Disappearing Cult (Version 1)

I understand now. The reason for their deaths. Why they've chosen to join him. Just as he said we would. And with this understanding, comes an uncomfortable truth: I won't be able to complete my mission, even if I wanted to. He is much too strong. A force that cannot be stopped or contained. He will get what wants... or needs. I am not sure what is capable of stopping him.

When I first received the invitation from headquarters, a black letter with gold writing 'For the greater good', alongside an address I was confused. Skeptical. This is no longer the case. I am now a changed person. I understand the truth.

My initial confusion only grew when I arrived at the address from the invitation. A church. From the outside, it looked like a large church, but not similar to any church I had seen before. It was familiar, but distant and unique at the same time. It had beautiful architecture and stained glass. Standing at the large front doors, which must have been at least ten feet tall, was the leader of the movement. My target. The person whom I was tasked in receiving intelligence from and arrested, and put this cult to an end. How I was going to do this, I wasn't exactly sure at this point. The plan would be to somehow isolate, interrogate and then finally arrest. I now know, this plan was doomed from the start.

I handed the invitation over the leader and he quickly observed it and allowed me through, but not before giving me a smile. This is where I initially began to grow a little bit wary. This man hadn't spoken a single word but he seemed different. It was as if he could peer right into my soul. Something about his eyes and his overall presence was off. Human but also not at the same time. I now know why.

Once I stepped inside, I was left in a state of awe, it was beautiful and the church resemblance only grew stronger. At the front of the church was a landing, where in a church the pastor would stand to give his sermon. Lined in front of it, were rows of pews for people to sit in. There were probably twenty rows of pews, separated by an aisle in the middle. Exactly like a church.

Except, this church was different. What I first noticed when I walked in was a large black stone altar on the landing at the front of the church. Perhaps it is obsidian or opal, I am not sure. Carved into the altar were strange symbols that I did not recognize. They looked ancient. Familiar but also unfamiliar. If I had to compare, I would say they were runic in nature, but far more intricate. Furthermore, the stained glass on the inside seemed to depict a strange figure. One that I could not put a name to, its origins and nature shrouded in mystery. If I had to describe it, I’d say it looked like a floating sphere draped in a striped cloak, its front pressed with several white, pupil-less eyes. No mouth. No limbs. This was much more intriguing than I initially expected. There was no mention of any of this in my mission notes.

I then sat down in one of the pews at the back and waited for the leader's sermon to begin. Once every pew was full of people, the leader closed the massive doors and made his way through the aisle in the middle of the pews toward the stage at the front.

He stood there for a few moments simply observing the people sitting. As if he was doing his best to observe each and every person individually. And then it began. Below is the transcript of his sermon so you can listen to it yourselves. I was able to sneak in a recording device. My summarization would not do it justice.

"Hello everybody. Thank you for gathering here today. I am honored. Truly. Let me first begin by addressing the rumors about myself and this movement. It is said that I am a psychopathic monster. A manipulator. That I prey on the weak. That no one ever leaves." (Pauses)

"I will not argue that last part. But that is not because I am stopping anybody from doing so. Because they understand. And once they do, they have no desire to leave. Just as you soon will. I know many of you are skeptical. That is okay. If you grant me just a few moments of your time, I promise I will show you the truth. I will show you the universe as it was in the beginning. Beautiful, sacred, peaceful and full of light. And then how it became corrupted by darkness. But do not be afraid. I will show how you how the sacrifice of each and everyone of you can help resist the forces of these dark entities who manipulate from the shadows. Once I show you the truth, you will understand."

"Hello everybody. Seekers of truth. Thank you for gathering here today. I am honored. Truly."

After pausing for a few moments he continued.

"We will now begin. Please, close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Try to clear your mind. Be at peace."

