There was a strange infection spreading through the marshlands. An infection in the wet and dirty marshes could be called something of an expectation but the reality was that this infection was neither viral nor bacterial. It was an infection of the mind.
This phenomenon which could be witnessed spreading in real time was simply put… frightening. For your previously sane neighbor to be singled out and taken away only to come back as a believer of some unknown deity? Terrifying.
There were murmurs and whispers, rumors, that something was wrong. But ultimately that was all that these were, rumors. You see, no one was brave enough to speak out against the onslaught of new believers of the Ed Religion.
Its leader, Var Agus, the self-proclaimed bishop, would visit villages and gather 'lost children' to bring before their deity. Without fail, these lost children would 'grow' and 'learn' and finally declare themselves as having become enlightened adults.
