Book 1, Verse 10

My eyes watered from the odd pain.

It felt like something was burning and growing in my chest. I tried to cough and force the breath out of my lungs, but no matter what I did it felt like something was clawing deeper into my body.

Vivian was talking to me, trying to get me to calm down and breathe, telling me that Niels had a neutralizer.

Logically, I should trust her; she hadn’t done anything to hurt me yet, aside from our very first meeting in the old cathedral.

But pain has a funny way of making you act irrational.

I batted her away and pounded my chest, coughing harder. As I heaved, I spat out what looked like a flowerbud.

I wanted to go home.

Back to Earth, where magic wasn’t real and alcohol didn’t make you grow flowers in your body.

Vivian patted me on the back as I kept struggling to breathe, her voice sounding obviously panicked.

God, I didn’t want to die like this.

Something snaked out of my mouth and blossomed. Vivian quickly cut it with a dagger that she had hidden in her cloak.

I closed my eyes and prayed that I wouldn’t die. That I’d get the chance to go home.

It was growing. God, please don’t let me die.

Niels finally returned, and before I could register what he was doing, he forced a brown glass bottle into my mouth.

“Swallow!” He said loudly.

I tried to take my mouth away and spit out the thick, foul-tasting liquid, but Vivian grabbed the back of my head and forced my mouth to stay on the bottle.

I forced myself to swallow. I nearly threw up from how bad it tasted, but managed to keep my mouth closed.

The burning sensation in my chest immediately disappeared, and I felt like I could breathe again.

I gave a few wet coughs, and as I did black withered leaves came out. After a few more coughs, I threw up on the counter.

Niels cringed slightly and opened his mouth, but Vivian glared at him and he stayed quiet.

I coughed and spat up some more vines for a few minutes before finally being able to breathe again.

“That’s impossible.” Niels said after the silence settled on us. He looked half-fascinated and half-concerned. “Elven mixes aren’t that potent on anyone. Your innate mirra should have counteracted its effects!”

“Niels, could you shut up for a minute and let Shinko catch his breath?!” She snapped and looked down at him. Out of the three of us, she was the tallest, and at this moment, she was using all of her height to try and silence Niels.

“Vivian, you don’t seem to understand the implications of what I’m saying.” He said, sounding just as serious as she was. “For such a weak magical effect to be so potent on someone, one of two things must be true. Either I mixed the drink incorrectly and accidentally gave him the most potent alchemical elven mix I’ve ever created.” He narrowed his eyes at her as he frowned. “Or your friend has absolutely no innate mirra.”

Vivan’s expression became confused.

“Wait, how is that possible?”

My muscles tensed as they kept talking.

Niels bit his lip, then pulled out an old dirty rag and began cleaning up the mess I made on his counter.

“Hmm…” Niels raised an eyebrow at me. “Well, some history books claim that before the wizards discovered magic and made it available to everyone, nobody had innate mirra.” He grimaced as he wrung out his rag in a wooden bucket on the ground behind his counter. “But that’s obviously impossible, otherwise the priests wouldn’t have been able to cast their ‘miracles.’ The only reason I can think of for your friend to have no innate mirra is because you might have been born in a cursed area.”

I didn’t know what he was saying, so I nodded along vacantly.

Vivian mirrored my action exactly.

“Vivian, do you understand what I’m saying?” He said, beginning to sound angry.

She stopped nodding and started shaking her head.

I tried to think about what he was implying.

Oh crap. My eyes went wide and my mouth shut tight.

If I didn’t have any mirra at all, then that meant that I–

“Your friend isn’t a wizard, is he Vivian?”

Yeah, that couldn’t be true.

Vivian turned red.

“W-wait, Niels I can explain!” She said desperately.

“Shut up Vivian.” Niels finished wiping up the mess and threw the rag into the filthy bucket. “I’m tired of you lying to me! Get out of my bar right now, and if you make the mistake of ever letting me see you again, I’ll take you to the guardhouse myself!” He shouted and pointed at the door behind the both of us.

“Niels, I’m sorry! I really am! I-I promise not to do it again! I just, my friend, he, he needed some–” She stumbled over her words, trying to keep her cool, but it was obvious she was hurt by his comments.

“You think I haven’t heard that before?! Get out of my–”

I stood up and slammed my fist on the counter.

Niels snapped to look at me as Vivian’s eyes began to water.

“Mr. Niels, it’s true that I’m no wizard, but I am not a thief, and you should treat this young woman with more respect.” I said deeply.

Niels scoffed at me.

“Why should I? This woman has stolen from me two other times.”

I smirked confidently. John told me this story and verse once.

“Imagine a king who decides to collect his accounts. A certain servant owes the king an exorbitant amount of money, more than he could ever pay.” I breathed calmly and placed my hand on Vivian’s shoulder to steady her, since she was still shaken. “The king was about to take away everything the man held dear, but the man begged for forgiveness. And the king was moved with compassion and forgave the man his debts.”

Niels rolled his eyes. Vivian looked up at me, confused, but hopeful.

“That’s a nice story; now get ou–”

I held up a finger.

Light from one of the windows illuminated me from behind, and the light of the lantern in front of my face went out, silhouetting me as I continued the story.

“But that same servant went out and found one of his fellow workers who owed him a small amount of money. And he grabbed his fellow worker by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’” I lowered my voice to try and sound more intimidating.

Niels furrowed his brow.

“And his fellow worker said, ‘Please, give me a little more time and I’ll pay it all back!’ But the first servant didn’t care, and had his fellow worker thrown into prison until he paid off all the debt. Others saw what the first servant had done, and they went to tell the king. Care to guess what happened next?”

Niels frowned and crossed his arms, then gestured for me to finish. Vivian looked up at me, eyes wide with wonder.

“The king called the servant back and said, ‘You wicked servant.’” My voice dripped with disdain; it almost felt like I was speaking with a different one. The light shining behind me seemed to change color, from a light grey to a dim orange. “‘I forgave all your debt because you asked me; should you not have had compassion on your fellow worker, even as I had compassion on you?’”

The hair on Niels arms stood on end even as his expression remained firmly upset.

“And the king was furious, and sent the servant to be delivered to the dungeons, until he could pay everything he owed the king.”

The light behind me seemed to fade, and the room was dimly lit again.

“Therefore, don’t you think you should be more willing to forgive Ms. Vivian for her errors?”

Vivian was silent and looked down at the ground.

Niels took a deep breath before he spoke. He closed his eyes.

“What are you?”

I shook my head and smiled.

“I’m a priest.”