[Koten Temple]Where do people go

by **Moritz Craven** on August 11th, 2020, 11:30 pm

40 Summer 520

Finishing up his class, Moritz was distracted by thoughts rumbling in his head. After talking to the odd horned fellow a few days past he had been pondering things regarding life and death.

"Where do they go... How do they not go... What doesn't go..."

Distractedly muttering to himself, one of the other children sitting at the table with him perked up at the sudden sound. Most everyone else was finishing a short writing project, but Moritz having finished was beginning to wander mentally.

"Whats that?"

Realizing he had been talking out loud, Moritz turned to TIna, the small but feisty girl sitting next to him.

"When we die, where do we go? And when we don't die, when we become ghosts, where does that not go? Or what doesn't go? I was just wondering..."

Confused for a moment, but as always eager to speak and tell someone something they didn't know, the girl grinned at Moritz.

"I don't know, but you should go to the temple. They know all about that stuff, don't they? They deal with gods and things. So they would know, wouldn't they? Where do you live? Zintia? There is a temple there, on that peak. So not too far from home. Here, I'll draw you a map. Mommy and daddy took me there last season. "

What followed was a simple bit of cartogrophy that would have made even the most newly minted mapmaker cringe. She drew a simple peak shape for the mountain, with some dots and boxes around it. Buildings? Places? At one spot she drew a tiny star, using an odd motion that intrigued Moritz where it was all one line but made the star shape.

"Here... Also, you have a class with Jephy don't you? Tomorrow? Can you give him this letter? And tell him its from me? I just... Don't think I can give it to him. So just give him the letter tomorrow, and return it to me the next day, okay?"

Taking the messenger duty seriously, Moritz nodded and tucked the letter into his pocket. It was on a clean piece of paper, not parchment, with a odd smell like flowers on it. It was also folded neatly, like someone had taken time and care to make it so.

Once the class ended Moritz headed out for the day with the other students, watching as they joked and ran about. Moritz instead silently walked along, pondering things.

As he neared the entrance he realized he did not know what the letter said, and knew he had better check in case something happened to the letter. The message he supposed was the important thing.

Reading it over, the letter was quite simple.

"Dear Jephy. Do you like me. Check yes or no. From, TIna."

Below this were two boxes, one with the word yes next to it, the other with the word no.

Refolding the paper with care, he placed it in his pocket and took out the simple map TIna had given him. At first he headed home, but once he got to Zintia's peak he began to check for the listed landmarks in his first attempt at true navigation.

Now was that the blue house, or the bluth house? Tina's handwriting wasn't so good...

WC: 546

by **Moritz Craven** on August 12th, 2020, 12:02 am

Heading over to Zintia, Moritz began to look about for landmarks. There was a blue house... Or was it purple? No, blue. And there was the big chimney... Or no that one. Wait was that a big chimney for the size of the building, or a big chimney in general? Ah, there was one. And then that was the oddly colored windowsill, like an Okomo's rainbow fur had been translated over to it.

While the directions were not too well designed, they served well enough to get Moritz in the right general area. And then he saw it, a building which was clearly a temple. More skyglass and fine buildings and things than any of the other buildings around. It was still daytime, and so it was not lit up, but having lived in Lhavit as long as he had he understood what it would look like when it did.

Even the stairs leading up to it were covered in skyglass, full of odd designs and things suiting no other purpose than aesthetics. Heading up the stairs it was then he noticed the Shinya about. More than them just being on parole. A bit odd, he felt. Was someone going to start trouble at a temple?

It was then he also realized something else. He had forgotten to ask whose temple it was. Tina had apparently assumed he knew, but he did not.

With a shrug the young kelvic continued up the steps, deciding to deal with the lack of knowledge when it came up. Instead he focused on the doors, which were clear. Skyglass? Doors? Doors that big and solid, made of skyglass? Surely they could not be made of anything else, if they were glass they'd shatter easily. And besides, this was a fine temple, if anyplace would have such a surplus it would be this place.

Heading inside Moritz found himself in a large open area, with more Shinya posted across it. Or more so, at points of the room, not in clumps or at random. There was an order to their placement. Off to the side were more entrances or exits, and a entire staircase made of skyglass.

Walking about a bit lost for a few moments, Moritz turned at some motion out of the corner of his eye. There he found a young girl, older than him but not a woman, approaching. She was tall and skinny, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old. Or maybe she was eleven and just looked old for her age, much as Moritz was often confused for someone older than he was due to his size. Even not accounting for his kelvic aging, he seemed much bigger than the other children considered to be in his peer group. And he assumed the school knew more about than him, surely having taught kelvic before and knowing how they aged.

