CH57 Purity Ritual
Hiroshi's rapid increase in power was lauded in the journal. Experts from various fields visited the temple to train the teenager, who represented humanity's hope. He quickly acquired skills, stats, and levels, focusing his training on anti-demon capabilities. To reach his initial 10 levels, he fought imps and tier 2 demons in borderlands. Once his initial training concluded, the kingdom's strongest adventurers formed a party to escort him to the starting town and rapidly advance him to level 20.
“Looks like sir hero got the red carpet rolled out for him.” Alex complained. “Must have been nice.”
The librarian listened and answered. “Yeah, it was a pity. But I think we are partly to blame. He was a teenage boy but we treated him like the world’s savior. In hindsight I think shrugging off the responsibility of saving the world to live a peaceful life would have been the decision anyone might make.”
Alex closed the book. “But even so, it was a lot of wasted resources.”
Fufi looked at the harpy but didn’t say anything.
“Well Fufi, we should head back. I don’t want to be gone so long that Merumeru starts to worry about us. Besides, it is a little hot here for how warmly I’m dressed. We don’t have a change of clothes.” Alex said.
The librarian seemed to think Alex was talking to them. “If you are going to undergo purification then there are special outfits for the rite. You’ll even get your own room to sleep and pray. It will take several days in the hot spring to purify you back into a human. You’ll be even better than when you started when you complete the process.”
Alex left and returned to the courtyard, noticing the striking uniformity of the people. The women all had long black hair, while the men sported short, cropped black hair and no beards. Everyone was dressed identically in plain priest's robes.
Adding to Alex's growing unease, the numerous apple trees in the courtyard bore no fruit.
Upon reaching the gate, the two birds observed the priest and priestess standing guard on the battlements.
“Hello Ekta and Yuti.” Alex waved.
“Welcome back, have you considered the offer of purification?” They asked in unison.
Alex thought that was a little creepy. “Yeah, I’d like to take you up on that but I told our companion I’d be back. I need to go check in with her to let her know I’m safe.”
“Okay, we’ll be here. Just come back and tell us your decision and we can prepare a room for you in the inner temple. May purity protect you.” Ekta said.
The feathered pair left the temple with the priests and braved the bitter cold. Their short, intensely cold trek led them to Merumeru, who was busy with construction.
The slime girl was creating a stone pipe that pointed down into the rocky overhang. Its size was similar to the non-functional pipes near the apple tree at Bob and Martha's farm. She incorporated dissolved stone into her body, using it to reinforce the pipe's exterior, seemingly completing her plumbing work. Fortunately, she wasn't a slime sickle, implying her liquid form resisted freezing better than water, possibly aided by her plumber's attire. However, her tolerance for heat remained a question; would slimes evaporate in hot, dry environments?
“What are you up to Merumeru?” Fufi said to the slime girl.
“Ru ru ru.” She replied, making some odd gestures towards the large pipe.
“I see, that is a nice pipe. Good job.” Alex smiled, not having any idea what Merumeru actually said. The harpy went to inspect it, but it looked to go up a few feet and end in bare rock. Maybe the slime girl was practicing building a sewer drain pipe? Who knows?
“Meru!” The slime girl hopped up and down.
“Anyway, come in the carriage. It is cold out here. We can talk about the temple.” Alex opened the carriage door with a claw and hopped inside.
Fufi followed, Merumeru came last after getting to a good stopping point for her work.
“So, do the people there seem a little weird to you?” Fufi started.
“A little bit, I mean they are growing apples.” Alex agreed.
“No, not that. I mean they seem really in sync with each other.” Fufi explained.
“I guess? They have been living isolated here for at least three generations? With only people coming here seeking a very specific type of healing I doubt the gene pool is very deep.” Alex waved a wing. “Also, small communities don’t keep secrets well. Everyone knows each other's business.”
“I know you enjoyed reading that journal. But did you think about your answer to those two priests?” Fufi gave Alex a look.
