The Price of Power

The master of ceremonies steps onto the balcony and proclaims the words that will forever alter his fate:

— Habemus Papam!

The crowd’s roar shakes the foundations of Rome.

But inside, Lomeli feels only one thing. Emptiness.

The Last Secret

Returning to Casa Santa Marta, exhausted, he finds an envelope on his desk.

The same emblem. The same papal seal.

He opens it with trembling hands.

The letter contains a single handwritten line from the deceased Pope:

"If you are reading this, it means God has chosen you. Now you will understand what it means to be alone."

Lomeli lets the paper fall.

He lifts his eyes to the crucifix on the wall.

Has God truly chosen him? Or was this merely the final move in the oldest power game in the world?

The answer will never come.

And so, within the vastness of the Vatican, the new Pope grasps the harshest truth.

There is no one left above to pray to.

THE END.