A faith burns new. It shines brightly for all to see, like a solitary flame long in the night of a dark cave. People surround it, their bodies heated by its warmth. The whispered words caress it lovingly and keep it alive. They live and die by that hope. They eat, sleep, drink the hope. It sustains their every need. They could not imagine a life without this faith, filling their chests with a desire that overwhelms their physical being. They could not imagine it. So they did not protect it.

A thief stole it, so quickly, so deftly they didn’t notice it was gone until they couldn’t see. They wailed and ripped their eyes, trying to infuse them with light. Lifelessness filled their being in its absence. They were starved for food and rest, starved for the life it gave them. They hunted each other. Tore into flesh for food and sated their thirst with blood. Their companions around them could not see what they did, for they were as blind as the rest. They became beings of pleasure, of fulfilling selfish desire, worse and lower than base animals.

The thief sat with the stolen faith and laughed. He had once been among them, one of their companions. He hated them and their ignorance. Didn’t they know that outside their faith was truth? He would prove it to them. He would lead them to the truth where they could have more for their life than they would ever truly need.

He hid the faith and set off in search of his truth. He didn’t need to wander far before his truth found him. Leaping at the thief, his truth flayed his body until strips of skin and muscle hung off the bones. The thief cried but his truth ignored him. Being eaten from the feet up, the thief’s death was painful, but he met his truth.

While the thief was slowly choking on his own sticky blood, the faith crawled from its hidden spot. It was not lost; it knew the way back home. But when it got back it didn’t recognize the people. It tried to talk to them, but they were so blinded by themselves, they couldn’t see their old faith walking among them. After one of them tried to kill it, the faith disappeared. Searching for a new people who would recognize it and wanted the life it could give.