Page 291 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

All the while, he’s extremely tight-lipped about what I’m going to find there, making me more and more curious.

We reach two sprawling metal gates with intricate designs consisting of skulls and scenes of eternal torture. Almost at will, they open and Mine drives on, following a serpentine driveway toward one of the most stunning mentions I’ve seen in Anthropa.

From afar, I note the sheer magnificence of the four-story building. The facade is reminiscent of those gothic cathedrals I loved to visit back in England, but the overall shape is square and angular. Where those cathedrals had high domes and ribbed vaults, his home has none.

Yet there’s something almost magical about it.

“This is it,” Mine declares as we get out of the car. His voice is reserved, bordering on bashful.

“You’re nervous,” I note immediately. “Why?”

He’s taken aback by my question and he gives me a reserved shrug.

“I built this,” he mutters, low and barely audible.

“You…” I look from him to the mansion then back at him. “You?”

He nods. “It was a personal project.”

“Then you did these, too?” I ask as I point to the art on the main facade of the building.

Another nod.

I walk closer until I can reach out and touch the bass-relief carvings in the stone with my own hands.

My breath almost leaves my body as I trace the characters of the odyssey. It all starts at the bottom, with scenes of friendship, of war, and of longing for love.

“Minnie…”

“Shush,” I say, not looking at him.

Using my energy, I float up so I can see the second part of the story.

More battles, some ending in victory, some in defeat. There is companionship, family, but also a sense of loneliness.

It’s at the third level that another motif appears.

Pain, illness, and loss.

The scenes depict a plague sweeping through the land and killing the hero’s friend. He, too, succumbs to the illness, but he eventually survives.

And there is only one reason why he kept on going.

Love. He was waiting for that one person he could call his. Even when his illness was too painful and the will to live nonexistent, he still prayed that his beloved would come.

Then I reach the end.

I’m almost scared of what I’m going to see. So far, I recognize the many chapters of Mine’s life and how important they were. He’s spoken about waiting for someone special too, so this is nothing new.

But in the last scene of the carving, there is a meeting.

She gives him her heart. He gives her his soul.

“Who?” My voice is carried by the wind until he can hear me. “Who is this?”

As I lower myself to the ground, I come face-to-face with him.

“The woman I was waiting for. The only one who could save me from damnation.” He pauses. “You.”

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