"Hey John, why don't you quit this job?"
A co-worker approached him with a casual tone. John couldn't quite place the guy's face, but he was sure it was one of his colleagues.
"And then what?" John replied, his voice tinged with mild curiosity.
"I don't know. Maybe write a novel or something. You read so much, you've gotta be good at writing, right?" the guy teased, a playful edge to his voice.
John rolled his eyes. "I like eating food, but that doesn't mean I can cook it."
"Boo hoo," the co-worker mockingly pouted. "You're no fun, John. You don't even want a higher position in the company. You let them use you like a slave. Why are you even here?"
"I don't know. Maybe I don't need anything else," John said, shrugging. "I can pay my rent, eat good food, and read my favorite novels. Life's pretty good right now."
"Man, I both want to be you and don't want to be you at the same time."
"What the hell does that mean?" John asked, genuinely confused.
"What happened?" Plutus demanded as he caught up with the two priests. He was puzzled to find them standing idly at a random street corner.
"We lost them," the mace-wielding priest answered shamefully, pointing to the spot where the frog had disappeared.
"How!?" Plutus's voice was filled with disbelief. The night was dark, sure, but a glowing ball of light chasing a giant frog should have been impossible to miss.
"It was most likely a spirit," the chain-wielding priest explained. "It dropped them off somewhere before playing bait. We chased it down, but it disappeared back into the spirit realm."
"That's why my light vanished..." Plutus's face twisted in frustration, not only because they'd lost the heretic, but also because he now owed a hundred stac. The bishop wouldn't be pleased.
"What do we do? None of us know any divination techniques," the chain-wielding priest added. They had been dispatched to deal with a minor heretic, so a full team of eliminators hadn't been employed. Plutus paced back and forth, searching for a solution.
"We could go back to the church. Finly must be back by now," the mace-wielding priest suggested, crossing his arms.
"That would take too long," Plutus countered, thinking quickly. "Wait, no. She must have paid a price for using that power. We have some time."
"The maid thinks the same. She said she would search every house they jumped from," the mace-wielding priest said.
"Then you should go get a divination priest from the church while Toby and I back up the maid," Plutus instructed, pointing at the two priests. The chain-wielding priest was not needed when confronting a heretic.
"Let's go with that."
The chain-wielding priest ran off into the night to report back to the church, while Toby, the mace-wielding priest, and Plutus hurried to catch up with the maid in her search.
John awoke in another unfamiliar place. This time, instead of a creamy brown ceiling, he found himself staring at a pitch-black one. However, the darkness wasn't due to the ceiling itself but to the fact that it was nighttime.
Slowly, he sat up, trying to make sense of his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was a giant frog's tongue latching onto him before everything went black. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he noticed a wall lantern flickering faintly.
Frankly, he never expected to be in a place like this. From what he remembered, the book described the priests of the Sun Church as powerful mystic users, their abilities fueled by faith and mental strength, which could be replenished easily. And their power was no joke.
In the lower circles of mysticism, a mystic user's body was no different from a regular human's. The only real advantage they had was their bonded mystic item, acquired at their first circle. These items could range from incredibly useful to utterly worthless.
For the priest earlier, one wielded a mace, another wielded a chain, but John couldn't quite figure out what Plutus had bonded with. Even more confusing was what the hooded figure had bonded with.
Every time a Sun priest uses their power, they must pray to their god. It's the "price" they have to pay, along with their mental and spiritual energy. A broken creed could lead to a less powerful priest.
However, not all mystic powers work this way. Some don't have a god to draw their power from and must pay different prices. John believes the hooded figure is currently paying that toll. He searched the room to find clues about where the hooded woman wanted to go, but nothing stood out.
The room appeared to be a bedroom. A glance through the window revealed that he was quite high up, as he could see the roof of another building. This city's architecture consisted mainly of tall buildings designed to house as many people as possible. Residents typically owned one room in such a large building.
Is there no one here?
When John turned to get out of bed, his foot brushed against something. A person lay face down on the floor, wearing a hood. He lightly tapped her back, but the heretic didn't respond.
John carefully lifted his feet and placed them on the floor, avoiding her body. He quickly crossed the room and stepped onto the wooden floor. The wood creaked slightly, but the heretic did not react.
This is the best time to get out of here.
He quietly walked over to the door and opened it. But curiosity gnawed at him. Who was this woman, and why had she kidnapped him? From the look of things, she seemed to think he was a master of black magic or something close to it.
She had sounded scared when talking to him, and she didn't seem to be part of the organization yet.
Putting it all together, the girl seemed to have been led astray by a heretic but hadn't fully crossed the line. Maybe John could help. He carefully walked back and grabbed her hood, considering his decision again.
He could have played it safe and called the priests, saving himself the trouble, or he could try to help this woman before she was fully corrupted by the cult. Trusting his instincts, John pulled the hood back.