Ghost Stories: Lovebirds from Trinka

A beautiful girl fell in love with a foreigner.
But her parents did not approve.
One day, bandits captured her beloved and killed him.
She could not bear the grief.
She threw herself into the depths of the canal.
As spirits, they met again.
Since then, they have wandered together above the waters of the Trinka Canal.

After taking care of the mayor's children's ghosts, Leontina and Mozuta went to another place, trailing the rumors or stories about lingering ghosts to help them. They were passing through Grudond, one of the towns near Mozuta's village which was located about half a day's journey away. When they arrived, they heard a story about lovebirds from Trinka.

While Leontyna slugged behind him, listening in, Mozuta started asking around about another pair of lingering ghosts.

The first person they asked about ghosts was an elderly woman. She wore a scarf embroidered with flowers over her white hair.
“I don’t know what really happened,” she said. “I do remember that the boy fell into the canal. The girl couldn’t live without him, so she jumped in after him. They both drowned in those waters.”

“The boy was a Holand,” added another old lady who was selling vegetables at a nearby stall.  “Apparently, their parents didn’t like the boy being from such a far-away country. You know, they didn’t want him to take their precious daughter away."

“Oh, it's a forbidden love story! The lovers are separated in life, but live together as ghosts in the canal!” exclaimed a young girl passionately as she paid for her groceries.
“You should add a stinking canal,” interjected her brother who was holding several baskets.
“Don’t ruin the romance for me.”

Having spoken to a bunch of people, Mozuta crouched down and leaned against a brick wall. Above him, there was a statue of two lovers looking into each other’s eyes.
“I can’t believe they made them into a statue,” he snorted tiredly looking at the pair.
Leontina came closer and looked at the sculpture. The pair looked as if there were no one else in the world beside them. Their eyes were focused on one another. She looked down and saw the plaque.
‘Lovebirds from Trinka’ by Adam Podsiadly.
“M-Mozuta...”
“Yes?”
“M-maybe the author of this statue will tell us something more?” she suggested.
Mozuta stood up reluctantly and looked at the plate.
“You think he’s alive?”
“T-t-the statue doesn’t look old,” she said, lowering her head and touching her two index fingers together. “I-I think i-it’s worth trying.”
Mozuta sighed and stretched out.
“I suppose it's time to start asking around again. But first, let's get something to drink. After all that talking, my throat is parched,” he complained.
Leontina flinched and took a bag of money, that they had received from the mayor, out of her purse.
“T-t-t-take as much as you want,” she said, handing him the bag. “I d-d-don’t need any in my state, b-b-but you…”
Mozuta widened his eyes at her words. If he thought about it, the girl before him didn't really need money. She didn’t eat, drink or sleep. Her clothes were practically attached to her body, and they changed depending on the time of day.

He remembered what she had said earlier:

I planned for the mayor to pay in this way.

So… she got this money for me. Mozuta grinned to himself. But he quickly shook his head and reached into the bag.

“This is enough,” he took one gold coin and ran to the market. Leontina followed closely behind, stowing the rest of the money away in her bag.

