The Red Moon

Selena was sitting in the armchair, slumped like a limp doll. Only her eyes were able to move. The rest of her body was cursed by a drug-induced paralysis. After that horror experience on her first day, she refused to drink or eat anything they brought her. It didn’t help. As the evening drew closer, the high priest grew more impatient.

After the skipped dinner each day, three priests came to hold her down while Elias forced her lips open, pouring the now cold tea straight into her throat. Her clothes were disheveled, but the veil still covered the upper half of her face.

She was wondering if she was forced to wear the veil because they are not allowed to see her face, or if they just decided they don’t want to look into the eyes of a young girl being constantly drugged and tortured by them.

Because this was, in fact, a torture. She had to spend the entire day closed in the tower. The doors were locked during the majority of the day, and the window was firmly shut too, so she was unable to escape or jump. Then, in the evening, before the evening mass, the high priest always appeared, hungry after her powerful blood.

Selena did not notice any difference at first, but after he drank a few drops of her blood every evening, she could see the wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead straightening. His gray strands of hair gradually disappeared. His grip was now much more powerful while clutching her forearm, announcing to her that even his muscles grew stronger. Before, he looked like he was around fifty. Now, he looked more like forty. She wondered how much blood he drank out of her to look so young again.

It has been almost a week now since she reincarnated here, and she was expecting to grow significantly weaker, but something strange has been happening to her body. She did not eat or drink, she was losing her blood almost every night, and yet she could feel a powerful current flowing through her veins. But it was a cold sensation. As if there was something else circulating in her body along with her blood, but unable to merge with it.

Selena was unable to describe it, she had never felt something like this in her life, but if she really was supposed to be as powerful as they were saying, she guessed this had to be her mana or her holy magic, as they mentioned to her several times.

But this mana, even though powerful enough, still did not accept her body. It was going around her body with each breath and each heartbeat, searching for a proper home to nest in her insides, but unable to find anything.

Each night, while lying in bed, waiting till the drug wears off, she was thinking about how to take advantage of that growing power in her. She had no idea. Selena was never interested in any occult stuff.

But Mira would definitely know. Even though she was not a real witch and magic did not exist in their world, she knew about a lot of magical rituals people in the past used to do. She was able to read tarot cards to her clients and guide them. Out of all of them, she had the most knowledge about these things.

Mira was her hero. She was always bold and could speak her mind clearly. She knew how to say no, how to respect her own boundaries.

On the other hand, she, Selena, was always the weakest of their group. Unable to stand against her parents, she grew accustomed to comfortable living in the luxury her family provided. Even though she tried to rebel a few times, it was never a success. Her parents just mentioned to her how many things they provided to her, and they got her to agree to anything. She was just too afraid to let go of those securities she had as their daughter.

Here she could see Leonard and Mira, living as normal people in the world, struggling to earn enough money for a decent living, but refusing her financial help. And there she was, talking about being free but unable to face the risks coming with it.

You would expect that the daughter from the rich family would grow up being an arrogant and bold woman, but she turned out to be a fragile princess. Once she realized this, she was ashamed of herself. She was never good enough, but even she was told that every day, only now she finally understood what they meant. And she believed in this curse. She wanted to change, but she didn’t believe she could anymore.

Remembering those things, tears started falling down her cheeks. She was even unable to say anything to Kasian, who had just cheated on her. She hated her weak self so… so much. If it were Mira, she would have slapped him so hard, she would have made such a ruckus that the whole company would hear that.

Selena sniffled.

She missed Mira, she missed Leonard, too. Although she did not know if they still could be friends after that last meeting in the nightclub, she missed the times when they would all meet after work in the pub, drinking a few beers and sharing the unnecessary details of their day. She loved listening to them, their lives seemingly much more interesting than her own.

The sadness grew heavy in her body, slowly dissolving the effect of the drug. She was now crying, her shoulders shaking. The loud sobbing and wailing filled the empty tower.

Elias knocked softly on the door and entered even though he received no reply. He knew she was probably unable to say anything at this point, still drugged. He brought up the fresh bedding and prepared the bed for her to sleep.

Once he was done, he kneeled before her, a crying goddess. He was praying with his head bowed, his hands firmly joined. The cry echoing in the tower was now entwined with his whispers, asking god for forgiveness for what he had just done.

Once Selena heard him, her cries stopped. There he was, snitching on her to the high priest and forcing others to hold her down, while he was pouring the drug into her throat. And then he had the audacity to ask a god for forgiveness? She could feel her blood boiling.

The cold and numbing sadness was replaced by anger, hot and raw. The strong feelings rising in her body consumed the paralysis, feeding on it, and she could finally feel her own limbs coming back to life. Raising her gaze, she looked at her humble servant, kneeling down on the floor before her with his head lowered and hand clasped, now obedient as a lamb.

