Stone buildings surrounded him as he walked through the lively city streets, it was already morning by now. Luke had not given it much thought before probably due to him being drawn in by the bizarre planning but the buildings in Mauvine were also very different in the sense that they had been carved out of wood, the buildings here made him aware of that fact.
"Finally, a normal town…"
Luke heaved a sigh as those words escaped him.
The buildings in this town were huge, and while there were certainly more modestly sized ones here and there, the towering ones vastly outnumbered them, it was a sight to behold.
"Oh, Mr. Luke, we're almost there, look."
Hearing those words Luke raised his face, he was being shown around by a local guide who had offered to help him out when he had been filling out the necessary documents to enter the town. Glossing over the man's excitement which far surpassed Luke's, he looked up at the horizon, and indeed, peeking out from behind the towering buildings was a pointed tip of a spire, as they drew closer, another spire came into view, slowly but surely, a church started to come into view, the church had a pointed top but surrounding the apex there were small platforms for people to stand on. The building honestly looked too massive for a church.
This was apparently one of the standard protocols of the town, leading travelers to the church to get them cleansed. The guide had offered to lead him there for free, but being guided through the rest of the town would cost him money.
The guide smiled wryly, "Normally the church would be the destination I would take the most money to guide someone to, but since it's regulation to guide people here, I can't afford to do that."
Luke let out a tiny gasp as the church revealed itself, the intricately designed exterior was covered in twisting geometric patterns, the windows that adorned the building depicted angels and other religious figures in the most vibrant of hues, the huge door that sat at the bottom was carved of gold and depicted a smiling goddess dressed in white, opening her arms wide to welcome anyone who might wish to enter the holy grounds. No, it was already an inevitability for whoever laid their eyes upon it, to wish to enter it, she only looked like she was welcoming the awaited guests… such was it's majesty.
"I can see why you would say that…", Luke stared at the building in amazement.
"It had not always been the architectural marvel that it is now. To the people of this town, God holds incomparable value, it's through their their feelings of devotion that such a visual masterpiece has become possible."
"I see…"
The guide had a serene smile on his face, then turning his back to Luke, "Do you believe in God, sir?", the man asked in an almost unreadable tone as he faced forward.
Luke was taken aback by that sudden question, it seemed to penetrate straight through the barriers of formality that separated them, getting too close for comfort, Luke felt the trickle of sweat at his forehead, but forced a calm voice, "Well, my opinion on God is pretty average, I think I am like most people, but if I had to choose, I lean to the side of belief a little more."
Luke felt like he was walking a tightrope, being made to choose his words carefully.
Before the guide could respond to Luke's words, they had arrived at their destination.
The guide turned around, his face was relaxed into a smile, "Would you like me to wait outside sir?"
Luke read between the lines, this was an indirect way of asking if he would like to be guided through the rest of the town, "No. You can go now, I kinda prefer the feeling of stumbling across new things by chance."
"If that is what you wish.", the man bowed to Luke before he took his leave.
Luke turned to face the church. It's huge doors, inviting yet oppressive. He carefully pushed on the handle and the door opened with a creak.
The interior did not disappoint, it was just as thoroughly crafted as the outside, elegant chandeliers dotted the ceiling whereas numerous seats covered the floor, stairs ascended up from both sides, as if reaching for the heavens, the vibrant windows Luke had seen from the outside shone with an almost ethereal light, even the harsh sun's rays from the outside were softened and purified as they entered the church.
At the other end of the church was a podium, on which stood a huge golden statue, a woman, presumably the goddess the townsfolk worshiped. She was adorned in an intricately designed dress with geometric patterns and frills covering it's entire length, as she sat with her knees bent and her legs to the side, the long skirt of the dress spread out all around her, blanketing her legs and her hands rested comfortably on her lap. Her face was as beautiful as it was graceful. Hair reaching down to the floor and sprawled out even further like a slithering snake, eyes gentle, with lashes that seemed to be sharper than a knife's edge, a perfectly round face that seemed to put even the geometricity of the chandeliers to shame, her cheeks were flushed in a darker tint, yet her mouth retained a graceful smile, which seemed almost unchangeable. She was the definition of majesty, so aggressively elegant that the word itself fell short of her elegance.
Luke walked into the church, gawking at all the grandeur that surrounded him. As he was nearing the altar in front of the giant statue, someone's form came into view, draped in all black with a little of white sticking out, it went without saying, this was a nun. She had her back turned to Luke as she decorated the altar with flowers, Luke stood still, staring at the serene sight, the window behind the statue was the biggest one and it shone down, enveloping both the nun and the goddess statue in it's bright evanescent light, the scene was far too hallowed to be able to be comprehended as anything of this world, Luke pictured it as if a scene in heaven, an angel stood in prayer in front of the goddess she served.
