Location from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams
The fallen city of the Sithi — once the most beautiful of the Nine Cities, now buried beneath the Hayholt, its white marble walls and singing towers entombed under five centuries of mortal stone.
Asu'a was the Sithi's great work — the city they built to replace lost Tumet'ai, the masterpiece of the Tinukeda'ya builders, the place where Ineluki forged Sorrow and died cursing the mortals who destroyed it. Its fall during King Fingil's three-year siege is the defining tragedy of Sithi-mortal relations. Now it exists as the Hayholt's unconscious — layers of Sithi architecture beneath layers of mortal construction, tunnels leading to tunnels leading to places that don't obey mortal geometry. The cold that drifts up from below isn't just temperature — it's memory, resentment, the residue of Ineluki's final rage sunk into the stones. Simon navigates these tunnels during the climax, guided by instinct and dream. Guthwulf wanders them blind. The castle above has no idea what it's sitting on.
In its glory: walls of snow-white marble, towers that caught light and scattered it like music, flowering meadows, and the great Nightingale Tower topped with a statue looking back toward the Garden. Now: a subterranean labyrinth of collapsed hallways, flooded chambers, and passages that extend deeper than any mortal has explored. The Witchwood Grove — once lit by clever mirrors — is buried deep. The Pool of Three Depths, a Master Witness, lies somewhere in the dark.
Also known as: Asu'a, The Sithi City