"As I said, it was the greatest kingdom in all the world, once. Even we lived on the surface, then. White towers reached into the sky, while below crowds thronged through glittering streets. The City of Tears beat with the pulse of commerce and industry."

She sighed. "That was when I was a child. Then, the infection came. We tried to hold it back, but in time they were all driven mad. It is only through sheer stubbornness I retained my sense of self. Now no one lives there but the mad and the desperate."