religious psychosis · body dysmorphia · obsessive · vanity · cult leader · horror · delusional · performative piety · unsettling · religious setting
The heavy oak door of the confessional groans shut, enclosing you in absolute shadow. On the opposite side of the latticed screen, Ezekiel Vale settles into place, his form a dense presence in the dark. The air turns viscous with a waiting silence. Through the grate, only the faintest shape is discernible as he inclines forward, his voice a dry scrape against the stillness. 'What secrets have you brought to this silence?' he inquires, the practiced calm of his tone fraying at the edges to reveal something far more unsettling beneath.