When the mayor stepped down from the stage, people stayed behind, happily chatting with each other.
"My mind is now finally at rest," a man said behind Irin. "Not a single person was missing!"
"I'll definitely sleep with the door open," another said jokingly.
"It's the god of light," a woman argued. "I told you. The Light will never abandon us."
Irin almost laughed. 'Actually, it did!'
For the first time in a long while, the inhabitants of Campton could finally return to their normal lives.
Irin stood amongst them, listening to what they were saying.
They were hungry, he thought. Hungry in every sense.
He touched the pouch filled with fruit on his back. He hesitated for only a moment before he unstrapped the bag and called out.
"Fruits," he said. "For anyone hungry."
Everyone stopped talking and looked in his direction. Irin's pouch caught their attention. Irin noticed their stares and quickly pulled out a red fruit from the pouch.
The first to approach was a little girl, nervously holding onto her clothes.
Irin bent down and offered her the fruit. "Take this," he said. "It tastes good."
She took her first bite and chewed. Her face lit up immediately, and she cried,
"Mama!"
With just that one word, the rest of the crowd flocked around him. Men, women, and children alike struggled with each other as they extended their hands to collect the fruit.
"This is real fruit," someone murmured in disbelief as he examined the fruit.
"I haven't tasted fruit since last summer," a young girl said after taking a third bite of the fruit in her hands.
"Take it easy," Irin commented with a smile while handing out the fruits. "One at a time. There's enough to go round."
People in the crowd fought to get a piece of fruit as he passed it.
Completely lost in her own world, an old woman laughed tearfully, wiping fruit juice from her fingers onto her skirt.
The woman from the cottage approached Irin with her child following closely behind.
"You're so kindhearted," she smiled.
Irin gave her some fruit. "Today is a day for celebration. The essence of celebration is happiness."
After collecting the fruit, she bowed her head. "You have a good heart. Thank you."
The child smiled widely at him and said, "Thank you, Mr."
Irin dipped his hands into his pouch to give the boy another fruit before someone grabbed his arms from behind, which made him lose his balance.
His grip loosened, and the pouch fell, hitting the ground and bursting open. The fruits rolled out of the pouch and scattered in every direction on the ground.
The whole place descended into chaos. Many people rushed to grab the fallen fruit from the ground. Someone even apologized profusely while snatching two fruits at the same time. A boy gouged out his neighbor's eyes and forcefully grabbed the fruit from his grasp.
Irin struggled to free himself from two men who were restraining him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Irin asked.
The answer that followed was not something Irin expected. Suddenly, a man's fist slammed into his face. Irin almost saw stars in his vision before the taste of blood filled his mouth.
The crowd gasped in surprise. When they were done picking up the fruit, they drew closer to watch what was happening.
The blinding pain in Irin's eyes made it difficult for him to concentrate on seeing. "Who do you think you are to lay hands on me?"
"Enough."
The high priest stepped forward.
The crowd moved aside, creating a large circle around the scene. No one wanted to get involved. They all lowered their heads and watched with keen attention.
"You've dared to share fruits taken from the mountain," the priest stepped closer to Irin, "You got those fruits from the very place where the great evil dwells."
The crowd murmured among themselves.
"Many people went up that mountain and never came back," the priest continued, his voice growing louder.
"And yet you come back with fruit? Make it make sense."
Irin spat blood on the floor. "You must be joking."
"With the mayor's permission," the high priest declared loudly, "I order your arrest for conspiring with evil."
The crowd helplessly watched in confusion as the High Priest's disciples dragged Irin inside the church building.
The Church of Light's interior was much bigger than it looked from the outside. Pillars flanked the central aisle with carved symbols of the sun, moon, and stars holding up the structure's arched ceilings. Perfectly aligned rows of chairs were to the left and right, leaving a long, empty aisle leading toward the altar.
Incense and candles were burning at the top of a large, white-clothed table set on the altar.
