Chapter Text
Lux Everbough was bored out of his mind, and if this kept up for much longer, he swore to The Binary that he would blow something up just for the hell of it.
He was walking through the halls of his semi-pristine church, doing a routine inspection to make sure all of the young clerics were staying in line. He was sick and tired of The Clergy, and Binarianism as a whole, but compared to the alternative… He would certainly take boredom over death.
Overall, today was relatively quiet, most of the The Sparrows were currently on a pilgrimage to the capitol, Omina-grati, so he didn’t have to worry about them, thank Time. They would usually be causing trouble that Lux would have to clean up himself, so he obviously has no qualms with them leaving, presumably forever.
Lux was nearly finished with his rounds, only needing to check the small basement room under the main hall that served as nothing more than storage. He rarely checked it, as he was the only one in their sect that had a key, but today was different, the door was open.
He squinted his eyes in confusion and hurriedly checked his back pocket for his key, and it was still there. Lux inspected the door further, finding that it hadn’t been picked and was still somehow locked, but before he could question it any further, he heard a loud crash coming from the basement.
Lux rushed downstairs, materializing his staff and preparing a flash-bang for whoever was down there. When he made it down the stairs however, he found no-one. He dissolved his staff and scanned the rest of the room, finding nothing but the old pile of crates and barrels of cerimonial fluid used for some rituals that had been there for years.
Lux turned to go upstairs, maybe he was just going crazy and didn’t close the door fully last time he had come down here, or maybe—
“Excuse me, are you the Owl of this church?”
At the sound of the stranger’s voice, Lux jumped. He spun around to find a figure standing before him.
They had hair as white as snow and were sickly pale. The figure was tall and gaunt, and their frame was skinny to the extent where they looked as if they hadn’t eaten in days. They had torn and tattered clothes and where their rags and the only skin on their body visible aside from their face was wrapped in old bandages.
Everything about their appearance pointed to one thing: Infection.
When the realization dawned on Lux, he quickly stepped away from them, even though they were already quite a few feet away. He knew he must have looked uncomfortable to the stranger, (because he really was) so to remedy this he cleared his throat and put on his “holier than thou” voice.
”Yes, that would be me,” Lux said, he cocked his head, “What are you doing down here, last I checked this place was inaccessible to the public.”
“Oh! my bad, I was looking for you and I had seen the door was a bit open, so I thought I might look.” The stranger bowed in reverence, their voice seemed genuine to Lux, so he didn’t question them much further.
“I see,” Lux responded, “Well let’s leave this dingy basement, and you may speak to me of what troubles you”
The stranger remained bowed, "Thank you, my cleric”
The two of them walked back up the steps and back through the halls of the church. Lux realized that the stranger was drumming their hand against their thigh rhythmically, he would have said something about it, but he ended up chalking it up to nerves for talking to The Owl of a Church.
“So, what was it you wanted to speak with me about?” Lux asked.
“Well, I’ve just been wondering how hard it would be to join the clergy.” The stranger replied, looking away from Lux, and rubbing their neck.
Of course they would ask that, Lux thought. He knew better than anyone that it was stupidly easy to join but actually getting a semi-decent job was a totally different story. It took Lux himself almost eight years to get to where he was, and that was only because The Dove had taken a liking to him for some reason (and because he was forced to) So, Lux decided to lie.
”It’s quite difficult actually, there are quite a few different tests and fees you need to deal with before joining.” Lux fibbed. “And besides, it kinda sucks” he whispered, just loud enough for the stranger to hear. He had always thought of himself as a pretty decent liar, but this stranger made him doubt his skills.
The moment he spoke their head jolted up, “Really?” They asked, looking back at him, as they had walked pretty far ahead of Lux. Lux began to sweat, it was as if they could smell he was lying, and their blank stare that dug into his soul didn’t help.
“Yes,” he said, doubling down on his lie, he thought for a moment before adding “And besides, it is kinda boring” in a low whisper, just loud enough for the stranger to hear. He thought adding a hint of truth into his lie would help its validity.
Lux could see the stranger raise their eyebrows, then squint at him, but after a moment, they seemed to accept this, “Well, I guess I’ll just leave then,” they said. It wasn’t until just now that Lux had realized that the two of them had ended up at the front doors of the church. “But I do have one other question,” They said.
Lux had begun to walk closer to the stranger to bless them on the way out, as was custom when one left the church, having thought they were done with their visit. “Yes?” Lux said.
“Do you really hate it here?” The stranger asked, returning to their blank stare.
Lux had to take a moment to fully process the question, and another to answer it. He did, truly really hate it here, but saying that he hated it so bluntly… They said The Binary was always watching, but also that they valued truth above all else, (or at least, Time did) and he had already lied more than enough today…
“I do”
The stranger smiled for the first time since they had arrived.
“Good”
He had begun to rematerialize his staff to quickly anoint them and be done with their unnerving presence, but before he fully could, the stranger stopped their drumming, and grabbed both him and his staff in one quick movement that Lux could barely even see.
Before he knew it, Lux was about 30 feet from the church, being fireman-carried, tossed over the shoulder of the stranger. He tried to say something, anything in protest, but his words were completely jumbled from sheer shock.
The stranger did not in any way acknowledge his garbled pleas, and simply continued running. They only recognized his existence after the two of them were about 150 feet away from the church, and were now hiding behind a large shipping crate.
“You had said you hated the clergy, so why not help me out?” The stranger said, before a large explosion erupted behind them, drowning out any sound Lux tried to make in response.