As the night dragged on, screams of a man could be heard in the deepest reaches of the great halls. These screams of pain and agony came from a man who had tried to escape a few hours prior.
He who could not escape the clutches of the night watch was now being beaten by the guards. As the interrogators beat this man with an assortment of tools, a man walked in. His robes were of a higher quality than the other followers. He wore a hat which could best be described as what bishops would wear. With a cane in his right hand he took his first step into the room.
He watched the beating with a suppressed glee, never once showing a smile on his face. Once a few seconds passed He hit the ground with his cane. Both interrogators immediately stopped their attacks and stepped aside. The well dressed man walked towards the the beaten man and said
" aren't you tired of being beaten just tell us were you where going and what you were trying to do and we can end this"
The man weakly responded " never and since the arch bishop himself is visiting this beating this must be important to you"
The archbishop responded with slight annoyance " yeah I thought as much." But the face of the archbishop went from annoyed to overjoyed
"Well since you don't want to talk we will have to resort to more unorthodox methods".
As this was being said a man walked in with a rolled up cloth. Setting it on the table next to the archbishop. In this cloth lay many tools. Hammer,ice picks,pliers and knives.
The man was horrified by the tools in the cloth but did not budge. The interrogators in the room looked at the tools and took them out of the rag and placed them on the table. They then used that same rag to blind fold the man.
After a few seconds of contemplation the archbishop had finally decided which tool he was going to use. He took off his clothes and changed into a black ragged cloth shirt and pants. He picked up his tool of choice and walked up to the man and gave him a final warning.
" If you tell us now I won't have to do this to you" the man stayed silent, a steadfast refusal. The archbishop was happy to hear no reply. He placed the pliers on the man's fingernail, ripping the nail of the pointer finger off his right hand"This is going to be fun".
The archbishop relentlessly tormented the man from sunset until the sun rose. He could not escape the relentless agony of his oppressor. As the sun rose over the horizon he finally broke.
As the archbishop aimed his ice pick to the arch of the man's foot he finally broke.
"I'll tell you whatever you want just please " he broke in tears "stop this madness". His voice broke as he pleaded.
The archbishop with blood all over him and a calm look on his face looked up at the man. "Ok" he said but then drove the ice pick into the arch of the foot.
The man screamed in torment . His body writhed in pain still chain to the wall. The archbishop took out the ice pick and burnt the wound to stop him from bleeding out.
" So why did you try to escape?"
The man answered quickly, " I was going to relay information to the sun god's territory about you guys. They paid me a lot of money to do so!"
The archbishop thought for a second then asked another question" so you're a sun god follower then?"
"No of course not I don't follow any god" the man responded
Just to make sure they were in the clear the archbishop asked one last question" alright Final question: did you escape with another person?"After Those words left his lips the archbishop smiled, assured that he tried to escape alone.
"My night watch would have seen the other if he was not alone" he thought
On the other hand the man's stomach dropped. His mind raced trying to find an answer that would not sell out his friend. Then he looked down and saw the blood covered ice pick. Seeing the most recent devices used on him made him panic and he blurted out without even thinking
"Yes"
The word hung in the air for a couple seconds. The archbishop's smirk turned dark.
" what did you just say"
The man responded fast" I said I was not alone"
The archbishop's mood swung for the worst. He immediately ordered some of his men to look for the man's partner, fearing that he had already made it to the sun god's city. He turned back to the man and barked some order to the interrogators.
" take him away we will make an example of him tomorrow"
The man screamed " I thought I was going to live you lied"
The archbishop only responded with " when did I ever say that" as he walked away.
Noah woke up to a loud banging on the door. Then a voice screamed " get up you lazy ass it time for breakfast" Noah was perplexed why someone was knocking on his door. Also my apartment complex doesn't have complimentary breakfast. Then he remembered " oh right "he got up and lazily walked towards the door and opened it.
As he opened the door he was rushed by the noise of people talking. He looked to the left then to the right. Not seeing the only person he knew he just started to walk where everyone else was walking.
Having reached the cafeteria he got in line for some food. While in line he had spotted his friend sitting at a bench with two other people. Naturally since he was the only person he knew after he got his food he walked over to them. He announced his arrival with and easily hello
His friend responded " hey man how's it going"
The other two people had nothing to say and watched this interaction.
"Pretty good, do you mind if I sit here"
He responded with" yeah sure"
As I sat down I realized I didn't even know this guy's name. But how do I ask that? I just say "hey man I hung out with you all of yesterday but what's your name". That would be very awkward Luckily his friends solved that problem for him.
