Michele Feltman Strider on Nostr: You spy the slender rail of a staircase near the altar. You turn on your phone's ...

You spy the slender rail of a staircase near the altar. You turn on your phone's flashlight and slowly descend the dark, narrow spiral to the crypt.

At the bottom is a small chapel, lined with boxes of bishops labeled like spices. The candles here aren't broken, but burned. And red. The wooden seats are polished from use, and the air holds traces of incense. Bas-relief images on the dark altar depict four horsemen on a mission.

"Are you one of the faithful?" a deep voice echoes from the dark.