Chapter 5 — When the Dead Knock Back.
The church began to turn against them.
It started subtly. Doors locking on their own. Candles refusing to stay lit when Gabriel entered the sanctuary. Mirrors cracking the moment Elara passed by. Matthias’s spirit no longer whispered—it pressed.
Gabriel felt it most during prayer. Every time he knelt, the air grew thick, crushing his lungs, as if unseen hands were wrapped around his throat. His rosary burned his skin. His faith, once solid, now felt hollow, he was so stoic and heavily worried,
“You lied,” the voice echoed one night from the choir loft.
“You buried me.”
Gabriel collapsed to his knees.
Elara found him there, shaking. “He’s getting stronger,” she said. “The lie fed him.”
That same night, a priest was found locked inside the confessional, screaming about a pale figure watching him breathe. Another acolyte fled the church entirely, swearing the walls were bleeding.
Rumors spread. Fear followed.
And Matthias watched it all like a horrific show .
Chapter 6 — Cracks in the Holy Mask.
The Vatican sent inquiries.
Questions sharpened. Smiles thinned. Gabriel’s authority began to feel like glass—clear, fragile, ready to shatter.
“People are saying Matthias never left,” Cardinal Leone said carefully. “No records. No witnesses. Nothing.”
Gabriel lied again. Smoothly. Convincingly.
But each lie felt like a nail driven deeper into his chest hiding infront of people.
That night, Matthias appeared fully for the first time.
Not a shadow. Not a whisper.
A form.
He stood at the foot of Gabriel’s bed, dirt still clinging to his robe, eyes sunken with grief rather than rage.
“You chose yourself,” the spirit said softly. “Now choose the truth.”
Gabriel couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move.
Elara burst into the room just as the temperature dropped violently. She stood between them, shaking but defiant.
“He won’t survive this,” she told the spirit. “Neither will the church.”
Matthias tilted his head.
“Then let it fall.”
And for the first time, Gabriel understood—
this haunting wasn’t revenge.
It was judgment.
Forever...
Chapter 7 — The Choice That Breaks Altars.
Sunday mass was packed.
The church had never been so full—or so tense. Every candle flickered like it knew something was coming.
Gabriel stood at the altar, hands trembling beneath his robes. Elara watched from the side, her heart pounding. Matthias’s presence filled the cathedral, invisible but undeniable.
The bells rang.
Then stopped.
A cold wind swept through the pews.
Gabriel leaned forward, gripping the altar. He could feel Matthias behind him. Waiting.
“I have lied,” Gabriel said suddenly, his voice echoing through the church.
Gasps rippled.
“I said Brother Matthias returned to his motherland,” he continued, eyes burning with tears. “That was false.” Gabriel said while shaking uncontrollably with fear and stoic half death version ,
The crowd started whispering , Other screaming , while others praying as if the heaven will open .
Elara’s breath caught.
Before Gabriel could continue, the lights shattered. A roar of wind tore through the sanctuary. People screamed. Some ran.
Matthias appeared above the altar—visible to everyone now.
Fear turned to chaos.
And in that moment, Gabriel made his final choice.
He stepped forward, lifting his hands.
“Take me,” he said. “Not them.”
The spirit hesitated.
For the first time, Matthias looked… human again.
The church fell silent.