"Hello. I am Francine. Are you here to worship? The prayer room is back this way."

"Ah no, I'm not here to worship. I am here to ask some questions."

"Ah, well the prayer room is good for that as well. Here, I'll show you the way. And what is your question?"

Moritz watched as the girl grabbed his hand and began to pull him off. Then she did something odd with her eyes, blinking heavily. Maybe she had an allergy? Or there was something wrong with her eyes? Moritz was not sure.

"Are you okay, is there something in your eyes? And well, my first question i suppose, whose temple is this?"

WC: 591

by **Moritz Craven** on August 12th, 2020, 12:56 am

For a moment the girl froze, staring at Moritz. Then all at once she began to shake, and let out a tinkling sound which reminded Moritz of someone breaking glass. But softer. After a moment Moritz realized the girl was laughing.

"Well, I suppose you do have a few questions don't you. You know, I'm fairly certain your the first person I've talked to who came here, and didn't know where here was. Did all the stars not give it away?"

Beginning to move again, Francine tugged Moritz into the next room. Here the entire ceiling was made of skyglass, letting light inside from the sun during the day and from the moon and stars at night.

The floor was covered in a thick fine carpet, embroidered with more designs. There were also cushions to sit on, and tables with cushioned chairs.

"I had other questions, and someone said a temple was a good place. And they told me how to get to this one, but they didn't says whose temple it was. Zintilla?"

Tinkling again the girl smiled, still holding his hand. Moritz pointedly looked down at her grip, only for the girl to slowly free her hand while still grinning at him. Then more of the stuff from before seemed to get in her eyes.

"Is there something wrong with the air in here, your eyes keep..."

Letting out a cough the girl cut Moritz off, before continuing to speak.

"Yes, its Zintilla's temple. The Koten temple. Have you not been before? I suppose not, if you don't know who's temple it is. Here, why don't we sit, and we can talk more."

With a shrug Moritz followed along, watching the girl pat a pair of cushions. She took extra care as she sat down, oddly tucking her legs underneath and behind her so that her feet poked out behind her. She then spent several moments pressing at her skirt, tucking and smoothing. Moritz simply walked up and sat down on the cushion, an upside to having pants with legs rather than a skirt with an open end.

"So, I guess my first question I wanted to ask, is about ghosts."

Clearly confused, Francine looked around as if struggling to find an answer written on a wall.

"You came here to learn about... Ghosts? I don't think... What do you mean?"

Staring off a the ceiling for a moment, Moritz examined the clear structure. If someone walked up there, would it appear they were floating in midair?

"Yes, so ghosts. When someone dies, sometimes they become a ghost, and sometimes they don't. But what exactly is doing that? What stays with a ghost, and where do they go if they don't."

Understanding coming to her eyes, Francine was once again all smiles and laughs with more tinkling.

"Oh, you mean that. I don't know much about ghosts, you'd need one of those spirit people. Spooky. But that, I know about. That is all about the soul."

Suddenly remembering something his mother had said, Moritz frowned as he met the girls gaze.

"Its about... The sole? Like, the bottoms of peoples shoes?"

WC: 523

by **Moritz Craven** on August 12th, 2020, 1:26 am

More tinkling, as the girl shook on her cushion.

"No silly. Not sole, like a shoe. That would be sole, Ess, oh, ell, Ee. No, Soul. Like in a person. Ess, oh, you, ell. Soul. You don't know about souls?"

With that the girl stuck out a hand, tickling Moritz in the chest and slowly trailing it upward.

"A soul is inside a person. It... No, it is a person. This body, its just what we move about with, what holds the soul. A ghost is when a souls body dies, and it doesn't pass on. Its stuck here. So it becomes like that, a ghost. Spooky. But the soul remembers who they are, and so even though they died and don't have a body they still exist. A soul is like... A well, a soul is like a book. A book with everything about a person written on it."

Understanding a bit more what his mother had been explaining, Moritz tried to puzzle through what he was being told.

"So... A soul is inside a person, is a person. And it remembers the person. So if they die, or their body does, their soul just can... Keep going on. Just without a body, a loose soul. A ghost. But then... What happens to the ones that don't turn into ghosts?"

Still smiling, Moritz noticed that Francine had slowly been moving about, edging up beside Moritz. Now she was sitting more beside him than opposite him, And she was also much closer than before. Was she perhaps having trouble hearing him?

