The Church and Its Orbs - Planning
I wrote in my The Church and Its Orbs universe for the first time in forever. This is possibly canon and possibly not. Enjoy!
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“How are we going to get this priest to help us?” I ask. “He’s known what’s going on for ages and has done nothing.” My jaw clenches just thinking about it. I stare out my bedroom window, watching the heavy raindrops fall. Though it’s only early afternoon, the stormy weather makes it seem much later.
It’s outrageous. This priest knows how deep corruption runs in the Church and claims it’s wrong, yet he refuses to act.
“Threaten him?” Wren shrugs. She’s sitting backwards on my desk chair, arms crossing over the back of it. “He’s a priest. They don’t care about, you know, morals or anything.”
I turn back to look at Wren. “With what? None of us have any power yet.” I don’t like the idea of using threats against a holy man, but if he won’t act, we have to do something.
“Find his dirty little secrets? Threaten to tell someone?” Wren snorts. “He’s gotta have some.”
“What if he doesn’t have any?” Kai asks. He sits on my beanbag chair as he plays with the fringe of his rainbow scarf.
“A purple orb without dirty secrets? I doubt it,” Wren mutters, shaking her head. The light reflects off her glossy black hair. I blink -- I need more sleep if I’m getting so easily distracted.
My stomach sinks as I realize something. I twist a strand of my hair around my finger. It’s curly and red, so unlike Wren’s. “Would that even work? What if the local Church leadership already knows his secrets? How high would we have to go with our information?”
So many unknowns exist. Things have changed so much since the beginning of the year -- it makes my head spin if I think about it too much. Even the scene in my room disorients me. Just a few months ago, I couldn’t have imagined Wren and Kai in my room, as my friends and allies in a fight against Church corruption. He’s the most popular guy in school, and she’s...not someone I thought would ever want to talk to me.
This fight threatens to overwhelm me, but I can’t let it.
Kai nods. “That could be, since they obviously don’t care about their own dirty secrets and aren’t above threatening the girls to keep them in line. We don’t know how high this thing runs, either.” His blue eyes darken. Immense power seems to lurk within them, and I get the oddest feeling Kai’s going to end up as a purple orb when he has his Test.
“It still wouldn’t hurt to investigate? If we’re careful about it?” I murmur.
We have to start somewhere. Investigating got us this far, after all. If I hadn’t tried to figure out why Lila acted so strangely, I would have never discovered what horror parts of the Church supported. I clench my jaw again at the idea some of our holy leaders have strayed so much.
“Maybe,” Wren says, sounding doubtful.
In truth, I have my doubts as well. “I wonder what the gods must be thinking right now,” I say.
Wren rolls her eyes. “As if the gods are going to bother with a scandal like this. They don’t care, if they even exist. Though maybe they would care if the Church were employing boys in their little enterprise instead of girls,” she mutters.
Kai’s eyes darken again at the exact moment lightning flashes outside. It’s enough to give the illusion he’s causing the storm. I shiver and cross my arms, hugging them to me.
“The gods care about more than so-called sexual deviance,” Kai hisses.
“Do they?” Wren says. “The Church certainly cares.”
“The gods are not the Church,” he says. His eyes flash, and I’m as glad as anything that Kai can’t actually control the weather.
“They’re not?” Wren asks.
The argument makes me wish we could call the gods directly, but that’s unlikely. We aren’t holy people -- none of us has even received their Orb yet. The Church still sees us as children, which is why we’re even allowed to hang out together. Unmarried adult men and women can’t socialize like this, legally anyway.
“Does it matter? It’s not like we can contact the gods and ask them to force this priest to help us,” I say. “We can pray for that, certainly, but it’s...irrelevant, otherwise.”
I have prayed for divine intervention, but I know better than to expect it. The gods work in mysterious ways. They reward the righteous and punish the sinful, but prayer doesn’t entitle followers to immediate help or help we can fully understand with our mortal minds. We’re supposed to work with what we’re given and trust the gods to know what they’re doing. Sometimes wonder if they do have any idea how to manage humanity. I gasp when I realize what thought just crossed my mind.
Kai twitches and grabs a handful of beanbag chair. He shifts in his seat, and I wonder what’s going on with him.
“You okay?” Wren asks me, fixing me with her dark-eyed gaze.
