A Dark Throne:A Tale of Betrayal And Valour✅

The Nightmare of Karuna

The winds howled through the corridors of the once-mighty fort, now shrouded in an eerie silence that seemed to cling to every stone. Karuna, the queen who had once exuded strength and cunning, now lay restless in her chambers, her breath shallow and her eyes wide with terror. The flickering light of the oil lamps cast dancing shadows on the walls, but all she could see was the specter that had haunted her dreams—King Surya Pratap, the ruler she had betrayed.

That night, the air grew cold, and the scent of sandalwood—a fragrance Surya Pratap had favored—filled the room. Karuna clutched the edge of her silk sheets, her heart racing as the temperature plummeted. Her mind, once sharp and decisive, now teetered on the edge of madness. She felt it before she saw it—a presence, heavy and inescapable.

"Karuna..." The voice was low, filled with a resonance that sent shivers down her spine. The sound of her name, spoken by the man she had conspired against, echoed through the chamber. Karuna forced herself to look up, and there he stood—Surya Pratap, bathed in an ethereal glow, his eyes full of a sorrow that pierced her very soul.

"Surya... Pratap..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "You... you are dead."

The king's ghost did not blink, did not move, but his presence was overwhelming. "Death does not end all bonds, Karuna," he intoned, his voice both a whisper and a roar. "What you have done cannot be undone."

Tears welled in Karuna's eyes, unbidden and unstoppable. "I had no choice," she choked out, her voice trembling. "I did it for my kingdom... for our people..."

"For your ambition," the ghost corrected, his voice hardening. "You took everything from me, and now it has taken everything from you."

Karuna recoiled, the truth of his words cutting deeper than any blade. She had been consumed by her desire for power, had schemed and plotted until the crown was hers, but at what cost? The kingdom was in chaos, her allies turning into enemies, and now even her own body was betraying her. The vision of Surya Pratap, his eyes filled with both pity and condemnation, was more than she could bear.

"Leave me!" she cried, her voice rising in desperation. "Please, leave me in peace!"

But the ghost remained, his gaze unrelenting. "There will be no peace for you, Karuna. Not in this life, nor the next. You have set a wheel in motion that cannot be stopped."

The queen’s body trembled violently as his words sank in. The ghost of King Surya Pratap began to fade, his figure dissolving into the darkness, but his presence lingered in the room, heavy as a curse. Karuna collapsed onto the bed, her strength drained, her mind tormented by the specter that had visited her. The fever came on swiftly, her body wracked with shivers as if the chill of the grave had seeped into her bones.

In the days that followed, the once-iron-willed queen became a mere shadow of her former self, consumed by the vision of the man she had wronged. No medicine could ease her torment, no prayer could lift the burden of her guilt. She would awaken in the night, drenched in sweat, crying out for forgiveness that would never come. The court whispered of her madness, of the queen who had been cursed by the very soul she had betrayed.

And so, Karuna, the queen who had once ruled with an iron fist, lay on her deathbed, haunted by the ghost of King Surya Pratap. Her illness grew worse with each passing day, as if the weight of her sins had taken a physical form, crushing the life out of her. Her last moments were spent in a fevered delirium, her eyes seeing nothing but the ghost of the man she had destroyed, her lips murmuring his name until they moved no more.