The people danced around the god, their bodies moving in unison, like marionettes pulled by invisible strings. Robed figures encased in gold chanted, their voices a discordant symphony of half-remembered hymns and garbled invocations. It was chaos, yet it was choreographed—a grotesque parody of devotion.
We're like animals, Zephyros thought, his eyes darting across the scene. Compared to the rituals in the city, this was more theatrical, more... hollow. He slapped himself, unwittingly, as if trying to shake off the memory of something he hadn't even fully experienced. Why did it feel so familiar? Why did it make his skin crawl?
The air was thick with the scent of incense and sweat, a cloying mixture that made his stomach churn. The rhythmic pounding of drums reverberated through his chest, each beat a reminder of the suffocating expectations pressing down on him.