WHERE BROKEN HEARTS UNITE

-Ashes of

ir thick with damp and secrets long buried. His boots echoed with every step, flashlight beam cutting thro

g else. Something older. The Cathedral seemed alive, whispering fragm

ack One:

ackled in the hearth, casting flickers of gold across velvet drapes and polished mahogany. The

a wooden knight clasped

n," Elijah plea

nd so the knight lifted his sword,

eavy. "When I grow up, I w

y's hair. "Then you'll have to learn the

furrowed. "Aren'

ted, his smile fad

y. "One brings safety.

It had felt real. Too real. Like he'd stood in that room. Like h

press

tered the ground. Faint symbols etched into the stone glowed faintly in the wet air. His

k Two: Fiv

emonial masks and crumbling pillars. Elijah was older now-maybe sixteen. His face

heavy with embroidery. The other cult

ed close. "Wh

ple believe in balance. In structure. They

und, unsettled. "Th

st me to pr

ear you. And

or's jaw

nderstand," he said. "On

ack. "I'll never t

ether now-Elijah's, the Mayor's, his own. He turned a sharp corner a

d hard, br

forward into darkness,

hree: The Nig

nce. Smoke curling up through the marble h

h was r

etters in the other. Evidence. Truth. Proof of what

voice roared behind him.

et. Maybe it was chance. But as Elijah reached the back gate, a blast

y watch-helpless-as his s

es pressing into him like weights. He slowed his steps, not

adn't always

st somethin

loss... mayb

d the tunnel's ceiling. The passage widened

ed through t

d against the openin

d. His coat hung heavy on his shoulders. His

ised the

one runnin

yor didn

ory, Zion," he said quietly. "

Then start talking. Becaus

yor turn

led through the ruins

This was a man running from his own sins-and