The Witness of Usehjiki

Four

Kuwin had hoped that surviving a curse was enough to strengthen his faith in God. He'd been so wrong about that. Everywhere he turned, his heart raced with uncertainty and the thought that this... or that... would be the thing that got to him.

Yes, he was a miracle.

The Usop numbered in the thousands around Usehjiki. So many branches of a clan that shared a name and common ancestry, but nothing else. Kuwin's immediate family was very different from the rest. Because, while other members of the Usop clan lived comfortable lives, his own was laden with a curse that killed them before they turned forty.

Everyone except Kuwin.

He'd made the connection between the key and the premature deaths ever since he was a boy. His family had groomed him to take up the mantle after his brother. His initiation had included a celibacy pact, a cleaning, and a full study on the lives of every Usop who had ever borne the key.

There were families in the Usop clan who'd never even heard of the key, much less the part it played in the clan's prosperity. But this was a responsibility that they held dear to their heart. Even Kuwin, even after he gave his life to Christ. It wasn't a triviality, and he wasn't one to bash fellow Christians who held onto ancient family values.

A part of him had hoped he would survive because he was a child of God. He'd known the unity of the clans kept him safe, but God had to have a hand in that, right? His ancestors couldn't have prevailed if God Almighty didn't make it so. His Christian faith solidified his ancestral faith and his ancestral faith only served as evidence that God had always had Kuwin's family in mind.

Kuwin believed this. He had to.

Every newspaper in Usehjiki was talking about the Man of God who defied ancient altars and broke the bargain his ancestors had struck with the devil. He was a hero who prayed his way out of the grave. He was Kuwin Usop. The most faithful.

He couldn't understand the need to vilify the ancestors, especially when Kuwin wasn't so sure anymore who was protecting him.

Because he'd prayed to God to protect him. And yet a woman had shown up and taken the key.

The key was why he was alive. His broken vow was why he was alive. He'd engaged in sexual intercourse and unbound the key. He'd sinned against God Almighty and survived.

What did that say about him? What did that say about his faith? Was he a fraud for fearing? Or was he human for wondering? Did he deserve to still be in a constant state of panic? Or should God have soothed that pain away? Did he deserve to be soothed at all?

His relationship with God was on shaky ground and Kuwin was two seconds from breaking down and going crazy because he needed God to talk to him. But there was nothing. God was eerily silent and Kuwin had never felt so alone.

The bell rang, just as he was in the kitchen, putting away the leftovers from dinner. He washed and wiped his hands on the way to the door. Out of habit, he prepared himself for a counseling session. The building was full of church members, and they liked to visit at the oddest of hours. Even though he felt empty and far away from God, Kuwin couldn't turn away his parishioners. If they needed a listening ear, Kuwin was going to give it to them.

When he opened the door, Kuwin frowned at the two men standing there. One was a small, frail man with skin as black as shadow and a pair of oversized glasses on his face, while the other was Kuwin's height, light-skinned, and much taller and fatter than the other. The tiny man was dressed in casual clothes while the other was wearing a long, gray caftan with a pair of slippers. Behind them, the staircase leading up to Kuwin's apartment was filled with bodyguards in suits and earpieces.