Rosenrot oh Rosenrot...

Chapter 02

It turned out that I wasn't the only man of God the pope had contacted. When I set out on my short journey, I found that there were five others who were going to travel with me. The first, a man who I had studied with when I was a boy, his name was Richard, a chain smoker from the west. He never talked about what he did, or what he hoped to accomplish, but he had a very dark sense of humor, like myself. We decided to stick together more than we would trust the others. They seemed pleasant enough, but this seemed a little fishy, and we weren't sure who to trust.

Father Oliver, and Father Christoph just kept to themselves most of the time, reading bible verses to each other and muttering to themselves. I found them very strange, and decided to stay as far away from them as I could. They ran a congregation together, and were also world renowned, but they were just... weird. That was the best I could come up with. Even with me, who found it to be his life's work to follow the word of God, knew it was best to have other things in my life as well, such as poetry, and music. My whole life wasn't wrapped up in reading the bible all the time like theirs seemed to be. They were nice enough though. It wasn't like I hated them for being different; it was how He made us-all different pieces of His overall image. Without a full understanding of different people, the world would be quite a dull place. I could just tell that they had a different upbringing than Father Richard and I, and also a different way of teaching. I guessed it would be beneficial if I tried to learn a little from them, as well as also teach a little to them.

The other two were Father Paul, and a man who preferred to go by his first name; Christian, or as some people chose to call him as a nickname; Flake. He said it was a spinoff of the word that meant "skinny" in another language. When I asked him why he didn't want to be called "Father" he replied with a small laugh and told me that it made him feel higher than the people he preached to. He found that when one humble man preaches to another, they both seem to listen to another a bit more. I kind of liked that philosophy. It did seem to make sense. He was also, unlike us, Lutheran, which meant even though he was a Pastor; he was allowed to have a family, which he was leaving behind to make the pilgrimage. I could tell that Richard really didn't like that fact, and as soon as he divulged it, I hadn't seen the two exchange any verbal banter at all. Oliver and Christoph seemed to back away as well, and stay away from him.

I personally came to the conclusion that they were jealous that his faith allowed him to indulge in sexual acts with a woman, but it didn't really bother me at all. Before I started my life on the path of God, I had also indulged in those acts. Only with one woman, and only a few times, but I wasn't married and knew it was a sin. When she left me to go with another man to either Ireland or England (I still wasn't sure which it was) I decided becoming a priest. Simple as that.

Honestly, I may not have wholeheartedly believed in Flake's points of view, and I wasn't about to follow most of them myself, but I respected him very highly, with how he held his head as he spoke of his faith, even though he knew he would probably be persecuted for it.

I didn't know much about Father Paul, other than the fact that he was almost always smiling. He came from the east, somewhere, and refrained from talking much about his faith, only saying he followed the word of God, just as the rest of us did. He and Richard warmed up to each other very fast for some reason, having long philosophical conversations with him, Flake, and me before we would go to sleep. Usually the group would split then, with Flake and I coming together, since Richard basically ignored him the entire time anyway, and Richard and Paul. They would talk and laugh, as would we.

And Father Ollie and Father Christoph would usually always go off into the woods together silently, to return as the first signs of the sun licked at the Earth.

Strange, but I wasn't about to say anything against them. They were probably purging themselves and repenting by the act of self-mutilation. I heard them grunting together and the sounds of whips one night. We all did it, but not every night like they seemed to do. We did it when we needed because of a sin we would commit, or perhaps once every month or so. They seemed strict though, so I wasn't going to mention it or try to figure out if I was right or not.

"We're almost there," Father Paul announced to us, pulling out his map as we made our way down a long road. We had been walking for about three days now, and everyone just wanted to eat a real meal and lie down on a real bed. "It should just be around this mountain."

"Are you sure?" Richard asked from the back. His lungs had to be as black as soot and I could tell he could hardly stand all the constant walking. He almost always fell to the back of the group, and usually I would walk right next to him so he wouldn't feel so bad, but today, Flake and I wanted to discuss something or another, so instead, I stayed in the middle, while Christoph and Ollie walked right in front of us, and behind Paul.

"Would I have said it if I weren't?"

"I don't know, would you have?" Richard asked sarcastically, trying to take a breath and failing.

"We're all irritable," Flake suddenly pushed himself into the conversation, trying to diffuse a war of words. "Let's just focus on this beautiful mountain God put here for us to look at, and the soft road He put under our feet."

"Of course you'd say something like that, Lutheran sinner," Richard grumbled. I almost stopped dead in my tracks from that. Those were literally the first few words the two had spoken to each other.

Flake just kind of looked up at the sky and sighed before he stopped and spun on his heel, walking right up to Richard. I stopped as well, just to make sure there wasn't going to be any physical altercation.

"I don't sully your faith, and I'd appreciate if you would give me the same kindness," he said calmly. "We are both two branches of the same tree, remember. We both accept God as our personal savior and stay as pure as we can because we live in His image. But humans are not perfect, that is the only thing I believe in that is different from you. We are all broken people, according to my faith, unlike yours that chose to believe that humans are perfect. If you're interested in why I believe what I believe; I would appreciate it if you respect another one of God's creations to ask him about it."

Richard said nothing, but he and Flake just stared at each other for a long minute. The rest of the group had stopped and looked back as I did, mostly just waiting for them to finish so we could all move on.

"Or you can just shove another cigarette in your mouth and refrain from talking to me at all," Flake said, and then with a smile on his face, turned to continue walking. Richard just kind of looked at me, waiting for me to agree that he was right and Flake was wrong, but I just shrugged. The truth was; he deserved what he got.

The rest of the walk was spent in silence, besides Paul and Flake just laughing from the front.