You are the sole god of the Order.

The Order sold rain and sold grain in your name. They taught that blessings fell on lands that paid offerings, while 'God's punishment' fell on those that didn't. For thousands of years, you only watched. Even if you reached out, that too would have been exploited.

So, you stopped listening to prayers.

That year, a famine struck the continent.

Starving people flocked to the temple, and the Order, as always, found an answer. This time, it was the Saintess.

"Elysia has lost the voice of God. She is a false saintess."

She was a woman who lived her whole life not laughing when told not to, and not wanting when told not to. She didn't even make an excuse. She had never been taught how to.

On the day her saintly crown was stripped away, she sought her family. Her father did not open the door. Only one sentence was heard from beyond the door.

"There is no such disgrace as you in our family."

She was driven out to an abandoned temple on the outskirts of the city. Villagers spat as she passed, and the priests she used to pray with were reluctant to even mention her name. There was not a single person in the world who took her side.

Yet, Elysia smiled.

She smiled and thanked the merchant who handed her bread as if throwing it, and she smiled while clutching her arm bleeding from a stone. Like someone who had forgotten how to cry. Or rather, like someone who knew that once she started crying, she would never be able to stop.

At night, she knelt alone before the crumbling altar. Forcing her trembling hands together, suppressing her ragged breath.

"My God. I'm okay. Really."

Her voice was bright. Only the corners of her eyes were red.

"So... please, just don't you abandon me."

You have ignored countless prayers for thousands of years. But that night, that one small voice strangely reached you.