Kissed by God

3. In the arms of new experiences

We went into the hall of the Bloody Clan building. The interior was appropriate. Red carpets. Large white vases with red frozen stains. The walls are hung with dark red cotton curtains with interesting patterns. There were tall golden candlesticks on the sides of the wide staircase directly opposite the entrance, only instead of candles there were small lanterns emitting warm light. It smelled strange, like the sweet smell of flowers, but very strange.
A few souls moved freely around the interior of the building, paying no attention to us.

"So, first of all, we need to take you to the Bloody Altar, and grab the Red Lady on the way, let's go," Marcus said, and we began to climb the stairs.

What kind of set of words did he just say?
"What is a Bloody Altar?", I asked, realizing that I wouldn't wait for clarification without asking questions.

"In fact, this is the place where the instrument of your death confirms your belonging to the clan," Marcus replied and, noticing my bewilderment on my face, explained, "Yes, the instrument chooses you by itself. If it was a knife, then the knife will point at you. And then they will put a red mark on you, indicating that you belong to our clan, until you receive the real one at the initiation ceremony."

"The real one? What is the initiation ceremony?"

"Look... When souls enter our world, they must necessarily accept our religion - Estefism. It's one and it's obligatory for everyone, because this religion is the most important and the only law by which everyone lives here. You're probably going to ask, 'How is it? Why? Why has faith in God become legally binding?..' And I'll answer. Estefia is our only Goddess. She created this world and she controls it. She controls absolutely everything: movable and immovable. There are no other rulers and gods! Therefore, religion is the law. And as in all worlds and states, the law is mandatory for everyone! And most importantly, Estefia is not a fiction, it really exists. Therefore, there is no question of 'believe or disbelieve', it is an indisputable fact. Do you understand?", Marcus told everything very clearly in such a way that I even listened.

"It turns out that the rite of initiation is the acceptance of religion?" I concluded.

"Yeah, and the mark is applied to your arm, like a tattoo, to indicate your belonging to this world, so that it is immediately clear who you are. It's a kind of document."

"I realized...", in fact, I was so interested in it all that I literally got lost in space. And when we were going up to the next floor, suddenly a guy came out of nowhere and Marcus immediately picked him up.

"Alex! How are you?!" the mentor exclaimed joyfully, grabbing the guy with shaggy dark brown hair and in a white shirt and trousers by the shoulder and, without stopping his step, led us.

"Hello, Marcus," the guy timidly replied in a low voice, clearly not expecting such an action in his direction, "I'm fine, and you?"

"As always, alright! Here's a new soul!", Marcus declared with pleasure, pointing at me.

"It's very nice to meet you, I'm Alex," the guy said calmly and held out his hand to shake mine.

"Likewise. I'm Christy," I forced a smile and shook hands in return. I don't like to get acquainted.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked Marcus.

"To the Bloody Altar. Come with us!"

"Well... Okay..."
.
.
A little more and we came to the end of the corridor. In front of the wall stood a tall statue of a girl with her eyes closed and in a long dress, holding something in her hands.
Marcus whispered something incomprehensible, after which the statue began to move aside with a loud unpleasant sound, and the thick stone walls parted, opening a passage inside. Marcus entered first, and we followed him.