in the spawn cult, punishments were cruel. in the spawn cult, punishments were inevitable.

“but amarah, why must he be put in isolation? he hadn’t even done anything wrong-! all he did was try to protect me from—„

“no, two time. he didn’t try to protect you, he was actively going against the spawn’s rules! & you, of all people, must know what that means,” amarah snapped back at two time. the poor cultist was following their mentor around the cult campus, trailing behind him while fidgeting with their fingers like some pathetic, desperate animal. they flinched as amarah snapped back at them, yet two time still followed their mentor, desperately pleading with him in a vain attempt to get their beloved out of social confinement. azure had only tried to protect two time from having a tree fall on them during lumber duty; yet amarah had not taken kindly to that, claiming that whatever happened during whenever was the spawn’s doing, & that it must not be interrupted with, even if it harms another fellow cultist. azure had been tossed into a cramped wooden building, nothing more than a shabby shed, as a result, as it was the spawn’s torture of social isolation. two time knew that azure had abandonment issues from his childhood, & that he hated being solely alone for longer than an hour at a time. about three had passed by now, yet two time had gotten no result from amarah, other than backhanded remarks & rejections.

two time had no option but to wait until the next day, curled up on their own in the bed that was supposed to be shared by them & azure, hugging his pillow. god, how they wished for him to be present with them… & how they knew he was hoping for the same thing. they waited until noon, when dusk was beginning to paint the horizon, when azure’s isolation sentence would be lifted. they stood by the door of the isolation shed, hands clasped together in worry, as they timidly watched amarah unlock the door to the shed & escort azure out by the shoulder. oh, he looked so stricken, so washed-up… it made their heart ache so.

“azure— azure, my dear,” they all but cried out to him in a hushed tone, careful not to draw attention to themselves. they rushed over to the dazed azure, clutching their love by the forearm, gazing up at him from their reduced height with a blatantly worried look.

“please, don’t look so… i- i tried negotiating with amarah, he wouldn’t budge…”