The fire slowly burned out, turning into ash. Cryst and I got ready to sleep. Our bed was just a rough piece of cloth we used as a blanket, and a cold stone slab that had soaked up the sun all day. It still held some warmth, but the night was getting colder.
We lay there in silence for a while. Then, Cryst asked me softly:
"What about you? Why did you leave the church?"
I didn't answer right away. I didn't want to talk about it. But friends are supposed to share everything… right?
So I told him.
"The church I came from… I only saw the outside when I left."
I looked up at the cave ceiling, thinking back.
"It looked small on the outside: just a tower, some stone walls. But inside… it was huge. Like a castle. Big halls, tall ceilings, rooms that never seemed to end."
"They told us there were seventeen rooms. Seven of them were chambers where we, the adopted kids, slept."
My voice got a little quieter.
"We didn't have names at first. Just numbers. They gave us names later, if we were good. I wasn't called Veilstorm back then. I was 'Child Thirteen.'"
I pulled the cloth closer to my chest.
"Each sleeping chamber had a color. Ours was purple. The walls were always cold. There were no windows, no clocks. We never knew if it was night or day."
Cryst didn't say anything. He just listened.
"At first, I didn't question it. That place told us how to live. What to say. How to pray. And if you broke the rules, you were taken to Room Seventeen."
I stopped for a second.
"No one ever came back from Room Seventeen."
The last bit of fire cracked softly.
Cryst asked, "Is that when you left?"
I nodded slowly.
"That was part of it. But it wasn't just fear. Something felt wrong. The building felt too big… like it didn't belong in the world. Like it was built in a place that shouldn't exist."
I looked at the shadows on the cave wall.
"When I finally ran, I escaped through a door I had never seen before. It just appeared."
I turned to Cryst.
"Sometimes I wonder if the church was even real. But I remember it. I still dream about it. So I think it was."
Cryst, raising an eyebrow, asked,"Hiding something?, You can tell me you know.."
After a long pause, I spoke again."I didn't tell you everything about the chambers."
Cryst turned toward me slightly but didn't say anything. He knew I wasn't done yet.
"Each of the seven rooms where we slept... they had names. Not numbers. Names."
I swallowed."Each one was named after one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Pride. Envy. Gluttony. Wrath. Lust. Greed. Sloth."
"They told us those were the weaknesses of the world. That we had to live with them, learn from them. That's why we slept there — to 'face our sins.'"
I gave a weak laugh. There was no joy in it."I never understood how a child was supposed to 'face' something like that. We didn't even know what half those words meant. We were just trying to survive."
The stone under my back felt colder now.
"I was in the Room of Gluttony. There were mirrors on the ceiling, so we could always see ourselves, even when we were sleeping."
"The food they gave us there was always too much or too little. Some nights we were forced to eat until we threw up. Other nights… nothing."
Cryst's face tightened, but he stayed quiet.
"I never saw all the rooms. They kept us apart. Said it was for discipline. But I remember the names."
I looked into the dark.
"And then there was Room Seventeen."
Cryst asked softly, "The Divination Chamber?"
I nodded once."They said it was holy. Those chosen to enter would see visions. Hear the voice of the divine."
"But no one ever came back from it."
"Ilas… my only friend there… was chosen one day."
I swallowed hard."He smiled at me before he went in. He thought it was something special."
After Ilas went into Room Seventeen… no one remembered him."
I turned slightly on the stone slab, the ragged cloth pulled up to my chin.
"Not the other kids. Not the priests. Not even the nuns who used to scold him."
"When I asked where he went, they just stared at me — like the name meant nothing. Like I made him up."
My voice lowered.
"But I didn't. He was real. He was my friend."
I swallowed hard.
"The day after he disappeared… I snuck back to the Divination Chamber. I had only seen it once before, through the keyhole late at night."
"There were three statues inside."
I paused, staring at the ceiling like I was seeing them now.
"The one on the left was wrapped in thorns. Sharp, black ones that looked almost alive. Its face was hidden, like it was in pain."
"The one on the right was carved with its lips open, blowing wind from its mouth. Its robes flowed like they were caught in a storm."
"But the one in the middle…"
I closed my eyes.
"It sat on a throne. Cold and tall. Beside it was a sword, long, silver, and cracked near the hilt. The statue didn't move, but it felt like it was watching everything."
"That morning… I saw blood at its feet. Just a few dark drops, dried on the floor."
Cryst's breath caught, but he said nothing.
"No one spoke about Ilas after that. Not even in whispers. His bed was gone. His clothes were gone. Even his number was reassigned."
"Like he had never existed."
I looked down at my hands, quiet for a while.
"That was the moment I knew. That place wasn't holy. It was something else. Something pretending to be a church."
Cryst then asked, "How did you escape then ?"
I pulled the cloth tighter around me as I spoke, my voice quieter now.
"Room Seventeen… it was always covered in mist."
"Even inside the church, even with no windows… the air in that room was thick. You could barely see the floor. The mist moved like it was alive."
I paused for a moment, remembering how heavy the silence used to feel.
"When I ran away, it wasn't planned. I didn't even know I was going to do it that night. I just… couldn't take it anymore."
"Something inside me snapped."
"I waited until everyone was asleep. Then I slipped out of the sleeping chamber, down the silent halls. Every step felt like it echoed for miles."
"And somehow… the door to Room Seventeen was open."
I swallowed.
"I didn't go inside. I didn't need to."
"That mist was spilling out, crawling across the stone floor like smoke from something burning deep below."
"I turned and ran. I don't even remember how I got outside. Just that the cold air hit my face, and suddenly… I was free."
But then I hesitated.
"I made the mistake of looking back."
Cryst didn't breathe.
"The mist was still there, floating in the doorway like a curtain."
"And through it, I saw the statues again."
"Their eyes were open."
"All three of them."
"Not stone eyes — real ones. Wet, shining, blinking. And the one on the throne…"
I looked down, voice barely above a whisper.
"It smiled at me."
"Not with joy. Not even with anger. Just a slow, knowing smile."
"Like it had always known I'd leave. Like it wanted me to."