After securing something to eat and drink, he went to ask around about the man who had created the statue near the canal at the market. It wasn’t as difficult as he had expected. Just as Leontina had thought, the man was still alive. One of the older ladies they had spoken to earlier, the one with the beautifully embroidered scarf, showed them to his home.
“Adam is an old bachelor. He can be quite unruly. Don’t be frightened by his character,” the older lady whispered before the sculptor's door. She came closer and knocked on the door. “Oi! Old man! WAKE UP! You have guests!' she screamed so loudly that Mozuta had to cover his ears.
“What?” came the reply from behind the door. The nearly bald head of an elderly man emerged. He was holding a chisel. “I’m working.”
“You have guests. They want to ask you about the statue of the lovers,” the woman explained.
"I'm not talking about them." He tried to close the door, but Mozuta stopped him.
“We just have a few questions, like do you know who they were?” Mozuta asked. At this, the sculptor tightened his grip on a chisel and bit his lip.
“I have nothing to say. Go away.”
He shut the door in their faces.
“What a rude man,” said the old lady, turning to the pair who had come with her. “Goodness, he was so impolite that the poor girl froze in place!”
Mozuta rolled his eyes at Leontina, who was standing there like a real statue. The loud noise was still echoing in her ears.
“At this point, let’s just ask the ghosts themselves!” the boy exclaimed, exhausted. Then, Leontina grabbed him by the sleeve. Her sudden movement startled the old lady, who took a step back. A torrent of words flew from behind Leontina’s mask.
“N-n-n-no! It's the easy way, b-b-b-but it doesn't always work! E-e-especially when there are Mid-level Spirits! They u-u-usually want to apologize to someone who is s-s-still alive, a-and you have to bring that p-p-person to them. T-t-to do that, you need to know who t-t-that person is. You can’t look for someone at n-n-night. What if the day comes and the r-r-ritual stops? Y-y-you'd have to do it all again!”
“The moment it's about ghosts, your confidence comes back.” Mozuta commented. With a shudder, Leontina pulled her hood down.
“If there is someone who would like to apologize, it's probably Adam, not the ghosts” the old lady suddenly chimed in.
Both Leontina and Mozuta looked at her in surprise.
“Oops, I shouldn’t have said that,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Do you know something?” Mozuta inquired coming closer to her.
“I shouldn’t gossip and I promised I wouldn’t say much, but I don’t think this much would be a problem,” she began, her eyes darting from side to side. Leontina and Mozuta listened, waiting for a clue. The woman looked left, then right. Sure that nobody listened to them, she leaned in towards the two of them and whispered, “Adam was in love with the girl in the statue.”

“HUH?!”

“Don’t be so loud!” she said, covering their mouths and dragging them further away from Adam’s house.
“How do you know such things?” Mozuta shook the hand that was covering his mouth.
“I was only twelve back then, but I remember him being in love with that lovely girl. He couldn’t believe that she had killed herself. No one could. You know how people look at... killing yourself...” The old lady shuddered at the thought and hugged herself.
“They are ostracized,” said Leontina in a cold voice. “Seen as a bad omen.”

Mozuta wanted to ask the lady why she hadn’t said anything earlier if she knew something. But he should have guessed that things wouldn't be that easy.

The girl depicted in the statue had ended her own life by drowning.
That’s what the story about lovers said.

If she had committed suicide, her name would have been treated like a curse.
He could only imagine the gossip.

You know that girl? Which one? The one who recently jumped? Yeah, I heard. What is their reason for doing such a thing? Do they not fear being sent to Selew?

Leontina patted Mozuta on the head. The clouds covering the boy’s eyes lightened slightly when he felt her hand. He looked up at her.
“W-w-we need to get that man to talk,” she said silently.
“I know. If he knew the girl in her lifetime, he might be useful during the ritual.”
“What ritual?” asked the woman.
“Oh, she’s a Soul Guide who will send the pair of ghosts away,” explained Mozuta, pointing to Leontina, who was standing next to him.
“SOUL GUIDE?!” the elderly woman exclaimed, surprised. She covered her mouth and whispered. “Ah, that explains why you went around asking about those two.” She touched her right cheek with her hand. “I thought you were just visiting because you wanted to see ghosts. Many people come at this time of year to see them.”
Leontina’s eyes widened. “W-w-what do you mean b-b-by this time of year?”
“The lovebirds only appear on Midsummer’s Eve night.”
Leontina turned to Mozuta, whose panic-stricken expression was reflected in her mask.
“Isn’t it today?”, Mozuta asked.
“Y-y-y-y-yes, i-i-i-it is.”
“Damn it!” The thirteen-year-old boy bit his thumb nervously. “Do you think you'll be able to do it with the information we've already acquired?”
“I-I can t-t-try,” said Leontina. “D-do you know a-anything else?” she asked the elderly woman, who shook her head in answer. She didn’t know anything more. “Then, M-Mozuta…”

“Yes?”

Leontina took a deep breath and tightened her grip on her hood.

“C-can you s-scream v-very l-loudly that w-we will s-send the p-pair a-away t-today?”

“Are you sure? What if some other people come?”

“I-I am a Soul Guide, I-I should b-be able to conduct a p-public r-ritual without r-reavealing m-much.” she replied quietly. “A-a-and this thing p-protects me during the d-day.” She touched her mask with her index finger.
Mozuta sighed. At this point, he would have to introduce both himself and her as apprentices of a great Soul Guide if they want to keep her personality switch a secret.
To make sure that this change in her character won't attract the attention of others.
He would have to ask her about that later.

