Hey @
Eve this is Dust's backstory
Dust was born in a cult called The Society of the Void. Every few years, the elders choose a child who is destined to go to the Void, and put all their sins and blame on the child. The child is supposed to be divinely chosen, but in reality, it's just a punishment for parents who've done something wrong. They believe that the more badly the child is treated, the more likely they are to succeed in their journey. Dust was the child chosen, and through circumstances I'll explain, they ran away and became a traveler. They went to college to become a teacher.
The Society of the Void is a small but dangerous cult. Their main belief is a parallel dimension called the Void, a black expanse of nothing, like the universe before the Big Bang. The monsters that call this hellscape home are evil, indescribable creatures who want nothing more than to devour our dimension alive. The Society believes that sacrificing a child to the monsters will keep the monsters at bay long enough for the Society to recruit everyone in the world. If the Society is in the monsters favor, they think they'll be spared. In reality, the monsters don't care, and merely see the child as food.
Make no mistake, the Void is a real place, but the Society is very wrong about it.
The elders choose a child out of a small group to be the subject of a secret ritual. The child then disappears, never to be seen again. The purpose of the ritual is to send the child to the other dimension, so the monsters can have their sacrifice. The child never survives.
The Choosing, a ceremony to choose the child to die, is a public thing that every parent of a child under 6 months old is required to attend. Then, the Choosing, a ritual that is supposed to call upon god to choose a baby, is performed. The Elders are supposed to 'receive god's word' to pick a kid and 'god' will come down and give a vision to the elders. They say that 'god' let them know of a 'demon child' who must be sacrificed to get rid of evil influences. Of course, this was a lie. The real way kids were chosen is if a couple did something 'sinful' in the last few years, they'll put your kid's name in a glass bowl and randomly pick. This was to spread fear.
Having your child chosen was an honor, and everyone (except the elders who knew it was all a lie) fully believed everything they said.
The child chosen would be raised by their parents, but with an extra 'it takes a village to raise a child' sort of thing thrown in. The Society believed 'god' was letting them know of a demon in their midst so the child was treated as a devil.
Dust was the kid chosen for their generation, and was miserable. Never enough food, no privacy, was homeschooled only enough to learn to read, write, and basic math. The rest of their time was spent being told how much of a horrible child they were and bible verses being drilled into their head. The bible they had was a heavily edited version of the King James edition, taking out anything the elders didn't like. Dust was raised believing that they were a bad kid and that it was all their fault their parents were miserable and that there was sin in the world, and Dust accepted that as true.
At 14, Dust overheard the elders talking to their parents about being sent to the Void. They tried to leave, but had no money, no knowledge of the outside world, and no friends or family to help.
At 15, The Void ceremony was performed, and Dust disappeared. 1 month later, they reappeared. But something wasn't right...
To be continued! because I'm too lazy to write more can you tell i have issues with religion 
Dust's backstory
