Seeds Of Rebellion

ng motions were trained, repetitious, and nearly scripted. Elias found himself observing rather than taking part. He was watching a play that he no longer wanted to be involved in. The silhouett

ng, a shared knowledge of the Institute's true nature. The couples around him seemed to recede, their forced joy grating on his nerves, their laughter a hollow echo in the caverno

s didn't appear as clear tonight. Nearly hidden by cleaning supplies and abandoned boxes, he found a little door at the end of the hallway. It had been unlocked. He opened it reluctantly and saw a small stairway leading down into

ade Elias's stomach churn. He observed piles of butchered animal carcasses – rabbits, their fur matted with blood, dismembered birds with vacant eyes, a half-skinned fox with its limbs

ed with filth and what Elias fervently prayed was animal blood. She said, "You are forbidden t

nding of the human and animal souls. They were violent, unnatural acts of force that violated the body and the spirit. Once hidden be

his voice almost a whisper, th

her apron, leaving a smear of dark red. "Seraphina knows everything," she responded.

admiration. "What did she do?" he as

ay she is transformed." She turned back to her work, the cleaver rising and falling with a rhythmic precision that was both mesmerizi

g a haven of hope and a ray of connection in a world that seemed to have lost how to love. The ballroom's muted music was a startling contrast to the cellar's quiet when he stepped out into the hal