Table of Contents
Summary of Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb
Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb is the second book in the series by Isi Hendrix. It follows Adia Kelbara, a young shaman, as she faces the return of the demon Olark and a rising army of the dead. Set primarily at the Academy of Shamans and across the dangerous terrains of Zaria, the story explores themes of destiny, betrayal, and the cost of power.
Part One: The Shadow of the Demon
The Capital and the Ban on Drops The story begins in the capital of Zaria, where Captain Perpetua Edochie, a stern warrior, confronts her thirteen-year-old son, Emperor Darian (the “Warlord Child”). Darian has survived possession by the demon Olark and is now attempting to rule while cleaning up the demon’s mess. The primary point of conflict is Darian’s decision to ban “Drops,” a tonic made from agrias vines. While Perpetua sees Drops as a tool to keep the peasantry submissive and the nobility rich, Darian knows they are a subtle poison that drains a person’s life force and makes them susceptible to outside influence.
As they argue, a thunderous boom shakes the palace. A massive crack splits the earth near the palace gates. In the sky, a message appears in “Words of Power”: “Hear my words throughout the world / And read them in the skies…”. This is the same curse Olark used during his previous reign of terror. A Gold Hat soldier reports seeing a dead trainee, Lucas Grim, running into the forest with a torch. Realizing the demon is returning, Darian sends an urgent message to his friend Adia Kelbara at the Academy of Shamans.
Flight from the Horrorbeyond Adia Kelbara has spent two months hiding in the Horrorbeyond, a dangerous wasteland, with her cat Bubbles and her friend Thyme, a warrior from the lost kingdom of Nri. Adia is plagued by nightmares of fire and a voice saying, “You woke her up. She’s coming”. She feels immense guilt, knowing Olark wants her eyes because, as a descendant of shamanic protectors, she is the only one who can find the hidden kingdom of Imo Mmiri.
The Ferryman (a Soulless) arrives to take them to school early, and Adia discovers she can now understand his telepathic vibrations. Suddenly, the Ferryman collapses into a pile of fabric. Hiroma the Headless, ruler of the Horrorbeyond, warns that something “wrong” has arrived. As Adia and Thyme flee in Hiroma’s boat, the island erupts in orange flames. A creature hitches a ride on the boat, whispering that a “High Queen” is coming.
Return to the Academy The Academy of Shamans is a sentient building that frequently attacks students it dislikes. Adia returns as a student, but finds a mural crediting the “Academy Council” for Darian’s rescue, with herself mentioned only in tiny print. Her nemesis, Mallorie Amber, immediately resumes her bullying. Adia meets Rusty and Mimi, twins from the capital.
At the orientation dinner, Headmistress Inika is revealed to be the Alusi (god) Ginikanwa (Gini) in disguise, with the Alusi Mbari serving as a professor. Gini demonstrates fire magic, but suddenly the entire student body falls into an unnatural sleep. Only Adia, Thyme, and the Alusi remain awake. A reanimated corpse lurches in, gasping, “Adia Kelbara… I need to bring the High Queen… your eyes!”. Agrias vines from the walls devour the corpse and turn it into dust before the students wake up. Gini tells the school it was a “toxic gas leak” to hide the truth.
Part Two: Initiation and the Dog Star
The Library and the High Queen Adia investigates a mile-deep chasm in the forest and encounters Nami Watson, a Gold Hat apprentice who previously betrayed her. Nami is repentant, but Adia is too focused on the rising dead to forgive him. In the Academy library, the building guides Adia to a secret room with black-spined books. She finds a book on reanimation that describes the High Queen of the Dog Star, a master of the “Perfect Mind” technique who could control the minds and bodies of others, even after death.
Darian arrives at the Academy in disguise. They realize that the blackouts only affect those who have taken Drops (now rebranded as “Liquid Gold”). Olark is using the life force of the living to raise an army of the dead. Mr. Chobly, Darian’s adviser, confronts Adia, revealing he has her medical records from her uncle and wants to “study” her immunity.
Initiation into the Underworld Gini insists Adia undergo initiation to control her growing powers. At the Academy’s ruins (the school’s heart), Adia enters the Underworld, a realm of primal energy. She meets a spirit named Sabo, who reveals that her world (the Dog Star) was destroyed by one person’s greed. Sabo gives Adia “power objects” invisible black earrings that heighten her hearing. Adia realizes she has been in a trance for six days in the physical world.
Sabo leads Adia to a Hollowgate, where Olark appears. Sabo is the High Queen, bound to Olark by a soul contract: “Until this crown falls from your head / Your soul is bound to mine”. She is forced to create ever-changing Drops formulas for him. Sabo reveals there is a cure for Drops buried in her tomb and that there is another shaman in Zaria helping Olark. Adia returns to her body using her name as a Word of Power.
Part Three: The Quest for the Cure
The Shaman Revealed Adia suspects her Uncle Eric is the dark shaman when she sees him performing a ritual and pouring Liquid Gold into a chasm. Gini “suspends” Adia so she can leave the Academy to find the cure. Accompanied by Thyme and Darian, she boards a ship back to the Swamplands. Nami Watson follows them, desperate to help. On the boat, drowned corpses attack during a blackout. Adia’s ancestor, Viona, borrows Adia’s body to command the ocean and wash the dead away. Adia realizes Eric was awake during the attack, confirming he is the shaman.
Nami’s Sacrifice The group hikes toward the Mbari Mines to find a Bone Thrower who can map Sabo’s tomb. Nami helps them bypass Gold Hat blockades. At the Bone Thrower’s village, they obtain the locator map. The Bone Thrower also tries to map Imo Mmiri; it appears blank to others, but Adia sees it clearly in her mind. As the ground splits and the dead rise, Nami retrieves the map for Adia but is caught in a blackout and swallowed by the earth.
Adia is devastated and tries to reanimate Nami. Darian stops her by taking Drops himself, showing her that using such power drains the living and would make her no better than a demon.
Part Four: The High Queen’s Tomb
The Royal Bloodline As they approach the Sunless Mountains, Darian begins experiencing Sabo’s memories in his dreams. Adia realizes Darian is an Edochie, descended from Sabo’s child with a man named Daniel Edochie. Darian is star-born, which is why he survived possession for so long. Adia formulates a plan to free Sabo from her soul contract.
The Final Confrontation At the tomb, an army of skeletons stands guard, commanded by a rider in black whom Adia believes is her uncle. Adia uses the spirit of a wonderflower to blind the shaman and agrias vines to bind them. They enter the tomb and summon Olark’s shadow spirit.
The plan succeeds: Sabo briefly channels her power through Darian. When Darian falls to his knees, his crown falls off, fulfilling the loophole in the contract. Sabo is freed, and the spirits of Olark’s victims drag him into the abyss. Sabo gives Adia the formula for the cure and vanishes. As the tomb collapses, Adia channels hundreds of spirits to hold up the mountain until they escape.
Part Five: Aftermath and the True Villain
The Cure and Nami’s Legacy The group returns to the Academy. The blackouts stop, and Adia begins mass-producing the cure. Darian provides for Nami’s mother, declaring Nami a hero of Zaria. Adia’s peers now look at her with gratitude. Adia resolves to one day find Nami’s soul in the realm of the dead and to locate the physical entrance to Imo Mmiri.
The Epilogue Twist In the Swamplands, the “shaman” is revealed not to be Uncle Eric, but Aunt Ife. Eric was merely her servant, and he was blinded by Adia’s previous spell. Ife reveals she was the one who “crushed” Adia’s mother and vows that she and her “master” will eventually crush Adia as well.