"You must pass the information I share here down through the generations." Bane walked just ahead of them, guiding them down the tunnels into the depths of the castle. "When Sedra came to this place, she came with the intention of building her own empire. To do that, she was trying to create perfect thanes—men and women who would obey her without question but would still be able to think enough to come up with good strategies and ways to better the empire."

Kaidan snickered. "Clearly, that worked out well."

Bane chuckled too. "No. It failed from the start. She created me, but when she bound the two souls to me in order to bring me to life and give me my abilities, she made a mistake. The soul she gave me to become what we came to know as our ashtra was much too strong for her and for me at first. I was a wild child initially, and she tried to beat me into submission. The attempts failed, and Rith stepped in just in time to keep her from killing me. He did not steal me away from Sedra as she claimed. He won my freedom by staking his own life on it and by blackmailing her into complying with the terms of their bet."

"The more I hear about this woman, the more I wish I could kill her myself," Zerua muttered.

"Believe me. I wish I could've killed her too." Bane's pace increased, and she stormed down the halls of the castle. "Anyway, she failed. We had about a thousand years of peace—back then we lived much, much longer than you do now because the genetic coding she spliced into us from their race kept us alive and young for a longer period of time. It's too diluted to do that for you now."

Kaidan frowned. "Genetic coding."

Bane tapped her chin, slowing down. "Oh, you don't know about that?" She sighed. "So much information has been lost since I was alive. It doesn't matter. Suffice it to say, we had a thousand years to raise our army. Rith and I had children while I was still considered very young for my generation. I'd lived for twelve years under Sedra's torture, and she couldn't break me."

Kaidan whistled. Twelve years under that woman's thumb. How she didn't break, I'll never know. "Incredible."

Bane smiled at that. "I always had a spark of defiance that just wouldn't die, according to Rith. He and I spent two years at Ashkarith after he rescued me, and we built the city with the help of the workers Sedra had given him back when she was trying to bribe him into staying out of her way. Between us, we managed to build this place. After it was built, Rith and I married. We had fifteen children together, and those children married and had their own children. By the time Sedra attacked, we had a large, booming population here."

"So, what happened after the battle here?" Zerua laced her fingers with Kaidan's. "We have our mythology, but clearly a lot of it is false, so what really happened?"

"Well, we fled to a small keep in Dhubharin."

"Dhubharin?" Kaidan scratched his head, glancing at Zerua.

"I believe it later became known as Dubarin." Bane stopped in front of a door and pressed a hand to the lock.

Kaidan and Zerua waited for the snick of the lock opening, but it never came. Instead, the door swung open, silent as everything else in this city that had become a mass grave. The two exchanged a look and then turned their attention back to the darkness below.

Bane waved her hand, and the hallway lit with the same dim green light as the rest of the halls had. Steps led downward into the gloom, offering them a way to access all the secrets they'd come here to uncover. "At Dubarin, we faced Sedra for the last time." She took the first step down the stairs.

With a frown, Kaidan noted that her steps made noise just like those of the other ghosts while theirs made none. How odd. He followed after her, tugging Zerua with him. "Yes, we found the evidence of it."

The queen sighed. "I imagine so. There would be no hiding the evidence. Too many died. Rith sent me and our youngest daughter away from the fight. We were to survive and carry on the line if he didn't make it out." She pressed her fingers to the glowing pendant nestled against her pale breast. "We watched him die." Her head dipped, sending her flaming hair rippling against her back. "Our daughter and I evaded Sedra for a year or so before she caught me. Our daughter escaped to continue on the line, and she has done so. I saw her one more time before I died."

"How did you die, if I may ask?" Zerua cleared her throat, playing with her hair. "No one could ever figure it out. Some said you just disappeared without a trace, and others say you died in Sedra's dungeon where you belonged."

Bane's fingers twitched, and her spine stiffened. "I didn't die in her dungeon, nor did I disappear without a trace. After a year or more in Sedra's clutches, I mustered the strength to escape and do the final thing I needed to do. I fetched my diary and wrote down one more prophecy before going to Dhubharin where I cursed the city of Ashkarith to drive all but the promised ones mad. That's the truth of the city. You would've gone mad like everyone before you if you weren't the promised ones."

"So what happened? Where did you go after you left Dhubharin?" Kaidan watched her for any further signs of anger.

She tensed at the question but then relaxed. "I never left."

"Never—" Zerua gasped, her hand flying to her collarbone. "You mean—"

"Sedra's men killed me on the hill, and with my dying breath, I cursed Sedra to create her own ruin and the ruin of all that was hers." Bane bit her lip. "They dug into the grassy hill and buried me under the hill with my book of prophecies and the truths of what happened."

"I-it was you we found then." Zerua's voice wavered. "It was your diary as we thought."

Bane paused at the bottom of the stairs and turned to face them with a sad smile. "Yes. And what you find here is essential. I saw many visions during my lifetime. Most of the visions surrounded a man. That man will break my curse, but I couldn't see in my visions if he would save or damn our world." She bowed her head. "After I died, I realized that my curse on Sedra could bring about the ruination of all of Alcardia. You can't imagine how the guilt has torn at me. I wanted the truth exposed, but I didn't want everyone on this planet destroyed. Yet, in a moment of anger, I may have doomed everyone to destruction."

