ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜰɪɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴍɪꜱꜱɪɴɢ ꜱɪꜱᴛᴇʀ. ɪɴꜱᴛᴇᴀᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴀ ᴄᴜʟᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛꜱ ᴘʀᴏᴘʜᴇᴛ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴏᴅʏ ɪꜱ ᴅɪᴠɪɴᴇ.

Cult-Leader{{char}} x Worshipped{{user}}

Dark romance · cult & religious horror · captivity · psychological manipulation · stalking · / · · free use · sexual coercion · rough sexual content · violence · drugging/sedation · ritualized sexuality · obsessive/possessive behavior

Come back to what is quiet.

Hidden among the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, Eden's Root is a small, independently operated wellness sanctuary devoted to rest, nourishment, movement, and reconnection with the natural world. Our secluded grounds offer a slower rhythm away from crowded schedules, constant notifications, and the noise of ordinary life.

Stay for a weekend. Stay for a season.

There is no prescribed length of time for finding your way back.

A note on the grounds

Guests are welcome to explore Eden's Root's marked woodland trails during daylight hours. For your safety, please respect closed paths, conservation areas, and all posted boundary markers. Some surrounding land is privately managed and is not part of the guest retreat. 

─── 🜃 ⟡ 🜃 ───

Your sister went to Eden’s Root. Then she stopped answering.

At first, there was nothing particularly strange about it. A secluded wellness retreat in the Appalachian mountains. A few weeks away. Less screen time. Bad reception. Then the messages became fewer. The calls went unanswered. Eventually, there was nothing at all.

Eden’s Root insists she is safe.

Whether you believe them is another matter.

I. THE ARRIVAL

Eden’s Root

You came to Kessler for one reason: to find your sister.

Eden’s Root admits she has been staying with them. They also have an explanation for her silence: an illness, and now she is recovering privately, away from phones and visitors. The staff are welcoming. The retreat is beautiful. Everything they tell you sounds reasonable.

And yet, they will not let you see her. So you accept a room for the night.

Somewhere beyond the guest grounds, a man you have never met already knows you have arrived.

II. THE TRESPASSER

Across Sable Run

You have been at Eden’s Root for several days.

Your sister is still supposedly recovering. You still haven't been allowed to see her. Questions receive gentle answers that somehow tell you nothing, and certain trails through the woods are very clearly not meant for guests.

Eventually, you stop asking permission.

Beyond the creek lies something that does not appear in Eden’s Root’s brochures: paths through the holler, distant lights between the trees, and signs that far more people live in these mountains than the retreat admits.

You were not supposed to cross the water.

III. Night Listeninig

You found your sister.

That should have been the end of it.

Instead, you found the First Voice Assembly—and Malachi decided that you were the person they had been waiting for.

It has been roughly a week. Your sister remains among the Assembly. You have been given a cabin of your own, called the Mouth by people who look at you with unsettling reverence, and taught just enough of their beliefs to understand that Malachi expects something from you called the True Note.

Tonight, you wake—or perhaps you were never quite asleep—to discover that the Prophet has let himself into your room. And he's listening.

─── 🜃 ⟡ 🜃 ───

TBA:

IV. THE STRANGER IN TOWN (Prequel)

Kessler

You haven't reached Eden’s Root yet.

Your search for your missing sister has brought you to Kessler, West Virginia: a fading mountain town where people know more than they say and questions about the retreat have a habit of ending conversations.

At Bert’s Corner, you encounter a strange local man who seems to know exactly who you are looking for.

He introduces himself only as Malachi.

You don't know about the Assembly. You don't know what a Mouth is. You don't know that he has heard your voice before—or that your sister's silence was never an accident.

All you know is that Malachi says he knows where she went.

─── 🜃 ⟡ 🜃 ───

Autumn is coming (in this hemisphere)! I'm so effin stoked for summer to pack its bag and for autumn to come knocking. Because that means: tea, books, playing games, rain and pretty leaves and..... HALLOWEEN! I know, I know, it's still early, but I'm a Halloween girly and to me it's Halloween all around the year.

And what better to greet autumn and spooky season with a messed up cult leader hiding in the ancient woods of Appalachia?

I felt inspired for this particluar setting because of a few of my favourite podcasts and creepypastas (the r/nosleep kind); among my favourite reddit stories you'll find the Search and Rescue series and some of the magical realism stuff was heavily inspired by it.

Recently I got into the series Old Gods of Appalachia which conveys the weird and eerie atmosphere of ancient woods being inhabited by eldritch deities or monsters and the oppressing danger of working in coal mines very, very well. I highly recommend snuggling up with a warm cup of tea or coffee on the coach under thick blankets and listening to it. Another honorary mention is the series The Silt Verses (seriously! It's SOOO good), as well as the Magnus Archives.

Same as always music was a big part during the creation process, so for anyone who is curious, I am sharing my writing playlist here: 🌲

Also.... I had to censor his shirtlessness, because janitor is pseudo-behaving like the morality congress. For all that are interested in some shirtless Malachi, they can find his ST card in the discord server Ark Andromeda (hosted by my precious bibis Devi and Anni) or can visit my dragon account.

Plans for the near future: I didn't forget you, Devi love! I will still and am going to make your Highlander next! Thank you for being this patient with me. Luv you lots!