Deep within the vast subterranean chambers of the Embercreed Church, where shadows clung to every crevice and the air hung perpetually stale despite a lack of decay or dust, two youthful figures moved in solemn tandem.
The only light came from a multitude of flickering torches, casting wavering lights along the walls and giving the space a dreamlike gloom.
The strangeness of the place—its unnatural cleanliness, its quiet, its heavy air—was the kind that made the skin crawl.
One of the figures was adorned in resplendent robes of white and red, the traditional garb of the clergy.
The other was clad in robes of black and red—the unmistakable colors of the Inquisition.
What distinguished them further were the intricate designs of red threading, far more abundant than standard vestments.
These two were no ordinary members of the church, they were among its most influential: the High Cardinal and the Pope himself.
