Rationalism is the philosophical viewpoint that humans gain knowledge through using logic. This philosophy indicates reason is the key to acquiring knowledge and other methods used to acquire knowledge aren't as effective.
The readjustment period brought many different types of changes from the establishment of quotas for many different lines of work to the faceless taking over high ranking positions in many of these different fields. It was a time where humanity was only beginning to realize the lack of control they had over their own lives.
Religion became a topic of frequent discussion among many different groups of people. Religious groups only had the memory of what their religion was to practice them. Over the years, many of these same religions became forgotten through the lack of resources people had to practice them accurately.
A few years after the readjustment period began, an answer was presented to these lost souls. A religious book titled "The Laws Of Rationalism" was discovered at the top of a long white staircase in the middle of nowhere. This old, tattered, and forgotten book led to the creation of the religion now known as Rationalism.
An older woman in a black dress brushed past the crowd of people and approached a long white staircase. Lyra had someone important to meet and this meeting could very well determine the fate of this world. She ran up the stairs as waves of dark energy flew through her. The energy waves in her mind started to be interpreted into a message.
Whoosh. Shhhh.
The shadows whispered a message and the scene suddenly became very clear in her mind. The colorless crowded staircase leading to the heavens laid in front of her. Lyra focused on every single sign of movement on the staircase and began moving hastily towards the top.
She ran and spun whispering under her breath, "One."
Lyra spun past an elderly woman being assisted up the stairs by a young man.
Lyra ran and spun again, increasing her speed, "Two."
The older woman quickly spun around a man clutching his knees, exhausted from walking up the long staircase.
Lyra made her way to the top in roughly two minutes. The average human would have taken ten. She could feel the stares of the crowd behind her at the bottom of the staircase.
The older woman didn't care about the unnecessary praise. She needed to be seated to see the ritual begin.
Lyra stopped at the last step of the staircase and braced herself as she walked onto the next platform.
She caught her breath feeling the dark energy waves radiating through her body.
The older woman had to leave Ivory behind. She needed to travel to meet with the messenger of the creator.
Lyra took a step forward and felt the dark energy waves in her body making a colorless image appear in her mind yet again. She could detect a giant structure underneath her feet that seemed to be a rectangle of some kind. In an area close by her there seemed to be a wide variety of seats for a large audience to occupy. Below her laid another long white staircase which led to a giant mysterious dark sphere.
Lyra took a closer look at the mysterious sphere at the bottom of the staircase. Dark energy brushed toward the sphere as it revealed the circular object seemed to encapsulate something but she couldn't quite see what it was. The fact she could detect something was inside it but didn't know what it was, unsettled her.
She shook off the feeling for the moment and gazed at the four tall pillars surrounding her which had an opening at the top to walk out from.
Lyra muttered, "Why would someone want to go up that high?"
Suddenly she felt the presence of something slowly move past her shoulder. She sensed the movement of this entity before its sign of life. This meant that the creature wasn't human.
The creature stopped not too far ahead of her and slowly turned its head back.
"The messenger of the creator will honor you with their presence soon. Please be patient."
Lyra smiled politely, "Thank you."
The creature remained motionless facing her.
Lyra felt the aggressive energy of the creature begin radiating throughout its body. The faceless must have detected her sunburn.
She sighed as she powered off her ability and the world became much harder to interpret.
The creature says, "I'm sorry. I think I almost made a mistake… Mistakes lead to.."
The faceless doesn't bother finishing their sentence.
The creature chuckles to themselves while walking down a long white staircase from the platform to the main stage where the ritual was most likely to occur.
Lyra waited for the creature to be out of sight and powered her ability back on.
The shadows began conversing with her again. The dark energy painted an image of the scene in her mind. She could finally see where the seats were. She walked to the left of her where a couple seats remained as she received curious stares from the crowd.
Lyra hurried over to a seat and put on a smile. She didn't want to stand out. Though, running up the stairs must have already done that.
She along with everyone here was dressed in all black. This type of dress code was most commonly worn in a funeral. It stuck out to her as something odd but not surprising.
Icarus had debriefed her of all this before she came on this mission. He had given her a black dress to wear for this event and in addition even told her the color scheme of the entire area. She couldn't perceive many different types of color so all of this was very helpful.
Lyra watched as members of this religion looked with wide eyes at the sphere far below them. The dark sphere slowly unraveled similar to a flower blooming in the spring and presented the audience with the messenger of the creator and two faceless, standing beside them.
The messenger of the creator was wearing a red cloak with four spheres colliding into each other on their back with a plain red mask on. The faceless next to them were wearing two identical plain red robes.
Lyra smiled to herself. Bingo, now all she had to do was wait to find the perfect moment to speak with them.
The messenger of the creator's voice echoes throughout the odd structure, "Welcome. Welcome. I'm so glad you all made it to witness the term ending for four of our dearest members."
Lyra muttered to herself, "The term…."
The term was presumed to be an indefinite amount of time that one would serve the religion of Rationalism. If she recalled correctly, a term ends when the messenger of the creator declares it to be over. After five sessions, four members' terms ended.
