Poison City

“It was as if still yesterday, when he and I were finally rid of our entanglement in the earthly duties, of power, of struggle, of politics and war. What a sad state of affairs, yet what a relief. It has taken quite a ” The Lady in White sighed as she glanced through the screens in front of her: “It seems to me, that even generations and generations past. The rhythm and song of battle for the throne and the sword has never changed. It just - echoes and echoes.

“The affairs of the Kingdom shall no longer trouble us. Those who hate and fear us would be at ease, for we no longer desire any kind of reign, over anybody, on anything. We wanted only peace, rest and time to ourselves. No one should ever, ever take matter as power-adverse as this as some other indications of threat. We would finally be rid of the poisonous nets of politics. Or so we thought. We were, however, sorely mistaken.

“Before settling into this garden, we did all we could, and we did all our duty bid of us in suppressing - combating this curse laid on us by the foul dragon Shyurak upon its deserved death. And we did leave methods, rituals and functions that would facilitate their continuous efforts, as well as the direction for further research and investigation. All of this effort bought us years of peace, the life we wanted. We remained in this garden, tended to the flowers, as well as utilizing the latent power here to keep our eyes on different aspects and places of the Kingdom.

“But the years of peace had eventually passed. People were sent through our gates, asking us for our involvement, or clarification, or redeclaration of our will to not intervene. The King and Queen were not concerned about us. The people in power needed our assurance. They needed to silence us, once and for all.

“When all the storms were at their highest and darkest, the King and Queen seemed to have decided to drive us out of here, and into far away lands. One day, a messenger from the King and Queen came, commanding us to let go of this garden, and let it serve as a final seal of the curse that was still plaguing the Kingdom. The order also commanded that we do our best to aid in this effort. As a reward, we will be granted a shelter in the mountains, where we can move our flowers too.”

The Lady in White’s body trembled. The wrath was palpable. And She just turned her eyes on the flowers as she continued her monologue, barely showing any interest in looking at Marcus or Gloria. And without their voices, they decided just to follow her and listen. If she was really from all those ages ago like she said, she must possess unimaginable power and she would absolutely not have them here if she did not have the intention to.

“This was not what we agreed to. This was a blatant violation of our trust. I was furious, but he calmed me, and demanded that the King and Queen produce the plans of the ritual. The ritual needed to be sound, before we would vacate this place of our own volition.” The Lady in White sighed and looked up at the holographic ceiling.

“He did not expect, however, that the messenger came prepared. He showed us the plan - a ritual of unimaginable size, with this very garden as the center of a great seal. It is well designed. Ambitious, almost on the edge of implausibility, but still practical if they really could gather all those materials and power needed.

“So, we had to agree. We knew the risk, we knew how much of a toll it would take on the entire Kingdom to perform this ritual. We could not let all that effort go to waste. ”

“We waited on the day of the ritual, in this garden ready to lend our power in completing it. If the ritual was successful, this entire garden would become a vortex of power in need of stabilizing. We would stabilize the vortex from here, and turn the power of this place into an ‘eye’ for the seal. Should it complete, it should lock the curse down for centuries, chiseling away its power in the time.

“The day of the ritual. It started, and for a moment ran just as anyone would expect. But no more than one hour into the ritual, the earth shook. An earthquake struck the entire Kingdom. It almost tore down half the Capital Walls, it broke down dams around the lake, and broke all the walls you can no longer see here.” The Lady in White finally turned to Marcus and Gloria: “And right after, fog swept through the land and surrounded this garden, separating this place from the outside world. The King and Queen’s army was pushed out, and only he and I remained. No one could come in, and neither of us could get out.

“So we had our peace, for more years. But in utter isolation, and without an option to head out. He was a knight. Strong, powerful, loyal, but destined to live a short life. So he went before me. I, on the other hand, was blessed with spells and spirit power. And with it, a long life. The ritual changed me as well. Maybe also thanks to that foul dragon’s fire I bathed, I am able to carry on, not falling into his footsteps. 

“I would have ended myself to follow him. I wanted to. But I could not. For a simple reason: the curse rose around the garden. The curse thickened and howled around this place. Seeping, crushing, corroding its way into the garden. And I chose to defend our memory, defend our time here, until the very last moment.

“So you ask, where you are. This is the garden. This is the would-be eye of a seal that could have sealed away the evil that is eating this - this city. And this is my mirror and my grave.”

The Lady in White snapped her finger, the invisible force silencing Marcus and Gloria disappeared.