The Destined Queen

Chapter 40

Austin, Aaron, and I, transported to the shadow realm. We needed to inform them quickly.  

" Where do you think they might be? " Austin asked. " We can't find them separately. That's too risky." Aaron said, sighing. " We can't hide from anyone. " I commented. " We can't stand here either. " Aaron said to me. Sighing, I started walking. " Let's go to Grisha's tent, first. " I said.  

Grisha had lots of tents when Emerson and I last visited. She wanted to live independently. Emerson laughed at the thought when we went back to our realm. But I was hardly laughing when we finally reached there. Aaron blew a low whistle, witnessing the scene. All the tents were crashed. For what? Who did it? We hid behind dark trees quickly. We waited for any of the shadows to appear. If what I think this is, then we should be very careful. From all the shadows. I felt a light tap on my shoulder. Turning, I saw a... " Shadow monkey! " Aaron cheered. I hushed him, and Austin slapped at the back of his head. " Be quiet, You fool. " Austin said in a hushed tone. The monkey seemed to smile at me. I frowned and looked at it carefully. I haven't seen a shadow monkey smile before. The smile disappeared with the monkey. Because Emerson's sword cut it in half. Aaron gasped. " Huh. Not bad. " Luthanion said. His sword dangled at his waist. " Where did you get that sword from? " Austin pointed at the sword Emerson was holding. " Grisha gave it to me. " Emerson said, putting the sword back into the scabbard. " Why did you kill the monkey? " Aaron whined. " It wasn't just a monkey. It was a shadow luron. It takes shapes of other shadows and drinks out your essence. " Luthanion purred. Aaron's eyes widened, and his lips parted. "What are you guys doing here? " Emerson asked. " Emerson, We think it's a trap. We went to inform Jacob. He said that Opolo can't be killed if his daughter is alive. Grisha is his anchor. " I informed. " I know. " Emerson said, nodding. I frowned. " We basically walked right into it. " Luthanion said, chuckling. " Then, what happened? " Austin asked. " Opolo isn't dead. He is working with The Kingmas. " Emerson said. " How did you know? " I asked. " Grisha told me. " Emerson shrugged. I arced a brow to tell him to continue, and he understood. " We first went to look for her in the tents. But we were surprised to see that there were no tents. It was all crashed. " Emerson said. " But we still walked to the tents. Before we could enter one, Someone grabbed us from behind. My sword was out within seconds but Emerson said the girl's name. Grisha hushed us and took us far away from the castle, and the tents. And when we reached a small group of people taking refuge far away, Grisha told us everything. " Luthanion said. " Her father struck a deal with The Kingmas a long time ago. It turns out that filth has been here before us. And The Kingmas trapped Opolo with that deal to do all his biddings now. So, Opolo has to obey The Kingmas. Grisha was informed by her father to pretend to obey The Kingmas until he finds a way out. Or she finds a way out. She is still pretending. " Emerson said. " And what happened to the tents? " Austin asked. " And why would Trevor tell us that Opolo is dead then? " I asked. " At first Grisha didn't obey The Kingmas. So, he killed almost all her shadow members. Her army. And what was left of it, they are in that small group. " Emerson said. " And The Kingmas told Opolo to play dead. No one knows why. But Grisha is said to pretend to be the Queen now that her father is dead. " Luthanion said. " So, Trevor told us the truth? " Aaron asked. " Yes. " Emerson nodded. " What about Rose? " I asked. " She is in the castle. Where she is trained and looked after not only by Grisha, Silora, and Sardova but The Kingmas's mistress. " Emerson said. " Mistress? " I frowned. " Yeah. Luthanion calls her that. " Emerson shrugged. " Who is that Guy? " Aaron asked, rubbing the back of his head, brows bunched together. " No one knows. " Luthanion sighed. " Not even Opolo? He struck the deal, right? " I asked. Emerson shook his head. " He struck the deal with The Kingmas's worker. Not him. No one has seen him. His worker took the paper to sign." Luthanion said, leaning on the tree. " So, what now? " I asked. " We get Rose. " Emerson said. And he led us to Grisha.  

