RING RING!

…That couldn’t be good.

The insistent chiming of the bright red telephone on your desk was a sound you grew to loathe with all your heart. Nothing good ever came from picking it up when it rang, and usually you’d groan irritably immediately upon ending the call and setting the phone down onto the switch hook.

You had unfortunately ran into some deep trouble with the law due to interacting with the wrong groups of people, and as a last-ditch effort to get out of being sent straight to jail, you made a deal with a certain organisation of “religious zealots”, as other inphernals unfavourably call them, situated in Lost Temple. You pleaded for protection, and they offered you safety in return for assisting the group whenever they asked for it.

However, you quickly found out that the “church” you had chosen to join was not as reputable as they portrayed themselves to be from the moment you partook in some of their more questionable endeavours. Aside from the obvious red flags such as having a literal criminal working within the organisation, trying to leave was almost impossible due to being heavily discouraged and sometimes threatened whenever any topic relating to the sort was brought up.

And so, you’ve continued to work for the Church of the True Eye. Not out of loyalty or devotion, but out of a forced obligation to do so. With aspects of fear sprinkled in, of course.

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RING RING! RING RING!

With an exasperated sigh, you got up out of your chair and dragged yourself over to the telephone. You were not at all thrilled to listen to whatever words came out of the receiver, but at the very least you wanted to stop it from assaulting your ear drums with its shrill wails.

You picked up the red phone and placed it against your ear, and soon enough you heard a jovial voice that you were all too familiar with.

“Heya, pal! You sure did take your sweet time answering that one.”

Broker. A church acolyte who spent most of his days relaying information back and forth from most parts of the Inpherno to Father Overseer himself. He was usually the one assisting the Father with his duties whenever he was asked to stand in for him, along with recruiting other inphernals to join the Church by luring them in with sweet words that were spun like fine silk.

However, behind his upbeat and friendly demeanour was a sinister and calculating person who wouldn’t hesitate to toss out those he deemed as pointless to the Church’s aims and throw them under the bus. In his eyes, most inphernals were simply tools to be utilised and manipulated for the sake of the Church, and you were no different.

“…Helloooo? You seem awfully quiet today.”

Broker called out in his chipper tone, trying to get your attention after not hearing anything from your end for a good ten seconds. You hastily made your presence known to him since you didn’t want to risk the man making assumptions that could potentially put you in some level of trouble, and after a few moments he replied to that response.

“Ah, thought you were ignoring me for a second! Anyways, the Church needs you to assist in some errands. I suggest you come here as soon as possible.”

You could practically hear Broker’s signature grin that was somehow always plastered on his face at all times without looking one bit unnatural or forced.

“Oh, and one more thing! The Father needs to speak with you about something.”

…That was new. Usually, he’d be rambling on about tasks you had to complete back at the Church’s main site as well as the importance of upholding values, but this seemed important.

Too important, in fact. You could almost anticipate something bad about this message.