Now that Ning had done what he could, he decided to return back to Shara and see if it’s a good ti to leave or not. He wanted to help her for a few more years, though, so he might have to stay with her for a while.
He was all the way up at the northeastern corner of the continent, while Shara was down at the Southwestern empire. This was the entire length of travel they had done together the first ti, which had taken them nearly a year.
However, this ti, Ning had his own system back.
This ti, he need only wish.
Ning blinked his eyes closed and when he opened them, he was on the outskirts of the Golden City, capital of the Golden Empire.
’Oh how I’ve missed you, Teleportation,’ Ning thought. Travel was far too easy with this.
Ning had to make so tiny changes to his body to look like how he used to. There weren’t a whole lot of changes, but he mostly de-aged his body to a point where he looked to be about 21, since that is how old he would be right now with his other body.
The guards in charge of the main gates of the city easily recognized Ning. After all, he had trained most of them in the army camps. To them, he was their teacher.
They greeted Ning and let him enter.
Ning t up with a few other people along the way until he arrived back at the palace. He was allowed inside, but he could tell sothing was different. The atmosphere had shifted since the days he had been here.
’It’s only been a year. What happened?’ he wondered.
Ning tried asking for Shara, but no one would tell him where she was. Only thing that was clear was that she was not in her room.
Ning found that extrely confusing.
He was about to use the system’s help, when he ran across Matthew who seed to be on patrol. After eting him, he explained everything.
"Her Majesty is in the dungeons," Matthew said.
"What is she doing there?" Ning asked with a bit of confusion.
"She’s... imprisoned," Matthew said. "Of her own accord. We didn’t do it."
"What? Why is she imprisoned? Why did she do it?"
Matthew sighed. "Things have been changing since you left. Her Majesty... is not herself anymore."
"Just what is going on?" Ning asked.
"Her Majesty has beco erratic recently. It started a few months after you left, and it was small back then, but it’s grown over ti. She began throwing tantrums at first, and then she got angry at the workers."
"She threatened to kill a maid just because she made a mistake in how her dresses were ordered. She pulled her spear on a chef when he over-seasoned her al."
Ning was stunned. "That does not sound like Shara."
"No, but that’s the truth, and that’s not even the worst," Matthew said. "A few months ago, the young king of Golhlog sent an offering of marriage with the Empress. In response, Her Majesty nearly ordered the assassination unit to go after the young king."
"Thankfully, the 7 council mbers were there to counter her order. They’ve been doing that for many of her orders lately."
Everything Ning heard felt wrong. That was not the Shara he knew. And yet, he had to trust Matthew in this.
"And then a week ago, she gathered an assembly of the council mbers and made a declaration to go to war against the Olvia kingdom. They were the closest and would be unprepared at the mont, so we would win, she said."
Tactically, Shara wasn’t wrong in that instance, but that was not who she was as a person. She beca the Empress to stop the war. Why would she ever want to start another one?
"That is definitely not her," Ning said.
"I know," Matthew said. "Her Majesty knows that too. That is why she had herself confined in the dungeons. She’s isolating herself from the world just in case she does sothing bad."
Ning took a long mont and nodded. "Alright, let go see what’s up. I should be able to help."
"Please do," Matthew said. "Our people cannot go through another Emperor who goes mad at the throne."
Ning nodded and walked away.
He found the path to the dungeons easily and snuck past the guards to go find Shara.
Shara was in a fully isolated room with nothing but a tiny hole in the wall for light to scatter in. At night, this room would be pitch black.
When Ning entered, Shara was on the bed, facing the wall.
"Are you sleeping?" Ning called.
Shara ca to an alert and turned around to find Ning standing in her room.
"Ning? Is that really you?" she asked.
"I told you I would return in a year, didn’t I? I’m back."
Shara jumped out of her bed and grabbed onto Ning in a tight hug. "Ning, you’re back."
Ning felt her hug and felt her tremble. The girl was very scared. Ning embraced her as well, and patted her on the back. "I’m here. Everything will be fine now."
Shara’s trembles ca to a stop suddenly, and then tears started streaming down her face.
Ning pulled Shara away from him and looked at her in her eyes. "I talked to Matthew. He told what you’ve done. What is going on with you?"
"I... I don’t know," Shara said as she wept. "I don’t know what is happening to , Ning. My mind, it’s not the sa. Every ti I close my eyes, my thoughts tell to kill more people. It tells I should go to war. When I sleep, I dream of war. I hear voices in my head, telling to unite the continent in fla and blood."
"I don’t want to do any of this, but... but... my mind. My sanity is slipping by the day and I can’t tell how long I can hold on to it."
Ning listened to her for a mont and narrowed his eyes.
"I see..." he said softly. "Let deal with this for you."
User Comments
0 comments from readers