Isaac, Ilivir and Sabina found themselves in a area that looks a lot like the king's throne room from Isaac's world. Or at least, an earlier version of it.
"Who's memory is this?" Isaac wondered.
"I don't know, but it feel like this area is an recent addition." Sabrina, the Succubus said.
Recent... maybe this throne room is from one of Hope's memories. In Angela's last flashback, Hope was being carried to the King's castle.
Perhaps Hope has some memories of being in the royal castle?
---
Shortly after the events of the flashback Hope showed Isaac...
---
"Your Majesty. We found this girl walking out of Grevialus's former cavern facility." The Royal Knight captain reported. He was holding an uncounsies girl in his arms.
The king stroked his beard with interest.
"Is she the only survivor you could find?" The king inquired.
"We're not sure sir. We came straight here. The girl is on the verge of starving to death." The Captain reported.
The King nodded."I don't distrust your judgement, but I hope you had some sense to leave at least some men behind to investigate the recently fiberless cavern. There might be more survivors in there who desperately needs care."
"I have sir. They should be capable of investigating the cavern without me." The Captain stated with confidence.
"Let's hope that leaving your men alone wasn't a mistake. Those sludge fiends are converting more my people as we speak. And to make maters worse, there has been a report that another portal to the otherworld has opened up in the woods. I'm already getting reports of an sucubus going around corrupting any animal of person she can get her hands on." The king informed.
To think that their troubles with the sludge fiends were bad enough. To think that another demon is causing havoc on this fair kingdom. In the weeks following the incident, anything living has been converted into the otherworld's image because of the sludge fiends.
The Otherworld. Otherwise known as the plane of corruption. The late Calmach referred to it as the demon plane. Are they dealing with an invasion? There have been rumors that Calmach's ghost has been summoning demons, but the knight captain highly doubts that's true. But with real life creatures of legend appearing lately, the Captain can't deny the possibility of ghosts existing as well.
"How was the second portal opened? We can speculate that one of Grevialus's men must have accidentally opened the first portal to the Otherworld. Was there any mention of how the second one was opened?" The royal captain asked.
"I'm not sure. The man who witnessed the second portal opening said there was no one present. Not even an ritual circle. Just the animals and the forest. He ran away as soon as he saw the scubas leave the portal... I fear the portal wasn't opened by anyone..." The king mused.
A portal opened by no one?
"Whatever do you mean?" The Captain inquired.
"I am no expert on theories of other planes of existence, but is it possible that the first portal was forcibly opened? Thus weakening the boundary between dimensions? If that's the case, then that second portal was probably naturally opened with no one's involvement." The king explained.
The implications of that theory is too terrible to imagine. That implies that portals to other world will be opening at random for now one... allowing more creatures to invade this world.
"It's also possible that the second portal was opened purposely from the Otherworld's side. It's important to consider all possibilities. Especially since the existence of other worlds implies that anything can exist. Even things that can't possibly exist in this world." The captain encouraged.
"...You're right Gerald. Ever since Calmach's discovery of magic, anything seemed to be possible. Do you know anything of this girl?" The king inquired.
Gerald, the knight captain looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms.
"I don't even know her name, sir. She seems to have lost her memories. The only thing she said before she fell in uncouncienceness was "Calmach." But I doubt that is her name. If she really is an survivor of Grevialus's research team, then I'm sure my men will find information on her in the cavern." The knight informed.
The king was holding his chin in thought. "Yes, but we can't leave her nameless... I know. Let's call her Angela for now."
"Why name her after the deity?" Gerald asked.
"Why not? She was found under the temple dedicated to Angela. And you said she was found shortly after the research facility was purified for unexplained reasons. I'm not sure why, but I sense that she is a pure soul. Perhaps she is what the twins need. A friend. Does she look to be the same age as the prince and princess?" The hing asked.
Gerald examined the girl in his arms. She may be alarmingly thin, but she defiantly looks like an ten year old.
"Yes sir. But she seemed very quit and unresponsive when she was awake." Gerald explained.
"Oh, I'm sure she will open up once she gets some food and rest. Take her to one of the spare guest rooms. And inform Hale and Alayna that the girl will be staying here for awhile." The king ordered.
"Very well sir." Gerald left the room with Angela in his arms.
Once the king was alone, he sat back on his throne. "The poor girl. She can live in this castle until we can find a relative to take care of her. Oh, Grevialus. What were you thinking when you let a girl stay with you..." The king spoke to himself. Despite the current epidemic of corruption, he can't find himself blaming Grevialus for what happened. He still respects Grevialus and all the good things he has done for the kingdom. What maters now is what they can do to deal with the current problem.
The King with an heart of gold pondered to himself.
---
"This is the area you pointed towards. But it doesn't looks like anyone is here. Perhaps the person your looking for just left." Sabrina stated.
"Yeah..." Isaac said half-heartily. Why is he feeling nostalgia for this place?
"Let's explore the village. Maybe the captive souls have seen your friend." Sabrina said.
Ilivir turned to Isaac.
"What do you think we should do Isaac?" Ilivir rather listen to Isaac's suggestion instead of some Succubus.
What did Isaac decide to do?
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Note: These chapters are by no means perfect. I just hope they make sense. With that said, I'd like to give special thanks to the writers, anonymous or not, for adding on to this. It's great to know that someone actually reads my writing. I'm just glad there is an interest for this story at all. Feel free to add on to any of the chapters. Be it this one or any of the previous ones. I don't mind an divergent. I can see a different direction being taking from "The Puppeteer's Doll" for example.
Thank you for reading. I hope this doesn't disappoint.