The energy began radiating from her hands once again. She allowed the energy to go free and it allowed her to see the tall pillars more thoroughly surrounding all of them. Signs of life were detected at the top of the pillars.
She thought, why would someone be up there?
The messenger of the creator's voice echoed throughout the structure, "Norman, please take the first step."
A man on top of one of the pillars walks into the air and falls to his death.
The scene devoid of color showed the man dying on impact. The ribs of the person breaking first and piercing his lungs before he can take a last breath.
Around Lyra chants started to begin,
"A HUMAN HAS SEEN THE LIGHT."
"MAN UNLOCKS KNOWLEDGE BEYOND THIS VERY PLANE OF EXISTENCE."
"THE CREATOR ACCEPTS THEM WITH OPEN ARMS."
The messenger of the creator says, "Walt, please take the second step."
The man falls following the last dying on impact in the same horrific manner.
The messenger of the creator says, "Margret, please take the third step."
The woman falls following the last dying on impact. No human has survived the steep fall so far.
The messenger of the creator pauses, "Diana, please take the last step."
Around Lyra chants started to begin yet again,
"A HUMAN HAS SEEN THE LIGHT."
"MAN UNLOCKS KNOWLEDGE BEYOND THIS VERY PLANE OF EXISTENCE."
"THE CREATOR ACCEPTS THEM WITH OPEN ARMS."
The woman refuses to walk off the pillar. She must have been scared after seeing three of the members of her religion die in the same way.
The messenger of the creator repeats, "Diana. Please. Take the last step."
The woman doesn't move from the top of the pillar.
Diana yells, "NO. I DON'T WANT TO SPEAK TO THE CREATOR. I DON'T WANT TO DIE."
Lyra could sense it as movement trailed up the sides of the tall stone pillar she was on. A faceless was heading toward her.
She could see Diana turn around with a shocked expression on her face as she was pushed down.
The woman died as she hit the ground. Her broken ribs pierced her lungs just like the last three. She was unable to take a last breath.
Lyra wanted to vomit but she had to blend in. The sickening display was just something she had to accept at that moment. This was her life right now.
The crowd started to weep suddenly which made the older woman appear taken aback.
The messenger of the creator says in a deep voice, "Weep but know these four humans have seen the truth."
The messenger of the creator points downward signaling an intermission and her sign to try to meet with them at last.
She allowed the shadows to consume her body as she appeared two dimensional on the ground. She shifted her essence toward the bottom of the staircase following the messenger of the creator in a flash.
The faceless were unable to track her in this form but she was unable to hold it for long. This part of the ability was made to be used in short periods of time.
She followed the messenger of the creator to an underground passageway underneath the sphere. The passageway was composed of a small spiral staircase that seemed to lead to a completely different location.
The messenger of the creator began descending the steps as she shifted her form back to normal. She followed quietly behind them as she found herself quickly at the bottom.
The staircase was shorter than she had imagined. The messenger of the creator entered a room in front of her and left the door open. This was her chance to confront them.
Before that, Lyra took a second to take a brief look around.
The old stone walls entrapping her seemed to belong to another era of human history. There were several rooms with bars of steel and no access to sunlight. These areas had the components to be similar to a prison. Perhaps it was a space used to punish those who violated religious laws.
Lyra says to herself in a hushed tone, "Not now. I have to meet with them. This is my chance."
Lyra walks into the room and is met with a familiar face.
Her mouth was agape, "Icarus? What are you…"
A tall faceless creature with black rods protruding threw their body, sat in a small undecorated office waiting for her. In the corner of the room a red robe and a plain red mask was hung on a large coat rack.
The room was composed of the same old stone material as the outside and smelled like crushed corpses.
Icarus gestures to the seat in front of her.
Lyra sighs and sits down.
Icarus says in a deep voice, "This is my high ranking position. Disgusting, is it not? The creator is punishing me by serving them."
Lyra sneers, "Enough of that. The mission? Everything you told me? Why did you.."
Icarus says solemnly, "I couldn't disclose that publicly or any of the information I'm about to tell you. I had to disguise this as a mission for you to meet with me here."
Lyra says appalled, "What the hell Icarus… What's really going on? Why did you want to meet with me?"
Icarus takes out a smiley face mask from the drawer to the right of him and puts it on.
Icarus's voice fills with a familiar warmth, "Much better. I have to discuss a new problem with you. Unfortunately, the council has their hands on someone with the mutation."
Lyra says with apprehension, "Shit. Not Ivory yet right?"
Icarus clenches his fist weakly, "No but we barely managed to save her from the council's henchmen. There's not much time left before they discover the underground city…"
Lyra smiles uncomfortably, "Okay so they have their hands on someone with a mutation but we have the numbers. We can stop them."
Icarus stands up, hunched back as his head almost hits the ceiling, "In time. The only hope we have to beat them is a battle of attrition. More sunburn users need to arise."
Lyra nods, "We can have Faye prepare more of those fake sun screen bottles to be sold at a cheap price. This should get everything started."
Icarus pauses before saying, "Yes but I fear by the end of this battle, many will die from both our sides. As the leader to a religion that has watched people fall from tall heights that never truly understood that they may never fly. I will not let humanity's future be robbed by these tyrants."