“We’ve always had great hopes for you, Violet. From the moment you joined us, we could tell there was something special about you.” He paused.

“Thank you, Master.” Kneeling in front of them, she waited anxiously.

“Faster than anyone else, you’ve progressed and learned our ways. Studied them, made them your own. In that sense, we are forever grateful to you.”

“It is I, who thank you.” She bowed her head slightly.

“You have also taken upon yourself to help the newer members of our Family adjust to their new lives, their new realities. For them and for us, you have become an inspiration.”

In front of her, Marcus stepped back, letting Stefano alone in the spotlight on the small dimly-lit steps. As he reached inside his coat, Violet looked at the room around them. There weren’t too many of them, but she could still feel the weight of their gaze against her back.

“My comrade and I have discussed this matter for a very, very long time. And we have finally made our decision.”

Violet was shaking, although she didn’t notice. She was too focused on Stefano’s face, drinking his words as they came out of his mouth.

“You shall become our new Grand Priestess.”

Polite acclamations rose from the audience. Many clapped, one or two whistled. There was a grand sense of excitement in the room, but everyone knew better than to start being inappropriate in front of their leaders. As for Violet, she would’ve covered her face if she could’ve. Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks, her quivering chin unable to refrain her from smiling.

Marcus stepped forward again, holding a cup which Stefano filled with wine. He walked down the steps towards Violet, now standing before him. He wiped the tears off her cheeks and kissed her on the forehead. After offering her wine from the extended cup, he thanked her and stepped away. She bowed her head again.

“It is I, who thank you.”

She stood as still as she could while he and Stefano walked out of the audience room from the back door. As they did, Violet kissed her left shoulder, enticing the crowd to follow through, gesturing silently at their Leaders. The moment they closed the door, the stillness in the air exploded. The others gathered around her to celebrate this great moment.

“Congratulations!”

“They will be praised, this is so exciting!”

“Are you excited, this is amazing!”

“Congratulations my dear!”

“Thanks, everybody.” Her shaking knee gave in, prompting several hands to take a hold of her to secure her stance. “This is very exciting, indeed.”

Someone kissed her on the cheek. It was one of the newer girls. “We’re all so proud of you.”

“Thank you, thank you.” She returned the favor and accepted another kiss, this time on the lips, from someone she didn’t recognise.

In the swirling commotion, very few noticed the head Nurse making her way into the room, accompanied by a handful of new recruits. She walked towards the crowd, her hands hidden inside her robes.

“The surgeon will be here tonight.” She said sternly. “We have no time to waste. Let’s go.”

Violet nodded and welcomed a last kiss. Hopping a short pace behind the official procession, they made their way out of the room.

----------------

Violet sat in a richly decorated vat of perfumed water. A flurry of hands ran across her body, covering her in all sorts of lotions, ointments, scented oils, and medicinal creams. They rubbed the tense muscles in her back and massaged the atrophied muscles of her shoulders, rolling them back to try and dissolve the stress that had built up in the last few days. Her right leg, her only remaining limb, hung outside the tub, devoid of any of the Sacred Balms.

Having already lost her arms and a leg, Violet has grown accustomed to the ritual. She no longer felt shame or discomfort when the other girls patted her naked body up and down, she knew all too well what would be soon to follow. She let herself be rocked by the masseuses, themselves far from being embarrassed.

Apart from the wet noises of the lubricated hands against her skin, a murmur of conversation also persisted around the tub. It was a sacred moment, but not as much as to deny the possibility of conversation.

From behind her, Violet heard a small voice. Sincere, but shy. It asked her if she was anxious concerning the upcoming procedure.

“Absolutely not.” Violet answered. “I’ve never been more prepared for something in my entire life.”

The girl sighed and shook her head. “You are so inspiring. I would be absolutely terrified.” Her short, blonde hair fell to the sides of her face as she softly pummeled Violet’s back with her thumbs.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, my dear." She sat back straighter in the bath, lifting and jerking her legs forward to create a counterweight. She felt several hands in her back helping her stabilize. "Thank you my dears. See? How can I be afraid, or nervous, when I have such attentionate caretakers? If my personal limitations can help us achieve something greater as a group, then so be it."

"Your words are as true as Theirs, Priestess."

“Stop bothering the Priestess and get back to your duties.” It was the Nurse. Laying back against the wall, she kept a close eye on the entire anointment process.

“Yes, Nurse.” the young girl lowered her head even more, somehow managing to hide even more of her obscured face.

“If you would excuse me, I can take care of my own devices, thank you very much.” Violet interrupted, looking her in the eyes.

“Please accept my most sincere apologies, Priestess.” The Nurse bowed herself, pulling back part of her robe in the process.

