Kaidan found himself standing beside Zerua at a window. He looked down over the side, and his stomach churned as he realized they were in a tower high above the city. "Zer?" He reached out and touched her arm.

She turned to face him, her eyes wide and distant. "W-what happened, Kaidan?"

He shook his head. "Bane did something."

"You are here to see the truth."

The couple spun to face her. The Queen looked healthier here. Her skin bore the faint blush of life, and her hazel eyes glinted with determination. Beside her, a man dressed in the black robes of Ashkarith royalty examined them with stormy silver eyes that bore traces of weariness.

Zerua sucked in a breath and dropped to her knees. "Your Majesties."

Kaidan followed her example with a frown. Who is the man beside Bane? Could it be—

"You may rise." The man's voice was an inviting baritone, holding threads of steel and hints of warmth. "I am unlikely to be king of this city for much longer." He wrapped an arm around Bane's waist. "Besides. My wife didn't bring you here to pay homage."

"No, I did not." She smiled up at her husband. "I have brought you here to witness what happened to our great city." Bane swept an arm out toward the slitted windows around their tower. "And to see how Sedra treats those who do not comply with her demands. When you have seen the reality of the woman you worship, we shall see what becomes of you. Now, watch."

Kaidan and Zerua stumbled to the window together, and Bane came to join them with Rith at her side. The four gazed out across a city plunged into darkness. Fire lit the sky as great, winged dragons soared over the city, lighting up the world with their flames. They snatched soldiers from the battlefield and carried them high into the air before dropping them. Bodies plummeted through the air to land among their former comrades. Trolls lumbered into the city, smashing down the outer walls to let Sedra's armies in and batting archers off the walls as they wreaked havoc on the city's defenses.

Then the armies came. Clad in black and red, they poured into the city, filling the streets with war cries and magic. Fire and ice slammed into those who fought back and was met with walls of earth and stone thrown up by the Inherents in the defending army. Soldiers on Sedra's side were picked up by some invisible hand and thrown into walls or other soldiers that were still pouring into the city.

Bane sighed. "I'd almost forgotten how much of a dervish Alefor could be."

Kaidan glanced over at her. "Alefor?"

Rith pressed a kiss to his wife's cheek with a sad chuckle. "Alefor is our oldest son."

Tears fell from Bane's eyes as she turned her attention back to the destruction on the battlefield. "It is through him and our eldest daughter that the last descendant will come. When I fled with my youngest daughter at Dhubharin, we took his baby with us and hid her away. She carried on the line the last descendant comes through."

"The last descendant?" Kaidan watched the battle below with a lump in his throat. Even with the help from the king's Controdene son using his psy abilities against the oncoming hoard, it was clear who would win.

"The prophecies you found in my diary were only the beginning." Bane pointed to the battlefield below. "This was the event that triggered a much greater prophecy. The remainder of my prophecies are in the scrolls I hid here before I passed on."

"But the last descendant? What does that mean?"

Bane crossed her arms, leaning into Rith. "Our eldest son took our eldest daughter as his wife. We had little choice but to say yes since there were no other suitable matches. If my brothers' and sisters' offspring had been kinder, we might've sought a match there, but Sedra forbade them to have any contact with us. No one was willing to risk her ire. To preserve the line, we agreed to his request—" She trailed off, staring off across the flaming city as the battle raged on.

The screams of dying men filled the silence, and then the bellowing cries of the dragons as they were gradually shot down out of the sky by the Ashkarithians overpowered those cries, filling the entire city with their death keen.

Bane turned away from the window and paced the interior of the tower, dragging her fingers through her hair. "The last descendant. The last descendant comes through their line. Their daughter—my grandbaby..." She tugged at her vibrant red locks. "My grandbaby had Rith's abilities. She managed to survive Sedra's attempts to slaughter every one of our descendants, and through her will come the man who will destroy Sedra's offspring once and for all. How he does that will determine whether Alcardia is doomed or saved." She spun on her heel and returned to the window to watch, gripping the window sill until her knuckles went white. "Now, watch."

