Page 15 of Where the Dark Knelt (Worshipped by Darkness #1)

Eveline

After a delicious dinner, we were given free time, so I decided to finally walk down to the foot of the ocean. It was sunny and warm today, and I felt I could allow myself the small freedom of watching the sunset in peace.

I tried to ask Astra to come with me, but she refused, saying she wanted to be alone and pray longer today.

She was preparing to take her final vows and become a nun any day now…

I guessed it must have been difficult for her in ways I couldn’t understand yet.

We didn’t really know each other deeply.

I simply bowed to her. She bowed back in her quiet way, and I left her there in her thoughts and prayers.

The stairs down to the ocean were steep, carved carefully into the towering cliffside, a mix of weathered wood and stone steps.

They creaked in places as I descended, making my heart flutter with unease.

I was afraid to go down alone, but Eata had assured me these stairs were safe – built firmly into the rock face, shielded by God’s protection as much as human craftsmanship.

And shouldn’t I trust Him in everything?

Taking a few calming breaths, I began the long walk down. Step by step, down and down into the salty embrace of the ocean air. It took me about thirty minutes to reach the bottom alone, faster than when I walked with Eata that day.

When I finally stepped onto the dark sand, the sunset was already in its full, glorious bloom across the horizon.

Pink and orange streaks spilled over the sky, flooding the world with warm, tranquil light.

I sat down on the black sand, still holding the day’s heat, and pulled my knees close to my chest. The waves moved in rhythmic peace, pushing foamy trails of algae and broken shells from the depths onto the shore.

I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply. The anxiety that always twisted in my chest seemed to loosen here, as if the place itself held a gentle magic – a power of its own that soothed my spirit.

Suddenly, something soft brushed against my hand.

I screamed, jerking back across the sand, my heart racing wildly. I thought a huge bug, or bird, or some ocean creature had lunged at me. But when I opened my eyes, breath heaving, I saw a snow-white cat leaping back a step, staring at me with wide, frightened eyes.

I blinked, then giggled in relief, my laughter trembling out into the pink evening air. “I’m sorry…” I whispered softly to it, “I was just scared… you came up so silently.”

The cat blinked back at me, its pure white fur glowing in the sunset’s light, and I felt my heart melt with tenderness. “You’re so handsome…” I murmured, reaching out a tentative hand as it stood there, tail flicking lightly, deciding whether I was friend or foe.

I held out my hand to the cat, and he craned his neck, taking a careful step closer. He sniffed my fingers, then nudged his head under my palm, forcing me to stroke him along the entire length of his snow-white, silk-soft coat.

He moved even closer and settled beside my hip, staring up at me with those vivid emerald eyes that glowed like gemstones in the light of the setting sun.

I gasped softly. “You’re such a beautiful cat…

” I whispered, stroking his velvety ears.

His eyes closed in bliss, and he began to purr, the sound rumbling from him like a tiny tractor.

It was then I noticed the collar around his neck – emerald green leather, as if made from something expensive, and a small silver badge gleamed against his fur. The letter D was engraved there.

“Hm…” I reached for the tag, trying to flip it over, but he wouldn’t let me turn it. Gently, I lifted him into my arms, cradling his warm, soft body, laying him on his back so I could turn the badge without hurting him. But when I did, there was nothing written there. No address. Just emptiness.

“Your name starts with D, right?” I asked softly.

He slowly blinked his emerald eyes, continuing to purr so loudly it vibrated through my palms. I laid him back down across my thighs, shaping them into a little couch for him, and he curled up instantly, tucking his nose under his tail.

His whole body twitched in pleasure as I stroked him from his head down to his flicking tail.

“Hm… if your name is D, then you must be Damon… or Dylan? Though those are probably strange names for a cat… I’m sorry… let me just call you Di?” I smiled faintly, but he was already fast asleep, his purring fading into deep, silent breaths.

“You fall asleep so quickly… I wish I had that ability,” I giggled softly to myself, my voice nearly drowned out by the sound of the waves. I turned my gaze back to the horizon, watching the last streaks of orange and pink vanish into darkening blue.

