The following night they entered the Holy Sepulchre thanks to a special permit from the
Patriarchate. The great dome resonated with a silence that felt almost alive. It was an
expectant silence, as if the temple itself knew something was approaching.
Jacob walked toward the Chapel of Calvary.
"There's a smell of incense… but mixed with something else," he murmured.
Sara examined a side altar.
Remains of recently melted wax.
And something that froze her: a black feather.
"This isn't from an animal," she said.
Robert found a pattern on the floor.
A figure drawn with dark dust: the symbol of the fifth seal, surrounded by seven points.
"He's coming today," Jacob said.
A metallic clatter of chains broke the silence.
The temple's main door slammed shut.
They were locked in.
A deep voice echoed from the darkness of the upper hallway:
"Jacob… you finally arrived."
The figure of the killer appeared at the top of the stairs.
Face covered.
Hands stained with something dark.
"Who are you?" Jacob asked.
The killer raised the parchment of the fifth seal.
"I am the one who will complete what you fear to accept," he replied. "The prophecy is
not destruction. It is liberation."And the parchment began to burn without fire.