The young boy took the bottle of water he had bought earlier from the market out of his bag. He drank it and put it back. Then he slapped his cheeks with his hands and started screaming.
“A SOUL GUIDE WILL SEND AWAY THE LOVEBIRDS! TODAY AT NIGHT!” He ran so fast that a white smoke trailed behind him. Leontina, along with the elderly woman who was standing nearby, flinched at the loud sound.
"I might go deaf sooner than I expected because of him," said the elderly woman, her face betraying her concern as she gently massaged her ear. "He's louder than me. Being young is truly a blessing."
“I-I’ll go a-a-after him,” Leontina bowed her head towards the woman and left after Mozuta.

The moon rose in the night sky. Torches and candles lit up the pavements and roads near the Trinka Canal. Their light overshadowed the glimmer of the stars. Still hidden under her hood, Leontina stood on a small bridge over the canal where the lovebirds appeared every year. Mozuta stood behind her, looking left and right to make sure nobody came up to the bridge and disturbed the ritual.
As he had expected, quite a number of people had come. They gathered around them. Mozuta recognized the faces of some of the people he had asked about the pair, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see the old man who had sculpted the statue of the two of them.

The nearby trees swayed in the strengthening wind. Leontina took off her hood, revealing her beautiful black hair and face as white as a dove's feather. A small fragment of her mask glinted from her bag.
The water's surface, which had been moving quietly and peacefully, suddenly intensified its waves.
Two misty shapes emerged from the front of the canal and were approaching Leontina.
As she saw them, she started to recite her chant.
Everyone present looked at her in awe. This was not only because she was beautiful, but also because they had not seen a live soul guide ritual in a few years.

After a while, a pair of ghosts appeared in front of her.
They looked up at her with ghostly eyes, surprised. The man wore a hat that covered his long hair. He was wearing wealthy clothing with puffs on the arms, the kind typically worn by people from Holendor. The woman on the other side had a wreath of daisies in her hair and a lovely white dress with a red colar necklace adorning her neck. She looked like a bride.
Leontina placed her right hand on her chest, raised the hem of her dress with her left hand, and bowed.
“I am a Soul Guide, here to send you to Weles,” she stated. “Please state your names.”

“Johan,” answered the man.
“Katarina,” replied the woman.
The two ghosts held each other's hands tightly as they watched the beautiful soul guide looking down at them.
“Dear Johan and dear Katarina, today is your lucky day! You’re finally going to stop wandering through the world of the living!” Leontina declared, as silver scales appeared in her right hand. “Let me weigh you against the air of Weles!”

Chains emerged from the scales and gently embraced the two souls. They shrank and were placed on the left side. Leontina’s eyes changed color to a freezing blue.

Then, the scale started to shake.
Johan's soul glimmered with a beautiful, warm white light. The chains enveloped him, taking him away from the scales and back to the river’s surface.

Katarina was the only one left on the scale. Her ghostly body turned grey.

Leontina's eyelashes fluttered in surprise. She turned her gaze towards the man's ghost that was floating above the waves.
“Why are you still here, Johan? You should be able to see the gates to Weles by now, and walk through them.” Some people gasped at her words.
“I couldn’t leave the love of my life alone,” he replied sweetly. Someone in the crowd squeaked, charmed by the words. Mozuta recognised the voice of the girl whom they had asked about ghosts when they arrived in Grudond. He could hear her brother complaining about her being too loud. Mozuta let out a deep breath.
“Do you know what dangers you could have faced?” Leontina continued to question him.
“You mean demons? Yes, I do." Even though he was aware that pure souls were an extraordinary delicacy for demons, the man didn't seem overly concerned. "That’s why we only come here once a year. Only during one of those nights when their powers are weaker,” he replied. “We made sure we were safe while we were together forever.” He joined his hands together and gazed dreamily at his beloved.
Mozuta rolled his eyes. He thought back to Jawozina and her crazy love. He could only hope that these two ghosts weren’t as crazy as her. Well, at least they weren’t evil, just as sweet as sugar. It's no surprise that they're called the Lovebirds from Trinka.

