Owl

Hey everyone, thanks for giving my story a try (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧
"Beloved God" is a lighthearted, fluffy BL story. It might get more explicit later, but those parts would have warnings :3
The setting might be confusing at first but don't worry, it'll get clearer as time goes by~
Later chapters will also be longer, but the prologue is short.
Small edit to change the used tense to past :)

When a 'Farin'¹A name with different origins. The one intended here is for "To travel" or "Journey". While this is what the current carrier is called as a 'job', it also takes over the place as their name. That's why our little MC is called Farin since he started his duty. is doing their duty, they have neither name nor identity. Forsaking their humanity, they are expected to be like walking dolls.
When they wear the robes, they are simply 'Farin'. An existence that could be exchanged at any second.
To be chosen is an honor, despite everything. For the beautiful mountain village, the temple high above is a sacred place. The carriers are treated exceptionally well, their families earn more than enough to sustain themselves. Besides, it's rare for a carrier to die, although it has happened. 

Whenever the carrier - for whatever reason - wishes to lay down the task, the temple's master will send a message down the mountain, to the village, that a new one will be chosen. Applications are allowed until the temple master is satisfied with someone. Age, looks, talent - none of it matters. Above all, a carrier needs to be serene. 

Only those that can be shaken by nothing can be allowed into the mountains. Gods must not be disturbed.

"I still think that it's scary", a youth with short, brown hair mumbled, sipping on the cold tea in front of him. Yawning, he stretched his tense muscles. "Working on the fields is exhausting, but I don't really have anything to worry about."

"I dunno. I think it suits you", another youth interjected. Contrary to the boy with brown hair and bulging muscles, he had a slightly scholarly air around him and a soft, feminine face.

The third person at the table gave a small smile.

"It pays well, even though it's almost no work. And I haven't encountered anything dangerous yet."

Twice a week Farin needed to enter the mountain. For that one night in between, he would be up in the temple, but the temple master didn't mind him going down to the village for the rest of the week. The carrier is not a prisoner, after all.

Four times has Farin gone into the mountain already after the previous carrier stopped taking on the task with the birth of his son. It was Farin himself who wanted to try for the open position. With his father's bad legs, the money for him and his siblings had been tight. Now, wearing the intricate robe of a carrier, he had nothing to worry about. Deep in thought, Farin let his fingers slide over the soft fabric. While he's outside, his clothes are dark blue with golden stitchings, looking like a night sky filled with stars. For him, who has always been poor, it was weird to wear such precious cloth.

"Don't frown like that, it looks good on you", the scholarly Skari consoled his still slightly nervous friend. "Come on, tell us a bit more! I've been on edge ever since you were chosen!"

"Everyone knows that the new ones don't come down the mountain right away", Eylir said, hiding his own curiosity behind a huff and patting the smaller Skari on the shoulder. "But go on, tell us what it's like."

Farin smiled wryly. His childhood friends had been more tense about sending him away than his own parents. Being a carrier isn't dangerous, as he already tried to tell them. Even with the blindfold, most of the way is still inside the mountain path where he could slide his hand across the wall.  When the cave opens he had to walk ten steps, set the basket down, and turn around again. Since a new Farin would practice walking straight for days, this is nothing hard to do.
Instead, Farin felt terribly intrigued by the world behind that locked entrance.

Closing his bright blue eyes, he called on the memory of his short times in the cave.
"I can hardly describe it. It's a shame I can't see anything. Even the birds sound differently and whatever flowers bloom there, the scent is almost intoxicating. It's like walking in a dream." He stopped for a moment, opening his eyes again and blinking. Even without the blindfold, he couldn't see that well, but everything within a few steps was still clear.  
"And I like the robe. It's not as overly decorated as this one."

Farin spread his arm, displaying the full beauty of his dark blue clothes. The stitching drew finely designed patterns all over his sleeves.

"And we aren't allowed to wear accessories while we go into the mountain, so I don't need to do anything fancy with my hair."

Skari reached out for his friend's floor-length hair, which he kept up in a ponytail. Happy, he let his fingers slide through the soft strands. "If I had hair like yours, I'd wear it long, too. And I'd probably be playing around with it all day."
Pointing at his own dark locks, Skari sighed sadly. His hair curled easily so he gave up on growing it out long ago.

"You'd look like a woman if you did that. With Farin, you can at least still tell he's a man."

For that comment, Eylir earned himself a hit on the shoulder (although judging by their faces, Skari hurt himself more than the other).
Out of the three, the well-trained Eylir showed the most promise of being a masculine man. Under his short brown hair, he had two dark eyes in an angular face. He wasn't especially handsome, but Farin agreed that his face looks nice.

Skari, on the other hand, was small and thin, even more so when wearing his librarian robes. With his sparkling green eyes and almost black hair, he was easily mistaken as a vulnerable little girl. More than one visitor from another village already suffered from thinking so. (While not having many muscles, Skari was easy to anger and very prone on snatching any nearby weapon to get rid of unwanted suitors.)

Farin was easily described as a beauty. Tall and slender, with long blueish hair and gentle blue eyes, light skin that did not tan easily and a calm temperament. The moment the neighbors Skari and Eylir had first met him as children, they had attached themselves to him. He was their most beloved, precious friend. That is why they had to make sure that Farin never ever notices the looks of the interested girls around him.

Looking at their precious friend like a piece of meat, hmpf. How can they even think they deserve him.

Unknown to Farin, his friends were very satisfied with the awed gazes around them. A carrier is something special, most girls wouldn't easily dare approach one.
Making sure that everyone knows his new identity was the number one reason why the two dragged their friend into the restaurant to eat.

Happily leaning back, Skari stopped staring at his surroundings and looked back at his friend.

"As long as you stay as 'Farin' for a while, you'll be set for life. Over a hundred different carriers have already gone into that mountain and came out alive for their time. There's no need why the Gods would suddenly decide that they don't like you."

The light-colored, simple robes of a Farin walking into the mountain are to show the purity of their minds.
This is what everyone says, but everyone knows the truth.

If the Gods aren't happy, then the carrier will become a sacrifice for them to eat. As long as they are happy, humans will not intervene.

The truth that no one talks about but knows, Farin was aware of.

But as he already told his friends:
It is a mere ten steps into the cave. There's no way he'd encounter a God on that short path.

Absolutely no way at all.

...Murphy's law²Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. is disagreeing.