It turns out he doesn't have long to wait to find out where it is those who disappear go.
One morning, Claude finds himself utterly alone but it doesn't last long. When those shadowy figures appear they do so with vines and thorns bound around his wrists - so much for cooperation. An odd wooziness follows, one he can't attribute to thirst and hunger alone or combined, and there's a metallic smell in the air he recognizes from too many battles when he's shoved to the ground.
Eventually he realizes there's others here as they're told how important they are, that they were chosen. There's just enough time for him to wonder how exactly the acolytes know all these things not even the officials seem to before bowls are set before them and he looks to his side on instinct. Refusal unless they have a plan for that, but then his eyes fall on someone familiar.
"Don't eat that." Maybe it goes without saying, that one shouldn't just shove any old suspicious substance which might not even be edible into their mouth, but suddenly the fact that they've been left with next to no food all this time doesn't seem like an intimidation tactic alone. This had to be what they were counting on, and he stares at Wilhelm regardless of whether they're supposed to be speaking or not, so-called ceremony be damned. "Not without them explaining what it is."
They're not going to do any such thing. Claude knows that, Wilhelm probably knows that, but. It feels crucial to mention when that's all the protection he can offer while they're both trapped.
— wilhelm (ritual)
One morning, Claude finds himself utterly alone but it doesn't last long. When those shadowy figures appear they do so with vines and thorns bound around his wrists - so much for cooperation. An odd wooziness follows, one he can't attribute to thirst and hunger alone or combined, and there's a metallic smell in the air he recognizes from too many battles when he's shoved to the ground.
Eventually he realizes there's others here as they're told how important they are, that they were chosen. There's just enough time for him to wonder how exactly the acolytes know all these things not even the officials seem to before bowls are set before them and he looks to his side on instinct. Refusal unless they have a plan for that, but then his eyes fall on someone familiar.
"Don't eat that." Maybe it goes without saying, that one shouldn't just shove any old suspicious substance which might not even be edible into their mouth, but suddenly the fact that they've been left with next to no food all this time doesn't seem like an intimidation tactic alone. This had to be what they were counting on, and he stares at Wilhelm regardless of whether they're supposed to be speaking or not, so-called ceremony be damned. "Not without them explaining what it is."
They're not going to do any such thing. Claude knows that, Wilhelm probably knows that, but. It feels crucial to mention when that's all the protection he can offer while they're both trapped.