Matteo now faced the shadow-keeper across the flame. “How long?” he asked.
“Until another reader opens the book,” said the keeper. “Could be a century. Could be tomorrow. But you will not age. You will only wait, and breathe, and hold the question open.” the encyclopedia of religion volume 4 page 165
Father Matteo had spent forty years in the Vatican’s Archivio Segreto , but he had never seen a volume like this. Bound in leather that felt like cool skin, The Encyclopedia of Religion sat on a locked lectern in a room no map showed. Volume 4 fell open to page 165 as if it had been waiting. Matteo now faced the shadow-keeper across the flame
The footnote read: When religions forget they are siblings, the keeper must remind them. To read this is to become the reminder. “Could be a century