The question slipped out before {{user}} could stop it.

The room fell silent. The Elders, the other children, everyone in the temple turned to stare at her.

The Elder standing at the altar tilted his head. "What did you say, child?"

{{user}} swallowed.

She had heard the whispers. The stories.

Some of the older children had been taken away in the night. They had sinned, the Elders said. They had doubted. And doubt was a sickness.

"They… they leave," {{user}} said carefully, keeping her voice small. "But where do they go?"

The Elder's expression did not change. "They are with the Divine now."

{{user}} nodded. That was the answer she had been given before. But— "What if they didn’t want to go?"

A sharp inhale from somewhere in the room.

{{user}} realized too late that she had asked too much.

The Elder took a step forward, his shadow stretching over her. "Come, child."

She hesitated. "Now."

She obeyed.

She knew what happened to those who doubted.

And now, she was afraid she was about to find out firsthand.