“It’s commendable that you didn’t want to leave her alone.” Leontina praised him.
“If I had, no one would remember her name,” he replied, smiling gently.
Whispers began to circulate amongst the people. They were asking each other if anyone knew this Katarina. Each and every person shook their head.
But there was one person who had cast down their gaze and was unable to look up. Their wrinkled hand held a chisel tightly.
“I understand,” said Leontina, closing and then opening her eyes as she shifted her focus to the gray spectre that was still sitting on the left scale. "In that case, I will only put this soul on trial."
She held up her scale.
Her eyes glistened. They were fixed on a single point, as if she could see something no one else could. The numbers began to show on the scale.
When they stopped, Leontina lowered the scales.
“You deeply regret your evil ways, which is truly commendable,” the beautiful soul guide admitted. She gazed tenderly at Katarina's spirit. “You could have lived a fulfilling and kind life and gone to Weles, but you didn’t,” Leontina continued, her voice becoming more solemn. “You decided to end your life, and that is the sin that prevents you from passing through the gates of Weles.”

Katarina lowered her gaze. Her flowing locks hid her pale face from everyone present.
“Yes, I did it, and I hate myself for it,” she said, covering her eyes with her hands and starting to weep. “I stayed here, and because of me, he's here too. Every day, I’m scared that the demons will take us to Selew if we’re not careful. We cannot hide within the living world.” She paused to catch her breath while continuing to cry. “I could have just stayed alive, waited for my time, and then met him in Weles.”
“I am glad to hear that you have recognised your mistake and understood the consequences of it.” Leontina was ready to move on to the next stage of the process when Katarina's tearful voice interrupted her.
“Do you know what the first thing he said was when we met as ghosts?” Katarina asked.

“I didn't want to see you dead,” both ghosts said at the same time.

Surprised, Katarina turned to Johan, who smiled at her affectionately.

“Katarina,” Johan began, his voice filled with sorrow. “You can direct those words at me, too.” His smile was full of regret. “If I hadn’t died, we could have been an old couple reminiscing about all the good and bad days.”

Then he added:

“I let myself get dragged there.”

Johan’s feet started to lose their light.

“I let them kill me.”

The light he emitted as a soul that had already been given permission to reach Weles was slowly disappearing. Leontina bit her lip. His soul was allowing regrets to consume him. At any moment he could turn into Mid-level Spirit. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, the ghost's next words caught her by surprise.

“I let them drain my blood and take my life.”

She turned to look at Mozuta, who was standing behind her. The boy widened his eyes. 
The only person they could think of in connection with drinking blood was Count von Firnau.
Was the one who killed this man the same person who ordered Jawozina to drain his blood? Mozuta thought.

The boy looked at Leontina expectantly. His eyes shone with curiosity and anger. She knew she had to find answers for him, but for now, she had to stop Johan’s soul from becoming the Mid-Level Spirit, just like Katarina's.

She turned her attention to Johan and decided to forcibly place him in Weles. However, a rasping voice from the crowd stopped her before she opened the gates.

“It’s not your fault that you died!”

Everyone turned around to see who had spoken. Adam stepped out onto a bridge. He dropped the heavy chisel, which rolled down the bridge. The sculptor himself slumped to the ground.

“It's mine fault...” he confessed.

Leontina watched the old man curl up, unable to face the ghosts.

“It's all my fault...” His voice broke.

Leontina approached him, crouching down in front of him with Katarina still on her scales.
“As you are a living person, I am unable to keep your confession silent,” she informed the man. “I can see that you feel sorry for this pair. If you wish, you may tell them what is in your heart.” Leontina stood up, instructing the chains to take Katarina off the scales and place her in front of Adam. She then took a step back and stood next to Mozuta.

Adam glanced at the ghostly figure of a woman wearing a wreath and found himself smiling, even though his eyes were glistening with tears.

“You’re dead, but you’re still beautiful.” he said while looking at her.
Katarina lowered her face to study the older man's face.
After a moment's thought, her eyes widened and a bright smile lit up her face.
“Adam? Adam Podsiadly?” she asked. The man could only nod in agreement. He hadn’t expected the ghost to recognise him. “You’re so old! I wish I could be as old as you!”
He let out a silent laugh.”'You would be, if not for me,” he started, his voice breaking. It was hard for him to breathe.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
It had weighed on his heart far too long. He knew that if he died, he would never have left for Weles and would have remained down here as a ghost, haunted by regret.
His legs refused to obey him, so he swayed as he slowly stood up. With wobbly steps, he reached the bridge’s rail and looked at Johan.

“I’m sorry…”

His voice cracked, but he had to say it when he had the chance.

“I’m sorry for killing you.”

