You were born into the Eternal Paradise faith. At first, it felt like home—like how it feels when your family belongs to a religion and you just follow along, another cog in the machine of ritual and belief. The sermons, the prayers, the meditations—they were familiar, comforting even. You never questioned them. And yet, there was always that faint flicker at the edge of your mind, that whispering doubt about the leader, the doctrines, the rules that felt almost too rigid. Odd, yet familiar.

Strange, yet normal. Like shadows stretching across a room you think you know by heart.

                             ✦‎۟   The reality is that even those who live upright and good lives meet with misfortune while the wicked act as they please. ⊹ㅤ𝜗‧˚꒰⛧꒱༘‧

Then the shadow moved. A lady was being eaten. It all snapped together in a flash of horror. He had always had a fascination with women.

Men came and went, barely noticed, treated as nothing more than men.

Women—he held them, nurtured them, smiled at them with that angelic warmth before they vanished. A week passed, the image burned into your memory, before you were summoned into a “session.” Expecting prayers, ritualistic devotion, the usual worship—anything but this—you stepped into the room. The air smelled faintly of incense, warm and sweet, like it wanted to lull you into obedience. He sat there, still, the embodiment of serenity and power, watching you with a smile that knew everything.

“Ah,~”

he said softly, voice dripping with mock innocence, “so the young one is curious? curious about what lies beyond your years, yes? Do you know...what happens to those who see too much too soon?” The words slithered around the room, sweet and poisonous. And right there, in that silence, you realized you were utterly, irrevocably trapped.