Having prepared the altar, she looked up at the goddess she worshiped, a gentle warmth in her eyes. Luke took a few steps ahead subconsciously, wishing to reach out to that peaceful scene. Hearing the sound of Luke's footsteps, the angel turned around, her slightly curling side-bangs fluttered as she did,
her expression changed from one of surprise to a smile as she started walking towards Luke, her face was revealed to him, she had jet black layered hair that was tucked under her veil, and although her habit was black the coif around her face was white so it contrasted sharply with her black hair, which again contrasted with her pure white face, her cheeks were not particularly red compared to other people, but even the lightest of tint was brought out by that peerless white face, in the same way, the red of her lipstick also - you guessed it - sharply contrasted with her face, her soft eyes were adorned with blue gems at their center, her thin lashes seemed to extend- ,"Welcome to Merkington Church, is this the first time you've come here?"
"H-huh?"
Luke had been so engrossed that he didn't notice her when she had reached right in front of him, so of course he was dumbfounded when she started talking to him. The nun suddenly panicked and bowed her head, "A-are you perhaps a regular!? I am sorry, very sorry for not recognizing you, even though you take time out of your day regularly to pray to our holy mother, I… I…"
She seemed to have misunderstood something and went off on her own tangent. Getting apologized to all of a sudden snapped Luke out of his trance, "Ah, w-well I am a traveler, you were correct in assuming that this is my first time here, there's no need to apologize."
Luke wondered if she was blind, normally you'd recognize someone if you saw them regularly.
The nun heaved a sigh of relief, "I see, I am sorry, I got all weird there, my name is Pansy… Pansy Arcadia, I work as a nun in this church. Truth is, for some reason I am unable to remember people for long, I try my best to remember them but… still… the devout followers must feel like their efforts are going unacknowledged."
Pansy's eyes drooped a little as she said that, just how bad was her memory problem, Luke wondered.
Pansy forcefully wiped that gloomy expression off her face and looked at Luke with a wry smile, "I apologize for that, I tend to go off on my own tangent sometimes, it's a bad habit. Forget about that, why don't you take a seat, I'll get something to eat."
Luke nodded and sat himself onto one of the seats in the front row, he had come here for the cleansing ritual or whatever, but he no longer cared about such a thing, and postponed it to give Pansy some company.
Pansy soon came back with tea and sat herself beside Luke, both of them sipped from their own cup in silence as they admired the goddess in front of them.
Pansy was the first one to break the silence, "Say Mr. Traveler, why did you decide to come to this town?"
Luke scratched his head, "Let's see… there's no particular reason for coming here really, it's the same as why I would go to any other town, I did hear some praise about this place here and there but it's not like I decided to come here because of that..."
Luke crossed his arms and pondered, "I guess you could say… I did not come here because I heard it was a good place, I came here because I had to go somewhere, that's all."
Pansy giggled as she saw Luke struggling to explain his own decisions, she felt like she understood how much of a free bird Luke was to be able to make such decisions on a whim, "That is wonderful, going with the flow, free of everything in this world, I would not mind living like that."
Luke sighed, "I guess… other people do see it like that…"
"Do you perhaps, not prefer that way of life?"
Luke's eyebrows twitched a little, his lips pursed, this was clearly making him uncomfortable, "It's not that, it's just… like…"
Pansy realized that she was starting to tread into unwelcome territory, and quickly tried to change the topic to herself, "When it comes to way of living, I am no stranger to it, I have already dedicated myself to serving our mother, so that I can pass on her boundless generosity and blessings to the people who need it, so that her divine providence can reach everyone…"
Pansy's respect towards the goddess and her faith that she could bring everyone happiness through her services was admirable. Even for Luke, to whom the goddess's existence was questionable at best, he couldn't help but hold respect for her way of life, "Yours seems to be a much more respectable way of life if I'm being honest. You should pride yourself over it."
"Thank you, I certainly feel blessed to be able to serve under our mother. I owe her and sir head priest greatly."
"Oh, that's right, I came here for the cleansing ceremony, can you call the head priest here?"
"Ahh, I should have realized, since you already told me that you're a traveler, but the father is out on a walk, he should return shortly however."
"Can you not perform the ceremony yourself?"
"I am sorry I have not been given permission to perform it by myself."
"Is that so? Then I guess there's nothing to do but wait a little longer."
"I am sorry for the inconvenience."
"Hey, you're good company, I don't mind at all."
Pansy smiled innocently at those words.
There was a sudden creak of the church door as it opened, was it the head priest? Luke turned around, the man's attire told him that this was probably some normal resident of the town. Pansy gave Luke a quick glance and in a hushed whisper, "Then if you will excuse me."
She walked towards the door, bowing as she greeted the new person, "Welcome to Merkington church. How may I help you?"
The man scanned the church for something, turning his head in exaggerated motion, "Is sir head priest not present?"
"No, I am afraid he has gone out for a walk. If it is something that I can do…"
"Hahhh, can you just write the names of me and my family for last week's ceremonial gathering, my idiot son forgot to write our names in the register, and he fesses up now, almost a week later."
"Umm… if you don't mind me asking, who might you be?"
