Tasha sighed and flumped on her bed. She simply lay there, staring at the ceiling wondering about the events of the day. Her mission had been successful. She had brought the adventurers back from Twarftha. Marcus had indeed been a highly beneficial companion. And interesting.

  There was a tiny hiccup in the form of Manalith. However, it had been taken care of by the adventurers and the non adventurers working together. That was fine. What Tasha had found interesting was that both Tamara and Marcus had not required much time to recover for their reintegration in Una. Marcus had not even required time to integrate in Twarftha. He had only blacked out because he had been hit by a durlogh’s spell when he had gone through the portal. She would look into this further but not today.

  Tasha then thought about the aftermath of Manalith’s battle. The quest for succession for the throne of Karzasham was still on. After a long and tedious battle, it was concluded by simply counting the number of adventurers who had made it to the throne room. Kind of anti-climatic and disappointing. Marcus had made it into the throne room. He was definitely resourceful and Tasha had been impressed with what she had learnt.

  She had gone to Karzasham once the rescued adventurers had woken up. Everything had been over when they reached the city and she heard the account of what had happened from many adventurers and non adventurers and had pieced out the story.

  After the adventurers had been united, Tasha had inquired about Marcus’ status to find that he had died while protecting Furorin. She had met Kyrie, Marcus’ partner and had small talk with her. Marcus had respawned in the adventurers’ guild outside Karzasham and Tasha had met with him before saying her goodbyes.

  The city was in a celebratory mood. The teleporter was down but Tasha could activate it without the help of anyone. Soon, she was back in Melancholia. She had made her way slowly back to the palace. Upon arriving she had chosen not to meet her parents. Instead she had made her way slowly to her room.

  And now here she lay, wondering what to do. She knew she needed to report to her parents but she felt tired. Not physically but mentally considering what she went through on Twarftha these last days. She knew her parents would not be happy with how the things were handled on Twarftha but at least the outcome was positive.

  Tasha decided to get some shut eye in the end. She would meet her parents later. If they wanted to see her they would have called for her. She was pretty sure that they knew she was in the palace.

  Tasha woke up with a start. She wondered what had awoken her. She had definitely been sleeping peacefully. She looked at the time. It was zero hour. She frowned. Why did she wake up so early?

  Tasha looked around her room. Nothing seemed out of place. But there was this feeling of wrongness. In the air. She wondered what it was. She was not able to put her finger on it.

  She got out of her bed, got fresh and changed her clothes. She did not feel a sense of urgency to investigate. She slowly made her way outside her room.

  She met a member of the palace staff and inquired about the location of her parents. The staff member did not know. Tasha thanked them and made her way to the throne room. Her parents were not there though.

  Tasha stared at their thrones for some time. The throne room was empty. To think about it, the palace seemed empty. Where were the guards? Where were the staff members who were supposed to maintain the castle. She had seen only one staff member on her way here. Where were the rest?

  The door to the throne room opened with a creak and the chief of staff walked in. It was an Umaru by the name of Dovin Gloryhead. Tasha watched in fascination as Dovin walked towards her slowly and stiffly.

  “Are you alright, Dovin?” asked Tasha loudly.

  Dovin stopped. He shook his head, the tubes on his head waving vigorously. He blinked and looked around. He gave a startled look as he noticed Tasha.

  “Lady Lightweaver, what is going on?” asked Dovin.

  Tasha frowned, “I was going to ask you the same thing. Where is everybody? And why were so out of it? You were walking like a zombie.”

  “I don’t know. I thought I was still on my bed, sleeping”, he looked down, “And here I am, in the throne room and fully dressed.”

  “There are no guards either. Go back to staff quarters. See if the staff is alright. Then go to the barracks and see if you can find out if the guards are alright. If not, try and raise an alarm at the nearest NAIF facility.”

  “What about you, Lady Lightweaver?”

  “I am going to look for my parents.”

  Tasha made her way to her parents’ chambers. She knew the way. She walked fast but did not run. She met no soul on her way. What was happening? Something was definitely not right.

  She reached her parents’ chambers to find the doors locked. They seemed to be sealed with magic. Tasha tried to open them but was met with a small jolt of electricity. Interesting defense. She wondered about its purpose. It would definitely not keep her out.

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  Tasha mumbled a spell disenchanting all the spells that were cast on the doors. Then she slowly opened them. Tasha peaked inside carefully. The chambers were empty. She sighed. What had she been expecting?

  Tasha walked slowly into the room, her eyes roving everywhere taking in every detail of the chambers. The entrance led to an atrium which had a seating area for guests right in front of the doors. To the left was a small pantry and to the right were the guest restrooms. There was a decorative divider beyond which was a small fountain filled with natural flora.

  Surrounding the fountain was a walkway, circular in nature and it led to three rooms. The first room was her parents’ private study. The second room was their bedroom while the third room was an enchanters’ room.