I flush, embarrassed to be caught acting so oddly. “I’m -- I’m fine,” I mutter. Since having her focus on me feels so uncomfortable, I fix my own gaze on Kai. “Are you okay?” I ask him.
“I’m -- fine,” he says. He doesn’t sound any more convincing than I did.
“Since the Gods of Useless obviously won’t help us, I guess we’re gonna try to dig up info on this priest?” Wren says.
“They’re not useless,” Kai says, his eyes flashing.
Wren raises an eyebrow. “Have you met one who’s done anything useful? Since when do you love the gods so much, anyway?” she says.
“You don’t know everything about me,” he mutters.
What in the name of darkest oblivion is going on with him?
“I know you’re acting weird,” she says, narrowing her eyes at him.
He pulls on his rainbow scarf and won’t look at either of us. “Have you ever realized you
should do something but really, really, really don’t want to?” he says.
“Every time I have a homework assignment, especially in Literature class,” Wren mutters. “What’s your point?”
“Can you two keep a secret? Even a big one?” he asks, his voice so quiet I can barely hear him.
“I’m from one of the richest families in this stupid town. Of course I can keep a freaking secret,” she says, shaking her head. “Can you start making sense, please?”
“I can keep a secret,” I say.
He sighs, and the air thickens enough to make breathing difficult. The atmosphere quivers, and I twist a strand of my hair, just for something to do. Wren leans forward on crossed arms, staring at Kai. When the tension gets too thick, I look out the window again, concentrating on the torrents of raindrops. Lightning flashes, followed by thunder -- neither do anything to break the tension. They just highlight the strangeness in the air.
What kind of secret can Kai possibly have?
“I...know a way to get the gods to make the priest help us. Well, one god. I know one god,” he says, staring at the ground and blushing.
My jaw drops. “Don’t blaspheme,” I say.
“I’m not blaspheming.”
“Prove it,” Wren mutters. “Call this god you know.”
He stands up and squares his shoulders. I wait, wondering how he could know a god.
Kai glows, bright enough I have to shield my eyes. His shape distorts itself, turning into a column of brilliant rainbow light that reaches the ceiling. Colors swirl, reflecting off every surface in my room. My heart hammers. This can’t be. He can’t be.
“That god I know? He’s right here. He’s me.”
---------
“How are we going to get this priest to help us?” I ask. “He’s known what’s going on for ages and has done nothing.” My jaw clenches just thinking about it. I stare out my bedroom window, watching the heavy raindrops fall. Though it’s only early afternoon, the stormy weather makes it seem much later.
It’s outrageous. This priest knows how deep corruption runs in the Church and claims it’s wrong, yet he refuses to act.
“Threaten him?” Wren shrugs. She’s sitting backwards on my desk chair, arms crossing over the back of it. “He’s a priest. They don’t care about, you know, morals or anything.”
I turn back to look at Wren. “With what? None of us have any power yet.” I don’t like the idea of using threats against a holy man, but if he won’t act, we have to do something.
“Find his dirty little secrets? Threaten to tell someone?” Wren snorts. “He’s gotta have some.”
“What if he doesn’t have any?” Kai asks. He sits on my beanbag chair as he plays with the fringe of his rainbow scarf.
“A purple orb without dirty secrets? I doubt it,” Wren mutters, shaking her head. The light reflects off her glossy black hair. I blink -- I need more sleep if I’m getting so easily distracted.
My stomach sinks as I realize something. I twist a strand of my hair around my finger. It’s curly and red, so unlike Wren’s. “Would that even work? What if the local Church leadership already knows his secrets? How high would we have to go with our information?”
So many unknowns exist. Things have changed so much since the beginning of the year -- it makes my head spin if I think about it too much. Even the scene in my room disorients me. Just a few months ago, I couldn’t have imagined Wren and Kai in my room, as my friends and allies in a fight against Church corruption. He’s the most popular guy in school, and she’s...not someone I thought would ever want to talk to me.
This fight threatens to overwhelm me, but I can’t let it.
Kai nods. “That could be, since they obviously don’t care about their own dirty secrets and aren’t above threatening the girls to keep them in line. We don’t know how high this thing runs, either.” His blue eyes darken. Immense power seems to lurk within them, and I get the oddest feeling Kai’s going to end up as a purple orb when he has his Test.
“It still wouldn’t hurt to investigate? If we’re careful about it?” I murmur.