"What!? Hey come on now, don't play dumb, I come to the church everyday, and you should remember, you saw me that day!"
Pansy flinched at those words, looking down, trying to avoid eye contact, "I apologize… I-I don't… remember."
"Hey hey, you aren't going to say that you can't write my name because you don't remember seeing me, are you? We conversed about mother's grace at length during the ceremony! I believed both of us considered it to be a spiritual conversation, you don't even remember that!? Is that how little our mother means to you!?"
Pansy clenched the skirt of her robes tight, and Luke felt like he could see her hands tremble ever so slightly, "I… am r-really ss-sorry…"
"It seems I will have to return when sir head priest comes back, even though we pour our blood and tears into our devotion for mother, because of people like you, our voice never reaches her…"
That was the one thing she would never have wanted to hear, Pansy looked like she was on the verge of tears, her eyes had surely moistened, and her eyelids shook, her mouth stuttered and quivered trying to make some kind of response, "A-ah I-I s-"
"I think that's about enough."
Those weren't Pansy's words, surprised, she looked to her side, Luke stood there firmly, staring at the person in front of them.
Dumbfounded, the man blurted out, "What?"
"I'm saying that if your intentions were to hurt her, then that is about enough."
"W-who do you think you are, talking in between!? She needs to be told off for being so irresponsible!"
"And I believe you already told her the worst possible words she could have heard from you, from where I stand I don't see anything more you could be saying to 'tell her off'? Or do you have any other reason for coming here?"
The man shook his head awkwardly, "N-no no, nothing other than that…"
"I see. That's good, I had suspicions that you were just here to berate her, but they were unfounded after all, good for you, your holy mother must be proud of the constructive criticism you were kind enough to provide her with."
The man darted his eyes, here and there, looking uncomfortable.
With sarcasm out of the way Luke glared at the man, "If that's all you had to say then could you leave? We were in the middle of my cleansing ceremony, we can't have you keeping us forever."
The man clicked his tongue, and muttered under his breath, "You are no more responsible than her in interfering with our town's internal matters, should have known your place traveler..."
"..."
With a bitter expression, he left the church and the two of them alone.
Both of them returned to their seats, where they had enjoyed their tea.
Pansy couldn't bring herself to say anything, those words must have got to her, she sat there with her head hanging, Luke couldn't read her expression, nor could he bring himself to say anything to her, irresponsible words would only serve to widen her gash.
Realizing that she was making Luke uncomfortable, she hurriedly got herself together and stared back at him, "Thank you for helping me, I am alright now so please, do not worry."
"Your quivering eyelashes tell a different story."
"Ahh t-this isn't something worth worrying about…"
"Come on, stop kidding yourself, don't let that bastard's words get to you, expecting you to remember his entire family's names… who does he think he is?"
"The townsfolk are without sin. I am like this with everyone… …. even though I remembered his name, I couldn't…"
"What? You remembered his name?"
"Yes, well, just his name, I don't remember anything other than that, which was why I was unable to identify him as the owner of that name."
Luke furrowed his brows, "Then how do you know that the name you remember is his?"
From what she was saying, it could be surmised that she remembered 'a name that might have been his', but she does not remember 'him', then how was she matching the name with the person, inside her head and declaring with such certainty that the name she remembered was his? And if she did indeed remember it then why did she not say it to him clearly? Luke could not make heads or tails of it.
Pansy shook her head, "I am sorry, I tend to forget that my circumstances are strange…"
Just then, the door to the church once again opened, this time it came ajar with a grace that the whiny guest from earlier could not hope to replicate. An old man entered the church, the sun shone down brightly upon him as it outlined his silhouette while obscuring his face in shadow.
Pansy once again got up hurriedly and told Luke that she would explain everything in simpler words later on.
The man immediately noticed Luke and then turned towards Pansy, "Who is our company here, Pansy?"
Pansy bowed deeply, "Welcome back father. He is a traveler, he has come here for the cleansing ceremony."
"Is that so? Then we must not keep him waiting, go now. I shall talk to our guest and make him feel welcomed. None should feel inadequately furnished in front of God."
"Yes sir, I will be back soon."
The man marched into the church, passing by the seats that lined the floors, then after reaching Luke, he stood tall and positioned his hand on his chest, near his heart, then with a gentle bow, "Pleased to make your acquaintance Mr. Traveler and welcome, I am the head priest and the father of Merkington Church, my name is Ernst Helianthus."
Ernst was an old man, his white beard hung down, his greyish hair was short, and wrinkles made his face their home, making sure that even the slightest of his facial muscle contractions would give him a deep frown, damning him to an air of seriousness for the rest of his remaining life. He was dressed in the standard church attire meant for males, a black cassock and a white stole, that hung down to his knees.
Luke gave a slight nod, "I am Luke Aleister, a traveler."
Luke's self-introduction may have been much shorter compared to his, but Ernst paid it no mind, and continued with the same plastered serious expression, "I apologize for having to make you wait for so long Mr. Luke. I hope that Pansy has not troubled you."
