“Oh no”

Beautiful. That word was all that popped into his mind. It was of no coincidence for the virgin Ray. He just woke up and a terrifying but seducing body of flesh was basking from his blanket half-naked. Red supple lips and pale skin like snow presented themselves in a 2-combo fashion. Just then, he envisioned an eroge game. He was the protagonist gifted with special dating powers and was about to eat the target heroine. Ray rubbed his eyes and stared for a full second at the person lying beside him.

Ray knew he was still half-asleep. He wanted to lie down again but the person beside him prevented his “another 5 minutes of sleep”.

He took a deep breath. How the hell was he in the same bed with this beauty? The person was taller than any woman he had seen and maybe stood about 170 cm. Her body was slim perfect that women would kill for it, and she had this green silky hair that draped across her shoulders.  Ray closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath and slapped his cheeks.

A ray of sunlight then brushed his skin as the curtains clattered from the gust of wind.

The room was near empty, illuminated only by the cracks of the wooden walls. Shifting his gaze, Ray noticed the empty bunk beds stacked in pairs across the room. It was too quiet and only the two of them were left inside. After he stood up from his bed, Ray felt something rising from his body; the kind that every ‘pubescent boy’ experiences every morn, but it died soon after he stopped to gather his thoughts. He looked at the person in front of him again, contemplating, and remembered ... that-

He’s a dude.

...

Snap out of it Ray! This is not some cliché anime where a beautiful guy is actually a girl.

I consider myself straight but I’m beginning to see why the bi-shounen genre dominated the charts.

“Kula get up” Ray nagged to the beautiful person that slumped on the bed. Alcoholic wind spewed every two seconds, coupled with the rumble of engine- like noises. Kula’s breathing forced Ray to back down and pinch his nose. Holding his breath, Ray shook Kula’s shoulder intending to wake him up.

“Wake up! Why is it every time we drink, you always end up sleeping on my bed!”

With a groan, Kula slapped Ray’s hand away. This person whose hands and feet stretched on a straight line, but still emitted an unbelievable feminine aura, was Kula, a fellow refugee. Before Ray was admitted to the Church, Kula arrived an hour before him. This pale man’s mouth was zipped tight when Analie introduced them to each other, and won’t even respond  or even try talking to him; but after the incident where they grabbed a fancy utensil in the trash dump and sold it, they somewhat became business partners in the “scavenging business”.

A burp then escaped from Kula’s mouth.

Ugh! What did he eat last night?

Ray never liked the smell and taste alcohol in his Earth years, but from a world with no anime or video games. Booze and festivals were the only things that gave him relief.

Yawning and still nailed on the bed, Kula stretched his arms “Then let’s switch beds. The bottom part will be mine and yours will be the top”

“No! I got the bottom part first and I’m sleeping here.” Ray objected. He never really understood why people liked to sleep on top of bunk beds. The feeling of feet to air terrified him.

Sighing, Kula stopped for a moment to look at Ray then reached for a water flask at the bottom of the bed. He swirled the bottle first, uncorked the cap, and drank it. A warm breath skidded from his throat. Some water spilled, kissing the bed sheets but as he gulped it down, he glanced at Ray again and smirked. Kula’s purple eyes widened from excitement.

...

After a few seconds of silence, Kula took a crumpled paper from inside his trousers and handed it over to Ray. Ray accepted it instinctively, noticing the fine textures of the paper.

What’s this?

A slight greenish hue tinted the surface of the paper. He grabbed it on both ends for a few seconds, straightened the paper and held it against the window. It made a fine rectangular shape. Ray squinted his eyes. His mouth opened wide. The ink from the paper formed the silhouette of a caped man kneeling before a sun. It had many words printed on its surface like the name of the capital and a map of the continent, but what stood out for Ray was the one line of symbols.

“One grand” Ray whispered. This kind of money was worth a whopping 1000 cents. Thirty beef stew bowls would be dressing themselves and be begging to be bought! For a poor person like Ray and the people in the church, this screamed big money and can feed all of the Church residents for a week. Checking for any people behind him, Ray muttered quietly “How and where did you get this Kula? Did you ...steal it?” Ray arrived to this conclusion in a split second. No one was dumb enough to throw money away in a trash dump. Like who would dare?

“I did not” Kula responded, shaking his head.  “I just gave alcohol to this merchant, gave him a nice big wink, and kind of asked for money.”

“Asked?” Ray repeated. “You definitely stole it.”

“No Ray, it is not stealing because he was expecting something from this beautiful face.” Kula winked cutely and stood beside the window. “Besides, it was his fault for getting knocked out first.”

“Oh god! We were drinking last night. If you get caught please tell them I was not involved.”

“You don’t have to worry my trashy comrade because this was your idea in the first place. Didn’t you remember?” Kula replied, holding back his giggle.

“What?” Ray had a hoarse voice, he paused for a second. What the hell was he saying? He rubbed his head with a grim face. “I can’t recall anything at all but I did remember we were drinking at the pub after work.”

