The heavens did not strike. They waited, that was worse.
The rift above the courtyard trembled, light folding in on itself like a wound refusing to close. Divine pressure pressed down on stone and bone alike, heavy enough to make the priests weep and the trainees tremble.
I felt its fingers at my throat, then boots on stone—orderly, Measured, and Human.
The sound cut through the divine hush like a blade.
Eron’s grip tightened on my sleeve. “Kael…?”
I didn’t answer, I didn’t have to because I already knew.
The gates of the courtyard burst open. Not with chaos but with discipline.
Rows of armored figures marched in formation, tabards snapping white and gold, sigils of the High Church emblazoned across polished breastplates. Lances of sanctified steel caught the fractured light overhea
