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