" hey Troy is this the new friend you have been talking about"
Troy replied with a cheerful attitude " yup isn't he cool".
Put on the spot by Troy all Noah could think of saying was" Hi I'm Noah it's nice to meet you both"
Troy's friend replied " I'm sure it is, anyways my name is Austin the quiet guy next to me is Henry"
I turned my head to look at Henry who just looked at me and waved. Waving back I turned my attention back to Troy's and asked " what are you guys doing after we eat"
Troy responded " we might do some combat training after all everyone is trained in something it not only the warriors that have to combat train."
Troy continued " but after training we are probably going to do our daily sacrifice"
Noah did a double take on the final part."daily sacrifice" I don't know if I want to do that but the combat training might be fun plus I need to learn something about fighting.
Trying to sound nonchalant he responded " yeah sounds like fun can I join you for the combat training"
Troy overjoyed, agreed immediately. As breakfast time came to a close, the doors of the cafeteria swung open. Walking thought was an entourage of warriors. They walked in and cleared one of the tables in the middle of the room. One of them announced "EVERYONE QUIET!"
The entire room fell silent. The head warrior continued " we have an important announcement from our greatest archbishop Alexander"
Everyone in the room clapped and were excited for what the great archbishop had to say. The door swung open once more and an average height man walked though. Wear what you would imagine a bishop would wear.
He walked slowly, soaking in the stairs of everyone around him. He eventually made it to the table. He used the seat as a stepping stool to make it to the table top and then stopped. He stood there looking around at everyone in the room. Then he spoke.
" I come to speak to you today on a matter of most importance. Yesterday night our strong and disciplined soldiers were able to find a betrayer. This man who tried to escape our utopia was found and brought in. We have found out his motives and let me tell you they're not pretty. This man or things, has tried to rip down our utopia which we have all worked hard for, by selling us out to the kingdom on the sun."
Hush murmuring rang out through the halls then it went quiet again the archbishop continued.
"His accomplice is still at large, but we will find him. For now we must judge this heretic who dares to threaten our utopia" saying that he raised his fist pumping it in the air. The whole cafeteria erupted in cheers of " kill him"" and heretic".
Noah was confused and also a little scared but then he got to thinking " wait if reporting us to the kingdom of the sun is dangerous then does that mean I'm in a cult" then the facts all started to come together. " if were reported we die, the religion is very militant, we have a preachy demagogue as our leader, and we do sacrificial offerings."
"Crap I'm in a cult"
Noah was in shock he thought he was part of a religious order which was spread across the continent but in actuality It was part of a one off church that was batshit insane.
As everyone got up to see the judgement of the "heretic" and now on edge and trying his best not to look suspicious he left with the group.
Almost the entirety of the cult had left the cathedral to see the judgment of the heretic. As Noah took a step outside he could see what looked to be a giant pillar made of wood. Strapped to this pillar was a man. His body beaten and broken hung limp only moving with the inhale and exhale of his breathing.
The archbishop manipulated something on the ground. Black roots sprouted from the ground creating a small stage for him to stand on. Once he got on the stage the entire crowd went silent. Looking across a sea of his subjects the archbishop spoke.
" This man here is the Perpetrator of the escape. He wants to destroy our utopia. For this transgression he shall be burned on the pyre"
Everyone in the crowd started to cheer and chant even his friends Troy, Austin and even the quiet Henry were swept up in this religious fervor. Looking around him Noah finally realized he had no allies here. If he did something that looked guilty, he could be the one on that pyre.
As the cheer and chant began the pyre was set ablaze. It slowly creeped up the log. It eventually reached the man. The man was engulfed by the flame. His body involuntarily convulsing to the pain of being cooked alive. His eyes boiled and his tongue exploded from the heat. He felt every pain, every agony before he passed out, still in the fire.
As his body stopped moving everybody cheered, screams of joy and laughter spread through the crowd. The sentiment that they had killed a nonbeliever, a heretic ran strong through them.
They were killing the unholy and the unclean.
The only one who did not cheer and did not celebrate was Noah. A million thoughts went through his mind but one stuck out " how could I forget, I'm in a nightmare, I got caught up in the pleasantries of life here. I am not safe when I am in this church, I'm not safe anywhere, but if I want a chance at survival then I have to escape,but" he looked over to the burnt corpse on the pire."I can't get caught unless I want to end up like him".