“For you, it is already Grand Priestess. As for the rest of you…” She pointed at the girls one by one using her foot. “Remember that even if Nurse Jacqueline acts like she’s in charge around here, she isn’t. Here, please.” She turned around to face the blond girl and raised her chin using her big toe, using it just as precisely as she would’ve with an arm. “Tell me your name, young lady.”

“It’s.. Lydia, Ô Grand Priestess.”

“Please, my sweet child. Call me Violet.”

Lydia rose her head slowly until her eyes met Violet’s. She shuddered. Not out of fear, but rather out of humbled respect.

“As you wish.. Violet.”

She took a deep breath, only now noticing that the dozen hands still in contact with her glittering skin had stopped moving, frozen in apprehension. “What a beautiful name.” She fetched her left hand between her toes. “Now, tell me. What do you see, Lydia?”

“The.. The Mark, Ô Gr…I mean, Violet..”

“You are absolutely correct. This Mark makes you a member of this Church as much as anybody else. My rank may be higher, but we are all part of the same family." She looked at the others. "Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Grand Priestess.” They all answered together.

She flexed her leg to bring Lydia’s hand to her lips and kissed the space where her ring finger had been cut off. The rookie, trembling with all her might, leaned forward to kiss Violet’s left shoulder in return.

“You are an inspiration to all of us V-Vi... Violet.”

“Thank you very much, Lydia.”

“It is I who thank you.” She tilted her head and gestured to her.

Following in her wake, the others asynchronously did the same.

They quickly turned their attention back to Violet’s body. It was a sight to behold. Her shoulders, perhaps once wide and strong, stopped short in bony, angular stumps. They swayed to and fro along to the rhythm of the masseuses. As for the left side of her hips, apart from a thin beige scar, it showed no sign of having ever sported a leg whatsoever.

Her torso now entirely gleaming with oil, the girls washed their hands thoroughly before dipping them in a jar full to the brim with what seemed to be powdered charcoal. A dark dust cloud quickly filled the air in the room. Nurse Jacqueline helped Violet up on the side of the tub and held her shoulders when she rotated her leg out of it. Now standing, Violet hopped a few steps towards the girls by herself. They promptly closed in around her to form a tight circle, all hand in hand, looking down at Violet’s leg. There was silence. A long silence.

“Let this leg be an offering worthy of His Grace.” Nurse Jacqueline spoke loudly. She knew the psalms by heart, but still read them out of the book as of tradition.

“When the flesh is consumed, the mind shall grow.”

It was a girl to Violet’s right that spoke up. She broke the circle and kneeled before her, smearing the black substance across the skin of her thigh as Nurse Jacqueline continued reading her lines out loud. She kissed Violet’s other, empty, hip before standing back up and rejoining the others.

“By cutting the flesh, we clean its impurities. By shedding its weight, we become Light.”

“When the flesh is consumed, the mind shall grow.” A different girl answered this time, right beside the first one.

One after the others, the girls cleaned their hands of dust onto Violet’s leg, progressively painting it darker and darker. If finger strokes could be seen at first, it soon turned into a darkened canvas, smudged with the desire to erase it from existence. Two, three, four times, every girl smudged their hands and dipped them again, only to come back and rub it against the skin of their new Grand Priestess.

The Nurse, drawing medication from a vial with care, darted her eyes from her syringe to the opened book in front of her.

“Let this act of selflessness be the key that opens the gateway to our Salvation.”

“When the flesh is consumed, the mind shall grow.”

Violet’s breathing quickened when the Nurse took her first step towards her. She looked down at her blackened leg and her stomach turned, repressing a gag reflex. To her, it looked rotten, infected. Pain signals flared inside her brain even though nothing touched her. Unsure even now that it was still her own, she twitched her toes but that made her lightheaded. The circle imploded. Two girls caught her as she plummeted to the floor, covering her with tender pets and whispered encouragement. Attentionate hands ran on her stumps, the girls envious of the extent of her devotion. Violet winced when the needle pierced her skin. She felt the lukewarm liquid force itself into her flesh, then her vision went just as black as her leg.

-----------------------------------------

Weeks had passed since Violet’s last amputation and she couldn’t have been happier. This body, she had been dreaming of it since the day she had walked in the Church for the first time. The removal of her first finger had felt like a revelation to her. In replacement of her lost limbs, she had felt a deeper connection with her own spirituality and found the results to be absolutely enlightening.

“Yes, and now lean backwards as you extend your leg.”

As the girl with the most experience as an amputee, Violet often held private sessions with lower ranked pupils to teach them tips, tricks, as well as have conversations about their vision of their fates and what They had to offer them in return.

“And now what?” Lydia asked.

“You do the opposite. Pull it back in and strain your abs to straighten yourself simultaneously. This way, it maintains your center of gravity above your hips and keeps you from rolling back.”

Her big toe hooked into the handle of a coffee cup filled with water, Lydia lifted her shaking leg and slowly brought it back towards her, trying as hard as she could to sit back up at the same time. As for Violet, she stood beside her, encouraging her student.

