Like Moths: The Theater

The Theater (The Fool) Chapter 1: The church

The smell of fall filled the air as the smell of burning leaves nearly overpowered the smell of burning flesh. A man dressed in a flannel and brown jacket who tended to call himself Brian Stenson and a man who was dressed remarkably like a wizard stood outside the crumbling building, watching the old church burn. The fire had started in the basement of the church and the flames had eaten their way through that holy place like rot. The steeple fell like an ancient tree, cracks and splits filled the air as the building collapsed, the noises, sounding just a little too much like screams. Brian's vision fogged. He hadn't properly cried in a full year at least. He shut his eyes tightly, but he could still see the bright orange light of the flames burn their way through his eyelids, cutting through the deep blue night around him.

The old building was a place of beauty and a place of worship. Not just of some god which long ago had fallen silent, but of community. All anyone had left anymore was one another after everything fell. Some people dropped into solitude while others gripped onto those around them like a vice. The stained-glass windows of the building shattered as easily as the structure of the world. They fell in explosions of rainbow toned glass, which were much prettier than the governmental collapse which ensued when the infection spread.

The man standing next to him gripped his arm with a shaking hand.

"I think we need to leave." The wizards grip shifted in a way that spoke more than it clearly meant to. He tightened in a desperate way that said there was nothing left to do here. Brian knew that he was right. The ceiling caved with a thunderous roaring crash as the two hesitantly walked off into the night. The wind felt so cold.

...

What clearly was once a sanctuary of some Methodist church had now changed into something much different. The wide area around the pulpit was draped in curtains which cracked open just enough to let a thin sliver of multicolored light seep into the room. Implying a large stained-glass window somewhere within the shrouded area. The expansive room was filled with warm bright light from candles and lanterns. Clearly the electricity in the building was shot to begin with and the 5 or more years of disuse and disrepair did not help this fact.

Brian felt the red carpet nearly crunch underneath his feet as he was led closer to the curtains by the woman who had found him out in the woods. The mildly rotten pews around him as well as the slight smell of the carpet implied at some point the roof had caved in allowing rain and the elements to take control of this supposedly holy place until perhaps a few months ago. Looking up to the ceiling confirmed this theory as the distant roof had patches significantly newer than the surrounding rotting ceiling.

The woman leading Brian through the church stopped in front of the curtains and gave a snap, presumably to cue someone somewhere Brian couldn't see. He jumped for a moment and looked around expecting to be attacked by some unseen assailant, but no one ever came. What did come, however, was more bright, warm light from the curtains as they lazily drew back to reveal something Brian couldn't quite understand.

"Welcome!" A light but deep voice called from where the pulpit once was. "To castle Fairfield. House of the lord, or one of them at least." The speaking figure said with a soft laugh. Brian stared in what he couldn't decide was awe, confusion, or amusement at what sat before him.

The person who had spoken had done so from a large chair that was clearly custom made as it just looked like your average comfortable stuffed chair but scaled up to give the impression of a throne. The person in it sat casually, nearly sprawling, across the surface of it. They had longish dark hair and wore clothing that seemed fancy yet casual. They didn't blatantly visually bare the grandeur that some would associate with someone in these circumstances but the air they had about them certainly did.