The village of South Gleswick had no walls. Just mist, moss, and the quiet breath of stone buildings huddled like secrets along the eastern ridge. Perry counted three churches before finding the right one—each more crumbling than the last, like someone had tried holiness in stages and kept quitting halfway.
The Sanctum of the Sainted Flame looked like it was holding in a cough. Stone arches sagged under moss and prayer flags faded to ghosts. A cracked statue of the Saint herself raised one finger toward heaven, though the hand had snapped off.
Perry read the base inscription: Purity Seals All Things.
"Bit ironic," he muttered.
Evi glanced around. "This place smells like damp sermons."
"Good," Perry said. "Maybe they'll pray for sense."
Inside, the candlelit nave was empty save for a single figure straightening hymnbooks with unnecessary force. He turned as they approached—a young man in gray robes, pale and blinking behind spectacles far too thick for his face.
"Brother Quill?" Perry asked.
The man flinched. "Ah! Yes. Yes. You're from the Bureau?"
"Detective Perry. This is Evi. You filed a report about a body in a sealed tomb."
Quill nodded quickly. "Yes. It's... it's downstairs. We haven't touched it. I swear on the Flame."
"Did it touch you first?"
"No, no! I mean—no one's disturbed the site. Not since I found it. I only... I only opened it because of... the candlelight."
Perry raised an eyebrow. "A candle?"
"It flickered strangely during prayers. That sometimes... means something. I—well—I felt I should check the old chamber."
"You felt compelled."
Quill blinked. "Yes. Yes, compelled."
Perry nodded, unreadable. "Compelled by the flickering."
He stepped past him and headed toward the side aisle, where stone steps led downward into shadow.
Evi gave Quill a small apologetic smile and followed. "Don't mind him. He's actually worse when he's polite."
The air grew colder with each step. The crypt level was carved directly into the hillside, the walls tight with age and reverence. At the base of the stairwell, a thick stone door loomed, carved with radiant glyphs that shimmered faintly.
Perry didn't touch it. He just stared, eyes scanning the sigils.
One was newer than the others—its lines slightly deeper, chisel marks barely dulled. The magic clung to it like a second skin, too fresh for a seal supposedly carved a century ago.
"Brother Quill," Perry said over his shoulder. "How long has this tomb been sealed?"
"Ninety-three years, according to the registry. No one's entered since the Saint was interred."
"Except you."
"I didn't go in. Just opened the outer door. I... I wasn't the first to touch the inner seal."
That caught Perry's ear.
"Meaning?"
"Father Vorn checks the seal during Holy Silence week. Last month, he said he might do a private rite before leaving on pilgrimage."
"Convenient."
"I'm just telling you what I was told," Quill said quickly.
The door creaked open.
The tomb was cleaner than expected. No cobwebs, no rot. The sarcophagus of the Saint lay undisturbed in the center, sealed with gold-threaded wax and prayer scrolls. Incense holders rested untouched on either side.
But the problem lay not in the center—but to the right.
A man's body, dressed in plain traveler's clothes, lay crumpled on the floor near the wall. He was barefoot. Hands folded on his chest. No sign of a struggle.
Evi sucked in a breath.
"He looks... recent."
Perry crouched beside the corpse. The man's skin was pale, but not yet waxy. Fingernails trimmed. Beard stubble no more than a day old. No bloating. No stiffness. Just stillness.
He leaned closer and sniffed.
Herbs.
Preservation-grade. Common in noble funerals or magical embalming.
"Brother Quill," he said without turning. "Is there a mortician in town?"
"No. The dead are cremated by flame rites. No embalming in Gleswick."
Perry touched the man's wrist. Slightly cool, but not frozen. Just... too fresh.
He stood and walked the perimeter of the tomb, eyes scanning the floor.
Dust patterns were mostly undisturbed—except near the far wall, where faint marks curved unnaturally around a set of old prayer runes.
"Someone's been here," he muttered.
Evi frowned. "But the seals weren't broken, right?"
"No," he said. "They were... fixed."
They returned upstairs and found the caretaker in the bell tower, sweeping with more anger than purpose.
"Didn't touch nothing," Marta snapped as soon as she saw Perry. "Don't know nothing either. Just the bells and the brooms. That's my lot."
"You sweep the whole church?"
"Every stone."
"Even the tomb floor?"
She snorted. "Just outside it. Inside's sacred."
Perry looked at her hand. Faint streaks of fine white powder traced her palm.
"You usually dust with your bare hands?"
"I wash before prayer," she said defensively.
"Last time the Saint's seal was checked?"
"Month ago. Silence week. Father Vorn does it. I don't go near. I just light candles."
"Where is he now?"
"Gone. Left two days ago. Walks east every harvest. Always has."
"Back when?"
"Five days, maybe six. You could wait."
Perry didn't reply. He looked toward Evi. She was scribbling notes. He turned and walked away.
Back in the tomb, he knelt once more by the corpse.
"No bruises. No blade. No spells. No disease signs. Not a scratch."
He turned toward the Saint's sealed sarcophagus.
"If the killer didn't enter to rob her, they entered to hide him."
He stood and walked slowly toward the entrance again. As he passed one of the glyphs, it flickered.
He stopped.
Turned.
Stared at it.
Then smiled faintly.
"Ironic."
"What is?"
"That glyph reacts when someone enters or leaves."
"So?"
"It shouldn't flicker... if the body was placed before the seal was fixed."
"You mean...?"
"I mean the dead man didn't bring that glyph with him."
He turned toward the center of the tomb again, calmly pulling the investigation slip from his coat.
"I'm filing this officially," he said. "If someone tries to stop me, I want the gods to break their own laws doing it."
System Notification: Case Submission Confirmed. Immunity Maintained. Suspect Count: 2. Investigation Barrier Activated.
A shimmer spread across the archway like breath on glass.