The Secret of Kralitz

On the night Franz, twenty-first Baron Kralitz, has dreaded for years, two silent figures in black wake him and lead him down a stairway he never knew existed beneath his castle. His dying father would not name the curse an abbot laid on their house, after the first Baron burned his monastery. He said only that every eldest son learns the secret when the time comes.

Far below, in a cavern lit by a sourceless glow, monsters bellow beside a sunless sea, and a long stone table is laid for a feast. The pale, red-lipped men seated there greet Franz by name, and their faces are strangely familiar.