Washed by Blood, Clothed with Grace: Chapter 1 – Graced with Blood

Redone cover by @An_dres_art

The original cover made by Albert Oon

Chapter 1 – Graced with Blood

The world was once a rotting and dark place to live inhabited by pitiful sinners who could hardly keep the skin on their bodies. Then, the Son of God was then crucified and raised from the dead and with His blood, a flood overcome the world and washed it clean. His blood stains every fabric of reality and its inhabitants, and yet, people will still sin and deny Him His due worship and even existence. Bodies now blacken themselves with sin rather than rot and the holy blood that clothes them, allows them to manifest weapons, and shows the beauty of their soul is obscured. As before, men forsake God for themselves and hardly anything seems to have changed despite what has happened save for the new kingdoms and Church that God has built, and even still, these are mixed with unrepentant sinners and few actual holy men.

A rogue princess seeks to be the servant of God that she is meant to be by chasing after Our Lady of Sorrows, the human mother of God. She has forsaken her duties as a princess and heads out as a rumor has spread of Our Lady’s appearance at a certain lake where sinners are said to bathe in and repent of their sins shortly after. As the blood-tinted sun shines on her, the princess travels with her horse to a small city where a person who claims to have been in this blessed lake is at. She leaves her horse at a nearby stable and goes into the hotel where this blessed person is said to be. To her dismay, she finds many who have bodies blackened by their sins.

The bartender she goes up to says, “A royal soul enters this den of sinners. What do we owe the honor?”

“Do you know of anyone who’s been to the lake where Our Lady of Sorrows is at? I must find that lake to be free from my sins,” she answers.

“We aren’t your servants, princess. The only things I can do is offer you some drinks, food, and a place to stay. Where are you from anyway?”

“My name is Rina of the Albinia kingdom, but I am no longer a princess. My crown is one that’s in Heaven not on Earth.”

“So, you’re a holier than thou kind of princess, huh? That explains the mix of red and black on you along with your half crown. How about you go back to your kingdom unless you’re here to spend your royal money on us peasants? There’s nothing else for you here.”

“Tch. Fine.”

Rina storms out of the hotel to find that her horse has been stolen.

She goes up to the horse caretaker and says, “I thought I paid you to keep my horse safe!”

“They paid me more and they let me live, and you ought to pay them more so you can do the same,” the horse caretaker says while pointing to the sinners behind Rina.

These sinners have mostly black bodies that transform the black areas into horns, blades, and shields.

“Now, it’s time to pay up, princess. What’s more valuable? Your life or your gold?” one of them says.

Not wanting to pay anything, Rina manifests her weapons as the blood within her forms a short sword on her right hand and a small round shield on her left arm.

“I’m not paying anything to you filthy sinners!” she firmly states.

“If we’re filthy sinners, then what are you? You have rotten spots on your body as well and don’t you want to visit that Lady of Sorrows to not be like us? This is your last chance. Pay up or you’ll never be able to see her. Maybe we’ll even tell you where you might find her.”

“Okay. I’ll pay you.”

“Thank you, your highness.”

With her gold bag in hand, she approaches the blackened sinners before throwing it at one of them then slicing the arm off another. She blocks the attack from the other two attackers, cuts the legs off one in a single slice, then cuts the last one enough to incapacitate them without killing them.

“Treacherous snake!” one of them says as they try to get back up.

Rina slashes their hand off then puts her sword to their neck.

“I didn’t lie. I’ve paid you in pain. Offer it up to God and it’ll pay off your debt to Him better than gold. Now, tell me where Our Lady is.”

“I-I don’t know, but there’s one freak who constantly cries and hits himself in penance just outside this town. He said it’s because of his sins and for the Lady. He’ll give you better answers than we can!”

“Thank you. You can keep the gold for a doctor to fix your sorry state up.”

“O-okay.”

Heading out of the city, Rina finds her way to a rundown cabin where she finds a man whispering his prayers in front of an image of Our Lady and her son.

Seeing that his body is mostly colored a bright red, she approaches him and says, “I’m sorry for interrupting your prayers, but I have to ask you something important.”

“It’s about Our Lady, isn’t it? She told me to point all who come to me to her.”

“Yes, I’ve abandoned all my worldly possessions, my crown, my kingdom, everything to follow her and become a saint.”

“I can see the purity of your soul despite the rot on you. The moon should be out soon. It will lead you to the lake.”

“Thank you, sir. You’ll forever be in my prayers.”

Leaving the cabin, she looks for the moon in the sky and sees it as the sun sets on the other side of the sky. She goes in its direction as predators in the dark plan their next move to alter her true path in her journey on becoming a saint.