4 Marked (1/2)
Garett left the room with a ton of questions weighing down on his mind. His nerves were taut with apprehension.
The clergyman wasn't able to pry into anything related to the old book; does the book has the ability to avoid the powers of that scale? Lurmon said they would ask the Lord directly, that means the book can hide from the Lord's inquiring? It's a good thing it wasn't discovered... Garett's lips curled up, he quickly left and closed the door behind him, as if afraid of the priest noticing something wrong.
Outside, he found the two patrolmen waiting while sitting on an old stone bench. Lurmon just glanced at him once before entering the room, probably to ask the results of the scrying. As for the young Hilren, he looked as if his idol was present right before his eyes.
”You saw it, didn't you? The Lord's grace, how it felt? Only those with high contributions to the church are allowed a ritual, even after rescuing you, I'm still far from qualified...” His eyes instantly turned downcast after uttering the last few words.
Ritual? Was that a ritual? No, It felt like some outside power forcefully dragged my spirit out of my body... Carefully pondering his words, Garett tried to probe for more information.
”I'm a bit confused Hilren. What is this ritual you are talking about?”
The knowledge recorded in that weird book is deeply imprinted in my head now, there are many things I can call supernatural in there, but nothing about rituals... Garett tried hard to recall the newly added contents to his memory, but a lot of information seemed to be locked.
”Oh, right. You don't know about this stuff... Just treat it as if I didn't say anything, please. I'm not allowed to talk about this without permission.” He scratched his head and looked in Lurmon's direction, hoping the Executor wasn't able to hear the contents of their conversation.
Why did you talk at all then! Are you not worried I will search for this information in some other place? That's beyond unprofessional... Inwardly lampooning, Garett vowed to find a way into this weird, mystic world. It was the way he found to become a rich man!
”I-I don't think I can live a normal life after all that happened, sir Hilren. I need to understand what happened and remember the things I forgot!” He pressed, vying for an answer.
”You won't, there's a word for people like you. We call people who had contact with the occult and lived as Marked.” Lurmon's grave voice could be heard from behind, his expression was a lot softer than before.
I was marked? So I'm one of these so-called marked people now? That's not ominous at all... Garett's eyes twitched briefly, he calmed himself with a deep breath.
”S-sir Lurmon! I hope everything is fine now? Am I cleared of suspicion?”
”No.”
What do you mean by no! I know everything the priest saw during the ceremony! You should know by now that I'm had nothing to do with it! Screaming inwardly, Garett adopted an indignant expression.
”While what you said was true, about not remembering things, just because you can't remember doesn't mean you didn't do it.” Lurmon took an old cigar from his pocket and lit it up, using the flames of a nearby candle.
Then say everything you had to say at once! Why do you keep playing with my fragile heart!? I'm sure you have some kind of sadistic tendencies... Garett felt that he was complaining too much lately, maybe he should start practicing some calming techniques, like meditation.
”Then... what now? And what did you mean when you said that I wouldn't be able to live a normal life?” He asked while suppressing his urges to curse.
”You can call it a supernatural phenomenon, or something like that. We call them marked because when one comes into contact with the mystic, this type of thing keeps reoccurring to said person, in something we call it the law of attraction. Now that you've been marked, it should keep happening frequently, at first we tried to erase people's memories about it, hoping to erase the marks as well, but it didn't work. You can well imagine the chaos that occurred afterward.” Lurmon patiently explained, maybe after knowing that Garett spoke the truth, he became a lot more friendly.
”Then what happens to me now?” His concerns were mounting! If weird things happened all the time, and a lot of people were already considered to be marked, how would he leverage his advantages into making money?
”You're a believer of the Goddess, right? I can explain your situation to the Church and they'll surely have some arrangements, each church deals with it differently, in our case, we usually recruit the marked to the patrol or offer other jobs in positions close by, so we can control any occurrence without much commotion. I'm not sure about how the Church of Mists does things, but shouldn't differ much.” Lurmon started walking in the direction of the exit, prompting them to follow him while he rambled through the procedures.
”I'd be very grateful, I'm not eager to be hit with Starfire again...” His hollow laugh gave in some of his concerns, and that was easily noticed by the experienced Executor.
”Oh, don't worry too much. Starfire is a somewhat rare occurrence, most frequently we only have to deal with objects moving on their own and the like. You should be mindful that you are not allowed to spread information on the supernatural to the masses, we take that seriously as we don't want panic and a sudden influx of marked people.”