Book 1, Verse 3

“W-what about it?” She muttered as she began to regain her composure.

I needed to keep her on the back foot; keep her unsteady.

“It’s… strange.” I didn’t know what the heck I was talking about. “It seems like there was once light, but it has now dimmed.”

I hope that sounded vaguely holy.

She didn’t move from where she stood. Instead, she looked down and let her hair fall around her face.

“You’re…” She sighed. “You’re really full of crap, you know that?”

My calm demeanor cracked.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Priests can’t see people’s souls!” She shook her head. “Souls aren’t even real!”

I had to suppress a smile. This lady knew her stuff; maybe getting sent to this world wasn’t such a bad thing. After all, if the thieves were this well-educated, I was in good company.

“T-they are real!” I said with mock confidence. “And yours is… tainted, by, uh, sin.” I tried to remember that speech that John gave me a couple years ago about sin and slavery to it. “Until you can be liberated from sin’s tyranny, you will never truly be free!”

She crossed her arms and shifted her stance uncomfortably.

“Yeah. Whatever.”

Darn it, I went too far; I should’ve remembered how stupid that whole speech was! I needed to try something else.

“W-what is your name, so that I may pray for you?”

“Why should I tell you? Won’t you just report me to the authorities?”

Oh, I knew exactly what to say in response to that; John used this one on people all the time.

I cleared my throat.

“No. The church is a house of healing, where all are welcome to sit at the foot of the…” I stopped. This was a different world. What were the chances of there being a cross in the church decorations?!

“Sit where?” She raised an eyebrow.

“At the foot of the… of the…” My eyes scanned over every holy thingy in the room I could see as fast as they could. What was it? Where was the main thing?

I looked up over the large double doors leading out of the church. I rolled my eyes.

Of course it was that.

“The foot of the cross.” I said, doing my best to suppress a groan.

Same city, different country.

She looked at the ground, then away, then shook her head.

“My name’s Vivian. What’s yours, strange priest?”

“I’m Shinko.” I sat down in front of the pulpit, leaning my back against it. “And as I was saying, you are welcome to stay here for as long as you need to. The church’s arms are wide open. You don’t need to worry about me reporting you to the authorities.” I was really hoping that she’d decide to stay so that I could get more information.

She closed the large double doors behind her and started walking towards me slowly.

I smiled.

After a few moments, she sat down on one of the pews near the front and looked down at me.

“Shinko is an odd name. Are you from the northern countries?”

“N-no, I’m from… farther away.”

“How far?”

“I-I’m not sure.” I couldn’t keep backpedaling; it would sound suspicious. I needed an excuse for why I knew so little about the world.

“How is that possible? Everyone knows where they come from.” She sounded suspicious.

I snickered. I mean, every religious person like John was sheltered. But that might not be the case in this world. What was something that religious people did to isolate themselves even more than they usually did?

“I grew up in a monastery.” I lied like a rug. “Me and the other monks were very sheltered. We were raised only to read and study the sacred words. Things like geography, mathematics, and even politics… They’re all foreign concepts to me. Things of the pagan world.”

I was a freaking genius.

“But now that I’m out here, in this world, I see that everything I studied is being challenged daily. In only studying the sacred words, I am ill-equipped to actually do anything.”

Heck yeah! This is almost too easy! I threw in a well-meaning sniffle for good measure as I looked up at her as innocently as I could.

“All I can do is pray and read the holy texts.” I stood up slowly and made eye contact with Vivian. “And though you are a thieving sinner, I believe that you would be an excellent teacher of worldly things.”

Man, I’d make a great priest.

“So would you please have mercy on me…”

Time to clinch it!

“...The same way God has had mercy on you?”

The two of us stood in the cathedral in silence. She breathed slowly and methodically as she looked me up and down. For my part, I remained standing in the shadow of the pulpit, looking at her as sincerely as I could.

She bit her lip.

“You promise not to report me to the authorities? This isn’t one of those ‘priest promises’ that you can’t keep, right?” Her voice sounded a little bit hurt.

“Of course. A true priest always keeps his word. Honesty is one of the great virtues, you know.”

At this point, the sun was starting to get lower in the sky and the ceiling of the cathedral was covered in a beautiful array of colors as the light shone through the stained glass windows.

“I-I’m not a teacher.” Vivian muttered. “You should ask someone else.” She stood up and shook her head before looking down at the ground. “I’m not the right one for this job at all.”

No! I couldn’t have her backing out now; not when I was so close!

Suddenly, one more idea came to me.

John, thank you for being so annoying with all your speeches about faith.

“That doesn’t matter.”

She snapped up to make eye contact with me so fast that her hair nearly hit my face.

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”

I breathed deeply as I tried to remember exactly what John told me.

“The sacred words say that God has ordained all things that happen.” I breathed calmly. “And you are here. God wanted you to be the one I spoke with. As a wise man once said, ‘how do I know God intended for something to happen? Because it happened.’ So don’t worry about not being the best. You are here, and while you are here, you must simply do the best you can.”

Vivian’s blue eyes seemed to pierce right through mine.

The sunlight streaming into the cathedral dimmed slightly, but as it did, the lights and colors on the ceiling danced beautifully.

Vivian cried.

Not very much. Just a few, tiny tears at the corners of her eyes that she quickly wiped away.

I felt a small, tiny pang in my stomach while she did.

Religion is dumb; it’s built on lies and it distracts people from what’s really important.

But as I looked at Vivian in the dim light of the cathedral, I had to admit something.

Religion is powerful.

“...Alright Shinko.” She said, stepping away from me and moving to lean against the pulpit. “I can teach you about the world.” She looked at the stained glass window where the sunlight was coming from. “But it’s getting late. I’ll sleep in here.”

I nearly broke out into a little dance when she said that she’d teach me, but I managed to keep myself composed.

“That sounds good, Ms. Vivian.” I nodded at her and watched as she sat down on one of the pews. “I will…” I looked around the cathedral until I saw the small wooden door in the back of the building. I didn’t know where it led, but it was where Vivian had broken into earlier.

The wooden table was still propped up in front of it.

“Also sleep in here.”

I walked over to the other side of the aisle and sat down in the pew on the opposite side from hers.

After a few more minutes, I laid down and fell asleep, hoping that she’d be able to help me tomorrow.