorways of an adjoining room. Candles flickered in the room behind her, blocking out most of her features. Then as she approached, they saw her clearly.
“What?” asked Gateau suspiciously.
“Wanted me ta help ya, huh?” Carrot said, eyeing Aila suspiciously.
“She does not lie of her own will, but out of her ignorance,” replied the woman.
“How d’you mean?” Chocolate asked.
“The Sijarru never went away. It lives on on the riverbank.”
“But I’ve never seen it! No one has for years.” Aila looked confused.
“What you cannot see most often exists,” said the aged woman.
“Can you tell us more about the Sijarru?” Gateau pressed.
“Indeed. In fact, it tried to attact me once. I know how it feels to have it inside me... The Sijarru was raised in an attempt to conquer another demon. But it got out of control, and went on a rampage. For years, they wold send an unlucky virgin to the riverbank to be sacraficed. This was hundreds of years ago, of course. It became quiter as the pagans died out and we came to inhabit the area. It found that it might simply wait for someone to come along into its domain and possess them there. It became a legend, a story to tell naughty children about. The church used it to preach the evils of the pagan ways - see what the old ways got you?” Here she pointed to the particular stained glass Tira had singled out before.
“That is horrible...” Chocolate said.
“Yeah, the poor virgins...” Carrot agreed. He deftly dodged a hand aiming to land him a blow to the head. Instead, Chocolate jabbed him in the ribs.
“Sorry, Darling, but you deserved it,” she said.
“Sijarru,” Tira asked, “what does it mean?”
“In the old language, Savior, actually,” said the old woman. “The pagans raised it to destroy another demon, as I said, and they had called it their Savior because they thought it would help them.”
“Savior... They didn’t use a holy text to raise the Sijarru, did they?” Tira looked like she was hoping not.
“In fact, they did.”
Tira’s eyes became wide. “Oh, no! Marron!”
“You think the Sijarru has posessed my brother!” Carrot exclaimed.
“What else?”
“Oh, man,” Carrot said, “I knew these monster guys all looked alike!”
“I’m going to go and see if Marron is back at the inn,” Tira said. “I want you all to stay here and figure out if there’s a way to save Marron. There is a was to get rid of thise demon, isn’t there, ma’am? I mean, it posessed you, and you’re still here!”
“Exorcism, but... It failed when they tried to save me. The exorcism should have killed the spirit, so to speak, but instead... I bit the young priest, and it entered him. They found him downriver a year later. Poor soul.”
“OK, then, get ready for an exorcism. Meet me in the inn in half an hour.” With that, Tira was gone.
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