“Question? Which one? Something about the hero?” Alex sounded confused.
“About if you wanted to be male or female.” Fufi said flatly.
“To tell the truth, I was trying not to think about it.” Alex weakly smiled.
“So you want to stay a harpy?” Fufi probed.
“No no, I miss my hands.” Alex protested.
“Well if you don’t come up with an answer that is what you’ll be by default.” Fufi said.
Merumeru smiled cutely but didn’t say anything.
“Look, I didn’t get a choice to be a harpy or a nymph. Can you see why I would reject things forced on me?” Alex protested.
“I can, but we need to plan for the future.” Fufi pulled out the dance shoes from a cupboard. “What do you think of these? Do you want to try them on? You earned them from the dungeon. They might be magic.”
“Well, yeah. They are nice shoes. I bet they’d be great to dance in.” Alex gushed over the footwear.
Merumeru giggled.
“So, if you had to face those two again what would you say?” Fufi said slowly.
Alex glanced around nervously then whispered. “Well the shoes probably wouldn’t fit me back when I was a man.”
“What’s that? I couldn’t hear you well.” Fufi twisted her head upside down.
“It is kinda creepy when you do that.” Alex said, trying to change the subject.
Fufi threw up her wings. “Well, I guess that is about all the answers I can get out of you today. But please don’t be too stubborn and consider who you are.”
“Yes yes, I know. I’ll think about it for real this time.” Alex shrunk down.
After adding coal to the stove and preparing tea, Merumeru assisted in making warm soup. In preparation for the following day, everyone showered, enduring the small, cold stall, though the well-insulated carriage remained warm. Fufi and Merumeru helped Alex dry off, and Alex cleaned their clothing with a feather duster. Fufi's hydrophobic feathers repelled the water. As the sun set and cold winds raged outside, the trio remained warm inside the tightly buttoned carriage and slept soundly.
The next day, Merumeru declined their invitation to the temple, gesturing towards the pipe and shaking her head. They left the carriage and Merumeru to watch it for another day.
Leaving the slime girl behind, Alex and Fufi made the cold flight back to the temple. As they approached the gate, ready to knock, it opened automatically. The two priests waved from the battlement.
“Welcome back Alex.” Yuti called down from the ramparts.
“I’m back.” Alex bowed awkwardly and stepped in out of the cold.
Fufi followed.
The pair came down to greet her. “So did you remember who you were before you turned into a harpy?” Ekta asked.
Alex hesitated and finally answered. “I’ll go to the women’s part of the temple.” The magical girl oddly thought of the tempting dance shoes while making the decision.
The pair of priests nodded in unison. “Follow us. We’ll get you a room right away.”
Ekta and Yuti lead them through the narthex and deeper into several winding corridors. They went down several flights of stairs. The pair of priests stopped on either side of a door.
“Here is your room. Please change your clothing and pray to the goddess for purity of mind. Feel free to look around if you’d like. Leave your old clothing in the chest and an acolyte will come by to clean them later.” They said in unison.
Alex nodded and headed inside. The room was very small. It had a cot and a chest and an altar to pray at. Next to the altar was a single book filled with psalms and prayers. Several sticks of incense were burning next to the altar.
“Thanks, I’ll get changed.” Alex said.
The chest contained a towel and a set of priest's robes that matched the outfit everyone in the temple wore.
With Fufi’s help, Alex got changed and placed the fur dress in the chest. Alex’s phone hid nicely behind the sash of the robe. “Bleh, it is so hazy here. Can you help put out the incense?” Checking the character sheet, Alex glumbly noticed that the outfit didn’t provide any bonuses.
Fufi nodded and extinguished the incense with her beak. They opened the door to air the room out.
They checked the doors around seeing if anyone was home. “Hello, is anyone there? May I come in?” Alex said.
Behind the door some rusting and squawking could be heard. Alex opened the door and saw a harpy dressed in the remnants of a familiar outfit. The black feathered harpy wore too-large leathers with a stone knife holstered on a too-big belt.