Kaidan's gaze danced around the large room of books and scrolls Bane had taken them to. "These carry the rest of the evidence needed to prove what's in your diary?"

Bane nodded. "All of my prophecies are in these scrolls as is the history of what happened to us. We had the scribes keep close records so that someday, you would be able to take them to the world."

Zerua stared at the manuscripts with wide eyes. "How will we carry all of this out of the city with us?"

Bane folded her hands in front of her. "You don't need them all. Some of the information is irrelevant to your purpose for coming here."

Kaidan turned back to her with a frown. "Bane, you said that you never saw what this coming savior would do?"

She nodded.

"So—You know he'll break your curse, but you don't know the consequences?"

"Precisely. I've seen that there will be a woman who will anchor him, but her future too is uncertain and shrouded." Bane bit her lip and toyed with the hem of her sleeves. "It may be that the girl provides the key to his decision whether or not to save Alcardia."

"Then there is hope yet?"

"Yes, though I fear it's tenuous." Bane wandered through the shelves, easing books and scrolls out of their locations and piling them onto the table. As she worked, she continued to explain. "The girl will be his lover, and the path I've seen is tangled. She may die or she may not. I don't know. But if she dies, the future was certain. Alcardia is doomed. Why, I do not know."

Kaidan and Zerua ran their fingers over the smooth covers of the books. Zerua brushed the dust from one of the books, examining the title. "So, where do we come in?"

Bane paused in her work and glanced over her shoulder at Zerua. "You two will be the ones to keep the truth of my husband's lineage alive. These scrolls contain prophecies that must guide the Savior and his Bride. But more than that, these—" She waved a hand at the books on the table. "These all hold information about his abilities. He will need to study them and practice the things he learns if he is to face the darkness to come."

"Do you know when he'll come?" Kaidan began helping his wife clean the books off, marveling at the weathered but solid condition of these books. Much like the journal they'd found on Banach's remains, these books were preserved in a condition that should've deteriorated long ago.

She shook her head. "I don't. Just that he'll be born in Dubarin where my husband died. And that he'll come at a moment when the followers of the Moon are trying to open the Pathway there."

"You mean the Ishtralians?" Zerua snorted. "Those people are full of violence and insanity. They don't have the intelligence to—"

Bane slammed her armful of books down on the table, eyes blazing. "They will. When he comes, they will, and his fate will be tied with them as well. Without them, he will not do what I have seen he is to do."

Zerua's shoulders hunched, and she ducked her head. "I meant no disrespect."

The queen sighed, her posture relaxing and the blaze in her eyes dimming. "I know. I should not have been so vehement. But you must believe me. That tiny cult is going to grow. The kingdom of Aleshtain—" She cleared her throat. "Some of those who came here spoke of it as the stronghold of this cult, though it isn't yet as strong as it will be. I've seen that wicked place in my visions." She shuddered. "They will become stronger than you could ever fathom. I swear it. And when they've reached their peak of strength, then the promised Savior will come."

The couple pulled off their packs and began nestling the books into it. Kaidan looked up to find Bane watching them in the growing silence. He smiled sadly. "Is there anything else you need us to do for this place to have the rest it deserves?"

She shook her head, running her fingers through her hair. "Tell the world what you've found, Kaidan. Do that, and we'll be free. That is the only stipulation of the curse. This information must leave these walls and this city of death."

Kaidan bowed to her and took her hand, pressing a kiss to her chilly skin. "We'll do as you've asked. It's been an honor to meet you, my Lady. You did all you could for them, and I hope that you will rest in peace knowing that."

Bane's sightless eyes filled with tears. She turned away and strode to a nook of the underground library. From there, she withdrew a strange object and brought it over to them. The object turned out to be an ancient box of rowen wood in a hexagon shape. It bore markings in its sides, but Kaidan couldn't read them. A bronze lock gleamed against the dark wood, looking brand new. The queen extended it to him with a tearful smile. "You must take this with you and return it to Dhubharin."

"What is it?"

"My husband's soul. Sedra locked it away in this box to ensure my prophecies would never happen. When she cursed this place, she also placed a curse on this box. Then she trapped him in it." Bane chewed on her lower lip, her fingers trembling against the wood. "It can only be opened by one who is living and knows the truth about what happened. Release him before you share your discoveries. I know you face dangers in telling what happened, and he must be freed. If you die—"

Kaidan grimaced and took the box from her. "We'll free him as you've requested."

Bane pressed her fingers to her lips, then her heart, and then against the box. Kaidan watched her as she did this, his heart lurching in his chest.

"This is farewell then, travelers." She ducked her head. "I will return you to the borders of Ashkarith. When you wake, you'll be a bit weak, but you'll be at the place where you entered the city."

Kaidan and Zerua bowed to her. "Thank you."

She nodded. "Lay down then. Wouldn't want you to hit your heads or injure yourselves somehow."

They did as instructed, watching her. Then she began to fade away and the world went dark.