Colorless

44 - Pure Black

Rinian had every intention of staying with his uncle. He was curious about his new family. Pagan, as far as he could tell, just meant godless, and Rinian had been raised to be good and devout and not to trust those that weren't. He didn't want to believe that his new family was evil.

"Why are you fighting against the church?" he asked.

Bel raised his brow. "They kill people."

"Don't you kill Colorless?"

He flinched, and Peri took his free hand. Rinian looked away from their affection.

"Ah, you're asking about the pagans, not myself in particular." Bel forced a light chuckle, but his smile didn't stay. "They're...angry. Our religion has been hated and suppressed for hundreds of years, and they want to fight back. They want to fight against the church. And they think that because the Church is evil, and that because they've always been the bad guys in the eye of pagans, that to be good, they must be the opposite of everything the Church is. The Church protects Colorless, and so they slaughter them. The Church encourages people to take power from others, and so they accept only those born with great power. There's more to it than that, but essentially...they believe only the 'truly' powerful deserve to live."

"Rinian," Peri said, her voice gentle. "Remember that these people, on both sides...they're not everyone. There are more good people in both religions than there are bad people. The world is full of good people."

Bel nodded. "This isn't real paganism." He let go of Rinian's arm for a moment to push his hair out of his face. "Do you know what our religion is?"

Rinian shook his head. "You hate God," he guessed.

Bel laughed, and Peri nudged his arm to silence him. "We believe in the old gods. The ones this country worshipped years ago, back when the Church was the smaller and more hated religion. There's a story that when a king, centuries ago, outlawed the practice of paganism, those that refused to give up their religion fled to the islands surrounding the country, and the gods followed, leaving this land colorless and magicless from their absence. And the only magic that remains, flows in our blood because the god of life took pity on his creations. So, we thank him for our magic and pray to the other gods to return their blessings as well."

Rinian's eyes narrowed. "That's not right..." he said. He'd heard a different tale. That the king had sired five boys, all with colorless blood, and in a fit of rage and frustration when his sixth was born, he slaughtered them all. God punished him by cursing his country with a colorless existence for six centuries. So that every time he looked out at his land, he would be reminded of the innocent lives he took.

"No?" Bel asked. "How can you be sure?"

He placed a hand on Rinian's shoulder again. "We just want to keep to ourselves. Most pagans do. These people are angry and want to believe that their revenge is righteous. So they'll claim to kill in the name of 'true power'. And they'll take the lives of those who have none. It's backward and wrong, and not something that Peri and I believe in. This group didn't start off killing colorless. When I joined, they were only trying to stop the Church. But groups of angry, scared, desperate people can convince themselves of anything."

Rinian thought of his own mother, so scared and desperate to live that she'd started eating hearts. He nodded because he didn't feel like talking anymore. Thinking of his mother made his head fuzzy.

He picked at the dirt from under his fingernails.

Shouts and echoes of fighting followed them through the halls until they found a door outside. Peri held it open for them, but Rinian stopped at the threshold. Bel's loose grip fell away as he stepped forward, and he turned to see what had stopped Rinian. "You're not going to run, are you?" he asked with half a laugh.