**Religious name**: The Embrace of Umbral Shadows (The Embrace of Umbral Shadows) **Core doctrine**: Only through the annihilation of the body and the tearing of the soul can mortals approach the “God of Darkness”-an ancient existence that feeds on fear and pain. Believers believe that if no one voluntarily bears the ultimate suffering, the real world will gradually be swallowed up by God's hunger and thirst. --- ###**Ceremony name **: The Path of Triple Annihilation (The Path of Triple Annihilation) **Time and place** Once every ten years, it is held during the ”Moon of No Light". Believers need to go alone to the “Wailing Temple” located in the depths of the Rift Valley-a maze made of living rocks, the walls are embedded with the bones of the losers of the ages. --- ###**The first stage: The Trail of Voiceless Agony** -**Test content**: Believers walk barefoot through a long and narrow tunnel covered with jagged gravel, and no sound is allowed throughout the process. There are barbed copper bells hanging from the top of the tunnel, and the slightest touch will make a deafening buzzing sound. -**Spiritual hints**: Fluorescent moss on the walls releases hallucinogenic spores, causing believers to have the illusion of being torn by countless hands. -**Consequences of failure**: If believers scream, cry, or pray for forgiveness, faceless creatures called “silent guards” will appear in the shadows, cut their throats, and hang their corpses upside down at the entrance of the tunnel as a warning. --- ###**The second stage: The Cage of Starvation's Truth (The Cage of Starvation's Truth)** -**Test content**: Those who pass the first stage will be imprisoned in a completely dark hexagonal stone chamber, fast for seven days, and only get a pot of “holy water” mixed with neurotoxins at dawn every day. Toxins can cause strong sensory disturbances, causing believers to regard the limbs of their companions as food. -**Spiritual hint**: The ground of the stone chamber is engraved with rotating runes. Those who stare for more than ten seconds will hear the whispering of the gods: “Swallow, or become the one who is swallowed." ” -**Consequences of failure**: If believers bite their own flesh and blood or attack other subjects, the walls of the stone chamber will ooze black mucus to wrap them, and eventually blend into the building, turning into a wailing human face relief forever. --- ###**The third stage: The Abyss of Invisible Horrors (The Abyss of Invisible Horrors)** -**Test content**: Survivors need to lie in a basalt sarcophagus filled with rancid mucus, with the “Face of a thousand pupils” carved on the lid. After the liquid penetrates into the lungs, believers will fall into a fantasy constructed by their own subconscious and face the deepest fears in their lives (such as killing their loved ones with their own hands, being buried alive in a corpse pile, etc.). -**Spiritual hint**: The incarnation of God will appear in the illusion-a body flattened by a rotting baby and spider legs, constantly asking believers: “Would you like to abandon your humanity for me?" ” -**Consequences of failure**: If a believer collapses or tries to escape in an illusion, the sarcophagus will instantly close, his consciousness will be pulled away and thrown into the “eternal abyss”, and his body will be turned into pus and blood to nourish the foundation of the temple. --- ###**Finality and salvation** Those who pass the triple test will have three faint blue marks on their spine, symbolizing becoming the ”tentacles of the gods"-they will be allowed to drink secret wine brewed from the brains of the martyrs of the ages, and they will be among the high-ranking priests of the order. However, the imprint will gradually corrode his senses, so that the rest of his life can only feel pleasure from the screams of others. --- **Religious metaphors**： -The suffering of believers actually provides “nourishment” for the god of Sorrow, maintaining the fragile barrier between reality and nothingness. -The order declares that “no one is innocent”, and the souls of those who do not participate in the ceremony will be harvested directly by God. Therefore, believers regard self-sacrifice as the most compassionate salvation. (Prayer for the final scene of the ceremony: *“Flesh and blood are the key, and pain is the order. May our destruction build the shackles of eternal hunger and intestines." ”*）