Page 114 - DivineSparkRisingFinal

Divine Spark Rising
Henry read an inscription under his breath:
Release the name they gave you. Let silence call
something truer.
The words settled in his chest. This fragment
wasn’t metaphor—it was coded into the body.
At the cave’s heart stood a stone basin. Inside: a
linen-wrapped box. Henry opened it with steady
hands. A wooden token lay within, carved with one
word: VERDADE. Truth. Beneath it, a note:
To receive the truth, surrender your certainty. To
leave this cave, speak aloud the lie you’ve believed
the longest.
Carolina’s breath caught. “It’s a rite,” she
whispered. Henry went first.
At least a dozen half-truths and masks rose up,
easy lines he could spit out. But the token in his
hand seemed to burn through the false ones until
only the raw core remained.
“I thought the only way I mattered was if I
didn’t get too close to anyone.”
The cave pulsed with a low vibration, rolling
through their bones.
Carolina hesitated, then let it spill. “I thought I
had to be the smartest person in the room to be
safe.”
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