The Warmest Winter Night

It had been four months since Ian found his parents beheaded in their bedrooms. It was now the coldest time of the year—dead cold in the middle of december, where Vesp District was known to have some of the heaviest snowfalls in the country.

Freezing, and numb.

It was all Ian could feel physically since the loss of his parents, but emotionally, his heart had been gripped tightly by the rugged hands of rage. Throughout the time since their deaths, he wasted no time mourning, but instead, spent his time studying the pattern of locations that the Cult of She travelled. He looked for the primary spots where they'd worshipped, eventually concluding that their spot of preference was deep in the southwest woods found in the furthest corner of Vesp District. This was where Ian wanted to enact his revenge. Revenge for his innocent parents that deserved every penny they earned. The wealth and property that came with their success had all fallen right into Ian's hands, under their will. Ian wanted to ensure that their hard-earned money would not go to waste.

{ TEN THOUSAND TO EACH INDIVIDUAL THAT'LL FOLLOW MY SCHEME. }

Ian posted an advertisement for his plan in discrete parts of the internet that the Cardinal Nexus would not be able to easily see.

"All we have to do is burn down the forest you speak of?" Someone sent him a message, in response to his ad.

"Burn down the forest and all its people in it. Everything. Everyone."

"With what, torches?"

"Every individual that registers with me will be provided a licensed flamethrower the day of."

The sadists and potential irregularities came flying through the registration doors to sign up for Ian's plan. Soon, Ian gathered nearly 200 people to follow through with his vengeance against the Cult of She. Vengeance to avenge his parents who were killed off because the cult envied their wealth. When his parents wouldn't share any of their wealth with the Cult of She, they took it personally. The cult felt that their chance to flourish was wasted when their richest members declined the offers to support them financially, especially when every other member was struggling with money. So the Cult of She decided that a lesson must be taught. One that could use the Sedia family as an example of why not to decline the requests that the cult made. The example was to be set for the rest of the members so that they could obey and follow Her ideals even deeper, even if it was simply out of fear.

Ian had always been skeptical about the cult since the very start, but with their actions against the Sedia family, his suspicions had finally been confirmed. Ian always believed that the cult teachings were nothing more than a mirage to grab money from beneath the bare feet of those who were in desperation. Now it was Ian's turn to flip the rug out from beneath the ones in robes.

{ On December 13 at 7:00 pm, you will all gather at the edge of the forest in the formation I've given you. When you are all in formation, you can disable the safety modes of your flamethrowers. If you don't know how, there should be instructions in the manual along with the package I've shipped to each of you. On my signal, you will all charge towards the center of the forest and burn the trees along the way. If you see people in white robes, burn them to the ground. Set them aflame. Burn everything, and absolutely everything. Nothing and no one should remain. When the night passes and I've seen proof of the massacre, ten thousand will deposit directly into each of your bank accounts. For those who want cash, you can contact me directly and set up an appointment at the Sedia Head Office with me. Good luck to you all. May She burn in hell. }

The hundreds of people under Ian's will got the notification; his last indication of the event to take place the next evening. When the evening arrived, Ian sat alone in his mansion relaxing, sipping on an expensive bottle of wine his parents had been saving for their anniversary, while staring deeply into the embers of his living room fireplace. The fire burned brightly, and so too did the forest that night. White robes were blazed to ash, as frosted trees set aflame trapped both the cult and Ian's lackeys inside a gradually shrinking circle of fire. By dawn, only crispy corpses remained among the withered snow. No one lived to finish Her teachings, and no one lived to receive Ian's deposits.

At the Sedia household, Ian was nowhere to be found once the white sun emerged. In the midst of the night, in his tipsy demeanor, Ian didn't notice his house be broken into, soon finding himself being pulled to a van by a group of white-suited individuals. A man in a white lab coat greeted him upon entering the back of the van.

"Hey Ian, I'm Overseer Jophiel."

The Angels began strapping Ian to the metal bed. One pulled out a syringe and injected it into his temple, having Ian slowly lose his memories in the next couple seconds.

"I'll make sure to reintroduce myself to you once we get to the facility."

The van then drove off and vanished from the Sedia property, eventually vanishing from the surface of the earth.