The woman in the center smiled warmly at the group, like a book club host, completely at odds with the fact that they were all corrupted and planning murder.
“We’ve all taken different paths to get here tonight,” she said warmly. “Different lives, different struggles, different moments that opened our eyes. But no matter what makes us different, we’ve all discovered the same basic truth.” Life is the cage we've been locked in. Death is the freedom we've been denied."
Agreement murmured through the entire circle like a wave. You could see the absolute belief written clearly across their faces, genuine and complete and terrifying.
"Some of us found this revelation through philosophy and questioning," she continued, pacing slowly around the inside of the circle. "Others through waking up o
