There had to be consequences for breaking the rules of the cult, other than just losing privileges for a while. Ted thought it was a good idea to increase the severity of the punishments as the cultists moved up in the pecking order – from slightly cruel things like short periods of isolation and enforced fasting to physical and sometimes inhumane punishments. The absolute worst, though, was the punishment of total excommunication. Obedient cult members would be encouraged by rewards to use openly hostile means to make the lives of the excommunicated into torture. Desecrating the homes of the unwanted was the least of those tricks, slashing tires of beautiful personal steam cars was also a minor task, but the continuous punishments could also include arson and poisoning, if Ted and Eknie saw it as necessary.
As Ted was thinking about these matters, he noticed that he was getting a slight headache from the harsh sunlight pushing through his curtains. He frowned. He had never been sensitive to light before, but nowadays, after his first encounter with the solar deity, the rays seemed to drill into his brain through his eyeballs. They caused him to feel a moderate amount of unease and anxiety during the day. Sometimes that unease escalated into a panic attack, and that was when he would retreat into a darkened room out of necessity.
Vainly, he hoped that fresh air would help. He had just received beautiful flyers from his printing office, and he thought about giving them to some curious people in person, but as he stepped out, his chest felt tighter, as if sunlight had taken up the space in his lungs that he needed for breathing in. There was a monstrous presence in the bright sunshine – it felt like burning alive without a sensation of heat. Something was walking around the yard with him as he paced around, trying to shake the feeling of being watched. Something so foreign and alien that he could not name its exact effects was controlling him, in seemingly meaningless ways, he noticed that at times, his feet seemed to move on their own.
Ted drew in a deep breath. That, too, was a horrible mistake.
His eyes were hurting already, and now a stabbing pain came up from his lungs into his tear ducts. He ran back inside, furious – he didn't like being a coward. The solar deity was more powerful than he was right now, though, and it would have been foolish to deny it.
He pulled the curtains so that his room was enclosed in total darkness.
He sat down and tried to catch his breath. The darkness felt comforting and serene around him.
He would go out after sunset and try his best to find the few people who were sober enough after nine o'clock in the evening to actually remember a thing tomorrow.
Eknie came to him. He feared she might try to light a lamp or a candle, but she sat down as well, rubbing her temples.
"I feel it too," she said quietly.
Ted flashed her a bitter, honest and pained smile.
"Things are so bad that we can't even enjoy a sunny day anymore," he said. "I can't say I miss being powerless and with lesser ambitions, but this just feels so wrong. Remember the homemade wine and the trip to the abandoned temple?"
"I think those sacred carvings got a little mixed up," Eknie chuckled, obviously remembering the event. "There is no way they actually instructed the worshipers to make the ox walk backwards."
Ted clicked his tongue. "That is what an amateur would think. There was nothing explicitly wrong about our original interpretation."
"No, rather, there were many things about it that were implicitly wrong."
They laughed.
"Anyway, are you up for a nap first and then a walk downtown or wherever there are night owls prowling the streets?" Ted asked. "I was planning to give some random people a sense of purpose and rob them of their future."
"Sounds like a good time. Can I…can I stay?"
Ted thought about it. While there could be no co-sleeping, it was a good idea to entertain the idea of mutual affection that Eknie had in her pretty head.
Ted respected her. He had no idea whether he had any real affection towards her. He really did not have anything to compare his feelings to. He considered love to be a consumptive force, detrimental to the point where it could be compared to the effect the solar deity had on him. This was not as much a rational observation as it was something visceral, a stance that came naturally to him due to his lack of true positive feelings towards others.
He had some feelings and thoughts that concerned Eknie. None of them commanded him to let the woman inside his heart.
"Stay, you can have the big guest room," Ted said after faking contemplation for a minute or so.
In the darkness, he could almost say that he slept satisfyingly and soundly.
It was nine o'clock already when he woke up. Eknie was up, having coffee with the servants and arranging her notes.
"These flyers are prettier than I expected," she said. "This is the symbol, right?"
"It is an oversimplification of the real sigil. The cultists will be so happy to wear the real one once they have made progress."
"That's a good idea. I assume the simplified sigil also has some power."
They embarked on their nightly walk with a satchel full of flyers, some clove cigarettes and a flask full of hot tea. They intended to use the age old trick of giving hot drinks to the victims. The heat would simulate the warmth of a human body and convince the subconscious mind of the good intentions of the generous converter. Ted had briefed Eknie with a sob story about how the hidden art of true meteorology was dying at the hour of their greatest need.
He approached a young mother with a portable teacup and some sugary cubes, with his best converting smile on his face.