devotion | cult of the lamb

5

CHAPTER TITLE: SHRINE

"AMDUSIAS," you repeated the name, offering him a hand. "Will you join our cult, join me?"

"Yes," he spoke without hesitation, clasping your hand tight. "To the ends of time, to my final breath. I will follow you." His palm was warm, and you could see a soft orange flush beneath his eyes.

The Lamb came thundering down the steps.

"Lamb," you smiled at him, deciding not to mention the tensing of Amdusias. "The crusade was successful, I'm guessing?" You gave a glance to the strange being at your side, clearly a byproduct of the journey.

The Lamb's eyes narrowed, but nevertheless, he nodded; crown glowing once again as your new follower now donned the same clothes as Mertiy.

"Go and collect stone for us," you whispered to Amudusias. "Please?"

He nodded immediately, releasing your hand and stumbling over himself to reach the nearest pile of rubble. You chuckled.

Ratau had arrived.

"Followers will either work or worship. Worshipping develops devotion for you to collect, but to collect this you need a Shrine."

He nodded towards the worktable, which you could see had a faint symbol above it.

It took a good hour or so to build the shrine with the aid of Mertiy and Amdusias.

It was mostly wooden. Depicted facing away from the stairs was the Lamb, wooden wool and clothing with stone face and bell. His eyes and crown were an inky black, tears streaming frozen down his face despite the faint smile etched onto it.

Facing the stairs was you. Also mainly wooden, but your head and antlers were of the same cracked stone. Your eyes, however, were closed; antlers standing tall and strong.

"Praise be," smiled Ratau. "Your followers can now worship you." He tapped his staff on the ground. "Here is a new follower, make them worship at the Shrine. Then collect the devotion your followers generate to unlock Divine Inspiration."

You hid a wince as someone emerged from the stone circle, terrified.

Approaching with the Lamb, you heard them begging to live under their breath.

"Spare me, spare me, spare me," whined the purple cat, eyes squeezed shut tight.

"Calm down," you hummed down to them. "You will be spared, so long as you join us, so long as you join our Cult."

They peeked an eye open, the other following suit as their gaze landed on you. A deep mulberry shade spread across their face before their eyes shimmered gold. The shine was less opaque than it had been on Amdusias and Mertiy.

"Yes, yes!" Their ears perked, darting to their feet and clasping your hands in theirs. "Yes, I will follow you loyally, faithfully, yes. Yes, until the light in my eyes dies out, yes."

Their grip was tight, and on the verge of becoming painful. "... ah. Very good."

You... didn't really know what else to say.

"My name is Yarthay, great Stag," spoke Yarthay, tail swishing nimbly at their feet. "What would you like me to do? I'll do anything, anything, yes, for you. Yes."

Their deep plum eyes never once left yours, even when their tattered clothes changed to the scarlet 'uniform' of your Cult. They never left yours even when the Lamb gave them a foul glare that could make any heart stutter in fear.

"Go and pray. At the shrine." You commanded, watching as they nodded furiously. Yarthay squeezed your hands in theirs, savouring the feel, before scuttling to kneel by the shrine. They made a point to sit closer to your depiction than the Lamb's, muttering quiet 'yes'es all the way. It seemed they liked that word.

a/n: omg a 3rd chapter in 24 hours? what is this, christmas? do you guys like the format by the way, chapter titles, bold/italic words, and all. i quite like it myself. rizz lord [name] has made a return (thanks for the rizz comments on 2 by the way, made me chuckle)

a/n2: uhh totalllyyyy not important at all ha ha, but if i were to say, i dunno, maybe potentially write a minecraftxreader fanfic at some point(with certain mobs having unique&detailed courting practices), would anyone be interested in reading it? if i did do this definitely 100% hypothetical thing would you also mayhaps be interested in voting for certain mobs to crop up? maybe. perchance.