The path to the Viridian Chapter is paved with many sorrows. It's a sect which sits on the site of a brutal atrocity, and one which harbors numerous dark secrets. Leader, Hans Lehmann, is a visionary bestowed with remarkable abilities, with followers who are prepared to offer their lives in exchange for his promise of a utopia.
On the cusp of autumn, a lone seeker arrives to discard his former life and embrace his rebirth as a chapter disciple. Stark lessons within a strict regime are the lure for those who have been traumatized by their uncaring past. The promise of a doomsday ascension through the waste of flesh proves at odds with a union between two souls who must flee the confines of the commune, if their love is to stand a chance of being fully realized.
But will the inner circle elite discover this betrayal and exact a terrible retribution, or will they escape the clutches of the sect's unstable originator and lift the lid on the culture of violence within?
I went into this short story totally blind, not even having read the synopsis. I don't normally do that, nor do I often stray from the horror genre. I knew only that it was a short story, which as I've said many times, I'm rather addicted to those. So with that being said it becomes immediately apparent that a man with a troubled past has found his way to a death cult looking for a sense of belonging that he has never experienced.
"Even though I was angry with him he was still the only person I admired, and the broken part of me that had brought me to him in the first place was stronger than the rest of me back then"
At first glimpse it seems he will become just another lost soul in a long list of disciples, but then he meets a woman who makes him reconsider, and he begins to plan an escape.
It's hard to say much more without giving anything away but you could have knocked me over with a feather when the ending came, I was that surprised.
4 out of 5 stars
I received a complimentary copy for review.
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