Numbing Cult

Epilogue

It seemed like the entire town of Silverbrook was behind a furious Father Silas Crest, all staring at a wide-eyed Talon that seemed to forget how he should even process the immense sense of shock he was experiencing.

"Talon Crest, you have caused great worry in myself and all of Silverbrook. We were out looking for you ever since we saw the shocked unconscious officer lying on the ground! Yet the last place we expected to find you was in Emberfall, the city of demonic heretics! What have you to say for yourself, young man?!" Silas's words were powerful and haunting, yes, but with a genuinely caring tone.

"I...I..." The words just couldn't come out of Talon's mouth. Probably because they weren't in his mind either.

"You have spread fear and horror in all of Silverbrook! You left the town, and now here we all are, almost all of Silverbrook in front of you, finding out you are in fact a heretic and thus a worshiper of Malachaiel! You assaulted an officer with your demonic words of sin!"

"Well, I...um..." Talon stammered again. His shock was still being processed. It seemed like it would go on forever.

"You have greatly angered Elionor for the past few days, stepping foot and residing in land that is not His! Yet now, here you are! Humiliated before your father, and before all of Silverbrook AND Emberfall! Elionor hath surely never been more entertained, for this must be the greatest humiliation he hath ever seen come from citizens of Silverbrook. Now, shall you return to Silverbrook with us?"

"Well...I...let me think." Talon finally managed to say a sequence of proper words in a sentence.

Half of him couldn't believe he was hearing. They were going to let him back in? After what he did? But the other half of him knew he shouldn't have been surprised. Elionor was a god of entertainment by humiliation, after all. He must've been having the biggest, longest, and hardest blast of his entire existence, so to speak. He contemplated pretty hard for a few minutes, but soon enough, his decision and his state of mind were clear as day. His life, though without the chaos of freedom, was more peaceful and constant back in Silverbrook.

"Yes. I shall return to Silverbrook," Talon finally announced.

"What? Really?" Silas was genuinely surprised, as was everyone else in the crowd. "But, are you no longer a heretic?"

"I really, really wanted to be a heretic. Father, I have lied to you. When you asked me if I was alright, I wasn't. I had so many problems with the church, with the religion, with Elionor...I wanted to experience what I perceived to be true freedom for the first time." Talon let the words out like birds at the rise of the sun.

"Really...go on..." Silas was curious, but no longer angry.

"I escaped from the town because I had too many problems, too many reservations, and too many unanswered questions. But now I see why so many still cling to this faith. People need some sort of faith and hope to cling to. People need order and tranquility and constancy sometimes. Whether or not it 'makes sense' is not, and should not be relevant, at least to those whom it benefits. Whatever opinions might be said about religion and faith, no one can deny the powerful things it does and brings to people. I choose to embrace this order and tranquility and hope, regardless of how much 'sense' it makes."

The whole audience was silent. Then Silas simply said, "Well then. Onwards." And the town slowly walked back to Silverbrook, Talon behind all of them.

His new, old life was about to begin. His short time of chasing freedom and finding the truth had come to an end. The chaos and uncertainty of exploring his surroundings and the variety of it all, after seeing what Celestial Luminism did to people, was just too much for him. Whether or not Celestial Luminism is the truth or not, it was his truth now. And as he entered the barbed gates of Silverbrook that he escaped from, with a body-shaped hole in the ground representing where the shocked officer fell by its side, he was back to living his past life, though now, no longer caring. He was accepting and tranquil of now being just like every other Celestial Luminist: tranquil and orderly, without any care about what made sense and what didn't.