Chapter 6 To Save The Future

I forgot. It’s Sunday, and we have to go to church. I hate it there. That’s why Mevild drags me to the carriage, already by the door. He is afraid I’m going to put up a fight. The servants say it’s because I’m a devil. Ignorance is bliss, indeed. The organ in the church emits low-frequency sounds that no one else can hear. Apparently, I’m the only one. It hits me like a ton of bricks every time that thing plays. Unbearable. But what does my father care?

Letaluan is with us, too. He gives me a crooked smile. The ride across town in the carriage is fun, though, especially in summertime. The city has the river on one side, and endless meadows and fields on other sides. I like this feeling of freedom, as intense as it is fleeting. Oh, the wind, the smell of flowers, the faint sound, produced by quartz, present in abundance in the city walls.

There are a lot of people in the church today. I notice Taonur with his retinue in the front row of seats. We’re late, so my father begrudgingly sits in the end, where there are still empty seats.

We also have a new priest. It’s an older man with an open and kind face and very bright, blue eyes. He starts talking about the devil that is within.

“When you hate someone” He says “You think that you push them away by that. But that’s an illusion. This someone takes such a big space in your heart that you can’t let them go. But you realize that you can’t love them for some reason. So you hate them to keep them close to you”.

A loud shocked “Ahhhh” goes across the audience.

“So, do not look for devil in others. Look for him in your soul. He is already there. He is called “Pride”. Nothing is farther from God than Pride. Next time you want to judge someone for bad behavior, see if you can clean up yours first.”

This unorthodox sermon is met with stunned silence, interrupted by my father’s whisper to Letaluan.

“Here is a goner for you, buddy. Taonur ordered him to deliver a sermon on donating more money to the city, and yet again he is defiant… This free-thinker Relemill is going down. There is no way Taonur will tolerate this.”

“Yep” Answers Letaluan subserviently, too eager to agree with anything Mevild has to say.

It is the first time I regret that the sermon ends so quickly. Most of the people leave right away after Taonur, who does not linger in the church at all. Only a couple of women approach the new priest, who does not seem deterred by the fact that he did not make the governor happy.

I look back to catch one last glance at this brave and unique man with an aura of martyrdom around him. It hurts me to no end knowing that this will be his last sermon. I still hear his voice, talking to the women, as I leave.

Something happens to me. I feel falling in love with this man. I feel attracted to him with a force greater than I can handle. Walking out of the church I swear to him, and to myself, that whatever happens, I will be there, and I will come for him as soon as I can. So, his name is Relemill. Must remember that.

It’s a moonlit night, and I can’t sleep. I see this man in my future, but not before both of us will be through one too many trials. There is something I need to do for him, and it must be done now. I climb out of bed, get dressed and go downstairs. I can be stealthy when I want to.

The lock on the door is an alloy with over forty percent copper in it. Copper and silver are my metals. Immaul says it is because my kind was specially bred for an ability to track down these metals for mining. Whatever that means.

I can feel these metals, I love them, and they love me. I can order this lock to jump out of the door and dance, let alone open up for me to get out.

I run down the street, and the echo of my footsteps reverberates all around, bouncing off the dusty stone walls of old houses covered in ivy and layers of hatred the people of this city had produced over the centuries. After Relemill’s sermon everything seems different. I realize how much negative feelings I harbor in my heart…

Here is the church. It is silent in the moonlight, all of a sudden looking beautiful, because of Relemill. I repeat to him, to myself and to this church, that if he survives what is about to happen to him, I will grow up and give him this church back.

The door is obviously locked, so I creep around, and find one of the windows slightly open. I nervously push it, and it is enough to pull up and get in. Why am I here though? What do I need to do?

The window opens wider with a loud screeching noise, as I pull myself through and jump on the floor with a noise that can arouse the dead.

It’s a good thing they keep them on the cemetery, not here. And there is no one alive, apparently, since no one comes out. I have to hurry. Something is about to take place here and now. So, I need to focus. Well, maybe I need to find the room where priests keep their stuff?

A wandering shadow distracts me. It looks like a human figure. I send off a wave, and it does not come back. There is no one there, and yet, the shadow is advancing rapidly. A ghost of a person is essentially a knot of old negative feelings that person failed to let go after death.

The dark cloud rushes through me. It never says anything, and yet it wants to be noticed. I should be scared all alone in this empty building, but I’m not. I’m on a mission.

A whole bunch of energy trails lead to at least five doors down the hall. I do not have much time to find the right door, and the ghost keeps on flying through me in a somewhat angry manner. I don’t have time for his issues right now.

There is a noise behind one of the doors, as if there is someone there, and they dropped something on the floor. I freeze, waiting for more noise. Nothing. The fear is ever present, and it is limitless. It will make you break into a frantic run if you let it.

I push that door, and look inside sending wave after wave. The outlines of objects in my head quickly begin to make sense. Tables, chairs, shelves… And nobody. A draft of energy suddenly feels like it belongs to Relemill. I follow it to find a big stack of papers on the table.

I pick the first paper, and read: “A grudge is a slow-release drug, poisoning your soul. One too many of them, and you become addicted to the feeling of being wronged. It is inebriating, because it calls for a justful revenge. What a devastating path.”

Suddenly there are footsteps in the hall. For a second I want to believe it is yet another misdirected ghost, drunk on a cocktail of grudge and revenge. But the footsteps are followed by voices…

“Search everything. Take all his stuff, especially the sermons!”

Oh my God. I barely have time to grab the stack of papers, and run out of the room.

I see three men with torches walking room to room, then getting into the one I just jumped out of. I lingered here too long. If they discover me, I won’t be able to save Relemill’s sermons. There is no mistake – a heavy bunch of papers in my hands is what they are looking for.

I creep up along the hall, and back out of the window. For that I have to throw the papers on the ground first, then jump. Luckily, the papers land on the cobblestone pavement in an almost neat pile. I pick up the top sheets, that flew aside and walk home briskly.

As I go around the church to the right, so not to pass by the entrance, I hear a muffled scream inside. Ha-ha, they must have been attacked by a loitering loser of a ghost, who did not read Relemill’s sermons on the dangers of a grudge…

The house is dark and quiet, which is how it should be. I walk up the stairs and get ready to open the door. Then something makes me go back, and hide the papers in a bush by the entrance. Then I open the door only to experience the real fear. My father is standing in front of me in a night gown. His surprised face quickly becomes distorted with anger.

“What are you doing here??!!” He screams.

That ghost in the church needs to take lessons of intimidation from my old man. As much as I know him, and as much as he is not going to hurt me too bad, I get scared enough to lose my ability to speak.

“I… um…”

“Please forgive him, master… It was me.. I sent him on an errand!”

In the darkness of the hall there is Dotristiar with a candle, and he is determined to get me out of trouble even if it costs him his life.