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Every step he took in this sacred place was one step closer to Heaven. Guram gritted his teeth against the pain as the burning coals seared the flesh on the bottom of his feet, and he forced himself not to run. The way of the Ignis Flammae was the path of flame, and if he could not bear this temporal agony, how could he ever expect to fight for the cause against the forces of ever-growing darkness in the world above.
The smell of burning flesh wafted through the air, tainting the incense that rose in eddies around the Brothers. They lined the edge of the trench of hot coals and chanted the words of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 43.
“Ambulaveris in igne non conbureris et flamma non ardebit. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
Gura