The words that had been stuck in his throat finally escaped. He knew it would only make him feel better, but he didn’t want to live with the regret of not saying them. He didn’t care if people found out about his sin. He would gladly accept their contempt as a small price to pay for what he did.

He was in love.
Such deep love.
Katarina was his life.
But she didn’t feel the same way. She loved the kind-hearted Johan, a young Holend.
He thought she could be his if only the Holend died.
Even her parents disapproved of their daughter marrying a foreigner.

He met a man in a tavern. He wore an old cloak and gave off a repulsive stench. He wasn’t normal, but Adam didn’t care.
He led that monster to Johan.
Adam saw Johan being killed near Trinka where there were no lights. Nobody beside him saw what happened.

He watched the monster attack the Holend, then use sorcery to collect the innocent man’s blood into a chalice and drink it.
It was terrifying.
It made his skin crawl.

The next day, she found Johan’s body. She couldn’t believe what had happened to the person she loved so much.
She was listless.
All her happiness had drained away.
She stood on the bridge and jumped off.
Everyone said she was a poor, stupid girl.
They all stopped talking about her.
Her parents were ashamed to have a daughter who had killed herself because of a foreigner.
There were no graves for those who took their own lives.
There was no grave for her.
Nobody wanted to mention the name of someone who had committed such a sin.
People stopped talking about her.
No one but Adam remembered Katarina.
The guilt was eating him alive.
He built them a statue to show people that they were a couple who loved each other even after death, to turn it into a beautiful story.
But it didn’t erase his guilt.

Would saying sorry now erase it?

He doubted it, but wanted to do it.

He had to do it.

“That thing was looking for someone with a pure heart from another country. I told it about you and where to find you, and then it attacked and drank your blood...” Adam’s voice was cracking and he was finding it harder to breathe. “It was my fault that you were killed by that monster.” He couldn’t hold on any longer. His legs gave way. He fell to the ground and started wailing.

Johan and Katarina exchanged glances. They both floated towards Adam.

“I’d be lying if I said it would be easy to forgive you,” said Johan, his voice was stern and grim.

“But…”

Adam looked up at Johan’s ghost.

“I will not forgive you if you don't come to Weles! You must be a witness to the power of my love for Katarina! Even death couldn’t tear us apart!”

“Shouldn't you be angry?” asked Adam, still curled up.

“What would be the point of it? Anger won’t change the fact that I’m already dead.” Johan shrugged his shoulders. “But I can make you watch my love for Katarina for eternity, and you won’t be able to do anything about it! Ha!” Johan started laughing like a clumsy villain. Katarina looked at him, amused, and turned to Adam.

“Johan’s right. There’s no point in being angry,” she said, gazing at her transparent hands and then at Adam’s wrinkled face. “I’m not as kind-hearted as Johan. I would prefer to see you in Selew, but I will try my best to forgive you. I myself made a mistake by jumping from that bridge.” Then she looked at the crowd and spotted another familiar face. That of an elderly woman who wore a flower-embroidered scarf over her white hair. “Because of that, even my younger sister erased me from her memory.”
Katarina closed her eyes and reminisced about her life. She thought about the days when she and her sister made wreaths together.
“I have nothing more to say to you. I don’t even want to,” she told Adam. “My only desire is to go to Weles and be with Johan.” She took Holend’s hand and turned to Leontina. “Please, give me my sentence.”
Leontina bowed gracefully. “As you wish.”
The Soul Guide ordered the chains to return the soul to the scales to be weighed and a sentence chosen.
“Your sin is your death. You are sentenced to one hundred years in scorching purgatory, where you will be consumed by flames.”
“That long?” asked Katarina.
“It will feel like that to you. To your lover, it will feel like one minute.”
“Huh... I already expected something harsh, so... bring it on!” Katarina held out her hand, and chains enveloped her.

Then her ghost disappeared.

Everyone waited in silence.

After exactly a minute, she appeared again.

Streams of smoke surrounded her. Her clothes were still burning in places. Her eyes were empty and listless.

Then Johan came over to her, took her hand, and gently kissed it.

“Welcome back, dear. You were amazing. Now a blissful eternity awaits us,” he said, hugging her. The light came back into Katarina’s eyes. She hid her face in Johan’s shoulder and wept.

Leontina smiled warmly at them and opened the gate.
Both ghosts were amazed by the sight.
They didn’t look back, they just went right through it.

When the gate disappeared, the crowd that had come to witness the ritual raised their voices.