  Tasha made her way to the bedroom and the feeling of wrongness intensified to the point of almost suffocating her. She steadied herself and opened the door. The bedroom was empty. Something shifted at the edge of her vision and she turned to find the door closing behind her.

  She rushed to open it but something tripped her. She fell hard but balanced herself at the last second. She performed something akin to a somersault and looked around the room. It was still empty.

  Suddenly someone giggled. Tasha turned three sixty degrees but she could not find anyone. The giggling multiplied and now it was coming from everywhere inside the room.

  Suddenly it stopped and the door to the bedroom opened. In stepped Leyda, her mother but it was not the mother she recognized. A huge grin was spread across Leyda’s face extending from ear to ear, quite literally. She was shuffling rather than walking, her eyes fixed on Tasha in an eerie manner. However, the most noticeable feature was her skin. It was dark and decaying with pus of grey matter pulsing and shifting across her body.

  Tasha tried to cast a spell but she could not. Leyda reached Tasha and grabbed her by her head.

  Leyda whispered, “You are not ready yet.”

  And she bit Tasha. Tasha screamed. Tasha woke up and fell out of bed. She was sweating a lot and panting heavily. She groaned as she stood up. Was it all a dream? But it felt so real.

  Tasha went out of her room. The palace was bustling with staff now. She slowly made her way towards the throne room. The guards were at their place and the staff members were moving through the hallway, busy with their tasks for the day.

  She even found Doving who seemed okay and said he had not had a conversation with Tasha earlier. Tasha even checked the time and it was 3 in the morning.

  She finally reached the throne room to find the thrones empty. The guards who seemed to be slacking a bit, straightened themselves as she entered the throne room. Her parents would still not be there. She went to their chambers. Tasha found her father in the atrium, sitting on one of the sofas, with a tab in one of his hands and a glass of coffee in another.

  Tasha looked at her father and she felt a sense of wrongness from him. Why?

  Rauros looked up and said, “Good morning, Tasha. You are up early. I thought you would be resting for a bit long considering how tired you were last night.”

  “Did we meet last night?” inquired Rauros.

  Rauros gave a small smile, “No, but I am aware of whatever goes on in this palace.”

  He did not elaborate further and Tasha said, “Where is mother?”

  Rauros raised an eyebrow, “In the bedroom. She is still sleeping. Do you want something from her?”

  Tasha shook her head and frowned. She could still sense the wrongness from her father. At that moment the door to their bedroom opened and Leyda stepped out. She was still in her sleeping gown.

  Leyda looked surprised to see Tasha, “Good morning, Tasha. What brings you here so early in the morning?”

  Tasha looked at her mother and the feeling of wrongness intensified. Then she looked at her father. Leyda made her way and stood behind Rauros.

  “Are you all right?” asked Leyda with concern in her voice.

  Tasha did not reply. There was something wrong. Then she really looked at her parents. Together. And she skipped a heartbeat. Her eyes widened momentarily before she composed herself.

  How could she have missed it? They were her parents after all! And she had missed what was wrong with them. Now that she knew what was wrong, she needed to get out. She had to get back. Inform them before it was too late.

  Tasha finally said, “Nothing. I will just go. We will meet later then. To discuss what happened on Twarftha.”

  Rauros nodded and dismissed Tasha but Leyda watched her like a hawk as he exited their chambers.

  Tasha did not even go back to her room. She started descending the stairs for the private teleporter. She needed to go back to the Game Masters. She had to tell them about her parents. They were infected.

  Tasha wondered how she had missed the signs, the symptoms. The feeling of wrongness had been around them since she had arrived on Una but it was today only that she was noticing it. Was it because they were her parents and she believed that nothing could affect them?

  She dismissed her thoughts as she made her way through the palace. As she neared the teleporter room, she froze. She could not move. Some spell held her in place. She tried to break it but could not.

  “And where might you be going, Tasha?” said a voice sweetly behind her back. She could not turn so she could not see but she sensed her mother approaching her.

  Tasha said, “I forgot I had something to discuss with Marcus. So, I thought I would have a quick chat with him before I tell you guys everything that went on Twarftha.”

  Leyda walked in front of Tasha, facing her all the time. She brought her face up to Tasha’s face, looking deeply in Tasha’s eyes.

  “Lies”, hissed Leyda, “I could see your expressions in our chambers. I could feel your thoughts. You are finally going back to them. To report us. To dethrone us. You want this world. Guess what. You are not going to get it. No matter what you do.”

  “I am n-”, Tasha tried to say something but stopped as her mother snapped her fingers.

  Tasha could not say anything. She saw the expression on her mother’s face. It was pure unbridled fury.

  No, thought Tasha, I have lost her already. This is not my mother.

  Leyda snapped her fingers again and Tasha was enveloped in darkness. As she blacked out, she could hear her mother’s cackling laughter from all around her.