God Complex - Vol. 1

VIII. Naivety-Part IV.

"Hea kun wei!"

Jun heard excited voices all around him saying this as he began to open his eyes.

He opened them to see the starry night sky and the leaves of trees. A pounding headache made itself known to Jun as he sat himself up and looked around. He was at the entrance of a temple of sorts.

Stairs led down to the streets and plaza of a town that were filled with people looking at him. Jun saw various statues of what he guessed to be gods and goddesses of their beliefs.

The smell of something burning caught his attention and he noticed various small bowls of incense being burned at the foot of the temple. Other offerings to the temple could also be seen around him that varied from flowers, fruit, food, to even drinks.

But he was soon stopped from taking in his surroundings by a sudden slap to the face. Jun yelped in pain, cupping his hurt cheek, looking over to see who hit him.

"Why in the world did you stop at this town!? Of all places!"

Misaki's voice exclaimed angrily, accompanied with an icy stare.

Jun rubbed the side of his face as he opened his mouth to speak.

"I didn't mean to!" Jun raised his hands in defense as he watched her raise her hand again to slap him again. "I was curious because I noticed the festival lights!"

Misaki lowered her hand and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh so you could go smoke? Also an illegal substance out of all things! You bring shame on me for offering to help you get to Perenykisk!"

Jun bit his lip.

"I wasn't smoking! Just..." Jun began to mumble his words. "just there was this man who forced me to go with him..."

Misaki squinted her eyes at him as she crossed her arms.

"What...man?" Jun started to panic at Misaki's question. He didn't know how to phrase it so that it wouldn't make her any more disappointed.

"Well um...I didn't know he was a noble and uh...he got mad because I didn't want to go with him. So I decided to go anyways..." He then added frantically, "But I didn't smoke though! Just the place was filled with the smoke..."

"Do you have the backbone of a reed?" Misaki pinched the bridge of her nose, though she sounded like she had genuine concern for him.

Jun didn't know what else to say and decided to let his eyes wander. His blood stained tunic caught his attention to where he noticed that his right arm was bandaged up.

It then it all came back to him. Jun started panicking as he grabbed at his hair.

"Oh my heavens! I killed a woman! I-I—" He felt himself start to hyperventilate as he went to stand up.

"That was a suea ying, a type of spirit," Misaki explained sharply as she grabbed Jun's arm to sit him back down.

He felt a wave of relief wash over him at hearing those words. But then he began to have more questions than answers.

"Wait..." Jun began, resting his head in his hand. "If the woman was the spirit, what was the tiger."

Misaki looked as though he was going to slap him again.

"Suea ying come out during the full moon for a man. Afterwards they turn into a tiger and eat their mate." Jun did an audible "oh" as it made more sense now. He looked up and sure enough it was a full moon out.

It reminded him on how Huaza would have festivals when there was a full moon out. Suddenly he started to remember what had happened with the ghost.

And how he used his power.

Wait where's my bow!? Jun thought franctically as he stood up and looked around.

He saw the crowd still looking at him past the stairs of the temple. The Long River to his right. Housing and more jungle to his left.

As Jun turned around, he saw the alter of the temple and there he saw it.

His bow sitting unscathed, looking completely new, on the top of the alter. Some cloths sat around near the base of it and he went to to grab one of them.

"Wait Jun what are—"

He ignored Misaki and swiftly grabbed one of the cloths and then his bow. Jun quickly covered his bow and put it on his back. He turned around to see Misaki with an utterly bewildered look on her face.

"Someone must've mistaken my bow for an offering," Jun explained quickly while he shook his hands in a reassuring way.

Misaki went to say something but closed her mouth, shaking her head in disdain.

She began to walk down the stairs which caught Jun by surprise. Not wanting to be left in this town, he briskly walked down the steps to catch up with her.

They walked in awkward and somewhat uncomfortable silence through the crowd and towards the docks.

While they weaved through the people, Jun felt as though someone was staring at him with intent. He turned around but didn't see anyone suspicious.

Jun grabbed at his bowstring across his chest to try and get rid of his uneasiness.

When they got back to Misaki's sampan Jun reached out his hand to help her down, but she slapped his hand away. He awkwardly got into the boat after her, untied the rope from the docks, and hoisted up the anchor.

The boat began to lazily drift downstream once again.

Jun sat down in one of the chairs by the table and laid his bow on the top of the table. Footsteps could be heard as Misaki went to her bed to go rest once again.

The stars and the moon shone brightly in the midnight sky which casted a luminous glow down below on the river and on the boat.

Jun looked down at his bandaged arm again and touched it. He immediately flinched his hand away as it was really tender. Propping his legs on the edge of the boat, Jun leaned back in his chair and let sleep take over him.

Before he drifted off to sleep, he thought of the people in the town and how they saw the blue lighting he had summoned from the sky.

He was paranoid on what they would do with what they all had just witnessed.