The four of them returned to watching the battle. By now, the soldiers had been forced back into the houses and then out into the field where Kaidan and Zerua had hidden. The wall was in good condition at this time, but as the soldiers retreated back over it, the wall was reduced to the decrepit state it had been when Kaidan and Zerua took refuge against it.

"This is the end!" Bane turned away from the window with a cry. "I cannot watch it. Not again. I've seen him die too many times. But you two must. You must know what happened here."

Zerua trembled against Kaidan, her shoulders curving over her chest, and his heart pounded in his breast.

As they watched, the trolls stampeded through the ranks, unheeding of the magic being thrown at them. They were resistant to magic, and so they plowed over the soldiers. A few fell to the arrows of archers on the roofs of nearby houses, but the slaughter continued anyway. Screams and cries of agony filled the air.

Then the mages of Sedra came on the wake of the trolls' destruction. A slender, dark-skinned woman stood in front of them, robes flapping, and beside her stood Sedra, her white hair whipping around her with the force of the wind howling across the battlefield. The dark-skinned woman lifted her hand, and walls of earth rose from the soil before them. The earth shook, and the tower trembled beneath them at the force of the quake. Then the walls collapsed inward with a boom, landing on the hapless soldiers and sinking down into the ground to level the field once more.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Bane wailed, clutching her stomach and sagging against the tower wall. Rith wrapped her in his arms, holding her as she sobbed. He rocked her back and forth, meeting Kaidan and Zerua's wide-eyed gazes. "It's over. Ashkarith falls again."

"My son... They've killed my baby." Bane buried her face in her hands and released a scream that pierced the battle.

As Kaidan and Zerua looked back over the field in stunned silence, they saw Sedra look up at the tower where they stood. Bane continued to scream, her voice cascading over the battlefield. Sedra turned her back on them and strode across the fresh dirt that had buried the soldiers of Ashkarith miles underground.

When she reached the center of the field, she raised her arms and her voice rang out across a now quiet battlefield. "This is what happens to anyone who defies me! Run while you still can, Rith. You and your bride. I am going to hunt you and your remaining armies down and destroy every last one of you." She lowered her arms and yelled to her armies in turn. "Find anyone who's hiding in these houses and then take the castle. I want every man, woman, and child in this city slaughtered."

Rith's fingers tightened on his wife's arms, and he bowed his head. "It's time to show them the rest, love."

Bane's screams died to mewling whimpers, and she huddled in Rith's arms, sobbing. "Then take us to where we need to be."

He nodded. Smoke and shadow filled the room, billowing up around the four of them. As they looked out over the city, they saw the darkness resting on houses around the city as well. Then the darkness took over, and they saw nothing.

There was a sudden jolt, and all of them stood on a promontory looking out over the burning city. Thunder clouds rumbled overhead, dark and foreboding. Lightning flashed through the clouds. The rain began to patter down, its tempo slowly increasing until it was falling hard enough to put out the fires.

"That would be Mericus's work." Bane spat the mage's name out, staring out over her ruined city. "Sedra didn't want the dragon fire to burn everything to the ground because she wanted this city to stand as a memorial to her victory for the rest of time."

Kaidan and Zerua took in the burning city then turned to look at the soldiers and the few women and children scattered behind them. "Are these the only ones who remained alive in the city?"

Rith shook his head, closing his eyes. "I couldn't bring them all. I wasn't powerful enough, and Sedra had my sister lock my power away from the ones her soldiers found. She knew I'd try to take them all anyway."

"Albrith could lock away your power?"

Rith looked out over the city. "Well, hinder it at least. Her light was stronger than my darkness if I spread myself too thin. And if she concentrated it on specific people, she was able to keep my shadows from reaching them. There's a reason her name means one without darkness in our language."

"So—" Zerua's voice shook, and she pressed closer to him. "Does Sedra really kill all of them? That woman I saw with her baby. Did Sedra—"

Bane nodded. "Every last one of them."

Zerua sunk to the ground, digging her fingers into the rocky dirt at the edge of the promontory. "E-every last one..."