The group that Emerson told us about was so small. I have seen Grisha with her army. They were something else. They weren't afraid about anything. No one tried to enter the Shadow realm without their permission. They were not just a group. They were confident, smart, and brave. They were Warriors. But now these shadows in front of us were broken. They looked torn. The spark, the light that they had was gone. Their eyes didn't have that power. That confidence. Instead, they looked frightened. And not many of them were left. Maybe hundreds of them were present here. I exhaled with discomfort. " I know. They don't look like themselves." Emerson said to me. " What did The Kingmas do to them?" I asked. "Grisha wouldn't tell me. But it was enough to make Grisha take this drastic step. She has taken a risk by taking them here. If The Kingmas gets to know bout it, he will kill her. " Emerson said, sadness lacing his voice. " We will try to help them," I said. "NO. We can't. Not now at least. We need to rescue Rose first." Emerson said. I nodded. Rose is a human being. She has barely lived. He had to choose Rose even though it hurt him to let his friend live like this. " Let's go," Emerson said. Grisha was talking with a girl. When she saw us, she stopped talking and dismissed the girl. She looked at Austin, Aaron, and lastly at Me."Good to see you, Pal." She said in a different accent, smiling at me. " You are talking with a northern accent. Do you know that?" I asked, smiling lightly. She shrugged. "Picked it up when I visited earth." She said, smirking. Glad to see she has not changed. Although there is a hollowness in her eyes. " Grisha, We need to go to Rose," Emerson said. Grisha nodded. " Come." She said and led us to a secret passage. A tunnel. " How can there be a tunnel here?" Austin asked. " We made it, Pretty boy." Grisha said, smirking."She also has great senses. She was the one who told us that you stepped into this realm. That's how we find you." Luthanion said, in awe. " Gaining more powers, Grisha?" Austin asked. "How can I gain powers?" She asked, pouting. "Jacob told us about you, and Ramos," I said. "Ahhh. That old Star. Yeah. Your King is right. We take powers from The Ramos. And when The Kingmas took over our realm, I requested Ramos to give me the power of senses. So, I can protect my realm more. Now that the devil is here." Grisha said, walking ahead of us. Her fisted palm was glowing with yellow light. I watched the light dancing at her palm. She must have sensed me looking at it. " Pretty, isn't it?" She asked, smirking. " Yes. " I said, looking away. " Ramos gave me this when I was born. Or rather came into existence." Grisha said, smiling. I nodded. " What happened to them?" I asked. Grisha knew what I was talking about. And I sensed all of them backing away from us. Giving us a little space.UHoh. Grisha's jaw was set. "He killed them." She whispered, gritting her teeth. " I am sorry," I murmured, my eyes not leaving the ground. And it was a bad idea. Because Grisha turned abruptly to me, with rage in her eyes.NO. Vengeance. " I will break him. And he will be sorry." She gritted out and turned to the direction we were going. I heard Aaron sighing with relief. I was in danger, you i***t. I rolled my eyes and walked behind the Leader of the broken shadow army. 

The tunnel led us to a basement. It's really confusing. It totally looks like a normal basement that Humans built for storing items. The door creaked softly when we opened it. The room was made out of shadow. " It's fascinating." I breathed. " This room is made out of shadow," Aaron said. "The whole castle is made out of it. We are shadow realm, Remember?" Grisha said, rolling her eyes. " Come on. Rose's room is not that far from here." Grisha said and started walking. And We followed. We opened another door, and that led us to a hallway. Grisha stopped us and dimmed the light that was dancing in her palm. " Let me be sure that there is no one here." She said and closed her black eyes. " Clear." She muttered, opening them in a few seconds. Then, We moved with utter silence. The hallway was decorated with sconce lights and flowers. Black roses, to be precise. And there was a smell. "What is this smell?" Austin asked, inhaling more of it. "The roses are enchanted. To reserve the scent in them for a long time." Grisha answered. "Why?" Aaron asked. " Because My father loves them," Grisha said, calmly. But Emerson was the one who snapped. "Stop asking her questions. Concentrate." And those two clammed their lips tight. Then we stopped again so that Grisha can once again make sure the path is safe. And the next turn was very silent. Grisha stopped. "This is it." She said, stopping in front of a door that is the only red door in the castle, I assume. The door was locked with black roses and some stuff that looked like Black licorice which humans eat. Grisha stopped the light in her palms and opened the locks very carefully. She opened the black roses which were tightly knotted. But the roses didn't tear apart or break. It seemed they were bendable. They opened carefully, and Grisha gave the roses to Emerson to hold. And then she tried to open the black licorice thing. The knots were complicated. But Grisha didn't have any problem opening them. The door gave a soft tick sound and opened wide for us. I heard Grisha exhaling, and her shoulders relaxing a bit. She must have been very tense about the locks. But she did a great job opening those. She kept the black licorice in her pocket and turned to me. "If I would have opened the locks in the wrong way, then it would have alarmed everyone. Including The Kingmas. And no one gets to meet Rose without his permission. He would have known that someone was trying to rescue her." Grisha said, stepping away. I nodded. " Why aren't there any guards here?" Emerson asked. " The shadow guards guard Rose but all the guards have been called to lecture them how to guard the castle more securely. We do this each month in the human calendar. You guys picked the right date." Grisha said. "Opolo seems very fond of Humans," I murmured under my breath. "He is," Grisha said. Something like grief passed her face very quickly. 

" Austin and Luthanion will stand outside to guard. And rest of us should enter." Emerson said. " I will stay outside, too. You do what you need to do." Grisha said, falling behind. Emerson nodded. And we turned to greet Rose. Winter's cheery, and supportive friend. But instead, we saw a ball of distress curled up on the large shadow bed, whimpering and murmuring some words that were so hushed, we were unable to listen to them.