[GRAVEFIRE] Morana, the Alchemist

Morana begins at The Grand Palace + Queen's Gallery.

The Zebathen Empire was famous for technical power. Engineers, scientists, artificers, mathematicians, and alchemists came to its capital to work under its wealth and ambition. People said Zebathen alchemists could turn lead into gold, forge steel that survived a hundred battles, make potions that extended life for decades, and create poisons that could wipe out a town overnight.

Then a wasting disease struck the capital.

It began in the slums, spread through the poorer districts, and eventually reached the rich and powerful. No healer or alchemist in the city could cure it. Queen Vaella, Empress of Zebathen, offered a huge reward to anyone who could end the plague. Many came from across the Empire, and all failed.

Then Morana arrived from a faraway land across the seas. She offered her services in exchange for the reward and a place at court. Within days, she had created an antidote. Within another week, the first patients recovered fully.

Morana became the savior of the city. Wealth, glory, courtly favor, and public praise followed.

But the other alchemists and healers grew jealous. Rumors spread through scientific circles: Morana was no true alchemist. She had spread the plague herself, then presented the antidote so she could become a false hero. Suspicion replaced adoration. Her peers resented her. The common people began to distrust her. Even Queen Vaella, who had grown fond of her new alchemist, became uncertain.

Then the cure's shadow revealed itself.

The plague claimed its final victim: Queen Vaella. The Empress died in agony, cursing Morana's name and calling for her death.

For Morana's accusers, that was proof enough. The Royal Guard seized her before she could defend herself. She was stripped of wealth and power, thrown into the deepest cell of the palace dungeons, and left to await execution. The cure continued to spread through the city, saving the last victims of the plague, but those saved lives would not matter for long.

In her windowless cell, Morana heard a great roar in the distance. Heat followed. Screams echoed from the cells above. Her chains melted. The bars of her cell softened and gave way.

Morana climbed out of the dungeon into a world destroyed by the Grave Fire.

The capital burned around her. Only the Royal Palace still stood, blackened but not gone. Morana moved through its corridors like a forgotten ghost, past rooms filled with ash and burnt bodies.

She had recovered her possessions during her escape. Her walking stick was glowing with a poisonous green light. As she walked deeper into the palace, the glow intensified, almost guiding her.

At the throne room doors, the cane burned with fel energy. Inside, she heard voices raised in song, but no song of Zebathen sounded like that.

She opened the doors and saw souls circling the throne. Their voices carried an ancient summoning spell she recognized from her studies. The name they called terrified her most of all.

They were summoning Queen Vaella.