Verse 45: "The Power of Prayer"

“God forgives us? That doesn’t make sense John.”
          “I know it doesn’t Shinko. But it’s true.”
~~~
          I woke up with tears in my eyes. I wiped them away as quickly as I could and immediately got out of my tent. Niels was the only one who was awake, and he had already packed up his tent. I smiled weakly at him.
          “Hey Shinko.” Niels said quietly. “I’ve been thinking about something.”
          “O-oh, you have?” I said as I walked over to him and sat down. “What’s on your mind?”
          He sighed. His green eyes looked unfocused as he directed his gaze at the fire.
          “Remember that story you told me? The one about the guy who had a large debt forgiven, but then immediately went after the other guy who only owed him a little bit?”
          I had forgotten that I'd told Niels that story. I bit my lip and nodded slowly. Niels didn’t look directly at me.
          “Shinko, I’ve been thinking about it and I… I don’t understand it.” He said, forcing himself to sound calm. “Why did the king forgive the first man at all?” Niels poked at the fire with his magic. He was making small motions with his fingers, causing wind to feed into it more efficiently. 
          I cleared my throat.
          “O-obviously, the king forgave the first man because he needed something from the man. Something he couldn’t get if the man was in prison.” I said, regaining my confidence.
          Niels stopped using his magic.
          “I thought of that, but what could a king need from a servant that he couldn’t get someone else to do?” He grabbed some of the rations from his pack and set them over the fire. “I mean, if he’s the king, you need to assume he’s extremely wealthy and powerful.”
          I frowned.
          “Maybe the first man was a specialist. He was irreplaceable. That’s why the king forgave him the debt.”
          Niels turned over the rations in the fire.
          “But couldn’t the king have forced the man to do it at spearpoint?” He shook his head. “I-I guess the ‘king’ thing isn’t really what I’m concerned about though.” He turned to look at me. “If the king is a stand-in for God, and the two men are stand-ins for humans, elves, faunids, or whatever…” He trailed off as he spoke.
          “Look, who’s the priest here?” I interrupted Niels before he could finish the thought. “Me. Not you. And in my studies of the holy writ, it was clearly evident that the king forgave the first man because he needed something from him.” I said bluntly. “When I get my books back, I’ll show you what I mean.”
          Niels looked at me, and his expression went from surprise to upset dismissal.
          “Hmph.”
          Soon after that, the two women woke up and the four of us ate our breakfast together. When we finished, we helped each other prepare our supplies and started walking towards Kuzges again. I thought about how I had talked to Niels. I had read the holy writ before; it was full of events that couldn’t happen in the real world.
          However, after I'd been transported to another world, it seemed slightly less fantastical than it had before. I remembered what Albert told me when we spoke.
          “I think you and I both know that’s not the real reason you don’t want to trust him.”
          I huffed as I entered my thoughts. 
          Why had that crazy old rabbit thought he knew me? We had only known each other for a few hours; that was hardly long enough for him to say something like that. It was strange of him to assume that I didn’t trust God for some reason other than the fact that the holy writ was full of things that went against the laws of physics.
          Technically speaking, even my arrival in this new world hadn't proven anything about the existence of God; multiverse theory had been an accepted–if somewhat fringe–scientific theory for a while. My disbelief in God was founded on nothing but logic.
          Halfway through the day, we reached the edge of King’s Wood, and I remembered what Niels had said about it growing dense right around Kuzges. We all stepped into the forest without a word. After we finished eating our lunch, Elisa slowed down to talk with me again.
          “We’re almost there. Are you excited?” She asked with a smirk.
          “Yes. I’ll finally be able to get my books back.”
          “Oh yeah. Vivian mentioned something about that a few days ago.” She said calmly. “Do you think they’ll actually be willing to help you out, what with the church pact and everything?”
          I smiled at her confidently.
          “I think they’ll be willing to help. I’ve prayed about it, and I really think God will make a way.”
          “Huh.” She put her arms behind her head and made a popping sound with her lips. “That’s… strangely naive of you.”
          “I prefer to use the term, ‘faithful.’” I corrected her.
          She raised an eyebrow at me.
          “Okay, but you don’t seem like the type to charge in blindly with just a prayer and expect things to turn out fine. Do you have a plan?”
          When she said that, I considered what I was trying to do. Previously, I had hoped that when I got to Kuzges, things would work themselves out. However, now that I knew God was dependent on me, all I had to do was pray and things would work because they needed to. 
          After all, if I had gotten this far, it was because God needed me to get to Kuzges safely. 
          “You could say that. I think I’ve found a way to sort of… get what I want, when I want it.”
          Elisa tilted her head at me.
          “What do you mean?”
          I gave her a relaxed smile.
          “Do you remember what you said about ‘priests and their divine power?’ About how people used to think priests could pray for things and they would happen?”
          Elisa nodded slowly.
          “You may not believe this, but I have that power.”
          Elisa stopped nodding.
          “What?”
          “I have that power. I can pray for things to happen, and they’ll happen.”
          Elisa’s eyes became as wide as dinner plates.
          “You do not have that power, Shinko. Everyone knows that power is just people using mirra, and if you have no resistance to mirra, you obviously don’t have any mirra either! What’s gotten into you?!”
          I smirked at her and leaned in to whisper.
          “I’ll prove it.”
          “Shinko, you don’t have that power.”
          “Watch.”
          I put my hands together, and prayed quietly, so that only she could hear what I was saying.
          “God, make a sparrow land on Niels’ head.”
          “That’s not going to happen Shinko!” Elisa said desperately.
          I pointed at Niels, who was walking ahead of us, oblivious to our conversation. Elisa looked as well. A sparrow flew out of one of the nearby trees. It swooped above us in the air a few times, and Niels looked up at it. He smiled slightly and whistled at it.
          Elisa watched, stupefied, as the sparrow heard Niels’ whistle and began to glide down towards him. A few moments later, the sparrow landed on his head. He hummed, clearly pleased with himself, and then turned around to look at us.
          “Look at this! A little sparrow decided to land on me.” He smiled at me, Elisa, and Vivian as we kept walking behind him.
          “That’s pretty cute.” Vivian said with a slight smile.
          “I agree.” I said smugly.
          Elisa didn’t say anything. Niels looked at her curiously for a moment, then turned back around and kept walking. The sparrow left Niels’ head soon after, and flew off into the forest.
          “Still doubt me?”
          Elisa opened her mouth as if she had something to say, then shut it forcefully.
          “That doesn’t… you got lucky.” She mumbled.
          “Want to see me do it again?” I asked quietly.
          “No!” She said quickly. “Stay away. You don’t have that power. No one does. It’s not real.”
          I smirked at her and started putting my hands together. She looked panicked.
          “S-stop!” She put her hands on top of mine and looked me in the eyes. “Don’t you think you should be more respectful?”
          “Respectful?”
          She nodded vigorously.
          “Yes! If God is actually answering your prayers, then maybe you should be extra careful about what you say to him.”
          I rolled my eyes.
          “Who has the power? Me. I’ll pray for whatever I want, Elisa.”
          She looked scared for a moment, then her ears flattened on her head and she let go of my hands.
          “Don’t talk to me you crazy priest.” She said with a hiss. “If I catch you praying anything about me, I’ll shove an alchemical mix so poisonous into your mouth your tongue will turn into mush.”
          With that, she let go of me, and resumed her place in Niels’ marching order. I looked at her and shrugged; it wasn’t as if she could really do anything to me. I put my hands together and prayed that I would get to Kuzges safely, and that when I did, I’d be able to go home as soon as possible.

Edited on 09/19/25