The priest stares at me with a vexing look, his tattooed face trembling with fury. As he motions for his minions to take me, a cloud of smoke pours from the temple gates and the temperature drops. He places his dagger against the woman’s neck and splashes of blood spurt against the wet stones. He wipes the blade clean against his cloak and moves to the outer walls. All eyes are fixed on the obsidian corridor as a low droning noise shakes the castle walls.

A man with the head of a lion appears, a swarm of metallic insects hovering above him. The crowds shout his name when he approaches the stone platform. “Zalfaqar!”

“Eat!” the clerics chant, as the insects descend on the woman’s dead body.

“Eat!” they chant again, clapping in unison.

Zalfaqar points to me and addresses the crowd. “People of the Ash-Shayton, here is the child of light promised by the prophets! The last of Sihde blood will be spilled at the Great Temple on the day that has been chosen, her divine soul eaten by the locusts of Shayton!”