Chapter 26: Arthur Meets Sarah
The process of becoming a 'purified one' is a tedious one.
It is a path of cleansing yourself out of anything that is considered 'impure' which often revolves around whatever is considered evil or particular negative emotions like envy or pride to name a few. The problem with that however is the fact that people are innately compelled to do what their heart desires and that often leads to what is known as… sin.
There does not exist a person who could claim that they are without sin and similarly people who try to become part of the 'purified ones' cannot possibly erase their past of what they felt, desired and what they did acting on those emotions. This leaves a footprint of sorts which is somewhat hard to overcome in their pursuit of 'pureness'.
That's why a common practice in the church is to take in orphans and groom them to become 'purified ones' although it's still far from perfect as even newborns are for some reason not free from sin. The people in the church call that phenomena the original sin and consider it hereditary.
In the canon of the church it's said that the human race is one of cursed with sin and it's up to them to purify it and that only the Gods are without any sin so from another point of view the path of a 'purified one' is to get as close as possible to the divine in terms of 'purity'.
But when are you actually considered the 'purified one'?
At some point they gain an ability which they call true vision. It allows them to see past what is on the outside and to look into what is on the inside. It also makes them have no need for eyes in order to see the world around them although it comes at a small price as their actual eyesight overlaps with the one of true vision making it feel trippy to say the least especially since it's impossible to 'turn it off' so as to combat that a common practice among the 'purified ones' developed where they wrap cloth around their heads blocking their normal eyesight and replacing it fully with true vision.
In other words they can see more without actually seeing although they can still see and can also see normally without seeing more even though they can't see. Got it? Good.
Anyway, that's when you can call yourself a 'purified one' with a nod from the church. Of course you gain other abilities as well when you follow that 'aspect' but let's talk about that later.
***
Sarah looked at the man in front of her with a mix of confusion and shock on her face.
"What's your name?"
"A-Arthur"
Arthur was getting more nervous by the second as she stared at him intensely but that hardly mattered to her and she actually seemed preoccupied with some sort of dilemma.
'He seems so pure like a newborn child yet the more I look at him the more twisted it feels… what does it mean?'
When she looked at Arthur what she saw was very conflicting.
Surrounding him was a milk like mass of white light but it twitched and moved violently as if something forcefully kept it together against its wishes. By this she could tell that he was a good person and his 'pureness' was even somewhat intoxicating to her but the anomaly that she noticed was quite worrying. This was the first time she encountered something like this and could be compared to looking at a human that wasn't quite human. He was 'pure' yet 'impure' at the same time.
'If Julius saw this he would kill him just for good measure… what to do?'
"I-Is something wrong?"
Sarah's dazed like state was interrupted by Arthur whose anxiousness started to reach erupting levels.
"Hmm… You work for a charity? Why don't you accompany me and once I am done with work we can go together?"
Faced with the unknown she decided to investigate further.
Sarah gently clapped her hands and that seemed to finally awaken the dazed people around her who so far stared blankly at what was happening.
"Shall we?"
She then grabbed Arthur by his arm and started to lead him by it to the dismay of literally everyone around her.
'This!'
Arthur was pretty surprised to say the least and he blushed uncontrollably. His head was about to run with strange fantasies he read from novels but his expression turned rather grieve after something or rather someone reminded him of his mission. Amon once again hid in his 'shadow' in order to guide him.
'You realise that when she mentioned work she meant a literal purge of this city?'
Arthur who conveniently missed out on the previous act of her work couldn't quite believe that. Can someone as gentle as her and who also in appearance could be compared to an angel that fell from heaven do something like that? Surely she wouldn't order to kill people based on something as vague as being 'impure' or sinful… Not to mention that the city officials definitely wouldn't allow that. That would just be straight up insane. Just look at all those police officers surrounding her! They are here just to make more arrests like they used to so far!
'Sigh…'
Amon realised that trying to make Arthur see the world around him for what it is could be compared to trying your luck at explaining to a fifty year old woman whose personality could be summed up as motivational quotes on a door mat that rocks that she bought for fifty bucks on a sketchy website aren't in fact magical.
Simply put, impossible.