“Squaaa! I mean, hello.” The harpy had to try hard to talk and not just squawk.
“Hmm, that outfit looks familiar,” Alex said.
“Do you squaaa, know me? Thinking is hard.” The harpy said.
“Well, unless you changed clothing, I think that outfit belonged to the chief stone axe.” Alex said.
Fufi nodded her agreement.
“I don’t know who that is. The priests asked me if I was a man or a woman before turning into a harpy. I couldn’t remember. They told me to squaack pick one. So I looked at the priestess and she seemed similar to me so I picked female. The priests said it didn’t matter and this could be a good chance to start over and serve a greater power.” The chief flapped her wings.
Alex flapped a wing to get the smoke coming out of the room away. “I suppose that could be true. From my brief interactions with you before, I didn’t get that you were a nice fellow.”
“Ah, well things seem more clear the more I pray. I think that my destiny is to dedicate myself to purity.” The other harpy replied with conviction.
“Hmm, okay? Do you know where they do the ceremony to return someone to being human?” Alex asked.
“Oh yes, but is your heart ready? When I showed up here the other day they said to pray until my heart was in the right place. I have conviction now and am ready to go if you are too then we could go together.” The chief answered.
“Sure, let's go check it out.” Alex gestured the other harpy out of the room.
“I guess we now know what happened to that jerk.” Fufi whispered into Alex’s ears.
Alex nodded, the irony of the fate of the greedy chieftain not really mattering at the moment.
The trio of birds went down some hallways and down another staircase until they came to a gated room that had steam flowing out of it.
“This is the hot spring. The priestesses in there help with the purification.” Chief stone ax explained.
Alex addressed the priestess inside. “Hello, could we come in?”
“Greetings acolytes. Is your heart with the goddess and ready to become pure of the harpy plague?” One lady came to open the gate.
“Yes, my heart is ready.” The other harpy said with conviction.
“Me too.” Alex added.
The three of them moved to enter but the other priestess blocked Fufi’s path. “Your animal companion will have to remain outside. The ritual requires only humans to be present.”
Alex nodded and the gate was closed, latched, but not locked.
They led the pair of harpies towards the water and helped them change into just a towel wrapped around their torsos.
Alex looked around and noticed that the spring had a Japanese hot spring vibe to it. Doubtless, the hero must have had a hand in that.
“Sit over there and we will wash you off then you can enter the spring.” One priestess directed.
Two harpies settled onto bath stools on the rocky floor. A priestess poured a wooden bucket of soapy water over them and began scrubbing with a brush. Alex felt a tingling sensation throughout her body.
She watched in amazement as the chief underwent a transformation. The brush removed feathered hair as if it were dirt and cleaned the wings, causing feathers to fall away until hands appeared. The chief's claws and scaled legs were cleaned, losing their talons and scales and becoming human legs and feet. Alex assumed the same was happening to her.
Another bucket of water rinsed off the suds. They then entered the water. The priestess brushed the former chief's head, and long black hair quickly grew. The chief's eyes turned the same brown color as the temple priests, which Alex found unsettling.
Still in the water, Alex lifted what had been a wing and saw a delicate hand. Lifting a foot, she expected a taloned claw but found a human foot. When the hair-brushing finished, Alex noticed long, silky black hair she hadn't had before. She felt slightly dizzy, perhaps from the hot springs.
“My heart belongs to Catalina” The former harpy exited the bath,dried herself and donned the priest's robes.
“Welcome sister. Report to the mother superior for assignment.” The priestess hugged the former harpy.
“How do you feel Chief stone ax?” Alex said, inching out of the bath.
“Who is that? I am one with the goddess now. Who I was before is not important.” The long black-haired priestess was the spitting image of the other two. They looked like triplets.
Alex felt a wave of dread at the response. Did chief stone axe just get transformed and brainwashed?