Priesthood

Visha came out after finishing her lectures and heard people talking about Divya. They were calling her sl*t, b***h, liar and fake. About how she had acted all high and mighty like she was above everyone. Visha herself never thought abortions as a bad deed. There were circumstances that led women to do it. But Divya had been looking down on everyone, calling others wh*res and sl*ts for even looking and talking to guys. She had humiliated every other girl for some or the other stupid reason. And with the information exposed by Maya, they could see the hypocritical nature of the doublefaced b***h that Divya was. Finally, they had the opportunity to return the insults that were thrown at them and they had all intentions to fully utilize it. She had reached the Director's office like Dhira had asked her to. She opened the door and saw Dhira leisurely sitting on the Director's chair while a middle aged man stood on the side. The man seemed familiar and Visha pondered for a while when she finally realized, it was the College's Director! She looked at Dhira who had casually taken his rightful spot as the man stood on the side obediently. Dhira gestured her to come in and sat up straight.

"You wanna have something?" Dhira asked ignoring the man on her side. Visha awkwardly shook her head to say no. Dhira turned to face the man as he instantly threw a flattering smile at her.

"Just a tea for me then. And don't let anyone else in."

"Yes, Miss. Right away." he said with the smile still plastered on his face as he turned away and hurriedly left the room. Visha was still shocked by this ordeal to say anything. Dhira had just treated their Director like a butler! Visha couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor man. Dhira sensed the pity in her gaze and cleared away the obvious confusion.

"He's a low grade witch in our coven, just a nobody."

Visha kept silent but things did seem more clearer. Since their Director was one of Dhira's underlings, that would also explain the power that Dhira had always held in college. No wonder everyone always tried to suck up to her. She was a powerful figure in more than one ways, the heir to a coven with the college director no more than an attendant for her.

"Sit, I have to discuss the details of the mission with you."

Visha nodded and sat down compliantly to hear what awaited her. She was excited beyond words to finally be a part of a coven. She had wanted to do her share of work for quite some time now, but this was the first time Dhira had agreed.

"Have you heard about the Philosopher's Stone?" Dhira asked. Visha's eyes twinkled when she heard that. Of course, she had heard about the mythical stone that could turn any metal into gold!

"Isn't that just a myth though?" she asked in bewilderment. If a thing like that had existed, wouldn't it be impossible to hide. It would be used by people all the time turning things to gold and then gold would have never held the value it did. Someone would have heard or seen something to keep the rumors going.

"No, it's not just a myth. I know of one that exists."

Visha's eyes widened in shock as he stared with her mouth hung open. The words had rung in her ears for a while before she could calm down. The legendary miracle actually exists! Seeing that she had wrapped her head around this piece of information, Dhira proceeded.

"There's an ancient Priesthood that has kept one safe for thousands of years. It has a very special way to be used. It's activated by a unique spell that was kept well within the priesthood. It can turn metal to gold only under a specific star chart that occurs once a year and lasts only a few moments. Only astrologers and priests of great caliber can deduce the timings correctly. That's what had made it possible to keep it hidden for so long. Since only a few people knew of its existence and how to use it, there was not much great threat to its safety. But recently, the High Priest had contacted me to convey the information that the stone was missing."

Visha nodded in between Dhira's words as all of it slowly sinked in. Using the stone was quite difficult and only people with great knowledge could use it! No wonder it was always dismissed as just a myth.

"Since no one knows how to use it, even if it was stolen, it has no use to anyone." Visha concluded.

"True. But turning the metal to gold has been a religious ceremony, only a small piece is turned to complete the ceremony which is never used for anyone's personal greed. All the items that have been turned still sit in the treasure room of the Priesthood. And there's a belief that if this ceremony is ever missed, it'll bring forth great calamities and destruction. The priesthood has never missed a year in more than five centuries. It is said that five centuries ago, someone had misplaced the stone and the ceremony could not be performed. The next day, there was a sudden drought that killed almost everyone in the surrounding kingdoms in just one year. And the next year after the ceremony was performed, it had miraculously started raining bringing several kingdoms back to life. The population back then was not even one-tenth of what's now. They can't take the chance."

"When is the ceremony supposed to be?"

"In two weeks."