Doomed from the Beginning

18. Meeting the Queen

Sweating profusely from all over, Sansara blinked several times before he was brought back to reality by a desperate Vinasaka who kept calling him repeatedly out of his daze and soon he found the person in front of him was still the same but different. There was no sword, no stab, no blood, only the usual Vinasaka kneeling in front of him in order to look straight at his eyes, to ensure him that everything was fine and there was nothing to be worried about.

It was still a few seconds before Sansara’s eyes gradually came back to life and recognised Vinasaka. “Vinasaka…,” he whispered and soon he leaned in over Vinasaka causing him to almost fall on his back but he managed to support himself with his palm. And now, they were in a really weird position with Vinasaka leaning back and Sansara almost climbing on top of him but the latter seemed to take no notice of it as he continued to look for the stab mark on the former’s body.

However,....

Very soon he realised that his actions have been extremely inappropriate for there were no stab marks but only Sansara feeling up the demon overlord. 

….

Did i just...

….

Though he stopped his hands, with a face so red and hands still on his body, he could hardly look away. Yet it somehow looked like Vinasaka was taken aback at first but later he just sat back and enjoyed it. Watching Sansara all flushed like that, unable to move, Vinasaka tried really hard at holding back his urge to laugh and even though the situation was quite serious, he couldn’t just let go of the chance to tease the guy in front of him.

“I didn’t know you had this side to you, my lord!” Vinasaka spoke like a victim suppressing his smirk underneath, “I thought you were…,”

“What are you saying? It’s a misunderstanding! I ...I...I am what?” Sansara quickly tried to clear it up as he was about to retreat but it looks like Vinasaka was not done yet. He pulled one of Sansara’s wrist which made him lean in even closer to the demon overlord before he finished his sentence, “...I thought you were innocent!”

Sansara didn’t know whether to be more worried about what he said or about the non-existent distance between them. He immediately said, “ Aaa...you are mistaken, I was just looking for something!”

“So...did you get it?” Vinasaka continued without letting him go, “Well, if you didn’t, we can always go for a second round.” Sanasara couldn’t turn any redder. Freeing himself from Vinasaka, he finally stood up, unconsciously rubbing his own wrist where Vinasaka had been holding him a moment ago. “Ahem! Jokes apart, I think I should let you know something important.” Vinasaka stood up as well and with the same smirk, he said, “Changing subjects, are we?”

Shaking his head at the fact that Vinasaka could keep doing it forever, Sansara still avoided his question and continued, “I think I saw some of Mir’s memories. I mean there were several, all overlapping each other and not very nice at the same time, but…”

Just as expected Vinasaka’s face went through a considerable amount of change at the mention of the name, “Mir’s memories?”

“Yeah, I don’t know why though and you were there as well. It’s strange that I was in Mir’s body. Eh...Vinasaka? Did you meet Mir again after ‘that’?” By ‘that’ Sansara definitely meant the incident at which Vinasaka paused his story before. Without a second thought Vinasaka replied, “I did.”

Soon the way Sansara looked at him was changing. He blinked rapidly again as he could feel the terror of  being dragged back to the world of the memories but very unexpectedly, he felt the brush of a cold yet soft object in his hands and soon after, it entangled itself pretty securely with Sansara’s fingers. Upon looking down, he found it was Vinasaka’s hands holding his, tight and that he could see the other quite clearly again.

“The time spell array of this place is a mess, it’s probably not safe for you to move around alone,” Vinasaka assured him with half a smile. Sansara realised that Vinasaka was immune to the spell, so latching onto him would probably be the best option now.

Finally, they went to look for the queen together. 

It’s not like they had expected things to be easy but to be witnessing such a dreaded atmosphere as soon as they stepped into her chambers, it was far more nerve wrecking. They stood on the other side of her pavilion. While Sansara found it really hard to even proceed, Vinasaka hurried inside pushing away the servant that the old woman talked about before, gradually dragging Sansara in the process with him.

The servant wasn’t helping her...no! In fact he was the very reason she was like that, the very reason that her time spell array was a mess.The queen was unconscious and she fell right into the arms of Vinasaka but thank god, she was surrounded by a protective shield, though he had no idea whose magic that was. Though she had been trying to manipulate time in favour of her, this very ‘servant’ had only made things worse by blending his own spell  only to bring out the harmful side of the spell.

She had bruises all over and blood patches, some of which had dried up near the head. It definitely didn’t look like Banshee's curse but an actual physical attack.

What on earth actually happened here!

“Do me a favour Sansara,” Vinasaka said slowly shifting his sister from his to Sansara’s lap but his voice...Sansara knew that there was no way that the culprit could escape now. The servant took quite the hit before when he was suddenly struck by Vinasaka’s whip earlier and he was thrashed to the wall but he somehow managed to stand straight up. But as soon as he saw the eyes of the one who walked towards him like he was going to throw everything upside down, he froze up and yet had the nerve to say, “Who...Who do you guys think you are? Barging in like that!”

“HOW...DARE...YOU!” Vinasaka stopped right before him and hardly had he looked up with those bloodshot eyes of his, the man in front of him tried to scream but suddenly held his own throat as his voice disappeared and his eyes began to roll back. Sansara watched the horrifying sight taking in front of his eyes as the man slowly turned blue. He said, “Vinasaka don’t kill him!...” When Vinasaka looked back at him as if to say he was too soft, he later added, “..Not yet! Don’t kill him just yet. He is an important clue after all.” One smirk from Vinasaka and the almost dead man plopped on the ground coughing holding his throat.

No matter how many times he watches Vinasaka turning into the actual ‘demon overlord’, it would still be difficult for him to get used to it. Finally as Vinasaka walked back after tying him down with the whip, he kneeled beside Sansara who had already begun working on her.

Now that Sansara was looking at the queen closely, she didn't really look much like Vinasaka, but she was pale with an air of femininity yet authoritative. Her long hair which was probably tied up in a bun were now all loose as it spread on the floor.Her robes were indeed royal but she wore jewelleries of bare minimum, some of which were even lying on the ground broken.

“What do you think?” Vinasaka asked Sansara who replied a moment later, “Not bad, the protective shield I mean, but it’s still not enough. The body had suffered a lot of damages. I don’t understand one thing though.”

“What is it?”

“She doesn’t look like she’s using all her magic right now but at the same time, she has no magic left in her!”

“What…? What does that mean?”

“Unfortunately, I am not too sure but it can be possible that her magic is currently used for something else right now.”

Vinasaka had this utterly confused look on his face while Sansara continued his treatment and explanation at the same time, “If she keeps draining her energy like that, then my healing magic will hardly make a difference.”

Vinasaka only moved his eyes sideways and it send chills down someone’s spine as he instantly swayed his hands denying, “NONONONOOOOO, you are mistaking. It’s not me. I don’t even know what you are talking about.”

He was legit scared for his life but it didn’t look like he was lying so Sansara shifted his gaze back to her. His reflex was indeed helpful at this point as he silently continued a spell to deliberately cut off the passage of her magic flow from the origin but there was an obstruction and soon he took away his hand as if there was a spark. Seeing that Vinasaka asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Strange, but it felt like she herself didn’t allow me to stop the transferring of magical powers!” Sansara didn’t stop healing her but he looked quite disturbed. 

Once again, Vinasaka, clueless, walked back to the tied up man and demanded, “EXPLAIN!”

Those same eyes...the man didn’t dare take any more chances and planned on  spilling everything he knew all at once but it was only a second and he fell completely silent, his eyes ensuring of no trace of life.