Arcania

Kanchana's pov

Kanchana’s POV

    We were helpless. We just had to follow them. Those guys were tall and fit enough to hold both our hands behind in one hand and a knife pointing at our necks in the other. It was too dark in the corridors to realise where they were taking us. After few minutes, we reached the other side of the garden which we had never visited. Probably there were less guards that way..  All I could hear in the cool breeze of midnight was the pounding of my heart. I was not this scared even when we entered the deathtomb.
     After few seconds, all of a sudden we heard some noise from the bushes in front and suddenly someone jumped from them pointing his sword at the first kidnapper. It was Ryan. “I don’t think it'll be a wise decision to fight me with that knife” Ryan commented with a smirk. When we turned back, we saw Nolan and Derek blocking the way with their swords. We were surrounded by all three kings. The kidnappers had no other choice but to leave us.
     The first two guys slowly started dropping their knives to surrender but the one who held me whispered something before leaving, “It isn’t safe here. Don’t trust anyone. It’s too dangerous” he had a very serious expression as he dropped the knife and surrendered on knees next to the other two. I ran and stood next to Chaitra and Muktha. We grasped each other’s hands and sighed with relief. “So, what was the purpose of kidnapping the Queens?” Nolan asked by lifting one of the kidnapper's chin with his sword. He didn’t get any response from them. “Whatever maybe the reason, but the punishment for touching the Queens is inevitable” Derek said as he came closer to them. And in a span of two seconds the kidnappers’ bodies fell on the ground lifeless, with blood dripping from the slits on their necks. I was in utter shock by looking at the Kings' swords stained with blood. I couldn’t believe that all these things were happening in front of me. I wished it was just a nightmare. The kidnapper's last words were ringing in my mind continuously as I stared at his body. I started panicking thinking about what he was exactly warning us about? And now that he is dead, who will answer my questions? I suddenly started to feel nausea with a blurred vision as I kept staring at the blood dripping from their swords and the next moment, everything blacked out...
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    I slowly tried to open my eyes. I was sleeping on the bed. I didn’t remember anything after seeing the death of the kidnappers. I stared at the ceiling and realised it wasn’t the one from my room. As I turned to my left, I was shocked looking at Derek sleeping next to me with his hand holding mine firmly. I turned towards my left to see him properly. I smiled looking at him sleeping peacefully.
    At some point I felt like they deserved the death for trying to kidnap us, but seeing the Kings, especially Derek, killing them without even thinking for a second panicked me. He was this popular senior famous for beatboxing at college and on whom many girls had a crush on, including me. I wondered how he ended up here, in this world. I remembered the day when they mentioned about him being missing. That had become a big issue, after all he was that popular. As I was thinking about him, I started getting headache. As I closed my eyes, I started to see some visuals. I closed my eyes tightly to observe properly what was happening.

    I could see the deathtomb. Derek was standing right in front of the gate with his best friends, Jay and Ron behind him. “Honestly, do you guys also believe in such illogical things?” he smirked while staring at the deathtomb. “Well that’s the only explanation for these missing cases here” Ron said. “Trust me guys. The spirits here are feeding on humans entering this building. It’s better if we leave this place as soon as possible” Jai cautioned. “That’s rubbish! There’s nothing like spirits or ghosts. I'll prove it to you by coming out of this building after checking each and every floor” Derek said confidently as he went inside the gate. “No Derek, don’t be stupid!” Jay yelled. “Yeh, no need of proving it to anyone. Let’s go back!” Ron yelled. But Derek ignored both of them and entered the front door.  He started climbing upstairs. He checked the first and second floor and muttered “I knew it! It’s just a normal building filled with stupid rumours” He reached the last floor and started checking. He found the door. The one with the question. He read the question and thought for few minutes. Then he took the quill and wrote 'Man 2’. After few seconds he was dragged inside the door.
 
   I opened my eyes to see Derek sleeping peacefully. Was that my imagination or did that actually happen?  I dozed off after few minutes in spite of so many questions running my mind.
   I woke up as the light rays fell on my face through the windows. I opened my eyes and saw Derek checking his hairstyle in front of the mirror. He had already taken bath and dressed in his Royal outfit, looking perfect. I was staring at him until he turned back to face me. “Er.. Good morning” I greeted him as I woke up. “Good morning my lady! How are you feeling now?” he asked as he came and sat next to me. “I feel better now. Thank you for carrying me till here..” I felt kind of awkward saying it. “It’s my pleasure lady, after all you'll be my future wife” he replied with a smile. I suddenly remembered about the visuals which I saw yesterday night. Weird. What if it was just a dream? “Umm, can I ask you something?” I asked hesitantly. “Yeh sure” he replied. “How did you end up in this world?” I eagerly looked at him for answer. He sighed and started telling, “On the previous day, Jay was telling about the deathtomb and spirits feeding on humans whoever entered. I went back home and did some research to know more about that place. I never trusted in ghosts and all, so I was very curious about people missing from there. So I decided to check it out myself. Even though Ron and Jay warned me not to go inside, I was way too curious and ended up here” I was stunned by the fact that I actually saw his past when I just thought about it. I had to go and tell Muktha and Chaitra about this. So I decided to go back to my room and Derek insisted in dropping me till my room.
   When I entered the room, Muktha and Chaitra ran and came towards me. “How are you feeling now?” Muktha asked. “Don’t attend today’s classes, it’s better if you take rest” Chaitra said. “I’m feeling better now and no I won’t miss the classes because they’re important right now. Listen guys, I have to tell you two important things”