We have to start somewhere. Investigating got us this far, after all. If I hadn’t tried to figure out why Lila acted so strangely, I would have never discovered what horror parts of the Church supported. I clench my jaw again at the idea some of our holy leaders have strayed so much.
“Maybe,” Wren says, sounding doubtful.
In truth, I have my doubts as well. “I wonder what the gods must be thinking right now,” I say.
Wren rolls her eyes. “As if the gods are going to bother with a scandal like this. They don’t care, if they even exist. Though maybe they would care if the Church were employing boys in their little enterprise instead of girls,” she mutters.
Kai’s eyes darken again at the exact moment lightning flashes outside. It’s enough to give the illusion he’s causing the storm. I shiver and cross my arms, hugging them to me.
“The gods care about more than so-called sexual deviance,” Kai hisses.
“Do they?” Wren says. “The Church certainly cares.”
“The gods are not the Church,” he says. His eyes flash, and I’m as glad as anything that Kai can’t actually control the weather.
“They’re not?” Wren asks.
The argument makes me wish we could call the gods directly, but that’s unlikely. We aren’t holy people -- none of us has even received their Orb yet. The Church still sees us as children, which is why we’re even allowed to hang out together. Unmarried adult men and women can’t socialize like this, legally anyway.
“Does it matter? It’s not like we can contact the gods and ask them to force this priest to help us,” I say. “We can pray for that, certainly, but it’s...irrelevant, otherwise.”
I have prayed for divine intervention, but I know better than to expect it. The gods work in mysterious ways. They reward the righteous and punish the sinful, but prayer doesn’t entitle followers to immediate help or help we can fully understand with our mortal minds. We’re supposed to work with what we’re given and trust the gods to know what they’re doing. Sometimes wonder if they do have any idea how to manage humanity. I gasp when I realize what thought just crossed my mind.
Kai twitches and grabs a handful of beanbag chair. He shifts in his seat, and I wonder what’s going on with him.
“You okay?” Wren asks me, fixing me with her dark-eyed gaze.
I flush, embarrassed to be caught acting so oddly. “I’m -- I’m fine,” I mutter. Since having her focus on me feels so uncomfortable, I fix my own gaze on Kai. “Are you okay?” I ask him.
“I’m -- fine,” he says. He doesn’t sound any more convincing than I did.
“Since the Gods of Useless obviously won’t help us, I guess we’re gonna try to dig up info on this priest?” Wren says.
“They’re not useless,” Kai says, his eyes flashing.
Wren raises an eyebrow. “Have you met one who’s done anything useful? Since when do you love the gods so much, anyway?” she says.
“You don’t know everything about me,” he mutters.
What in the name of darkest oblivion is going on with him?
“I know you’re acting weird,” she says, narrowing her eyes at him.
He pulls on his rainbow scarf and won’t look at either of us. “Have you ever realized you
should do something but really, really, really don’t want to?” he says.
“Every time I have a homework assignment, especially in Literature class,” Wren mutters. “What’s your point?”
“Can you two keep a secret? Even a big one?” he asks, his voice so quiet I can barely hear him.
“I’m from one of the richest families in this stupid town. Of course I can keep a freaking secret,” she says, shaking her head. “Can you start making sense, please?”
“I can keep a secret,” I say.
He sighs, and the air thickens enough to make breathing difficult. The atmosphere quivers, and I twist a strand of my hair, just for something to do. Wren leans forward on crossed arms, staring at Kai. When the tension gets too thick, I look out the window again, concentrating on the torrents of raindrops. Lightning flashes, followed by thunder -- neither do anything to break the tension. They just highlight the strangeness in the air.
What kind of secret can Kai possibly have?
“I...know a way to get the gods to make the priest help us. Well, one god. I know one god,” he says, staring at the ground and blushing.
My jaw drops. “Don’t blaspheme,” I say.
“I’m not blaspheming.”
“Prove it,” Wren mutters. “Call this god you know.”
He stands up and squares his shoulders. I wait, wondering how he could know a god.
Kai glows, bright enough I have to shield my eyes. His shape distorts itself, turning into a column of brilliant rainbow light that reaches the ceiling. Colors swirl, reflecting off every surface in my room. My heart hammers. This can’t be. He can’t be.
“That god I know? He’s right here. He’s me.”