“Good, good. Keep going, trust your gut.”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know if it’ll last much longer.” Lydia answered, her eyes fixated on the cup.

“Of course you can. Now stop talking, just stay focused. Just a liiiiittle bit moooore… Eep, watch out!”

“Ahhhh!!”

Out of breath, the strained muscles of her abdomen gave in and she tumbled, throwing her armless shoulders back in a futile effort to cushion her fall. Her leg swung through the air, flinging the cup’s remaining water on her face and shirt, and hitting her head against the wooden floor.

“Are you okay?”

“Owwww…” Eyes closed, Lydia laid her foot on the floor, her knee raised towards the ceiling. “I’m fine, Violet.”

“I guess we could have used this as security.” Walking up to the wicker chair, she bit down on the cushion and dragged it off the seat, dropping it in front of her. “Maybe I asked too much from you to get this move in today’s session.”

“I’m so embarrassed…” Again bringing out her old reflexes, she shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to cover her face. This time lifting her foot, she only managed to bring it up to her breasts. “See? I wasn’t ready for this, you chose the wrong person.”

“Absolutely not.” Violet retorted. “The amount of effort I’ve seen you put into your training is sufficient enough for me, I know that you’ll get it eventually.” Waddling from one stumped hip to the other, she pushed the cushion ahead of her with her groin. “How do you think I was when I ascended to Priestess? I wasn’t better than you. You must give time to your body to adjust.”

“But what if it doesn’t? The Masters will never forgive me for the Faith They’ve wasted on me.”

“The Masters are fair and just. Never would They turn against one of Their subjects.”

“I’ve heard that the surgeon almost got arrested following my amputations. What if he can’t come back? Is our Faith going to be doomed because of me?”

“Lydia…” Lydia raised her head to allow Violet to push the cushion beneath it then waddled around to her side. She leaned forward and set the side of her ribcage against Lydia’s stomach, in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture. “Stop worrying about these kinds of things. I know what you think. You think you double-crossed all the others because the Masters promoted you so rapidly, and you are wrong to think so. Faith works in mysterious ways. Your ascension was a week after mine, give yourself time.”

Lydia sighed. “That’s why I’m getting nervous. Look at you, you’re already in control of your new body.”

“I only lost one limb, while you lost three on the same day, Lydia. Give yourself a chance. Please.”

She looked at the ceiling for a minute or two. Eyes closed, practicing the breathing exercises she had been taught the day following her amputations. She felt a weighted warmth on top of her foot.

“Come on, now. Back up.”

Straining her abs, she pulled her torso back vertically before dislodging her foot from under Violet’s hip and moving it closer to her hips, providing her with a better sense of balance. Right as she was about to talk, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” Violet spoke loudly.

A darkened figure appeared. “I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, Grand Priestess, but we have a new recruit coming in this instant. I thought your Greatness would perhaps like to come and greet her.”

Liv stood in the doorway, inquisitively looking inside. She had had a lot of trouble with the wound on her right shoulder since her amputation a few months ago, but it no longer showed any sign of infection.

“I would, thank you very much for notifying us.” Speaking to Lydia: “I want you to stay here and keep practising until lunch time, do you understand me?”

“Yes, Violet.”

“Superb. Could you send two girls for me? I wouldn’t want to keep them waiting too long.”

Liv’s face lit up. “Great. Sure, yes. I’ll tell them to wait for you.” She turned around and raced down the corridor, her crutch and foot alternating the echo they propagated against the walls.

------------

In the small obscured room, there were already three other people, two of which wore masks bearing abstract shapes, completely hiding their faces. The third one was a young girl. Tall, plump, with dark brown hair cut short. She wore nothing but a pair of black panties and a bra. When Violet came into view, her eyes opened wide. Her breath quickened. She swallowed audibly.

“What brings you here today my dear?” Violet’s voice was deep and velvety.

For a bit, the girl stood there, breathing heavily, staring at Violet in disbelief. Then, she spoke. “They’re talking about you in the news, on the radio.. everywhere. They say… Horrible things about what you do here.. And now I see that it’s all true.” She pointed at Violet. “They did this to you… They cut off your limbs, didn’t they?”

She gave her a wry smile. “Yes. Yes they did."

"But…. Why?"

Violet looked at the girls at her sides. "We believe that amputation is a sacred gateway that will lead us to salvation. By letting go of our flesh and of our bones, we hope to get a deeper understanding of the meaning of life. By sacrificing what life has mercifully given to us, we wish for a greater connection to our surroundings. The fact that you are here, precisely at this moment, clearly shows that you are interested in our ways.”

Violet’s little speech rang in everyone’s ears like a trigger word. For the initiated that followed her, it seemed to strengthen the will and trust they already felt in their newfound home. For the girl, however, it instilled a doubt in her mind.