She moved her bare foot and touched his joined hand with it, forcing them on the ground, pushing them to the hard floor.

He stopped his prayer in mid-sentence, shocked, raising his head.

“The god may forgive you, but I will not,” she whispered, her words sounding like a curse of a vengeful goddess, not a saintess.

She glimpsed a fear in his eyes.

It took him a few seconds to get back his composure. He coughed. “Is the drug already wearing off, My Lady?” he asked her, ignoring her remark. “If yes, then you need to rest, and I shall leave for today. I just came to check on you as Lord High Priest asked.”

“You know what they have been doing to me for years, you see me crying here each night, and yet you did not take any action to help me.”

He didn’t respond, only lowered his head again, unable to face the pain in her voice.

The anger was empowering her, mixing with her mana, connecting it to her hot blood. She could feel the magic flowing into her body properly. Trying to feed her anger more, she continued.

“You just stood there and watched as he did that to me,” she growled.

When she received no response, she stomped on his hands on the floor, harder. Then she kneeled before him, taking off her black veil. Seeing his head was still lowered, she gripped his chin and raised it to meet his gaze.

Once he saw her face, he gasped. It was probably the first time he was able to meet her dark blue eyes properly.

Selena had now confirmed, her face was supposed to be hidden during her whole life before the eyes of others. To further dehumanize her, to make it easier for the people to pretend, she is not just some young woman like others. You are not going to look at the eyes of the lamb you are going to slaughter.

Elias was just kneeling there, taken aback. In the end, he was not allowed to do more than fill his simple duties. He was forbidden to see the saintess' face, he was even forbidden to touch her except the cases where he had to drug her. And yet, there she was holding his face so close to his. Seeing finally her eyes full of pain and resentment swayed him.

The High Priest was always checking on him like a hawk. Even after several months since he started to work here, he still did not trust him to leave her alone with her.

“You just watched!” Selena repeated, hissing like a snake.

“I am just your humble servant, My Lady. That is what I must do, as the Lord High Priest commands. If I don't do it, they will hire another. I’ll get no silver coins to send to my starving family.”

“So you are just watching as they let me bleed, then asking your god for forgiveness.”

“It is your duty as a saintess to grant strength to all the priests in our kingdom. The High Priest says that until you are awakened, only your blood has the power to strengthen their holy magic.”

“It is my duty to grant strength to all priests in our kingdom,” she echoed. “Why is it that until this point now, it was still only High Priest drinking my blood then?” she asked.

He tried to look away, but she pulled him closer. He was hiding something, wasn’t he? Was there a reason why the other priests were here only under the supervision of Elias, and why they had always left when the high priest appeared in the tower?

“The high priest is not sharing my blood with the others,” she guessed.

Elias struggled in her grasp, panicking. So she hit the nail right on the head, huh? Using a powerful force she found within, she forced him to lie down on the floor, and then she climbed on him. He was petrified once she was towering above him.

“M-my Lady,” his throat was dry, his voice hoarse. “Such actions are unbecoming of a Saintess and a noble lady.“

She lowered her face to his.

“He is secretly drinking all my blood. He is the only one getting powerful. He is not giving it to any priests, and he is not letting them be alone with me. Why are you allowed to stay with me alone?”

“Only the priests can take your power from your blood. It won't work if I drink that, My Lady.”

“That priest is lying to his own people, so he won't have to share my blood with them. What makes you think he is telling the truth to you?”

“My Lady, you are now speaking not like a saintess, but like a true devil,” he said, his voice shaking.

“Want me to test that theory?” she asked him.

She grasped his throat forcefully, strangling him. He struggled under her, but he was not able to win. Realizing she was now powerful enough to win against a young man, she laughed.

Elias was unable to breathe. He opened his mouth, gasping for air like a fish out of water.

Selena was waiting for this. She bit her wrist hard, the skin cracking open. Lowering her wrist above his mouth, she let several drops fall own his throat. Just as he did to her several times with the drugged tea. She let go of his throat and slid off him. Stepping back, she was observing what would happen.

His body reacted to her blood immediately. His pupils dilated, his veins protruded under his skin. It looked to her like he had a seizure. But just after a few moments, his body stopped twitching. He was now able to sit and get up.

“What was that?” he asked her, confusion showing on his face. “I never felt something like that. I felt like I slept for a long time, but it took only a few blinks. And then I suddenly got up, full of energy. But also… my old wound on the hand has disappeared?”

“That was the power of my blood, Elias,” she said. “Serve me well and I will give more to you.”

She could see hunger in his eyes.

“Yes, My Lady.”