“No surprise there. You were always a bad drunk. Haha.”

A chill ran down Ray’s spine.  “You knew I was drunk then why did you listen to me?”

“That fucker thought I was a woman and grabbed my ass.” Kula clenched his fist. “I would have stabbed him immediately when he’s alone but you had the greatest idea of using this ‘honeytrap,’ you speak of.” He folded his arms and leaned on the wall. “Just a little hug there, touch him slightly over here and he was all over me, telling me how his day was, and what his thoughts to the village and the city. And after throwing him bottles and bottles of booze. Using his own coin of course. He finally told me where he stored his stash! Add another ‘fuck me’ he was already writing the password.”

“Oh fuck. I also don’t want to be treated like that but you shouldn’t have done that Kula. What if we get caught?” Ray rubbed his temples. He was in a place filled with magic. What if the “fantasy police” here have access to tracking spells and it only needs something like a hair to activate? Or a something-spell that can rewind a certain event. Lots of possibilities and that would definitely spell trouble to his peaceful life.

“Just trust me Ray they will never know. I promise to Halavat’s balls. We need money and he was an ass. Let’s just leave it at that.” Kula coughed once and showed another stack of green papers.

He robbed him naked!

“Let’s talk later. Sister Lily is coming.”

....

Ray calmed down as he heard footsteps from the door.

He quickly shoved the one grand into his trouser, and then walked towards the approaching Sister Lily. Ray bowed first and pecked the back of her hand. It was smooth, not the kind you get on someone who was on her 50’s. Kula then followed after him.

The bells of the church rang, signaling the villagers to stop and pray for the morning. It must be noon, Ray thought.

Sister Lily smiled and caressed their heads. It was time for prayers; Just as every time the clock striked at noon, and six in the morning and night. She motioned for them to follow her beside an altar. The cupboards were full of uneven length candles, all lined up haphazardly from the prayers last night. Afterwards, she removed a crystal gem adorned on her necklace, and placed it on a small dish plate on top of the altar. Crimson light escaped from the gem as it faced a miniature statue of what seems to be an old bearded man with a circular sun nailed at its back. A warm light then illuminated the room inside, giving Ray a fuzzy feeling, but as he glanced at his side; he saw the sunlight scattered on the windows dim slightly.

Fixing her veil, she grabbed and molded her hair properly into a bun, making certain her blond hair was inserted properly. Then she knelt in front of the bed at her side and clasped her hands. As they saw her kneel, both Kula and Ray joined her in prayer.

Shifting his head at the nun, Ray was still amazed at Sister Lily’s youthfulness. She was an instrument of God and must only look at God; for the relationship of God is sacred, but men of all ages still courted her. Even though Sister Lily aged in her 50’s, she could still pass as an older sibling to Ray if they were to stand side by side. Ray assumed the reason of her youthful face was maybe because of the pointy ears she had. A race known as elves like Analie. But unlike the girl who had fangs, Sister Lily didn’t have it.

After a minute passed, the bells chimed again. It rang thrice in succession and afterwards the three of them stood up before clasping their hands again, joining the spaces between their fingers.

“Praise thou Sun” The three of them repeated.

From the two weeks he spent in this world, Ray learned that the “Sun” they referred to was the God Halavat, one of the many gods praised in this world. It looked just like the Greek Pantheon he always heard back on Earth, with multiple gods interacting with humans.

The gem on the dish plate still glowed but as Sister Lily removed it and inserted it back on her necklace, the light slowly disappeared. After a few heartbeats, the brightness of the sunlight which came from the windows resumed. From Ray’s memory, there were at least twenty Gods or even a hundred, each with their own unique names. Some authors argued, based on what he read from the available books in the church; that only eleven Gods roamed this world including the deceased Ayari. They called them Major Gods and the remaining as the Lesser Gods. The scholars reasoned that Major Gods had the ability to influence the world because of the believers backing them. While the latter had no significant impact and must be called spirits or Lesser Gods. But he also learned of the records detailing of the Demon Gods who- Oh he forgot. He now decided on his day to head to the library after.

“Ray. Kula. It’s time to eat. I know I cannot force you to pray with us on your day off. And I know how hard the both of you work. But still, I want us to pray together. We are family right?”

“Of course Sister. Praise Halavat, right?” Ray said smiling.

“Praise indeed” Sister Lily replied.

Ray didn’t really care for these Religions. But what he cared about was the amount of prayers in this Halavat Church. Pray before you sleep. Pray after you slept. Pray before you eat. Pray after you ate. The amount of kneeling and chanting exceeded the times he went on to relieve himself. He was even surprised, for he never missed a single prayer in these two weeks. No. It was now two weeks and a day.

