...He knelt in the temple as sunlight fell through high windows, and felt the weight of expectation settle across his shoulders like a mantle too heavy to shift. The god was not merciful. The god was not kind. The god demanded perfection, which meant accepting that perfection was impossible and serving anyway, accepting failure in advance, channeling it into fuel for the endless striving. To doubt was to weaken. To question was to fail before the test. He rose, armor gleaming, every piece aligned and true, and set his face toward another day of trying to be worthy of the impossible standard. Around him, the temple stones glowed with the certainty of stones, unmoved and unmovable, the architecture of a faith that demanded everything and called it glory...