30 – Sin

I walked alone to the temple in Silkdale city and approached Jude. The religious leader was bowing in front of the statues of Lyra, the prophet. He intertwined his fingers, and a thick book with a brown cover was under his armpit.

The man turned around before I could greet him. "Good afternoon, young man. Nice to see you again."

"You still remember me?" I smiled back. "Nice to meet you too."

I lined him up, looking at the three versions of Lyra's statues. "Is this place always quiet, father?"

He chuckled. "Usually, people will come to pray in the afternoon, except at certain times like lectures, young man.

"I see."

"So, why do I have the honor of being visited by you again?"

"I just wanted to come here, father. There's no particular reason." I glanced at the religious leader. There are black eye bags in both of his eyes. "Looks like you're not getting enough rest, father. You look exhausted."

"Sometimes people are here until midnight, and we can't possibly kick them out." The old man chuckled. "But lately, I really can't sleep. Maybe it's because of my age."

Of course, it happened. Szur had been coming to him every night for the past five days. I'm sure this old man can't sleep again after every nightmare.

"Could it be because of the spread of that invitation? Regarding being a follower of the demon lord?" I asked again. "I heard that many people converted become worshipers of that evil being. Could this be a sign that he has been reborn?"

The old man widened his smile. "I'm not sure that the demon lord has awakened. There hasn't been any damage similar to the one described in this holy book."

I stared at that thick book in Jude's hand. "So whoever started spreading the invitation was just a copycat?"

"That's very likely. And we've made a lot of progress to get people back on the right path. There's still a long way to go, but..."

"Or you can't sleep thinking about Dale?" I interrupt.

I could detect a slight jolt on Jude's body. His smile vanished, and he looked back at the Lyra statues again.

"Dale who?" He asked.

I replied, "Your childhood friend."

There was a long pause before the religious leader spoke again. "Have you ever visited my homecity?"

"No. I don't even know where it is." I shrugged. "I just know that you and Dale used to have a fascinating relationship."

The old man closed his eyes, still looking calm. "I don't know why you know about him. And it doesn't matter. I just hope his soul can rest in peace."

I turned my head back. "Why don't you just ask him yourself? Has he really found peace?"

Jude frowned, then looked in the same direction as me at the temple entrance. He gasped to see there was a little boy with reddish hair and a face full of freckles.

That boy wore a faint smile.

"Do you use dark magic, sir?" Jude's tone began to rise. "You could be sentenced to death if I report to the officials."

"This is not dark magic." I went to the little boy, who was actually Ayre. "You can ask him anything about your childhood relationship, and he will answer."

Jude didn't answer but mumbled instead. He seemed to be chanting a prayer in a shallow voice.

The boy started walking forward. "Hey Jude, you've been dreaming about me a lot lately, haven't you? You really still remember me and what you did to me?"

"I'm not sure you are the incarnation of the real Dale's soul," Jude responded in a cold tone. "Even if you are the real Dale, I've given myself up to become a servant of god. That's to atone for my mistakes."

"Do you remember when you and Robert forced me to steal my mom's money, Jade?" The fake Dale looked down like he was about to burst into tears. "Even though my mom works hard alone to support my little sister and me."

Jude repeated his prayer.

"What about the incident at the edge of the forest? At that time, you..."

"Silent, evil!" Jude snapped with quivering lips. "I won't fall for your tricks!"

"He's not evil, nor he's doing tricks, father Jude." I tapped the fake Dale on the shoulder. "I brought him here."

"No, a dead person can't be brought back to life! Our realms are already different!" Jude gritted his teeth. His body also began to tremble.

I crouched down beside the little boy. "Look at his eyes, his face, the way he talks. Are you saying this isn't the real Dale? As I said, you can ask anything about the history of the two of you, and he could answer it."

"Alright." Jude took a deep breath. "Where did I tell you to kill your beloved cat. Dale? Even Robert didn't come with me because he was sick."

The fake Dale wore a faint smile. "Under the river bridge, right? That time, you asked me to drown Tigger many times while you laughed at me."

Instead of responding, Jude just chanted his prayer again.

I'm getting pissed off.

"Hey, old man. How many years have you been praying to your god? Have you found peace after all that time?" I confronted him. "Nothing happened, right? Now that I'm bringing you this miracle, why do you deny it? Don't you want to get closure?"

The religious leader became more and more intense in reciting his prayer.

"Oh, god…. Give this servant of yours the strength, the ability to endure the coming danger…. From the appearance of darkness…." The tremors in his body intensified. "Protect your servant from grievous destruction."

"It's all right." The fake Dale grabbed Jude's hand, causing the old man to flinch. "I can't say much, but I'm at peace in that place, Jude. You don't have to think about me anymore."

Finally, the mouth of the religious leader was tightly shut. His holy book slipped from his hand. He then fell to his knees. His tears fell to the floor one by one.

And I flashed a triumphant smile without the old man noticing.