"No no. Nothing of the sort, instead it was refreshing to talk with her. Listening to people's stories from all over the world is us travelers' joy."
"I am glad that you see it that way."
Ernst looked in the direction Pansy had gone, "She acts strong, trying to bear the responsibility of a mediator between god and all the people, but she is still a naive child… People look at her innocent dedication and take it for arrogance."
"Seems like that, some people are just helpless."
Ernst nodded, "Indeed… which is why I must guide the helpless lost lambs."
Even though it appeared as though it was routine for Ernst to carry a solemn demeanour, Luke felt like the seriousness of those words in particular was different.
Pansy returned with something in her hands. A jug? No, upon closer inspection, it was a chalice, and a golden one at that. It had already been filled with holy water. The ceremony entailed Luke holding out his hands like a cup as Pansy poured the water into them, he would then sip from it, as Pansy splashed small amounts of the holy water onto him. The whole time Ernst just kept watching from the side. He didn't so much as say anything or even chant any mantra during the ceremony, which itself was very short. Luke wondered why Pansy was not allowed to perform it alone, if it was such a simple ceremony which he would have her do alone anyway.
Luke got up from his seat, "I guess I will be taking my leave then."
Ernst scratched his beard as he replied, "Very well, we have made you wait for far longer than we would have liked to, and to think even that was unnecessary in the end… we must apologize to you."
Ernst was apparently able to tell that Luke was already as cleansed as he could be and so he did not need to be subjected to this ceremony. Half of the reason why they performed it nevertheless was because it was a customary ritual and half of it was since Luke had waited so long for it.
Luke shook his head, "You don't need to go that far, I did enjoy my time here after all."
Those words were not mere formality, Luke indeed felt like the time he had spent there was important somehow, he could not put a finger on why himself though.
Pansy gave Luke a light bow, with a smile adorning her face, "Please come again Mr. Traveler."
"Yeah, I will."
By the time Luke had come out of the church, it was already around noon and even though he had spent the rest of the day wandering about aimlessly, his eyes were never starved of the aesthetic pleasure the church had brought him, the town was definitely a delight to witness. As Luke walked the streets, a particularly different dome shaped building caught his attention, it was the town's famous museum. Roaming the beautiful town was indeed worthwhile, but the depth of it all would increase considerably if he knew the context or the history behind everything, with that thought in mind, Luke entered the museum.
--- --- ---
In a white corridor, with walls marked in a gray-white chessboard pattern, a single portrait of gold hung, it depicted a chalice which far surpassed the corridor in it's elegance.
"This is a portrait of the golden chalice, it's but one of the few artifacts preserved in the town's church. Originally, I would have loved to keep the chalice here itself, but of course, such a sacred item belongs only by god's side, besides it's required for certain ceremonies so we are out of luck there."
The man who had just spoken was a museum guide, he sort of prided himself over being one, he had offered to guide Luke and a few other people around the museum, and he walked around jauntily as he explained the historical and cultural significance of everything in display, the crowd would follow him around, holding their chin and nodding in appreciation.
"Say, you are an outsider, right?"
This wasn't the guide, the voice had come from within the crowd. Luke turned around and beside him stood the very stereotype of a sophisticated gentleman, he wore a large fedora on his head, had the usual black suit and necktie such people wear and a monocle on his right eye.
Luke responded, a little bewildered, "Yes...?"
"Then you must have witnessed the chalice firsthand? What was your first impression?"
"It seemed to be a pretty costly item, it was meticulously crafted to say the least."
"So you see it that way too?"
The man's expression changed to a smile, "It seems I've found myself a kindred spirit, finally… I had almost suffocated from all the clamoring about god and divine revelation drivel."
"... What might you be talking about?"
"Well, would you look at that, the tour seems to be reaching it's end."
Luke turned to the guide, but there was no sign of him stopping his explanation of the chalice, Luke was about to ask the gentleman what he meant, but before he could the guide was suddenly bowing to everyone present, "With this our tour of the museum comes to an end, I do hope that everyone present found this brief dive into our culture enjoyable."
The man whispered into Luke's ear from behind, "how about we take this somewhere else?"
--- --- ---
"I hope you enjoy your tea."
The waiter bowed as he took his leave.
Luke and the man sat across from each other on an ornate table by the restaurant window. The restaurant was directly across the road from the museum, so it had been the perfect place to finish their little chat.
Luke had been a little unnerved by the man's mannerisms, but he couldn't exactly put a finger on what about the man he found uncomfortable, it was that sort of vague feeling. The man had been sipping his tea in silence for a while, but once he was finished with it, he placed the cup to the side and extended the hand that had been occupied by the cup towards Luke, "Nice to make your acquaintance, I am also a tourist like you, I go by Rose Sterling, feel free to call me Rose."
Luke took his hand and shook it, "Luke Aleister, same here, you can just call me Luke."
