Book 1, Verse 4

“Hey. Wake up.”

Vivian was standing over me.

“I thought priests were supposed to get up early in the morning to do prayers.”

I slowly forced myself to sit up.

Sleeping in the pew was uncomfortable. I didn’t have a blanket, or a pillow, or even a good mattress. My back hurt too.

“I… am a firm believer that… prayer should come from the heart and not merely from habits and rituals.” I said, quickly getting back into the swing of priestliness. I stretched as sunlight dimly lit the cathedral.

“Hmm.” Vivian sounded unconvinced, but she didn’t prod any further. “Are you ready to go now?”

My stomach growled as I opened my mouth. I blushed.

Vivian’s eyes widened in realization.

“I guess you haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”

“How are you doing so well if you haven’t eaten anything either?” I asked quickly, putting my hands over my stomach.

Vivian smirked.

“It’s a technique I learned from the thieves’, er, I mean…” She looked away quickly. “I’m used to going long periods of time without food. Skipping a meal or two is no problem for me.” She looked at me earnestly. “But a pampered monk like you? You’ve probably never missed a meal in your life.”

“R-right, pampered.” I nodded with what she said. The origins were wrong, but she was right; in the real world, I’d never been really hungry. I still wasn’t; I was only experiencing mild hunger pangs right now. The idea of potentially going days without food scared me. Another thought came to me as I wondered about food.

I might never have ice cream again.

Or burgers.

Or pizza.

Or grandpa’s barbecue.

Or mom’s cookies.

Logically speaking, there were only a few options for what had happened to me.

The sunlight of the morning came in from the front of the temple as I stood in the pew. My hands tightly gripped the wood as my mind raced.

Either I was hallucinating, but the longer this went on the less convincing that seemed.

Or I was in a coma; a very deep coma, considering none of the voices of my friends or family were coming to me. I remember reading that in some cases it’s possible for a person in a coma to hear what’s happening around them.

“What’s wrong?”

I snapped out of the spiral of negative thoughts and looked at Vivian. She appeared slightly concerned, with a single raised eyebrow.

“N-nothing, why do you ask?” I said as I composed myself and took a deep breath.

“You had a blank look in your eyes.” She said quietly.

After a moment to understand what she said, I spoke up again.

“Y-yes, well… I was just… offering a quick prayer.”

“From your heart?”

“O-of course.”

She shrugged and pulled her cloak tighter around herself.

“Like I said, I’m probably not the best teacher for this sort of thing, but I know someone who’ll probably be able to help you out.” She stepped out of the pews into the center aisle. “He lives in the nearby town. If we start moving now, we can get there before noon.”

“W-what about my hunger?”

“You can eat when we get there. You have money, don’t you?” Vivian said calmly.

I reached into my pockets instinctively. My wallet was still there. So were my car keys and my phone.

My heart skipped a beat.

“Y-yes, plenty of money! Can you wait outside for a moment? I need to check something very quickly; something that a, uh, non-church member isn’t allowed to see. Please.” I did my best to keep sounding professional and composed, but my excitement was about to get the better of me.

“Don’t take too long, strange priest.” She pressed her lips together and walked out of the grand double doors of the cathedral.

As soon as she closed the doors behind her, I ran to the pulpit and sat down behind it. My phone came out of my pocket in a flash. I pressed the power button as quickly as I could.

Four percent left.

I could almost cry.

But I had to be smart. I went to check if I had a signal, praying that I’d have something; some way of letting anyone know what happened to me.

Somehow, I had full connectivity.

Without hesitating, I opened my phone application and called the most recent number.

It was John.

I was practically begging that he’d pick up. Please, for the love of God, pick up the phone John.

The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Four times.

My percentage dropped to three.

Five rings. Six. Seven.

Come on John, I know you keep your phone with you all the time. It’s how you’re always able to look up those verses to bother me with.

“Shinko! Oh thank God you’re okay! I couldn’t find you after the service and I called your parents to see if they knew anything, but they–”

“Shut up John! Shut up!”

He went completely silent.

I needed to say the important things first. Priorities.

My percentage dropped to two.

Keep calm.

“John, I don’t know what happened, but I’m in some kind of… other world. I’m pretty sure there’s magic and dragons and fantasy stuff; the kinds of things that my dad was into.” I caught my breath as I felt tears stream down my face. “I found someone friendly who’s going to get me up to speed with this world. I-I hope. You know, I’m still in a church? I-it’s like I stepped out of your rinky-dink building into an honest-to-God cathedral!”

I was getting out of control; breathe, darn it. Focus on the important stuff!

“Shinko.” John said calmly.

One percent.

“What can you possibly say, John?! What pithy little verse are you going to quote at me?! Is there a verse about getting sent to another world where you’re never going to see your family ever again?! Never going to stay up late messing around with your friends again?!”

What was I doing?! This wasn’t logical! I needed to stop crying and think!

“M-my phone’s about to die John! I’m never going to talk to you or anyone I care about again!”

“Shinko!” John cut me off. His voice was cracking. “If this is the last time we s-speak, and I’m really praying that it won’t be, let me say this; Psalm 23 talks about walking through the valley of death, and how God is with you! I-I’ll get the church to pray for you to return home safely, Shin–”

Dead.

I kept the phone held close to my ear.

I didn’t care that “God” was with me. If he was so great, why did he let me get trapped in this world?

I slowly lowered the phone and slid it back into my pocket, then forced myself to stand up.

My face was covered in tears, and I wiped them away quickly.

If I was going to go back home, I needed to learn as much about this world as I possibly could. I took a deep breath and steadied my shaking body.

A few moments later, the large double doors of the cathedral opened. I stepped out into the world and looked around for Vivian. She was leaning against the wall next to the door with her eyes closed.

“Took you long enough, strange priest. C’mon. We’re burning daylight.” She immediately started walking down the dirt path.

“Right. Thank you, Vivian.” I followed after her with firm resolve. No matter what anyone did, one thing was sure.

I was going to go back home.