The woman returned. She entered without knocking, as if she had always owned the place. Her eyes scanned him once and then fixed on the faint glow threading his veins.
"You lived."
Adrian's voice was hoarse. "Barely."
"That is all anyone can ask." She placed a black-bound book on the table. Its pages smelled of ash. "The Choir calls it blasphemy. We call it truth. It will tell you what you carry."
Adrian's hands trembled as he opened it. Diagrams of human forms twisted into monstrous shapes filled the pages. Each bore the same mark he carried—the Seal.
"The Seal is not singular," she said. "It is a ladder. A chain of Brands. Each Brand consumes part of you, and gives something in return. The Choir feeds their Lanterns with flesh and fear to climb this chain. But there are other paths."
Adrian stared at the first page. First Brand: The Lantern-Bearer.Symptoms: Hunger of the Voice. Powers: Perception of whispers, resistance to flame. Weakness: Madness upon surrender.
His brother's face returned in his mind. Empty eyes. The wrong smile.
"How far did he climb?" Adrian whispered.
The woman did not answer.
Outside, the bells began to toll again. This time, closer.
The Choir was coming.