The Garden

"No power of the fire might give them light, neither might the clear flames of the stars lighten the horrible night. For there appeared unto them only a sudden fire, very dreadful: so that being afraid of this vision, which they could not see, they thought the things, which they saw, to be worse." (Wis 17:5, 6)

It is the summer of 1348 on the Iberian Peninsula; war rages through Aragón and the black pestilence has begun to ravage the populace. When Guillermo Ramirez, a blacksmith conscripted into the King's army, murders his commanding officer in a drunken brawl, he flees the encampment and takes refuge in the ruined garden of an abandoned monastery. He soon discovers he is not alone.

"Everything bleeds here ..." Diago

An ancient daimon that calls itself Ashmedai has entrapped other men in the Garden. Ashmedai feeds on the misery he creates among the men and grows stronger by the day. At each black moon, when the eye of God is closed, Ashmedai uses the despair generated by the men’s souls to break another of the seals that bind him to the Garden. When the final seal is destroyed, Ashmedai will have the strength to break the barrier between the realm of fey and the realm of men where he can forever feed on mortal desolation.

"We are the same, we are not, and I am not myself ..." Guillermo

The mysteries of the Garden can only be unraveled by a hideous creature, perversely named Belita. Guillermo believes that Belita knows how to destroy Ashmedai, but she will only divulge her secrets if Guillermo can recall a past incarnation. Buried in the memories of that incarnation is the pattern for a key that will restore the sigils of power and return Ashmedai to the lower realms.

"Do you love?" Miquel

Time is short, the black moon rises, and the daimon’s power grows. Guillermo must solve the mystery of his past so he can restore the sigils that will lock Ashmedai away and save the people he loves.