 Trailing at Sister Lily’s back, Ray saw a bundle of little mountains at the garden stacked beside a wooden cart. The smell of freshly cut grass drifted on the hallway with the dews enhancing the ‘spring’ fragrance it spewed.  He stopped for a moment to look at the bits of green and brown scattered on the vegetables. Those brats! Some of the children must have grazed the garden earlier, and from this horrendous sight, they must have hurried for something.

“Forgive the children for this time Ray.” Sister Lily stopped and noticed the annoyed look on Ray’s face. She reached for the chains of her necklace and stroked the crimson gem she used earlier gently. It faintly flashed then dimmed. “God’s blessing just came to us earlier and to tell you the truth, I would have awakened the both of you earlier, but your snores kept me from waking you both up.” 

“Oh! Did something happen Sister?” Ray replied casually as he looked at a rectangular box nailed the top of the kitchen door. It had a transparent glass casing at its front, and had glowing lights that formed various numbers and letters. It displayed ‘2019 Jan. 15 Mon: 12:07’.

“Well.” She caressed the crimson gem again with her finger. “Someone donated hens and lots of meat and placed it on the aisle. I tried to find our benefactor but I only got a letter saying ‘By the warmth of Halavat’. What’s more, they were five hens and about a cartful of beef. That’s why I had Analie buy some spices and cook a portion of the meat. We’re having a celebration today Ray, Kula, and the children are excited to eat quality meat other than pork scraps and potatoes.” She placed a hand to her mouth and giggled.

Just as Sister Lily was about to open the door, Kula whispered to Ray. “Also your idea. No coin donated. Just things Sister Lily needed.” He had this smug look on his face, expecting some kind of reaction from Ray.

Ray’s face slightly contorted until a slight nudge of the door exploded with a flavorful smell. Hmmm. Butter. Garlic. Great lengths of brightly colored curtains covered the table that stretched to two ends of the room, contrasting the people who wore all white. The stained window glass blocked portions of sunlight, making little sun rays overhead. Children’s voices clamored in their respective chairs and they each wore sun-colored cloth wrapped around their heads, a tradition of Halavat’s believers for every celebration; though not enforced by the common people. It seemed like a proper feast with all the bread and all the roasted meat and all the potato soup huddled up in a crescendo of cheerful voices racing across the table.

It was a great day for the parentless children of Jensen Village and Ray knew it very well. The people present here were discarded waste, unwanted scraps that rely on the charity of people who cared enough to look or the noble pigs who wanted to display their graciousness. But orphans of the Church were happy, for every happy day is another year of living. A lanky boy about Ray’s age tugged at his shirt. “Aga. Ah! Aga aga” The lanky boy had a ghoulish face, with a dried-up skin rivaling those of molded snake skins.

Poor guy. What did he experience to become like that.

“Yes. Gila it’s time to aga. You can finally aga a roasted beef!” Ray made a comical face, and in turn received a happy mumble he didn’t understand. He signaled to Kula, helping Gila sit at the far end beside Sister Lily’s spot.

“Aga. Ah.Ah.”

After delivering Gila, Ray went to a cupboard inside the kitchen. There he saw Analie drenched in sweat, swaying forward and backward from the fire of the stove. Analie noticed him and waved her right hand while flipping the wok methodically with the other while not looking at him. “Do you need help Analie?”

“No, I’m just about to... finish. There, garlic fried rice with grits of beef, done.” The sound of metal clacked from the finishing touches. Analie then placed a tray larger and longer than her on the floor. She breathed in for a second, green mist slowly fuming from her nostrils. In an instant, after enough energy was gathered, she lifted two woks fully filled with rice and poured it on the tray.

Ray sighed. “Every time I see you use magic Analie. It makes me want to know how it feels manipulating mana.” He closed in towards the food and lifted the other side of the tray. Analie too lifted her part and they placed it on the noisy room. The children’s ‘oohs’ and ‘yeaaahs’ echoed from their arrival.  “Too bad I’m just a human, forever cursed by the inability to weave the mana inside my body.”

“Rather than magic, it’s better to have knowledge.” Analie replied. “With knowledge, you can take a variety of high paying jobs. With knowledge, you can create rather than destroy. With knowledge, you can cure.”

Afterwards, they went back to the kitchen again. She bent her knees and reached to the handle on the top of a big box beside her. It was made of stone, with its width equaling the span of her arms. A transparent blue energy appeared to around wrap it, giving it a metallic sheen.

Wave-like ripples bombarded away from her fingertips touching the blue field. When she pressed the crystal-like button with her thumb, the box clanked a clicking sound. Pulling it up, Analie picked up a slab of butter. Ray could see an icy smoke escaping inside the box; it contained stacks of meat planted in two partitions and the remaining space filled with butter. “With common devices like this, why do you even need magic other than for violence?”

“Because it’s cool?” Ray accepted the five sticks of butter, unwrapped the parchment encasing it and placed it on a large wooden plate. He then set it on another tray crammed with various wooden utensils and plates. Preparation was near done.

“I assure you. It is not...cool. Come, they’re waiting for us.”