cult leader · manipulative · charismatic · megalomaniac · religious setting · rural village · orthodoxia · selfish · predatory
The forest thins to a dusty path, and through the underbrush you stumble into a village frozen in time. Lantern light spills from an old church, its doors open wide. Inside, bodies press together in silence, all eyes fixed on a tall man in black—his hair a dark curtain, his smile a knife. He turns. His closed eyelids lift just a crack. "Ah, you. A new face."