“I can see something is troubling you. There is no shame in asking questions, my dear.”

“I am, but…” The girl tinkered with her fingers, like pondering over their eventual loss. “Aren’t you… afraid?”

“Afraid?” Violet scoffed. “Why would I be afraid?”

“Of… of..” Either searching for her words or too ashamed to say them outloud, she hesitated. “Or all the… things.. they could do to you..”

She laughed good heartedly. “Honey, they cut off my arms and my legs. What more should I have to fear? Rape? Violence? There is no dignity in mistreating someone as defenseless as I. But even if they did, what more can they do to me that I can’t endure? Look around you.” Remnants of habits long rendered impossible, she moved her shoulders towards the few girls standing behind her. “We are no savages. This is a society. These people have become my family. The newer members get to lend a hand to the others and learn to make their way into our sacred Church. Then, when They deem them worthy of His Grace..” She tilted her head towards Liv to her left. Simultaneously, as if they communicated through telepathy, they leaned towards one another and kissed their right shoulders, both freed from their respective arms. “We are honored by His Hand.”

Everyone in the room followed their gestures, bringing a stump of their own to their lips. Fear and anger flashed across the girl’s face.

“You’re sick! All of you!” She backed away. “I never should have come here. You say you’ve been honored, but look at you! You’re helpless! You have allowed them to transform you into a dependent freak, begging for help even for your most basic needs.”

Violet laughed again, but menacingly this time. “I am helpless, I can give you that. But if you put it like this, let me see… Um... I don’t have to care for myself, or cook, or walk anywhere, or even work, let alone take part in all the lengthy chores that you happen to be a slave of. Tell me, young lady, how many hours of your week are dedicated to mindless repetitive tasks that bore you out of your own pitiful mind? How often do you seek refuge in brainless entertainment, so that you can, for an instant, forget the miserable absurdity of your existence? So much so that you sometimes ponder over the worth of your own life?” She paused. Red faced, her heart racing in her chest, Violet had given herself into anger. Backed against the wall, the girl seemed affected by her words. “Here, I have been freed of these. Nothing matters to me now but His Will and my own spirituality. We have a plethora of lower ranked pupils to take care of us. And I must say, the prophets are very... attentionate.. with their subjects.”

All the girls in the room giggled. Except for one.

“Now, now. You must’ve come all the way here for a reason, not only to get lectured by a limbless fanatic.”

“I… I… You’re right… I … I have no one out there. I am no one… Just a rock on the pavement.. I thought this might be a good fit for me… But I’m not sure anymore..”

Violet allowed the ensuing silence its well deserved length.

“We are but one big family, here. Joining us is embracing a sense of community greater than you will ever be on your own.”

“But… The…” Her lips trembled, her fingers fidgeting with one another. She hugged herself, sinking her nails into her own skin, as if two opposite forces were battling inside of her body. She began to cry. “Your arms, your beauti… What have they done to you? I.. I… They… I can’t…”

One of the masked men stepped between them as the girl walked towards Violet, but she clicked her tongue to dismiss him. She let her hand slide on the side of her neck, down to the inexistent stump of her arm, and even further down to her waist. Violet gestured her to come closer, a sign that the girl herself was surprised to have understood given Violet’s utter limblessness. She whispered in her ear :

“You can’t even begin to grasp how exhilarating this all is. Back home, I was like you. But here? I am a living God.” The girl backed away as if she had been hit in the chest, looking as confused as ever. “Do you want in, y e s  or  n o?” Violet said, intentionally slowly to let the meaning of her words sink into her mind.

The girl licked her lips and shook her head. There was a crazed look in her eyes, still pondering.  “Yes. Yes I.. I think I do.”

“Then take a hold of yourself.” She signaled at the masked men with her chin. “Again.”

One of them took his place behind her, pressing her body against the table, locking her right arm behind her back. The second one slid her wrist inside a rusted bangle bolted on the table and clamped it shut. He turned to Violet, who nodded ceremoniously. Then, he unsheathed the chisel from his back pocket and delicately set it on the girl’s hand, right between the first phalange and the metacarpal of her ring finger. Restrained against the other’s weight, she wheezed and cussed, her eyes sealed shut.

“Now, all we need is the magic word, my young apprentice.” Violet said, an unexpected devilish tone in her voice. Her eyes were fixated on the sharpened blade, which had already gashed the young girl’s skin.

She squealed. “Please, let me join you. You don’t know how much this means to me…” She banged her head against the table, like fighting against a waking nightmare. She added in a whisper: “Thank you…”

The man’s fist, clenched tightly around the handle of his hammer, rose high into the air.

“It is I, who thank you.”

The echo rang in Violet’s ears as loud as a gunshot. But the girl’s screams were even more deafening.