It is the year 151, and deep in the secret caves of the Elysium Temple, the daughter of the High Priestess discovers the powers she has been trained to wield since birth. The energies of the Universe are free and available to all who choose to study the nature of reality, however, those energies, like the gifts of Nature, can be used for both good and evil.
When her mother leaves the Temple on urgent business, the now unsupervised Layla is tempted to play at study, take shortcuts, and use her skills for amusement rather than work. There is no harm in a little fun, but Layla becomes reckless and accidentally releases the spirit of a necromancer from the depths of the Abyss.
At first Layla is charmed by the clever spirit and rather proud of her accomplishment in manipulating the veil between life and death, but soon learns what she has really done. The necromancer was imprisoned for a reason, and now he is unleashed upon the world again to inhabit a human body, to wield earthly power, and to exact retribution from the priestess who chained him in the Abyss: Laylas mother.
It is up to Layla to capture the spirit of the necromancer and contain it again before he destroys her family, her friends, her home, and before he regains the earthly power that he will use to spread the miseries of famine, war, disease and death throughout Europe.
About the Author
A.M. Banks lives and works in the beautiful state of Arizona. She has spent nearly thirty years researching her interest in the various ways people throughout history have searched for knowledge. The first twenty years of her professional life was spent buying and selling used and rare books all over the country. Her interest in rare and unusual manuscripts as well as the suppressed knowledge of the ages began at the age of 15 when she asked her mother, What is the meaning of life? and was sent to the library to find out.
