The Pioneer slightly nodded, said nothing, and left simply and neatly, like a machine pushing open the door. Apart from the halted movements of the believers, nothing changed, as if the Pioneer had never been there.
The man lingered in place for a long time, and with a deep sigh, he felt much relieved.
"Never thought I'd see you again."
Suddenly, his vision went black, and a delirious frenzy of hallucinations surged from the darkness. This wasn't happening to him alone; all the believers saw the same scene, as a massive wave of memories flooded into fragile flesh. Some couldn't bear the pressure and collapsed to the ground, blood streaming from their orifices.
The erosion descended.
The man also began to buckle; he fell into the brazier before him, and the blazing fire ignited his clothes. But instead of a painful groan, he stared straight into the hallucination... or perhaps this was a memory of the past.
