Prologue

Marissa awoke with a terrified start, sweat drenching her. She instinctively reached out to make certain that Areth was beside her and she was actually in their home. He rose up, half awake
“Wha...?”

“Nothing bad dream” she whispered back, and fell next to him taking comfort in his closeness for a few minutes as he drifted back to sleep. She then got up and sat down by a window across the room. This had been the sixth night in a row now she had dreamt the same nightmare. Upon awakening the words Solis et Lunari had echoed softly in her ears, as if whispered by an unseen spirit. The meaning of these words like the nightmare itself had quickly faded from consciousness, only leaving a gnawing fear inside of her.

The room was stiflingly quiet, brilliant moonlight pouring in through the open window. Not even the sound of a cricket from outside could be heard. She wondered if she was really awake. Maybe she was in a trance, and something would finally be revealed. As she had done for the past five nights, Marissa quietly began to chant the mantra to open her mind, feeling the magic begin to flow through her. She waited with mounting anticipation for the answers that had eluded her. Marissa possessed skills with magic that many others only dreamed of and she was not accustomed to waiting for answers. Marissa began to sense a magical aura emanate from the necklace she had given Areth many years ago. This was nothing new, she had figured for some time now it held a small beneficial charm for its wearer. Suddenly, giving out a slight moan, Areth stirred in his sleep. As she turned to him she noticed with horror, a dark shadow move across his face twisting it into a grimace. No! Not him too! He had been through enough in the last 5 years. She had just gotten him back, saving him from possibly his own self destruction. His heart and soul were not yet totally healed. There was no mistaking the mark of darkness that she had seen; whatever this was, it involved Areth as well.

Suddenly, in a flash of insight, something became clear to her. How could she have been so blind? She had never determined the exact nature of the necklace. It had always seemed so inconsequential; just a small trinket found in some ruins while she was still a young apprentice accompanying her master on one of his archeological digs. Looking back she felt foolish for being so naive; sometimes very powerful magical items could hide themselves very well.

Taking the necklace from the bedpost where Areth hung it at night, Marissa went outside. She held up the necklace and examined it closely. Maybe it was the moonlight, but for the first time Marissa noticed the necklace looked incomplete, like only the half of something much greater. She placed the necklace on the ground and stepped back and began to concentrate. In seconds, the calm, clear night was broken by wind and clouds covered the moon. Marissa’s stature seemed to grow huge, as energy rippled through her body. In a voice that seemed unnaturally loud yet unstrained she incanted
“ostendo veritas!”

The necklace began to glow fiercely. Flashes of images began to surface in her mind. At first she saw her nightmares. Then she saw a powerful king and queen in what looked like a last act of desperation as a terrifying darkness enveloped them. After a few minutes she stopped, the night was quiet and the moon, again, bright. Marissa looked small, with tears running down her face. She knew she hadn’t seen everything, and wasn’t even quite sure what to make of what she had seen. Fear and frustration twisted in her as the tears ran from her sapphire blue eyes. With the great power she possessed, she felt powerless to stop the horror that the future held.