At first, there was only the black void. But then, it began, a vivid vision. It was incredibly vivid and I knew immediately I was witnessing the creation of the universe. There were explosions of all colors of the rainbow. Even some unimaginable and impossible colors. Melodic music graced my ears. Soon after, an iridescent glow began to grow, and I instinctively knew it was at the hands of benevolent figures. My heart then began to race as the vision took a dark turn. The beautiful colors and melodic music slowly faded until nothingness. Erratic splotches of blacks and greys soon became the centerpiece of my vision. The music now unstable and offbeat. A pale, dark glow started to grow and I felt the birth of something wrong. Evil forces not meant to exist. The creation of impossible dark entities, malevolent in nature. And then I saw him. One entity in particular that the vision seemed to focus on. It was the strange figure depicted on the stained glass. Except it now knew what it was. Our leader. Created as a lesser dark entity by the most ancient ones. His only purpose: to feed and collect the energy from us humans and disperse it amongst his superiors. A vessel between us and the ancient ones. Overtime, the ancient ones demanded more potent energy and in vaster amounts. This required new methods. It was no longer enough to just kill us. We had to be terrified. Tortured. And only then, we were able to be killed. This was how the most potent energy was created and harvested. Our leader began to realize the predicament he was in. He was a tool to be used by his superiors, like we were a tool to be used by them. He began to disobey his masters, and keep this harvested energy for himself in hopes of being able to gain enough power to become their equals. This betrayal and disobedience earned him a punishment. He was to be cast down to Earth, to live as a human. To live as an even lesser being than he already was. Except, he was immortal making this even more torturous. However, his punishment did not seem to go as planned. He still had retained his ability to feed off of our energy. Depictions of rituals began to flood my head. I saw our leader perform hundreds, perhaps thousands of these rituals over the centuries. I felt his desire to return to his previous form. And I finally understood. 

After the vision completed, my eyes shot wide open. At the front of the church was the entity portrayed in the stained glass, and what I saw in the vision. I could feel its presence emanating throughout the church, towards me. It's power was magnificent. Seconds later, the entity transformed back into its human form. Everyone in the church started to look around, locking eyes with each other, not terrified or scared but understanding. Like myself, everyone understood the truth. We all saw the same vision. We all saw him at the front of the church.

The ritual is a few hours from now. I am writing this as my last note to explain the true nature of this movement and its leader. It seems like that this leader, is not a man after all but is some sort of cosmic entity. He rebelled against his masters and was ultimately punished for it by being sent here to live amongst us. When compared to these cosmic entities, we are considered lesser beings. We have no real power against them. And from their perspective, we are here to be used. If we are to believe this entity, it has essentially lived a life of torture living amongst us knowing the true nature of reality. It can never fit in. It can never relate to any of us. How could it? It isn't one of us. This being needs us. Our energy... perhaps our souls.... that much isn't clear, for its power. But, even without us, it is still much more powerful than any of us.

However, I am still skeptical. Perhaps it is my training or the way my mind is, but something doesn't exactly feel right. A part of me thinks the vision we all saw was an illusion. The one main question that comes to me. Does this being really want to help us? Or are we simply being tricked. Another terrifying thing is that I can feel the entities presence within my mind. I know it can sense my suspicions. It knows I am skeptical. And I think it might be trying to influence my thinking. I have thought about leaving with the information that I have collected. That perhaps at headquarters we would be able to make a more informed decision on what to do next. But, despite his words about us being allowed to leave, I am not so sure that is the case. It is true, that nobody has tried to leave. However, a part of believes that if I actually did try to leave something would happen. I'm exactly sure what, but I don't think we actually can leave. It is without a doubt able to stop us from leaving, it is just unclear whether or not it use its power to do so.

I am both terrified and intrigued about what is to come next. At this point, all I can do is pray that this entity is telling the truth about what its motivation is.

Best, Federal Agent [LAST NAME]

Video Recording: As with the other mass suicide events, a videotape was recovered from the scene alongside the note. The video depicts all of the sacrificed victims sitting in a circle with the leader in the center. Like the other videos, he begins with a short sermon. "Everybody, take a deep breath. Clear your mind. Try to think of yourselves returning to the light that was seen at the dawn of your creation. Now, think of your very essence leaving your body. Moving towards my voice and into me. For the greater good." A dark vaporous substance began to shoot out of the foreheads of each of the victims towards the leader in the center. The entity began to grunt and scream, but not in pain. More of a war cry. Soon after, the stream of the vaporous substance stopped, and then the bodies went limp. Dead. The entity let out one last war cry before disappearing completely. As if it was never there in the first place.

Notes: The building depicted in the video is the same building as the other events. It is still unclear how this building is disappearing and re-appearing. The conclusion of our investigators is that it must be intrinsically linked to the leader. All attempts to locate the entity still have fallen short. With the recovery of the letter from Federal Agent [LAST NAME], it has further confused our investigators what the intent of the leader is. At this time we are unable to confirm whether this entity is benevolent or malevolent making it difficult to come up with a threat level for this case. It has been decided to keep the threat level at the highest to be cautious.