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

  “The affairs of the Kingdom shall no lorouble us. Those who hate and fear us would be at ease, for we no longer desire any kind n, 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 s 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 - bating this curse id on us by the foul dragon Shyurak upon its deserved death. And we did leave methods, rituals and funs that would facilitate their tinuous efforts, as well as the dire for further researd iigation. All of this effort bought us years of peace, the life we wanted. We remained in this garden, teo the flowers, as well as utilizing the tent power here to keep our eyes on different aspects and pces of the Kingdom.

  “But the years of peace had eventually passed. People were sent through ates, asking us for our involvement, or crification, or redecration of our will to not intervehe King and Queen were not ed about us. The people in power needed our assurahey o silence us, ond 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 nds. One day, a messenger from the King and Queen came, anding us to let go of this garden, a serve as a final seal of the curse that was still pguing the Kingdom. The order also ahat we do our best to aid in this effort. As a reward, we will be granted a shelter in the mountains, where we move our flowers too.”

  The Lady in White’s body trembled. The wrath alpable. And She just turned her eyes on the flowers as she tinued her monologue, barely showing any i in looking at Marcus loria. 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 iion to.

  “This was not what we agreed to. This was a btant viotion of our trust. I was furious, but he calmed me, and demahat the King and Queen produce the pns of the ritual. The ritual o be sound, before we would vacate this pce 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 pn - a ritual of unimaginable size, with this very garden as the ter of a great seal. It is well designed. Ambitious, almost on the edge of impusibility, but still practical if they really could gather all those materials and power needed.

  “So, we had to agree. We khe risk, we knew how much of a toll it would take oire Kingdom to perform this ritual. We could not let all that effo to waste. ”

  “We waited on the day of the ritual, in this garden ready to lend our power in pleting it. If the ritual was successful, this entire garden would bee a vortex of power in need of stabilizing. We would stabilize the vortex from here, and turn the power of this pto an ‘eye’ for the seal. Should it plete, it should lock the curse down for turies, chiseling away its power iime.

  “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. Ahquake struck the entire Kingdom. It almost tore down half the Capital Walls, it broke down dams around the ke, and broke all the walls you o longer see here.” The Lady in White finally turo Marcus and Gloria: “And right after, fog swept through the nd and surrouhis garden, separating this pce from the outside world. The King and Queen’s army ushed out, and only he and I remained. No one could e in, aher of us could get out.

  “So we had our peace, for more years. But in utter isotion, and without an option to head out. He was a knight. Strong, powerful, loyal, but destio live a short life. So he went before me. I, oher hand, was blessed with spells and spirit power. And with it, a long life. The ritual ged 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 wao. But I could not. For a simple reason: the curse rose around the garden. The curse thied and howled around this pce. Seeping, crushing, corroding its way into the garden. And I chose to defend our memory, defend our time here, until the very st 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 fihe invisible force sileng Marcus and Gloria disappeared.