THE ALTAR WE BURNED
Emmanuel was bound in chains of prayer and salt.
"You should not have come," the lead Elder growled.
"You should not have betrayed the calling," Isabella replied, stepping forward.
The flame roared.
What followed was a battle not of flesh but of spirit. Isabella called upon her anointing, her body becoming a vessel of divine fury. Arthur chanted scripture not from memory, but from blood memory—lines written in his soul. The chamber cracked with the weight of opposing forces.
When the light cleared, only Isabella, Arthur, and a weakened Emmanuel remained standing. The Elders were gone—not dead, but cast into the place where betrayers wait.
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