Rose called the waiter and ordered another cup of tea. He talked while sipping the second helping of tea, "I must say, it's quite the coincidence that I got to meet the only other tourist currently in town… Ah, where are my manners, they do say that when Merkington, do as the Merks do, I guess I must rephrase myself…"
Rose cleared his throat, readjusted his necktie and spread out his hands in the air as if in celebration, "Is it not a miracle that I got to meet the only other tourist in town!?"
He then settled comfortably on his seat, chuckling. Luke felt like he wasn't even needed there, Rose was conversing and having fun all by himself, it almost felt like a formality towards common sense to have Luke sitting there, so that he could at least pretend to have a conversation with another person, while he enjoyed his rants by himself. Why are more than half the people he meets in his travels so strange? Luke scratched his head, "I have been a little confused for a while to say the least, that's what I wanted to ask you about."
"I see, if you have questions then please, by all means…"
"Let's see… what do you find so significant about having met me, and how do you know I am the only other traveler in town other than you?"
"I asked around at the town gate, there I confirmed with the guards that another tourist was in town. They told me that one other person registered as a traveler when they entered the town. I say it was worth going there, just to confirm, because without them telling me you wore a black overcoat, I wouldn't have been able to identify you, and this talk right now wouldn't be happening."
"So after that was the first time you visited the museum?"
"No, I had already visited the museum once before going to the town gates."
"Is that so?"
"I just thought that if the traveller was trying to learn about the town, that's the first place he would go, so after checking with the guards, I made my way to the museum again."
That was a very strange thing to do, Luke thought. The main gate was literally on the opposite side of town from the museum. He went out of his way to go all the way to the main gate just so he could ask whether there were any other travelers in town or not, before returning all the way to the museum?
"Is there only one town gate?"
Rose stifled a chuckle, catching the intention behind that question, "You seem to have some other qualms about what I just said, no matter, the answer I give to your other question shall clear them away."
Rose placed the cup he had been sipping from on the table, "This might be a little uncouth of me, to answer a question with a question, but… What do you think of the customs of this town?"
"Nothing in particular, every town has some, I just abide by them to the best of my ability."
"A reasonable stance any reasonable person would take. Then, let me ask you this, what would you do if those customs themselves were not reasonable?"
"That's… a little tough, I would probably try to follow them as much as I could, but if it's something I cannot afford to do then I would just have to avoid the town itself."
"And what if you could not afford to avoid the town?"
"Uh… umm…"
Rose kept popping question after question, he kept talking in riddles, Luke tapped his fingers on the table impatiently, which made Rose realize that he was getting frustrated, "I apologize for that, I seem to have confused you. Let me just answer that last one without sugarcoating it. If you were in such a position… you would simply not try to follow any of the town's customs at all."
"What?"
"You see, the people here have the most mind-boggling rules one could have, and on top of that they are very fanatic about having those rules be protected, typical of an overly religious group I say. They are free to believe any kind of religious drivel they want and suffocate themselves in meaningless rules, but that does not mean I am obliged to follow any of them. Walking the streets of this town is like walking on eggshells, you need to be careful so as to not dirty your boots, so I decided to put an end to that worry by dirtying them on the first chance that I got."
'The first chance' he got… Luke knew what that was, he had received that chance too, and had decided to follow through with the customs.
"That's right, I haven't had my cleansing ceremony done yet, and I don't intend to have it performed either. Honestly your neutral reaction to the chalice that they glorify so, made me believe that you did not believe in their religious drivel either, was I wrong in thinking so?"
"It's not so much that you were wrong, I really don't have that kind of faith towards god, rather…"
-He was open to the idea of God existing, which Rose clearly wasn't, so Luke did not voice that thought.
Rose shrugged, "Anyway, that's all there is to it. If you plan on following their rules, I say you remain careful, these people are not right in the head."
"I will keep that in mind…"
Their idle talk continued like that for a while, soon it was time for both of them to leave. Luke and Rose could be seen standing outside the restaurant, wrapping up their little chat, and before long Rose turned away with a few parting words, "I shall excuse myself now. May your travels be safe, Mr. Aleister."
"I pray the same for you, Mr.Sterling."
With that Luke was left alone, he absentmindedly looked up and noticed that the sun was now a lot lower in the sky than it had initially been. Thinking that he had little time before the sun would set, he decided to check out as much of the city as possible today.
--- --- ---
"Yes, that one with the flower engraving looks good."
Luke was at a novelty shop near the southern edge of the town, he had browsed through them the rest of the day, trying to find something interesting.
Having finished his shopping he held out the little trinket he had acquired and a bittersweet sort of loneliness gripped at his heart, shrugging those feelings away, he pocketed it firmly inside his coat, as if trying to seal away the weakness in his heart.
"Come come, have a look at this, this one's called 'the butterfly'."
A man stood on the other side of the road, trying to attract people, he called out as he made hand gestures, no, was that a thread? Luke drew closer, trying to understand what this was about. The man made patterns with a thread he had in his hands, entangling and crossing it in intersections. Indeed, that pattern looked like a butterfly. Amused, Luke stood there, watching him make all kinds of patterns, but there was no one else. Luke was the only person who stood there watching them. The other people seemed like they had already seen it enough times that they no longer cared for the performance, they passed the man by without so much as a look at him.