The warmth of his tiny body pressed into my legs, and I kept stroking him in slow, rhythmic motions. My heart felt calmer, the tight knots in my chest loosening under the gentle weight of his trust and warmth.

But then, without warning, tears began to spill down my cheeks.

My chest ached with a sharp, raw longing that I couldn’t name.

It was so lonely here… alone on the beach with this little creature, even if he was company.

Or maybe it was a she. I hadn’t checked.

Why would I need to know the sex of an animal… ?

I shook my head slightly, wiping away my tears with a trembling hand. Why was my body crying? Was it really that hard to drown out the loneliness? Or was it simply self-pity blooming again, like a bitter flower I couldn’t uproot?

I didn’t know if I was talking to myself out loud or just thinking it inside. It didn’t matter anymore.

What mattered was that, sitting there in the soft dying light, I felt torn between wanting to escape this place and wanting to stay forever.

Sometimes… it was just so lonely in my soul here. I didn’t even know why exactly. But I missed my old life anyway – the routine, the pointless familiarity of it, even though there was no future in it for me, of course…

Yes, it was lonely there too, but…

Even if I was surrounded here by twelve sisters every single day, praying and working and eating together… the loneliness inside never completely went away. It gnawed at me silently, like moths eating through silk.

Sometimes I thought – maybe that was it.

Maybe it was better to go back to civilization, finish my degree, become that damned manager like everyone expected, and then run some useless department, yelling at people who were too lazy to work for minimum wage.

As if I could have ever influenced anything in that miserable system.

I growled quietly to myself, my teeth clenched at the memory of that world.

It pissed me off. People slaving away at those jobs for a damn pittance, and still they were asked to do even more, always more, endlessly more.

Many worked for five people’s worth of duties, and all they got in return was just enough money to pay rent and buy food to survive another month.

I didn’t even dare imagine what it felt like for them to have dreams, desires, longings – when they could barely breathe under that weight.

And every time I thought about work, about the life waiting for me out there if I gave up here, a darkness curled up inside my chest, whispering that I’d rather just throw myself out the window than spend my whole life like that, slaving away for nothing, for pennies and exhaustion.

I exhaled heavily, the sound trembling out of me, and the cat stirred in my arms, shifting against my thighs.

Again, thoughts of work pressed down on me, suffocating me with their heaviness.

Manipulations, lies, survival – it all disgusted me so deeply I could barely sit still.

I didn’t even want to think about what people in their thirties or forties felt like, having spent their entire lives working like that… for what?

The cat twitched again, waking up as my tears fell onto his perfect white fur.

He sat up on me, tilting his little head to the side and blinking those bottomless emerald eyes at me, so innocently curious.

I decided that it was a male cat since he looked like a fine gentleman with these big paws of his.

I giggled through my tears, stroking the top of his silky head. “Oh, that’s good for you… you never have to work, do you?”

He narrowed his eyes at me in silent judgment, as if to say, “But you’re not working right now either. You’re in a monastery.”

“Yes, yes, I’m not supposed to be working right now either, but…” I pressed my lips into a thin line, unable to finish the sentence before he suddenly jumped up, pressing his forehead under my chin.

I gasped and caught him in my arms, hugging him close. He started licking my cheeks with his rough tongue, warm and ticklish and scratchy all at once, and I burst out laughing, despite myself. He seemed utterly fascinated by my tears.

“You know what… cute kitty…” I whispered, pressing my cheek against his fur, “let’s be friends, okay? If you want… you can live with me in the monastery.”

He looked up at me with half-lidded eyes, and for a moment it almost felt like he nodded in solemn agreement.

Smiling softly, I lifted him into my arms and began the long climb back up the steep, creaking stairs carved into the rock face. The path felt heavier with him in my arms, but warmer too. By the time I reached the top, the stars had already spread across the velvet night sky.

Damn. It was late. I hoped Eata wouldn’t punish me for staying out past curfew. But when I reached the monastery gates, no one was there. Everyone was asleep.

Silently, I slipped through the darkened corridors with the cat held tightly against my chest. My almost bare feet padded across the cold stone floor until I reached my room and shut the door behind me with a quiet click.

I had a cat now. And somehow, life felt a little less heavy. A little less lonely. Maybe, just maybe… things would start getting better from here.