"Ah, that is even easier. If a person dies, normally they go to the Ukalas. Thats where the gods live. Like Lady Zintilla, our Goddess. If you follow her in life, are devout, and die, you could go to her realm when you die. Or you could go to... Uh I forget the other ones name, its a male God... But if that happens, you could be reborn. Then you live over, but don't remember who you were."

Absentmindedly touching at his forehead where his horns would be, Moritz frowned.

"So wait, I could have lived before.... And not remember... Or wait. What if... Ethaefal..."

Suddenly Moritz recalled Octarus, the horned fellow he had met before and who had led him to pondering such things.

"If a soul remembers. But it usually forgets everything once they die and are reborn. Or at least, they body of the you who you are currently cannot access those memories in the new body. You could then... Live a bunch of times. And then become something else, like the Ethaefal. And then... Maybe that is why they remember different lives, its ones they've lived before becoming the new thing?"

Less talking to the girl than himself, Mortiz continued staring off at the ceiling as he spoke. Suddenly Francine cleared her throat to draw Moritz attention. She was now sitting beside him, their sides almost touching. Perhaps her hearing problem was worse than he had first thought.

Leaning over such that she almost had her head on his shoulder, Francine began speaking in an odd tone. Almost, Moritz felt, as if she had swallowed a wet leaf and it was stuck in her throat.

"You've lost me. I don't know anything about that. But... Would you like to kiss me?"

With a shrug Moritz turned to meet the girls gaze, somewhat confused as to what was going on. Then he remembered his mother, and her scratchy face pushing.

"No, not really."

WC: 587

by **Moritz Craven** on August 12th, 2020, 1:50 am

For a moment Francine was silent, as if his words were a stone dropped into a well and did not react till it struck the bottom.

Then all at once she yanked back from where she was leaning, her face going red.

"What? Why not? I... You... What?"

Not sure why the girl was upset, Moritz frowned.

"You asked, and I answered. I don't particularly want to kiss. Why does it matter?"

Turning about as if looking for someone, Francine grabbed Moritz shoulder.

"Look, listen here. I made a bet all right. I told my friend I could get a boy to kiss me, not me kiss him but him kiss me. Thats why it matters! And I don't have the payment if I lose. So I need to win. Now I helped you out didn't I? So the least you could do is help me win my bet, right?"

Still confused, Moritz sorted through things some more in his head.

"Right but... Wait... What? We never agreed to that!? And I don't know how to kiss."

Letting out a sigh and a eye roll, Francine glared at Moritz.

"No, but we are agreeing to it now. And its not like its gonna kill you is it? So why not? Are you saying there is something wrong with me? Look, all you have to do is simple. Pull me towards you, press your mouth on mine, count to three, and then pull back. Okay? And don't forget to breath through your nose if you need air, not the mouth while we kiss, alright?"

"I mean, I guess it won't hurt, but why... What... Oh whatever, fine."

With that Moritz leaned forward, grabbed Francine around the waist, and pulled her toward him as she had directed. Then he pushed his face against hers, meeting lips in a odd embrace. This was weird. One. It just sort of felt... Like nothing. Two. Why did people enjoy this? It wasn't unpleasant, but he did not get the point. Three. Still nothing. It just felt like he was pressing his face against something. Four. Oh wait, what number was he counting to? Better inhale, nose like she said. But what number? He forgot... Was it three. Not it was.... Five. Wait why was the girls eyes closed? Was he supposed to close his eyes. His had been open the whole time. Had hers been open, or had she closed them at some point. He did not remember.

With that Moritz pulled back, staring at the girl. All at once the girl let in a pull of air, her eyes fluttering open.

"I said three not... Oh what the petch."

With that Mortiz was done, unsure on the point of the odd payment for information the girl had given. His lack of knowledge was short lived, as another tittering girl came up out of nowhere. Or perhaps while they had been kissing.

"I can't believe you did it. Fine, this is yours. But don't let anyone see it, alright."

As the girl darted off he realized she had left something behind, and Francine now had it. A long and large bottle of some kind, though he was not sure what. Clearly that had been the payment for the bet. As he looked closer he noticed there was a dark liquid inside.

"Whats that? Is that what you won?"

With a wink Francine slowly rose from the cushion, careful to hide the bottle behind her.

"Why, do I need anything more? A bet is a bet. If anyone asks, you didn't see any missing wine, alright? And not bad for your first kiss, but you can always get better. Who knows, maybe if you ask nice I'll practice some more with you..."

With another wink the girl darted off, leaving Mortiz alone. He had been able to find out a lot, but was unsure what exactly had just happened. As he neared the exit, he heard a yell coming from behind, which sounded oddly like a man yelling"Francine!"

WC: 672