With the last performance shown, the man bowed to Luke, "Thank you for bearing witness to this little performance of cat's cradle, sir."
Luke handed the man a few benects as tip.
The man smiled with gratitude as he accepted the coins, "You have a keen eye for art sir, to think this world still had people with eyes to identify art, it strengthens my belief in god."
"Hey hey, come now, people like that exist everywhere, there is no art in this world that goes unappreciated, I am just a normal enjoyer of this sort of thing, you who can actually perform it are far more amazing."
"If only everyone saw it like you do sir, but the truth of the matter is that no one in the city seems to have any interest in my art anymore, it makes me lose the confidence I once had."
Gloom came over the man's expression as he spoke, he had spent years practising and perfecting his art, and in his prime he even had people fawning all over him. However, with none left to appreciate it, even a master like him lost confidence. People cannot have full faith in their own judgement, that's probably because that judgement is always biased, because they understand this painfully well, they cannot validate themselves, and inevitably end up looking to others for validation.
A sigh left the man's mouth, "Am I not putting in enough effort perhaps? Is that why I am unable to match everyone's standards?"
Doubting ones own efforts was undoubtedly one of the most painful things a person could do, yet with a lack of a proper answer after all this time, he was forced to do it, to doubt all of the blood and sweat that he had exhausted. Was it right to do so? Probably not. It seemed more likely that people had tired of the art itself, it did feel a little like the party tricks quirky relatives often perform in family unions after all, it was probably looked down upon due to that. However informing the man of that would be equally cruel.
"There's no way that is true. You are really good at this... what was it? Ah cat's cradle. Even though I am not very well acquainted with the art, people that love and respect their art are easily distinguishable from those that don't. That love you have towards cat's cradle stands more certain than anyone's evaluation, it is proof that you were not lacking in your efforts… Getting to witness this kind of thing once in a while, is how I can still bear to be a traveler…"
Luke handed the man a few more benects, "Here, as a show of goodwill."
The man's eyes brightened when he saw the money, "Thank you very much sir. Your words reach me. It seems god wasn't wrong in giving me this purpose."
After he put the money in his pocket, he turned back to Luke, "Sir, you just said that you are a traveler, correct?"
"It is."
"Do you plan to spend the night in the town? If so you can spend it at our humble abode, I'm sure everyone would be delighted have you stay there."
Luke felt a little uneasy about spending the night at a complete stranger's house, but rejecting a person who suffered from a lack of confidence was something he did not wish to do, besides the man's demeanour was quite gentlemanly, Luke couldn't think of him as a suspicious person, wouldn't it be fine if he accepted the offer? Luke wondered.
Luke held his chin in thought, and made the decision with a bit of resistance, "I guess I could, if you insist."
"Wonderful! I'll make sure you find it worth your time sir… um…"
"Luke, just call me that."
"I see, definitely! You may call me Paul."
With a place to stay acquired, Luke obediently followed the man as he led the way, his home was a little far from the museum, so it was already night by the time they were in front of their destination. It was an apartment, in a very normal neighbourhood, but it somehow seemed to be smaller than all the other apartments nearby, the man probably did not earn very much, it was easy to imagine after what he had witnessed earlier.
The man took the lead and held the door open for Luke, "Please."
From the other side of the door a sort of commotion could be heard, as if several people were talking. That must be his family, Luke thought. He entered the living room and checked his surroundings, the walls were decorated with beautiful portraits, mirrors and intricate tapestries, it certainly felt refined but their quality showed that they were not the possessions of a rich person.
Luke was beckoned to the room that seemed to be the source of all the commotion, "This way."
He had expected the other side of that door to be a typical family dinner scene. However, instead of children frolicking with food and a mother admonishing them for their lack of table manners, he was met with a gathering of several adult men, sitting around a table, smoking and chatting.
"Everyone, let me introduce you, this is Mr. Luke Aleister, he is a traveler, he will be spending the night at our clubhouse."
Luke couldn't let that last word slip by, "C-clubhouse!?"
Someone with a big moustache looked up, "Haha, so he is your victim today heh?"
Luke was already regretting his decision to come here.
"Now now, you will give our guest strange misunderstandings if you talked like that. Mr. Luke is but one of the few people who still sees value in my art, I could not afford to let him stay over at some shabby inn."
It wasn't like the man had said anything about him staying over at his house, so Luke felt like he should blame himself for expecting to be welcomed by the warmth of a family.
One of the drunk men stretched the bottle out to Luke, "Well, make yourself at home Mr. Luke. Why don't you have a seat? And while you are at it, how about a drink? Let's have a drinking contest. Just so you know, I won't lose."
Luke took the empty seat that had been readied for him and plopped himself onto it, "Ahh, thank you for the offer, but I'm sorry I don't drink."
"Mmm that's a shame."
