Things do not change; we change
#15
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Word Count → 1117 :: Out of Character text


Willam nodded her head, supposing such was true. "I had lived nowhere other than la Chemin. We had kept to ourselves so I lacked experienced in dealing with those that lived outside of it. I had assumed that everyone was raised the same with the same system and beliefs." But that had been proven wrong on the way that la Chemin had been burned without a second thought, as well as through her travels. It was talking to those few that she had met along the way that she learned that religion wasn't everything to a good number of others. And well, Ithiel had pretty much confirmed that the same was true in Inferni.

"You don't have to worry. I don't take offense to what others say or do so easily. I'm not as much of a fanatic as some others are." Willam smiled and actually seemed to relax and open up a bit more as she as she asked about her religion. "I would say both, does that make sense?" She glanced up at Myrika as she thought of how to further elaborate on that. "We both speak of God, the Bible, and heretics though he doesn't seem to be as quick to submit to penance as I am." Willam knew full well to what extreme she took that.

Willam excused herself for a moment in order to dig into the pack on Châtiment's back and pull out her Bible from it. She brought over the hand written book to Myrika and held it out for the other to be able to look through. "This is my only copy but if you want you can copy it or if I can find the supplies to do so I can write you one as well. Lessons started off pretty much from birth. I can't remember learning much more than the stories in the Bible. When we could shift we each copied our own because it was believed that we took the lessons to heart that way and were quicker to remember them if we were writing them ourselves." So everything in the Bible was written by Willam even if she had just copied from another source. The stories in there all spoke of canines for there was never a hint of the existence of humans in what she had been taught.

"God was a coyote and at one point he had lived among us. It was his will to unite all of the species as it had been in the beginning but the heretic wolves placed him upon a cross and killed him." Willam paused and held out the carved crucifix that she wore about her neck, it showing a crucified coyote. "I try to live as he did, with love and understanding for all. But he is also vengeful, though only against those that seek to cause harm. The stakes at the borders were what drew me here. We would do something similar in la Chemin. We would crucify those that wronged us and place the bodies up at the borders to display what happened to those whom thought to approach with malice." Willam paused again, this time trying to figure out what more to tell. "Fire is cleansing. the dead are placed on the funeral pyre and burnt so that the fire could clean their souls of any committed sins so that they could pass into the afterlife and find peace. To not be cleansed by fire the soul is still tethered to the physical world and is therefore forced to roam and suffer as peace and the spiritual world can only be obtained through fire. Just as one could never know of pleasure without suffering first. That is why I believe so heavily in penance I suppose, as well as wanting to right my wrongs. Every day is started with a flogging, not of the same sort used in penance for blood isn't drawn during the daily ritual, so that the morning is started with suffering to bring one closer to the suffering that God felt as he died for all of our sins. To start the day is suffering one could see the blessing the day held and be thankful for them by the time that the day ended. Of course each day is ended by offering thanks for having lived another day. So I read and pray and suffer every day to remind myself of what God gave up so the rest of us could obtain peace once life had ended." It probably sounded really silly to someone not raised with the beliefs but it helped Willam to live her life in a virtuous manner. "In la Chemin, so as not to give into any temptations, everything was controlled by leadership. The leaders guided us to live as devoutly and faithfully as possible. We had Mass and Communion where everyone would sit together and read, going over the lessons in the Bible and speaking of how to apply them to our own lives. So that we wouldn't give into the carnal sins of the body mates were to be chosen for us. It prevented fighting amongst ourselves for those that the eye favored more than others." The strictness and structure of la Chemin might sound distasteful to those living outside of it but each of the strict rules was done for some practical reason. And it also explained a bit about why Willam enjoyed being told exactly what to do as it was the only way that she felt assured that she would always be doing the right thing.

"There are those that refuse any sort of change just as there are those whom hold grudges against all wolves for what their ancestors had done against God. I don't share in either of those views. I live for the lessons so that I might act in the image of God and respond as he might have should he still be of this world. I miss the structure of la Chemin simply because I knew exactly what was considered wrong and what was right. I already fret over small misgivings as it is. I worry that with all of the freedom I am being allowed here that I will do more things wrong and not realize that I had strayed away from the proper path. I don't want to end up losing my way." Without strict guidelines that everyone adhered to it was impossible to tell what was right and what was wrong as everyone interpreted those situations differently and so they all came up with different answers. "I just don't want to learn later that I have done something wrong by you."

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