Crying.
The girls layed, scattered upon the floor as they cried their fear out.
In the middle was the body.
The body of the girl the King had left.
Jonaus had lead us to our side of the palace- avoiding my eyes the whole time as he shuffled us in, telling us this was now our home.
Our place of living.
The area was rich and filled with divine colors and lush furniture.
According to Jonaus, the King could not enter this part of the Palace.
So the girls laid there, and cried.
Because they had chosen to believe that they were safe.
For now.
I crawled closer to the body, taking in the lifeless form.
Her brown eyes stared up at nothing, her features slack and motionless.
Slowly I pulled her head to my lap, and began the process.
"Brakk rar kuir omd corrae rar kursr sieda rar kusrar omd vursacs rar vesr aeuir resrs ras rar muv dmuv mu voem ok aeui soda rar em aeuir orkk."
Over and over I chanted the ancient blessing to guide the girl's spirit safely to the Mother.
My blessing was cut off though with the harsh words of another.
"What the hell are you doing."
I looked up to meet the eyes of another girl. Her furious blue stared down at me, taking in my bowed head.
"I'm guiding her spirit to Asundra."
"You're practising the art of the light in the fucking Dark King's palace," Her screech grated against my soul, leaving me to reevaluate the girl.
"I am Arishia, it is my duty to-,"
"I don't give a crap to who you are- you'll make them come back and we'll all end up like her," she pointed down at the lifeless body that laid within my lap.
I regarded the girl with calm eyes.
Scared. She was just acting out because she was scared.
"Do not fear child I-,"
"I am no child," she hissed the words at me leaning in closer to make her threat more real to my ears.
I softly shake my head, ignoring her cries and continuing on with my blessings.
"Did you not hear me?!"
I ignore her.
Her frustrated scream is cut off though when I feel her nails dig into my arms.
She gasps, backing away, but not because of the light that blinds her.
Because a girl has stepped in.
"How dare you," the girl who bowed when I first arrived looks on, her own furious anger showing in her eyes as she stands in front of me, protecting.
She turns around then, folding her legs and bowing her head.
Then she too chants the blessing with me.
I beam on the inside.
This girl should have been within the Mother's Temple.
Her soul was a true follower of the Mother's light.
Soon, her example sets off a chain, as other girls gather around, creating a circle around their fallen companion as they chant with me, the blessing.
I try not to smile when I see the girl from earlier slowly, and grudgingly, sit down with them. Bowing her head and following in the lead of the others.
The light worked in mysterious ways.
For now we, maybe, possibly, were safe.
For now, we were not focused upon the darkness that waited to consume us outside those doors.
Instead we looked at the life that was gone.
At the girl whose family, had marked her dead since her body stepped into that carriage.
At the girl who possessed beautiful dirty blond hair and soft brown eyes.
Eyes that no longer looked and saw the girls that surrounded her in sorrow.
Instead an endless black.
Guiding her soul to the Mother.
Hours later it was done.
I could feel the shift within.
I stopped, letting the other girls slowly fade out also as they realized I was not chanting with them.
"It is done."
They nod, and slowly, one by one get up, scattering off within their groups or hiding away alone to drown in their dark thoughts of home, the future and the girl whose eyes saw no more.
But for those few hours we were together.
For those few hours we were united in something.
I softly stroked the fallen girls head, whispering one last goodbye to her.
I did not even know her name.
I look up to find my defender still sitting next to me.
Her green eyes- vast and holding a tint of blue within them, stare at me with wonder.
"What is your name child?"
"Oceane Ray."
Two names.
Her family was wealthy enough to own two names- and mark themselves off from the rest because they had a last name to tag along to the first.
I take in her clean skin and soft flowing brown hair.
She had been sheltered.
Probably thinking the reaping was something that would never fall upon her.
Yet it had.
"It is an honor, Oceane."
She smiles and bows her head once again.
"Thank you Arishia."
I smile and glance back down at the female still resting within my lap.
"Her name was Sara."
I nod, "May the mother bring you peace Sara."
The ending to the ritual was complete.
They could throw her body out now.
Think that the darkness would consume it.
But it wouldn't
They would reject it, or become sick from the substance.
Because the body had been taken to the Mother. Touched by her light as she gently claimed her child's soul.
Now it was just an empty vessel.
Nothing more.
The darkness could not touch her now.