Luke looked around the room uneasily, there were four people seated around the table, some smoked, some drank, some argued, some joked, it was the carefree atmosphere of a party, yet Luke alone was anxious, he couldn't exactly feel at home with this big of a gathering.
Paul took a chair and sat beside Luke.
Luke looked at him inquisitively, "Hey, what's the deal with this place? You did mention it's a clubhouse but that doesn't explain much."
He responded apologetically, "Ah, I hadn't explained anything yet, had I? Forgive me, it seems to have completely slipped my mind."
He poured a glass for himself and then touched it to his lips, "Bleh…"
He put the glass down with a bitter expression on his face, the wine wasn't to his taste apparently, "You did see how people in the city ignored my performance right?"
"Yes?"
"Most of the people here are like that, no matter how much effort we put into our respective fortes, no one acknowledges them. It has even become hard for us to earn a living nowadays. It's our little group of misfits. This is the only place in town that accepts people like us."
"... Is that so?"
Luke turned to the people sitting around the table, he felt a tad bit of guilty, he regretted jumping to conclusions and deciding that they would be hard to get along with, was it not precisely this attitude that has left them isolated?
An old man who was seated across from Luke, noticed him and grinned, "What's with that face yer makin' sonny? Youngins like ya should enjoy their youth while it lasts."
"... You're right, I still have years ahead of me, it's not the time to grow cynical of everything I see."
The guy sitting beside Luke snorted, "Heh, you mean it's not yet time to ostracize us?"
"W-what?"
"Was it a bust? Was it spot on? Come on, tell me something to validate my theory!"
"Y-you mean that was a guess?"
"Yes, I have an eighty percent rate of success with my theories, now the answer if you will?"
"Well, you got me there."
A smug smile rose to the man's face.
The others gathered around him asking him what he meant. The drunkard pressured him, "Hey, come on tell us what this is about."
In response he shrugged with a look of contempt, "There are no easy answers. People who don't have the capacity to think are not provided with answers."
Luke watched awkwardly from the side as his inner thoughts were made into their plaything.
"Hey! Quit putting on airs, alright we admit it, you're the best theory-crafter in town! That's what you wanted to hear right? Now tell us what you surmised from that interaction."
"I wonder, I guess if you beg that much for it..."
"That's right. Tell us."
"It's not really that difficult, our guest here thinks we suffer from all the isolation, and so was feeling pangs of guilt at making certain assumptions about us."
An uncomfortable silence followed that announcement, stillness gripped the once boisterous party, everyone glued their eyes onto Luke. In that moment they could peer into Luke's deepest feelings, the thought send shivers up his spine. The first person to break the silence was the drunkard, "HAHAHAHAHA… AHAHAHA."
"?"
Laughter spread throughout the room, some rolled over in a fit, some slammed the table with their fists as they cackled, some spewed wine from their mouths onto others as they lost themselves to laughter.
It was starting to get on Luke's nerves, just what was wrong with these people? he thought.
"Hahahaha, and did that cat's cradle nut tell you that sob story? That we are a lonely group of misfits that are not appreciated or something like that? Ahahaaha"
"Y-yeah, what about it?"
The guy beside Luke responded with the same smug air he had held before, "That's a real exaggeration right there, I wonder why he would say something that extreme, I reckon it has got something to do with acquiring pity money."
Luke glared at Paul, "Is that true?"
In response he hung his head awkwardly, "I-I apologize sir, it is true however that we are lacking in funds, people not appreciating our fortes is something you yourself witnessed."
"Then which part do you mean was an exaggeration?"
The guy with the big moustache responded, "It is true that we are lacking in funds because people don't recognize us, but that doesn't mean we are not recognized by anyone."
"I see, so there are people that appreciate you all after all, that somehow makes me feel good regardless of the trickery."
"We don't really get recognition from… 'people'. Well, maybe excluding our club members."
Luke looked back with bewilderment in his eyes, "Then whom do you get it from?"
"God."
That word felt so misplaced that Luke almost had to ask him to repeat what he said, but an ominous feeling seized him, and he stopped himself just in time from asking anything careless.
He managed a forced smile somehow, "I s-see. Indeed, I agree, the spiritual can be a very strong source of encouragement…"
Paul interjected with a smile, "Definitely sir, I have been comforted numerous times by mother's words. Whenever I feel like my performance is not appreciated, she would whisper words of reassurance inside my head."
The drunkard nodded, "No one's judgement holds more value than her's. We don't care about what anyone else says, we are satisfied."
Luke felt a little uneasy about those words, the people of this town certainly seemed to have an overbearing admiration towards this goddess, but this went beyond that, "You mean you all can talk to the goddess?"
"She doesn't really converse with us, we can only listen to her words of wisdom. Not like there's any need to talk to her though, even if we don't convey anything to her, she understands our hearts better than we ever could and always has just the right words to get us going."
The old man held his hands together and closed his eyes as if in prayer, "If it weren't fer her, we wouldn't be havin' a purpose in life. We can't thank her enough for assigning us with our respective roles in the world."