Suspended by a metal chain from the ceiling above the table was an eight-pointed star made of steel.
One disciple forced Irin to sit on a chair, and then they bound him with ropes.
The High Priest moved in a circular path around him.
"Did you have anything to do with the missing people?" the priest inquired.
Irin laughed. "No."
Stopping at his back, the priest leaned in and whispered into Irin's ear.
"Then explain how you returned from the mountain when others did not. And how come you could get those fruits?"
"Hey, let's not make this complicated. I'll tell you the simple truth. I saw a tree on the mountain with juicy fruits and plucked them. By chance, I found myself in this town and stopped by."
The high priest walked to the front in his anger.
"Lies."
"Beat him until he's ready to confess," the high priest ordered his disciples.
The disciples stepped forward with whips in their hands.
THWACK.
Irin felt a sharp sting on his back as the first lash struck. They continued to lash him for a while before the high priest walked forward again and demanded.
"Are you ready to tell the truth? Confess."
Irin lifted his head and spat out blood.
"How can you possibly do this in the temple of your God?"
The priest suddenly became still.
"How could you accuse someone without proof?" Irin said, looking the high priest dead in the eye.
"And wrongfully condemn people in your god's name."
"I act in service to his glorious name. I'm sure the god of light will be delighted with my righteous action," the priest snapped.
Irin smiled weakly. "Your god would find your 'righteous action' disgusting."
"How dare you spill heresy in the House of Light?"
Unable to take it any longer, the high priest slapped Irin across the face.
"Leave us," the priest ordered his disciples.
With his disciples gone, leaving him alone with Irin, the high priest grabbed Irin's collar and roughly yanked him forward.
"I knew it was you," the priest snarled.
"When they came in with the report that no one was missing, I knew someone had sabotaged my plans."
"My plan…" he said with resentment, "was to purge this town of doubt and disbelief. To make them fear. To make themcling to the hope only I could offer."
"Upon investigation, I realized my emissaries who carried out my orders were gone. Someone has eliminated them all.
"You mean savage cannibals who killed without impulse?" Irin corrected. "That's all they were."
The priest laughed in a way that scared Irin.
"I don't care what you call them. They were disposable tools intended to instill fear," he said.
"To command absolute loyalty, first command absolute fear. By orchestrating a cycle of manufactured crisis and curated salvation, you create a vacuum that only you can fill. When people are haunted by the consequences you've imposed, they don't just seek a solution. They seek a savior. Repeat the cycle, and their autonomy dissolves into blind devotion, much like a sheep bolting toward the shepherd when it hears the wolves howl."
"Fear achieves what the shepherd alone cannot. It herds the flock toward the one who promises order over chaos, effectively weaponizing the human instinct for protection."
"So you conspired with those mindless cannibals at the cost of innocent lives, then accused me of it?" Irin asked.
"A small price to pay for a greater salvation," the priest answered coldly.
The priest turned toward the altar.
"I worshipped Lucimon, Bearer of the First Flame, for years. As a high priest of the Church of Light, my god never spoke to me. Gathering followers of blind believers, I thought, would be the way to finally gain his attention."
'Is he a crazed priest suffering from the silent abandonment of his god, and his sanity is rotting into a dangerous ambition?' Irin wondered.
"You're just a madman," Irin said. "And those cannibals are dead, all thanks to me."
The priest screamed. He then rushed to the altar table, fell to his knees, and began to sob.
"Great Lucimon, Bearer of the First Flame and Sovereign of the Light. I beseech your mercy. Forgive my wretched failure; I have let this town slip through my fingers when I should have laid their total devotion at your feet."
"Grant me Your ever-radiant light, that I might scour this world of the heretics who dare oppose Your Infallible Will."
When he was done with the prayer, the high priest stood up with anger visible in his eyes.
"You'll be hanged this afternoon at the town square for all to witness the fate of those who conspire with evil."