Arcania

Muktha's pov

Muktha's POV

       ~Last night~
    It was too dark in the basement. We used our phone flash lights and cautiously entered the first floor. The floor was soiled with footprints and dust. “Looks like many people have entered this place” I commented by looking around. “Yeh, 50 people from past 5 months according to our records and none of them returned back” he said. “What? So many of them?” I asked with a surprised look. “Yes, few out of curiosity and few foolish people who underestimated the danger. A guard was also assigned to make sure no one entered, but even he left after few days out of fear and from that day no one is there to stop such people from risking their lives. That’s why I want to solve this mystery as soon as possible” For the first time I got something positive from him. He was actually just trying to safeguard many people’s lives, but that doesn’t mean he can blackmail and force us into this case.
      We didn’t find any clues there, just some broken cupboards at the corner. We entered the next floor through the spiral stairs. That looked more like the most used store room with random things dumped at the corners. “How did you get to know about the number of floors here?” I asked while still searching. “There’s a small maintenance room in the backyard. I got a roughly drawn building plan of this house. We have to be prepared before going on a mission like this, after all our lives are at risk” he answered. “Smart..” At least he was not foolish to just barge in without knowing about the building. “I know” he smirked.
      A lot of time was consumed in checking the whole floor by removing the things which were thrown carelessly, but it was of no use. I started to feel that there was nothing so mysterious about this place. As we left that floor and headed towards the last floor I got a call from Chaitra, saying that they found something on the third floor. We both rushed through the stairs to see what it was.
  ~END~

    “Oh my god! So many people are missing?” Chaitra asked with a surprised look as I told her about my conversation with Denzel last night. We three were going to meet Mask along with Alisha. “Well it proves that Earth is filled with many stupid people” Kanchana commented. I agreed with her. We passed through many corridors which had the most beautiful paintings on the ceilings and finally reached the garden. Many servants were busy trimming the bushes and watering the plants. Everyone bowed down as we passed next to them. We finally reached Mask. He turned towards us with a warm smile. “Hello ladies, hope you are getting adjusted with the new lifestyle” he said. “Yes, it’s more like a dream come true moment for us” I said with a cheerful smile.
    “I’m very pleased to hear that my lady. From tomorrow, you'll be having training for four weeks which will include the basic knowledge and the combat skills which you’ll require. After that your crowning ceremony will be held followed by your Royal wedding with the Kings” he said. We three were in utter shock by listening to his last words. Being queens was great, but Marriage??  “What? I mean, should we get married after the training?” Kanchana asked. “Yes, because that’s our tradition” he answered calmly. “But how can we just marry someone whom we haven’t even met?” Chaitra asked. “You’ll be meeting them soon during their leisure. All you have to focus now is on your training. Our kings all very well talented in many aspects, so your results shouldn’t be a disappointment. We have high expectations from you three. Good luck for your training” he said and walked away.
   We stood still for few seconds until we glanced at each other in shock. “My Lady, the Royal feast is ready to serve you” Alisha broke the silence. “I guess this is the only good thing which I heard from past few minutes” Chaitra said as we started following Alisha. “True” me and Kanchana replied in unison.
    We entered the vast dining hall. The table was stretched to a long extent which could occupy a minimum of 25 people. Five servants stood there to serve us the different dishes as we sat. We ate as if we had no tomorrow since we were very hungry. “This was the best lunch I ever ate in my life” Kanchana said as we came out of the dining hall. “I totally agree with you” Chaitra replied. “So, what shall we do now?” I asked. “Shall we roam around the kingdom?” Chaitra asked with excitement. “Good idea, we'll even get to know about the people’s lifestyle here” I added. “But how will we go? Like we don’t even know the exit of this castle” Kanchana asked.
    We turned behind to find Alisha. She quickly came in front of us as she saw us looking at her. “We want to take a look at the surroundings and the people of the kingdom” I ordered. “The residents aren’t informed about the arrival of the queens since they only get to see during the crowning ceremony. But we can take you around the kingdom in the Royal carriage where they can’t see who’s inside but you can see them through the transparent window” we agreed with her and followed her.
    It almost took us 20 minutes to reach the exit from the dining hall on the second floor. Honestly, we should spend a whole day in actually remembering the corridors in this castle. We passed right next to the outside of the horse stable and stood in front of many Royal carriages. All were of different size, colour and design. Alisha took us near the biggest carriage which could easily accommodate six people. We couldn’t see anything inside. The coachman, the one who rides the carriage, came and bowed down in front of us. He opened the door for us and we sat inside. We could clearly see everything outside. We were very excited for this ride as the carriage started to move.
   We passed through the streets of Kingdom Arcania which included different kinds of people. Most of them looked happy and contented with their lives. There was no sign of any violence. There were few interesting shops which had few unique items which we had never seen in my life. Few people were staring at the carriage wondering who would be there inside and others were too busy to even observe. We didn’t realise how quickly the time had passed. We came back to our castle and went to our room in the first floor. After this ride, we had fallen in love with their lifestyle.
    We slept on our beds and stared at the ceiling. “What a tiring day!” Chaitra spoke. “Our training will begin from tomorrow and I guess that’ll be more exhausting..” Kanchana whined. “Yeh and we should make sure to give our best from tomorrow” I suggested and they agreed.