Vol. 3 Chap. 48 To Unburden Oneself of Sin

Vol. 3 Chap. 48 To Unburden Oneself of Sin

The sin eater looked at the scores of rings, chains, and earrings scattered across his desk, spilling onto the floor. Each worn and rubbed, the maker mark and serial numbers carefully removed by Truth’s patient effort, waiting for the service to start. They all looked like they had been dug up, some possibly cut off the fingers of their late owners. The sin eater gingerly lifted a plain silvery band. It was heavier than it looked. Frozen quicksilver, banded with platinum. He had a similar ring.

“I am... moved by your piety,” the priest said, looking a bit sick. “I took the precaution of releasing all the sin upon me and refusing any other appointments today once I learned of your... reservation.”

“For the best.”

“Just what manner of thing are you? I have read of some unquiet dead similar to you, and you don’t quite feel like a demon, but-”

“I’m not quite one thing or the other?”

“Yes.”

“Not really your problem, though.”

“It is. It is exactly my problem. What am I for, if not to ease the burden of all God’s children and lead them back to their father?”

“No idea. That is the question for everyone, isn’t it?”

“The Church does offer some answers. The correct answers.”

“That’s nice.”

There was a pause.

“You wouldn’t happen to be interested in finding out what those answers are, by any chance?”

“No, not right now. Places to go, things to do. Also, based on the service I just saw, I don’t think I would agree with your answers. “Even if you die sick, in pain, believing yourself abandoned by friend and God alike, it’s all part of God’s plan, and the smart thing to do is obediently go along with it. Make sure you tithe generously as you go. God needs his vig.” Can’t say I agree with the moral there.”

“That wasn’t the point at all!” James slapped his hand on the table, looking furiously at the hole in the air surrounded by sin. “The point was that prosperity will come to the faithful. That obedience to God will always result in blessings. Just not the blessings you might want right this minute. That the timing of the blessings is not a merely mortal question- they are all part of God’s plan for the world. Are you going to help or harm that plan, Johnny? That’s the point.”

“But we know God’s plan. He will leave us to die. He will let the world cleanse itself of humanity, and when the planet has been wiped clean, he will start again. After all, it’s what we chose. We didn’t have to make the world this way. We didn’t have to be part of systems we didn’t understand or fail to take alternatives we didn’t know existed. We could have starved or froze or chosen to die. Really, this is all our fault, not his.”

“All arguments that the Church has failed, not God. And I will admit the Church has failed. We didn’t save the planet in time.”

“Saved from a fate as inevitable as a stone falling to the floor, without outside intervention.”This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

Truth walked out of Saint Florians in an odd, contemplative sort of mood. He had been embraced twice today- once by a Ghūl, or the illusion of a Ghūl, and once by a Praegerite sin eater. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. Both felt accepting. Liberating, in a way. He could vividly see the flesh rotting off James. Were the Ghūl beings so soaked in sin they turned out like walking corpses? Truth doubted it. The Ghūl, horrible as they were, seemed to have no conception of “evil” that he could see. Intelligent, yes, but their lives were devoted exclusively to single-minded worship of their God.

He silently laughed. The Ghūl were incapable of sin because they were incapable of acting contrary to the will of God. Nobody anywhere agreed with the details of that life of faith, but almost everyone would agree that living life according to God’s will was what a person should do. The Ghūl, nightmare creatures of torment, were innocent. Not a soul would believe him if he told them.

“Thrush, as a sin professional, how would you rate my current sin load?”

“I wouldn’t, master.”

The little imp casually preened its feathers. Thrush had strongly requested being left outside the church wards, which struck Truth as fair enough.

“Self-preservation?”

“More that it doesn’t work that way, from my perspective. I don’t decide what souls are worthy of the care of Hell, I merely do my best to serve. So far as I know, it is not a question of either quantity or quality.”

“Salvation through faith alone? The intercession of Praeger and the Mother Church?”

“Your servant is lacking, Dread one. I can only say that you appear to be mentally less burdened by your choices. Do you remember my analogy of the coral growing over a gem?”

“Yes.”

“You appear to have had some crude diver with a hammer knock off a chunk of that natural beauty.”

“Still Hell worthy?”

“All are worthy in Hell, Master. It is the nature of the place to make prince and pauper alike in dignity.”

Truth grinned at that. Air demons. Thrush was ok for an imp, but goddamn if he didn’t want to go murder the Hell out of some air demons just for fun. It sounds like James didn’t get all the sin off. He would still be somewhat visible to those with James’ strange blessing. It would have to be considered a tolerable risk. Or at least a risk he would have to tolerate.

“All this does lead to a fairly obvious question- what is sin? Why can some see it, but most cannot? What is it about “sin” that sticks to souls even through death? Is virtue the opposite of sin? Is it also sticky?” Truth wondered.

“Above my paygrade, Master. To use an analogy you are familiar with.” Thrush hopped around, digging for insects in the dirt.

“Which leads to the question of “What is Virtue?” and from there defining good and evil, and figuring out why they exist.” Truth smirked, then mentally added. “I should ask Merkovah about that. He loves our little chats.”

He looked down the boring, ordinary street, past the ordinary shops and ordinary hairdressers, watching the ordinary street lights converting cosmic rays into sharp light. In a year or so, this scene would become mythical. Something leathery storytellers would describe to disbelieving children around campfires.

He had done everything he wanted or needed to do in Buran. He wasn’t looking forward to the trip north, but it was time to go. He had a researcher to murder, fear to spread, and chaos to sow. He started jogging down the street, scarf around his neck, sword in his soul, and duffle of clothes and books on his back. Just another Jeon kid. The logical consequence of a billion bad decisions made for “it seemed like a good idea at the time” reasons. A rat on its hind legs, looking up and wondering just what was up there, outside the walls of what it knew.