Being the usually calm and collected person he was, it was quite unnerving for Rowen's friends to see him this apprehensive. But then, he had plenty reason to be apprehensive. Already the warnings the wraith had given him were coming true. The runes that had been so carefully etched in stunning detail onto the lanterns served two purposes. Whoever had created these symbols of ancient magic had been quite creative with their art, as they could be read in two different ways. In the more modern language of E'crrt, he could read of the tale of how Antaris had worked to restore what balance he could to Tyra, or earth as it was more commonly known, by recreating the gods of old. This process, of course, had come at a price. A huge price. It had cost Antaris his freedom. He was now trapped in his own spell of restoration, continually working to keep his delicate workings alive.

The story continued to tell of many of the other-worldly gods' involvement in this process, but all but the beginning part of the story were common knowledge to all learned people.

The runes had been cleverly arranged, however, to also form the castings of a spell in another, much more ancient language, the name of which escaped Rowen at present. By reading the runes from top to bottom, as opposed to the traditional left to right, he could make out a very grim, though vague, rendition of a curse. Unfortunately time had made quite an impact on these eons old inscriptions, which didn't help Rowen at all while trying to decipher them. What few words he could make out gave him a dim outline of the workings of this spell, and yet didn't make sense to him. All through the first seven lines of the spell, he could make out words such as "death," "pain," and similar types of unpleasant meanings, but near the end of the spell he found symbols of hope, light and redemption.

He decided to leave the spell for later contemplation.

He realised, once looking away from the etchings, that while he had been studying the lanturns at a leisurely pace, his companions had wondered ahead without him. This would prove an excellent oppurtunity for him to investigate his surroundings more thouroughly. He had a few spells up his sleeve which might help uncover some of the mysteries he had heard concerning this castle...