About

Nobody knew exactly when the Verdant Choir began. Some said it started with a group of survivors hiding beneath an abandoned hospital. Others claimed it was founded by a former Firefly doctor who became convinced that humanity had spent twenty years fighting the wrong enemy. The truth was probably somewhere in between. Their leader, a woman called Mother Briar, taught that Cordyceps had never been humanity’s enemy. Humanity had simply been too arrogant to understand it. She called the infection The Great Bloom. The Choir eventually settled inside an abandoned botanical research facility. The lower floors had been swallowed by fungus. Thick growth covered the walls and ceilings, and entire rooms had become part of the infected network. The cult didn’t fear the place. They worshipped it. Every Sunday, the Choir held what they called The Returning. One volunteer was chosen from among the members. The volunteer would spend their final evening eating with the others while everyone treated them as if they were already dead. At midnight, they were dressed in sealed protective armor and taken below the facility. There was only one rule. The volunteer had to enter willingly. The chamber below was completely covered in Cordyceps growth. Once the volunteer entered, the steel door was locked. The Choir would kneel outside. They didn’t pray for the person to survive. They prayed for them to change. Eventually the sounds from inside would stop. When the door was opened days later, whatever emerged was no longer considered a member of the Choir. It was considered Blessed. That belief made the Choir especially terrifying to outsiders. They didn’t simply kill their enemies. They believed they were giving them to the Bloom. The Choir also became infamous for their weapons. They used scavenged firearms and ammunition that they believed carried the “blessing” of Cordyceps. Because even a small wound could have terrifying consequences in the world they lived in, survivors learned to recognize the Choir’s distinctive weapons and avoid them at all costs. Their raids became legendary. Entire settlements would wake to find fungal symbols painted on their walls. Sometimes people disappeared. Sometimes the Choir left behind only a single message: THE BLOOM REMEMBERS Eventually the surrounding settlements began calling the facility The Garden of the Dead. Nobody went there anymore. Except the Choir. And every Sunday night, another member walked willingly through the steel doors beneath the earth. The last thing they heard before the door closed was the entire Choir whispering the same words: “You are not dying.” “You are returning.”