"Look and see." Bane pointed a trembling finger at the scene beneath them, and it zoomed in. The weeping of women and the frightened screams of babies and young children filled the air. Men who had been injured in the battle lay groaning on the ground, clutching bleeding legs or stumps that poured their life force into the dirt beneath them.

Kaidan straightened, staring out at the field below their hiding place. Light drenched the huddled masses even as the moonlight had been blotted out by the dark clouds and smoke. Albrith's work, no doubt. Sad that she believed a woman who would do such a cruel thing. The soldiers of Sedra dragged a screaming woman to the front of the crowd, tearing the squirming baby in her arms away from her.

At his feet, Zerua clapped her hands over her mouth with a sob. He glanced down to find her rocking back and forth with her eyes closed and tears streaming down her cheeks. If she couldn't watch, he didn't blame her. But someone should. Someone needed to tell the world the truth.

So he watched as the baby was the first to suffer Sedra's wrath. And he continued to watch as the mother was given back the dead child and quickly sent to follow her baby into the afterlife. The killing went quickly after that. Some tried to run, but it didn't matter. Everyone was mercilessly cut down. The dirt turned red with blood, and the stragglers who tried to flee slipped in the mud it created, tripping over bodies of those who had already lost their lives. Then the last survivors were gone too, destroyed by a blast of fire here and there or a sword in the back.

Sedra presided over the scene with a baleful grin on her thin features. When it was done and the cries had been silenced, she looked at her soldiers and her grin widened. "Jia, bury the bodies."

Kaidan turned away, bile stinging the back of his throat as his mind grappled with what he'd seen. Zerua was openly weeping now, and he dropped to his knees, pulling her into his arms. There they huddled until the darkness draped over them.

Then he was opening his eyes, and the strange green glow of the castle throne room was back. He sat up, pressing a hand to his head with a groan. Bane still crouched beside him, but her sightless eyes were now rimmed with tears, and a more human element could be seen in her inhuman features. "Now you see." She brushed away the tears. "What will you do with this knowledge, Kaidan Tadegan."

"Tell the world."

She bit her lip. "Then there's something you must do for me."

"What?"

"Set them all free."

Kaidan frowned. "Set them free? How?"

She wrapped her arms around herself. "You have to tell the rulers of your time the truth. Sedra cursed these people to remain trapped here with my husband's soul for eternity unless the truth was revealed. She made sure it never would be, or she thought she had. I preserved this place to keep the secrets we hid here from dying with us. But I'm tired." She rubbed her temples with a sigh. "And the energy I use to sustain this place is rapidly fading as the soul that fueled the spell and my magic throughout my life weakens without its body. I've been waiting all these years for someone who would tell the truth of what happened here. No one came until you."

"No one?"

She ran her fingers through her tangled locks. "Well, some never had the chance. They perished trying to get here. And—" She sighed. "When I first took up residence here, I was very angry. Angry at how I died. Angry at everyone for supporting Sedra. So many of the first travelers who came here after I drove the walls of earth up to protect the city died by my hand."

Nearby, Zerua groaned. Kaidan's head whipped toward her. She sat up, blinking away tears and stared back at him. When she saw Bane, she burst into sobs. "I—I'm so sorry."

Pain twisted Bane's features, and she ducked her head. "You have nothing to be sorry for. What happened two-thousand years ago is not your fault."

Kaidan pulled himself into a sitting position. "After you stopped killing those who came here, why didn't anyone tell the truth about this place?"

Bane looked away. "Many of them lost their minds and their will to live. They became subject to the curse when they died here, and they spend their time wandering the borders of the city aimlessly. Others came here for their own gain, not in search of the truth. Those of that sort died by my hand." Her jaw clenched. "The world is better off without those who callously disregard the pain of others."

"What about those who returned to the world of the living?"

"Mad. Everyone of them mad." Bane shook her head. "Their minds couldn't handle it, but they refused to die. Once they left my domain, I do not know what became of them."

Kaidan got to his feet and went to help Zerua up. "We will do as you ask and spread the word of what really happened here."

She smiled, tears running down her cheeks. "Then I can finally have the peace I've longed for."