Arrested for that!?

‘So that’s the story behind Uraina?’ Mina questioned as she walked out of the church service with Nik.

“Well that was disappointing. It was nice to be back in an actual church, but mom, Iro, and even Mr. Athan talk about Uraina better than this guy. Don’t you think?” Nik said as they left.

“Yeah…” Mina replied thoughtlessly. Her mind was too focused on processing what she’d learned to really pay attention to what Nik was saying.

‘These people think that Uraina made the other gods alongside some siblings, gave up some of her own power to become the Uraina she is now? But, is that actually right? Is that how it is, or is that just the way these guys think it is? Or, is it like those Greek myths and it’s all just a bunch of stories, and Uraina doesn’t even exist? Wait no, she has to exist, otherwise I wouldn’t be here!’ She thought to herself.

Unlike others who’d gained confidence in the worship of Uraina after the service, Mina suddenly began to question it. The thing was, Mina grew up in a world that somewhat had moved past the idea of legends of gods and goddesses. She’d heard a bit of the Greek myths and the pantheon of Olympus from books and movies, learned some of the ghost stories and legends from Japan from anime. She’s read comics which told stories inspired by the legends of the Norse gods and Valhalla, had been made aware of the many religions that still existed in her world, and even heard lots of legends of the land from her Cree elders. She’d known many myths, but knew very well that those myths were almost certainly just stories, not real gods and events. The sermon she’d just heard SHOULD have left her feeling more informed about everything, more confident, but it didn’t. The sermon that was told painted the gods of this world in a way that reminded her of those fake gods from her world, most notably the Greek stuff.

“Oi, Mina, are you listeni-”

“YOU THERE, STOP RIGHT THERE!”

Both Nik and Mina jumped in place as a loud voice cut through the chatting of the after-church crowd. Turning to the voice, the two saw a couple members of the guard patrol glaring down a couple teenagers.

“Um, ok?” One of the teens said.

“Is something wrong sirs?” The other asked.

“Indeed. The two of you are under arrest.” The guard replied.

“Huh? Why?” The first teen asked.

“The two of you jumped over that puddle. As of this morning, the king has decreed that jumping over puddles is now illegal, and punishable by imprisonment.” The guard explained.

“Wait, seriously. That’s a law now?” one of the teens asked, and the guard nodded.

“Correct. Puddles are a result of rain, rain comes from the clouds in the sky, and the clouds in the sky are the blessing of Uraina. Thus, jumping over a puddle is the equivalent of evading the blessings of Uraina, and as people of her kingdom, it is a sin to avoid her blessings.” The guard mechanically rattled off, sounding more annoyed that he had to even be saying it than anything else.

“Now that you understand the situation, please come quietly.” The other guard said, pulling out two sets of handcuffs. The two teens just stared in confusion, not resisting as they were cuffed, and soon enough they were being walked down the street. All around, all the people who’d stopped to watch simply returned to what they were doing before as if they hadn’t just watched someone get arrested. The only sign that they’d even seen what happened was the fact that everyone began intentionally walking through puddles. No, the only one who seemed to really care what just happened was Mina.

“What the? Did that just happen!? Did they just get arrested for jumping over a puddle?!” Mina whisper yelled to Nik, who just shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s a thing that happens. According to the adults, the king likes to make weird rules so he can arrest people whenever he wants.” Nik explained as he too turned to walk off as if nothing happened. “Now come on, Iro and the others are probably ready to head back.”

Nik started walking away, but Mina wasn’t about to drop things there. She reached over and grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks and prompting him to look at her.

“Wait, are we seriously going to just let that happen? Are we seriously just going to walk away and pretend it didn’t happen?” Mina exclaimed.

“Yeah…” Nik replied with a raised eyebrow.

“What do you mean yeah!? Wasn’t Anaktités made specifically to stop the new king from doing stuff like this? We should go help them, take down those corrupt guards, be heroes, all that!” Mina exclaimed, only to be met with a disinterested look from Nik.

“Why?” Nik questioned, as if he couldn’t comprehend doing the very thing the group they were a part of had come together for. Realizing that trying to convince him to be a hero was going to be utterly useless, Mina reluctantly chose a different route.

“We’re going to help them because I want to help them, and I want you to help me help them. Also, Iro will probably think it’s cool if you do this.” Mina said, doing her best not to sound defeated. Unsurprisingly, Nik instantly perked up at the idea of looking cool for Iro.

“Oh yeah, you’re right. Those people are the same age as her, so if I save them, it’ll be like I’m saving her, and Iro will be able to imagine it’s her I’m saving when I tell her the story!” Nik exclaimed excitedly.

“*Sigh* Sure, we’ll go with that.” Mina said with a roll of her eyes. “Now come on, we have to change into our masks and catch up to them.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A few minutes later the two of them were wearing their masks and following behind the guards as quietly as possible to avoid being seen. Nik had unsurprisingly wanted to jump in immediately and take them out as soon as possible, but Mina had somehow managed to talk him down. As excited as she was, she was smart enough to know not to get random civilians get caught in the crossfire.

“Come on, why are we still waiting? Let’s just go blow up those guards and be done with this!” Nik complained.

Clearly, Nik still hadn’t gotten the memo.

“I told you; we need to wait for them to go down a side street or something where they’re alone. We don’t want to get anyone else involved.” Mina snapped at him.

“Who cares if other people are involved. Besides ‘other people’ already are involved, we’re here to save those ‘other people’.” Nik whined, and Mina grit her teeth in frustration.

‘On second thought, I think I dodged a bullet with him saying no earlier. Having someone as bratty as him as a boyfriend would suck. And what’s with his obsession with saying he’s going to blow them up?’ Mina thought to herself as she did her best to drown out his complaints. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait too much longer for the opening she’d been waiting for. Soon enough she saw the guards turn to go down a street that she couldn’t see anyone in, just like she was hoping for. She quickly rushed forwards to peek around the corner, and as luck would have it, it was exactly as empty as she’d thought.

“Alright, they’re alone. Now can we blow them up?” Nik asked, and Mina rolled her eyes.

“Can you wait just 2 minutes! Let them get deeper into the street so they are ACTUALLY alone, not just two steps away from where everyone is.” Mina exclaimed, and Nik let out an annoyed huff, but continued to follow her lead.

They stealthily followed the guards deeper into the street. For a moment, Mina wondered if they were actually falling into a trap, but nothing seemed to be hinting to that, so she continued on. Then, once she’d judged they’ve waited long enough, she turns to Nik.

“Alright, I’d say this is a good chance. Now is when we start to ‘blow them up’. Just remember, we’re saving ‘Iro’, so you don’t want to hurt her, so make sure you don’t hurt these teens too.” She told him. One would think that it would go without saying that you should try not to hurt the people you’re rescuing, but at this point she wasn’t going to take chances with Nik.

“Yeah yeah.” He said with a roll of his eyes. “Now come on, lets go already!”

Mina let out another sigh, but didn’t comment anything. Instead, she just got ready to fight.