The pristine pillar broke and fell.
People who had gathered here for prayers ran around in panic. Nobles, normal people, guards... all were same in the face of death.
The pillar didn't discriminate as it turned anything it caught into puddle of meat, ending their lives in an instant. Those caught beneath it didn't have time to scream.
The survivors scrambled over pews and trampled the fallen.
But Ishiki didn't saw any of this. It was not related to him... what did he care. The screaming, the crashing, the desperate prayers to the corrupted god—it all faded into irrelevance.
The only thing he cared about was what was wrong with him?
His eyes vibrated in their sockets, fixated on a crack in the golden floor tiles. His heart was beating as if it would burst any moment.
'My daughter. The little girl who was sleeping beside my wife this morning. I saw her face. I kissed her forehead before leaving. I know the exact shade of her hair, the shape of her small nose.'
