Home; I Found With You // Ryeji FF

only you.

Her nose crinkled harshly as the pain began to settle in. Slowly, Yeji opened her eyes, which throbbed horribly as she made sense of where she was.

She craned her head up a little, quickly figuring out that she was in the lobby of the cult's lodge. Figures in white surrounded her, chanting with a low tone that she couldn't quite make out.

The crackling of lanterns and free-standing torches filled the air. Suddenly, heavy footsteps approached from behind. Before she could react, a pair of hands aggressively brought her upright onto her aching knees. Yeji looked over her shoulder, realizing it was Henry with a busted lip glaring down at her.

Panic filled her body as she quickly remembered what had happened to her before she was knocked out. Yeji glanced down at her body, noticing her clothes were still on and there was no immediate pain other than the steady pounding in her head. Her wrists were bound from behind with a belt that she recognized to be his.

She could feel the man's breath on her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. Her jaw clenched tightly as she braced herself for what was about to come out of his mouth.

"You think you can defy God's will, Yeji?" Henry's voice was low and menacing, filled with a dangerous fervor. "You and your friends, trying to run away from your fate."

She was too stunned to fight back, fear's grip tightened on her making it harder for her to breathe. Abruptly, the cult member's voices raised in volume, letting out a deep, eerie melody (D, B, G#, A according to Yeji's perfect pitch ears). Her sharp eyes widened as she saw the cult leader making her way to the makeshift throne in front of her.

The woman, clad in flowing white robes with a red eye in the center, her eyes, dark and piercing, locked onto Yeji's with a chilling intensity. She spoke, her voice echoing through the room with a raspy.

"Sinner... you dare to defy the will of the gods?"

Yeji's heart pounded in her chest, her mind racing as she searched for a way out of this nightmare. She knew she had to stay strong, had to find a way to escape. But as the cult leader approached, dread washed over her.

"You dare escape our judgment," the cult leader continued, her voice stone cold. "But there is no escape from the divine will. The gods demand sacrifice, and you will be the first."

Fear and anger surged within Yeji, "I will not be your sacrifice," she spat, her voice trembling.

The dim light of the torches flickered as the woman's lips curled into a cruel smile. Her eyes bore into Yeji with fanaticism and malice. "Oh, but you are," she said, her voice carrying a chilling certainty as she raised a hand to signal the cultists. "The gods demand it."

Before Henry and the other cult members could grasp her, Yeji twisted her body free, her heart pounding in her chest.

"How am I a sinner?" Yeji's voice reverberated through the room, filled with raw anger and desperation. She gritted her teeth, her eyes locked onto the leader's. "What did I do to deserve this?!"

The woman got up from her throne and gripped on Yeji's face, her nails digging into her cheeks. "Because you sinned," she hissed, her breath hot against Yeji's skin. "You slain our gods, and you did it mercilessly."

Yeji's mind raced, trying to make sense of what she meant. As the cult leader's words echoed in the chamber, the surrounding members began to wail in agony, their voices rising in a haunting chorus. It was as if they were channelling the pain and suffering of the revenants that she had fought and killed.

The memories flooded back to her mind like a torrential wave crashing upon her. The reverends she had killed in the midst of her anger, the red eye glaring at her from the wall of that forsaken store, and the fleeting glimpse of someone darting behind her into the alleyway. It all clicked into place.