Atheist monk

Elric was getting ever tired of the insistent teachings of the monastery, constantly telling him how to think and what to do with his life, how important their lessons were and that he follow their every teaching. Not to say that there was no value in their teachings, for he had learned much of how to control his body and will, but he did not believe that they had all of the answers which they advertised. To say that gods controlled every action of the earth, and that individual people had no say in the matter, while having never left the monastery to actually see anything that the world actually had to offer or how things transpired... Such teachings were pointless. There was no logic to them. No foundation.

In the last few years, he had not kept his feelings a secret. He continuously questioned the monks teachings in the middle of their lessons and challenged their thinking in nearly every subject. The more he questioned, the more he realized that to assume there were gods was folly. Why should he believe in gods when he could question them? If they were as all powerful and all knowing as he had been taught, than they should have no problem making him believe in them. And in one hundred and fifty years, he had never seen a single shred of evidence of their existence. The monks prayed and called minor conveniences great miracles brought about by the gods. He had even orchestrated some himself, and they had given credit to the gods.

For some time he had not dared say that he did not believe anymore, for he knew the consequences. But as time went on, he knew that he could not continue to live such a life of lies. There was much he wished to learn, and he was never going to be able to do so within the confines of the monastery. He would need to travel the world if he ever wished to learn the answers he sought.

The moment the words escaped his lips he was being ordered to pack his belongings - though it was unnecessary, seeing as he already had. He was unceremoniously removed from the monastery, without a word of goodbye - most of the friends he had had in his early days had long since disassociated themselves from him. He ad no regrets as he left the safety of its walls.

But moving on, he would continue to carry two lessons with him of the monks. The first was the importance of body, to maintain and prevail through the use of one's own body and power. And the second was the non-necessities of material wealth. He had no use for weapons or armors when his body already served as both.