The Bone Cathedral

Veylan Morrow wakes to sulfur threading beneath his door and a brand burning into his palm, a mark he did not ask for and cannot refuse. In the gas-lit warrens of the Hollows, that mark is a summons, and the summons lead down. Marrick Veil, a smuggler with debts older than the city, and Petra Dunne, a relic-hunter who has lost too much already, offer Veylan the only escape that matters. Together they descend toward the Bone Cathedral, a buried sanctum older than the saints, where the Choir has begun to sing and the Adjudicator is waking to weigh the sins of the living. Above them, Brother Krell marshals his faithful, Harlan Greve tightens his grip on the city wards, and Sable Rennick sharpens a knife meant for someone she once loved. Oldy whispers warnings no one heeds. Caelith Vane waits at the threshold. Bryn Ironwake guards the last gate. And in the deep dark, the Reliquary waits to take back what was stolen. The deeper Veylan goes, the more the cathedral reveals, not answers, but choices. Step forward and become the Choir's instrument. Step back and let the city burn. The mark on his palm will not let him stand still.