You can't stop now

Your curiosity overpowers you. You listen at the door and think you hear a muffled muttering. You open it slowly, your ears straining for any cry of alarm but hear none. The muffled noises you heard are now clearly a chant, with a chorus of young feminine voices answering that of a single older woman's voice.

You step through the door and find yourself on a narrow balcony above an oval room lit by thick candles. A set of spiral stairs descends to the main floor a few feet from the door you entered by. The room below is decorated to look like some kind of temple. A raised dais with two heavy wooden chairs are at one end of the oval, one of them occupied by a hooded figure in scarlet robes. Another scarlet robed figure stands on the dais, apparently leading the chant.

The main floor of the oval room is decorated with a tile mosaic that appears to be a nest of thorns surrounding a white rose. In front of the dais there is a long altar covered in black cloth, empty except for candelabra burning at each end. Around the altar stand nine hooded figures clad in white robes, chanting in response to the red robed leader.

The words of the chant are Latin, but your knowledge of language is limited to scientific terms. The words mean nothing to you, but the scene is utterly fascinating and slightly chilling. This is obviously a ritual of some kind, but of what, and for what purpose totally escapes you. You are mulling over the scene when the leader suddenly changes from Latin to English.

"We are the Sisters of the White Briary, the Keepers of the Pure Light, the Guardians of the Thorn." The white robed girls echo the words in unison.

"We are the Chosen. We are Stainless. We are the Righteous." Once again the words are repeated.

"We hold the Truth, the Virtue, and the Judgement. So it is, so it shall ever be, and so it has been since the beginning." These last words are not echoed and the scarlet robed figure steps back and sits in the empty chair. The other figure steps forward, casting back its hood to reveal a mask of alabaster whiteness in the form of a classical Roman or Greek goddess.

"Let us begin," a woman's voice says with authority, looking around the circle of white hooded girls.