The floor dragged her toward the altar like living skin.
Clara clawed desperately, screaming scripture she barely remembered.
"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted!"
The heart beneath the church pulsed faster.
The shadows screamed without sound.
The priest-thing leaned close.
"You came because you still believe."
The walls bent inward.
She tore her cross necklace free and slammed it into the stone.
"I believe—but not in this!"
Light erupted.
Cracks raced through the altar.
The heart convulsed.
The sealed souls poured from the walls like black smoke, screaming upward.
Saint Verity's Church howled like a dying beast.
And collapsed inward.