Chapter 15:
In the Service of Gods
We were asked to dismount and hand off our elk to the temple stable hands. I patted Rowan before handing over the reins, grateful for his resolute calm in a chaotic world. He flicked his ear at me as he left, which I chose to interpret as a sign of affection.
The man who had greeted us introduced himself as Brother Lysander and led us to the front gate of the temple. There were two guards standing on either side of the small gate that wrapped around the perimeter of the property. They carried no visible weapons and wore no armour. Instead, they wore the same green robes as Brother Lysander, but with only one stripe of colour around their collar and cuffs: yellow.
Princess Mizuki stepped through the gate, and as I followed her, twin arcs of water hit me squarely in the face. I gasped in shock as the water soaked through my clothes and bit into my skin. The water was so cold, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually lightly melted snow.
“Jesus Christ,” I spat, pulling at my drenched tunic.
“We had to ensure you were not a demon in disguise,” Brother Lysander said serenely. “This water has been blessed by the Holy Maiden and would have stripped you of any artifice. Now, you may proceed to the purification chamber.”
I was reeling from the realization that I’d had ice water thrown on me by two monks who were standing guard at a temple I knew next to nothing about. Princess Mizuki’s eyes were round, her mouth slightly parted.
The guards were two female monks, both wearing bland expressions. They each had a long braid trailing down their backs to rest just above their waists. At the words of Brother Lysander, they each dropped their bucket and tried to grab my arms.
“Don’t you dare,” I barked, pulling my teeth back in a snarl. The women froze, arms raised.
“Seer Rin, the purification ritual is required for anyone who wishes to enter the Eternity Temple. The only place it can occur is in the purification chamber,” Brother Lysander said, voice still annoyingly peaceful.
The coals of my rage were stoked by his words. They began to glow with heat. “And why would I want to enter this temple?” I wiped the frigid water off my face with my hand, which had managed to avoid the cold onslaught. “Maybe I want nothing to do with a place where you are presumed a demon until they can prove otherwise.”
The women held their positions and Brother Lysander remained unruffled. Mizuki seemed to be a bit embarrassed, but remained silent.
“This is a test that all are subjected to,” Brother Lysander said. “I cannot exempt you. Even the Emperor was required to prove his humanity on the steps of the temple.”
Ritual aside, there’s no way a pair of monks threw ice water into the Emperor’s face seconds after he entered through the gate.
“Most people have been warned beforehand,” I countered. “Apparently, I’m not worthy of such details.” I shot the princess a look.
Mizuki flushed. “This is not the usual method by which the water is administered.”
“There is a particular method used to test a Seer,” Brother Lysander said. “It must involve the element of surprise, this is well documented.”
“Of course it is,” I muttered under my breath. The absurdity of it all was like having my body rubbed with sandpaper. Or perhaps it would be better to say that it was like being trapped in an elevator that kept falling down, one floor at a time. You think you’ve reached the bottom only for the elevator to plunge further into an abyss that may just be endless.
“I’m done,” I said, turning around. I would walk back to Sparrow Hall, I didn’t care how long it took.
“Please, Seer Rin,” Mizuki said. She rushed back out the gates to come and stand in front of me. “I recognize that the Brothers and Sisters here have treated you poorly.”
“Everyone has treated me poorly,” I said, resignation thick in my voice. “I’ve been kidnapped. Don’t you understand that? I do not want to be here. I want to go home.”
“Your destiny is a difficult one,” Brother Lysander said. “Yet through those shadows you will find a light that is unknowable to us. You will be able to stand before the gods and speak to them.” His tone held true elation by the end of his little speech.
“I don’t care,” I whipped around and shouted at Brother Lysander. “Why should I? This isn’t my world, you’ve dragged me here against my will, refused to explain most things, and then tell me that I’m supposed to save you all because no one, not a single person in this realm is capable of doing it except me. Why can’t your gods fix this, if they’re so powerful?”
Finally, I had managed to say something that caused a shift in Brother Lysander. His serenity had cracked and I could see an edge in his eyes and his posture now held indignation.
“You will not speak of the gods that way, Seer or not,” Brother Lysander said. “Blasphemy will not be tolerated, especially not so close to holy ground.” He was still calm, though he seemed to be actively working towards it. “The gods are omnipotent, capable of doing anything and everything. But there are rules to how gods may operate when it comes to the Material Plane, some of which are beyond our ability to understand. This doesn’t mean the gods are incapable of unleashing their wrath when they see fit.”
He shuddered at this. “I have seen people smited before, and I can assure you it’s not a pretty sight.”
“Oh really?” I taunted. “They’re going to smite me? Then they’d doom the world, because there is no scenario in which I help anyone in Wosurei if a god so much as looks at me the wrong way.” I was breathing hard, purging myself of all the vitriol that had built up since arriving here. “And the gods strike me as pretty apathetic. Because if it is as you say, and they are capable of doing anything, then how are there rules to begin with? Any god could simply go rogue and save humanity, it couldn’t be that hard.”
I strode up to Brother Lysander, putting my face close enough to his to hopefully make him uncomfortable. “Except they don’t. And if the gods are able to do everything, it means they’ve chosen to do nothing. Your gods don’t care enough to save you.”
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