Chapter 23: The Well of the First Flame

“Some truths are not learned by living.

They are earned by dying a thousand deaths inside yourself.”

The stairs were carved from obsidian bones

each step echoing the scream of a soul that had walked it before.

Yousef descended without breath,

without heartbeat,

without a god.

The air grew hotter, but not like fire.

It was a heat that came from within

a heat that…