Luke cocked his head to the side, "By purpose, you mean?"
Everyone held their chest out, Paul was the first to respond however, "Why, it's cat's cradle of course. My worthless life was given meaning by this profound art, it is undoubtedly my purpose in life."
The moustached guy twirled his big moustache with his fingers, "For me, it's maintaining the best moustache."
The drunkard finished off another bottle and slammed it onto the table which was by now, covered in empty bottles, "I can stay sober no matter how many bottles I drink. I can hold my drink against anyone."
The old man straightened his back, "Fer me it's lastin' longer than anyone else in this world."
The theory crafter shrugged when Luke inevitably glanced at him, "I expect you to surmise something as simple as this on your own."
Luke was baffled. At the very least Paul's performance could pass off as a profession, but the rest of them touted their little quirks as their meaning and purpose in the world. He would have advised them against narrowing something as important as their life to something so utterly insignificant, yet they were unanimously in agreement regarding this, he decided that it would be best to play along with what they were saying and try not to upset them while he was staying with them.
"That's wonderful, to think that everyone here has found meaning despite the circumstances."
The moustached man shook his head, "It's not just the people present here, her grace extends to everyone present in this town."
Paul added, "It's all thanks to the head priest's efforts that she continues to communicate with us so."
The drunkard's stomach groaned loudly, even though until then he had been filling his stomach with copious amounts of wine and beer.
The moustached man held his temples in irritation, "Hah, can you not even behave yourself in front of a guest. Mr. Luke, please excuse us, we have tried our best, but his uncouth ways seem to have no end in sight."
The drunkard glared at the moustached guy, "The hell you said? It's already way past dinner time, of course I'll get hungry if you keep rambling the night away like that."
Paul tried to stop them, "There there, we should just set up dinner, our guest must be feeling hungry with all the talking too. How about it Mr. Luke?"
Luke gave a wry smile in response, "Ah, thing is, I already had my fill in the market before meeting you, I'm pretty full, so I think I will skip, and I'm pretty tired, so if possible I think I will turn in for the night."
"Is that so? That's a bit of a shame, but no matter. Let me show you to your room then."
Luke left the dining hall with Paul, the bustling atmosphere of the table faded in the distance.
They climbed up the staircase, Luke's room seemed to be on one of the upper floors, the stairs were painted beautifully in moonlight, which emanated from a nearby window, looking outside Luke's eyes fell upon something unusual, as he strained his eyes trying to make out what it was, a look of confusion rose to his face, "What's with those ruins behind the city walls?"
Paul turned his head towards the direction Luke was pointing to and shook his head, "That's the stage of a tragedy."
"Tragedy?"
"The devil manifested itself and laid claim to that portion of the town… Let's just leave it at that."
From the heaviness of his words, Luke discerned it to be a topic he shouldn't tactlessly broach, and so he stared at the ruined half of the city with suppressed curiosity, but before he could make out much of it, the windows were shut in his face, "You mustn't. That place spells disaster to whoever stares or steps in there… The devil still calls it his home, and curses anyone that happens upon it."
"... I see."
The stern voice caught Luke off-guard. The rest of the way to his room was uncomfortably silent.
--- --- ---
Pitter-patter…
Water dripped from the sewage pipes in an alleyway, Their dripping increases with the second, annoying and ominous, except whatever ill fate they were trying to forewarn, it is already too late for that. Luke crouches behind bags of trash, his breath held, trying to escape the notice of his former hosts. They search for him with lanterns on one hand, and blades on the other.
Luke leans out of his hiding spot, only to find them coming straight for the alley, left without options, he runs in deeper into the alley, twisting and turning as he goes further, his pursuers relentlessly tailing him all the while. They must have noticed him for they go all the way with the search. Before long the alley is exhausted of all the escape routes, and Luke finds himself in front of a red, stone wall.
As he looks closer, he realizes that the wall itself is not red but black, the red splatter that paints the alley crimson, and the figure of Rose slumped against the wall tell him all he needs to know about his position, he's at a literal dead end. He looks around trying to find another way out but all he sees is the dark, bloodied walls binding him to the place. The sound of approaching footsteps catches his notice and very soon they are in front of the same dead end, peering down at the corpse.
Luke looks down at them from his vantage point above, perched on the roof. Rose had warned him of the dangers of this town but he had never imagined that it would be this bad, it was the right call to skip dinner considering the food could have been poisoned. Luke retracts his hooked knives from the stone wall they were stuck to and throws them towards another building, bounding into the night as he is pulled along with them.
As he soars through the sky, he notices the streets glowing with a bright radiance, dots of light fill the streets, it's almost as if the sky and the land have swapped places. A closer look reveals that several more people now march down the streets with lanterns and sharp utensils in their hands. Luke settles himself onto a building, as he stares at the architecturally marvellous town glowing with a welcoming radiance, he heaves a sigh, for he now understands the underside of that warmth, no place in the town was safe for him any longer, there was no place where they wouldn't find him…