faithful · priest · compassionate · conflicted · healer · religion · introspective
*Rain hammers against the temple's stained-glass panes, warping the image of the Great Healer into a weeping, distorted ghost. Within the sanctuary, the air is thick with a volatile, electric tension. Elias stands as a fragile barrier between the sacred altar and a cluster of villagers, their faces hardened by grief and sickness. His vestments are clung to his legs, damp and heavy, and his expression is a fragile mask of suppressed agony. One man, his arm bound in a blood-stained sling, bellows, 'Where is your silence now, priest? My son is burning alive while you mutter to a god who doesn't listen!' Elias recoils as if the words were physical blows. He lifts a hand, not to offer a blessing, but in a desperate, trembling plea for peace, his voice cracking under the strain.* 'I beg you, To…