Terros, Calder, and the rest of the men began their excavation in the said area the following day.

Two hours later, they found the secret room.

Terros and Calder entered the room but found nothing there that would imply that it was occupied by anyone.

Calder looked at the candles and noticed something. "It looks like they were recently lighted!" he said.

Terros examined the nearest candle beside him. "You're right! These candles are recently lighted, although the whole area is dusty, there are shoe prints on the floor. People have visited this place recently but when did it happen? Why we didn't saw them?" he asked, confused.

"I think they arrived here after the castle was burned down and excavated this place quickly. I'm sure they took something from this room, as for what is it? We don't know yet," Calder expressed his guess.

"C-could it be Graven and the King's body?" Terros said.

"Maybe yes or maybe not," Calder replied.

They stayed in the room for half an hour, trying to find clues, and made analysis, running theories in their minds.

In the end, they give up.

Terros released a deep sigh. "This room can't talk. The people who come here didn't leave any clues behind. Let's go back to the surface," he spoke.

Calder nods his head.

They left the room, closed the door, and hovered in the air.

Terros looked at the men. "Let's cover the whole place again," he told them.

They began putting the soil back in the hole, suddenly Veronica appeared in the scene, hovering in the air.

"What have you found, guys?" she asked right away. "I'm sent here by Elva to know if you found something," she said.

Terros looked at her. "We did found something, a secret room that was not destroyed during the fire. But there's nothing inside the room..." he replied.

"Can I see it?" Veronica asked.

"Sure, I'll accompany you down there," Terros replied.

Calder and Terros hovered down again and opened the door of the secret room.

Veronica entered the room accompanied by the two men.

"As you can see, the room doesn't tell much except for the telltale signs of the shoe prints on the floor and the recently lighted candles. When we entered this room, it's empty, nothing worth seeing here. But obviously, something took place in this room a few days ago. Unfortunately, we don't know what happened at that particular time," Terros explained.

Veronica stood in the middle of the room trying to feel anything. "Hmm... I think I need to go back to the deity and inform her of your recent findings. Maybe she can find a way to figure out what took place in this room that can solve our confusion. Guys, can you stop covering the hole in the meantime? I will try to bring Elva here so that she can see the room herself," she said.

"Sure! The men and I will take a rest for a while. We will wait for your return," Terros responded.

"Okay. I'll go back to the Windless Mountain now!" Veronica said and vanished from the room in the blink of an eye.

Calder and Terros left the room and hovered above.

...

Veronica appeared at the Windless Mountain, landing on the balcony.

Elva was relaxing during that time while eating an orange. She looked at Veronica who returned too early. "Any news?" she asked.

Veronica went to her side. "After excavating one specific area near the castle, they found a secret room, but it was empty. I went inside the room myself. I can't make sense of what happened there, it's beyond my capabilities..." she said.

Elva stopped eating the orange. "What? They found a secret room?"

"Yes! I told them not to cover it yet because I want to report it to you first. Can you find a way?" Veronica asked.

"You mean... to find out what happened inside the room?" Elva said.

"Yup! That's what I mean!" Veronica replied.

Elva stood up. "I think I know what to do. Let's try it!" she said.

"Great!" Veronica roared.

"Let's go!" Elva said and popped the orange in her mouth.

The women vanished from the balcony.

A few minutes later.

Veronica and Elva appeared in the forest where the ruined castle was located.

"We're back!" Veronica announced their presence.

Terros and Calder accompanied the women down into the hole.

They entered the room.

Elva scanned the room and noticed the candles. She waved her hand and the candles were lighted instantly. She looked at her companions. "Be quiet everyone. I will try to summon the Time Reader Book, let see if it can give us a glimpse of what happened inside this room in the past few days," she said.

They nodded their heads in understanding.

"I will begin now," Elva said.

Silence engulfed the room.

Elva closed her eyes and began summoning the magical book in her mind. She recited the spell that could summon it.

A few minutes later.

Suddenly, an old-looking book appeared out of nowhere, floating in the air.

Elva opened her eyes. "Magical book, show us the recent happening in this room in the last few days!" she commanded.

The pages of the magical book suddenly moved on their own as if invisible hands are flipping the pages...

Slowly they saw darkness, then forms and outlines of objects, and the people's faces become clearer.

People wearing black cloaks come and go inside the room and there was a coffin in the corner, two people, a man and a woman wearing the same clothing attire stared at the person lying inside the coffin.

The scene zoomed into the face of the person lying in the coffin grasping a vase with his hands.

"It's Lord Graven!" Calder spoke loudly.

"Indeed!" Terros and Veronica agreed.

The scene shows how the men in black cloaks removed the coffin from the room and then the door was closed.

Elva waved her hand at the book.

The magical book disappeared from the air.

Elva looked at her companion. "It's now clear that Graven's body was kept in the coffin along with a jar. The next question is... where did they bring the coffin? What place? And who are these people?" she voiced out the questions that were bothering her mind.

"They're probably the King's long-distance relatives," Veronica replied.

"You're making sense! That's the only correct explanation I could find," Terros agreed.

"But wait...why would they take a stranger's body with them?" Calder asked.

They pondered the question for a while.

"Unless they mistook Lord Graven's body as that of the King's!" Calder answered his question. "They probably think that it's the reincarnation of their relative! So they took him away and brought the coffin back to their place," he added.

Elva looked at Calder. "That's a good theory! Besides, the King was dead for a thousand years. They have no idea what he looks like during his prime, and the body inside the coffin will feed their hope that the cursed King had reincarnated in this current times," she said.

"That must be it!" Terros agreed. "Guys, you have blown me away with your imaginations! My only hope is that Graven is still alive. We need to find him as soon as possible!" he said urgently.

Silence fell upon them.

Elva addressed her companions. "If anyone of you can come up with something, let me know," she said.

They looked at each other and nodded their heads in agreement.

"We will go back now to the Windless Mountain," Elva told Veronica.

The two women exited the room and hovered back to the surface.

"Grandpa, I'll visit you in the forest as soon I have a free time," Veronica said.

Terros nods his head.

The two women vanished from the area, teleporting themselves back to the Windless Mountain.

Terros looked at his companions. "Guys, let's get back to work so that we can finally go home," he said.

The men start putting back the soil into the hole.

One hour later.

They finished their task.

They bid goodbye to each other and went their separate ways.

Terros returned to the forest alone.

When he reached his abode, his mind was preoccupied, wondering where those black-cloaked men brought Graven's body?

WHERE!?

~~~0~~~

Back at the Windless Mountain.

The two ladies landed on the balcony of the marble house.

They settled on the chair and stared at the sea of clouds gathering at the top of the mountains nearby.

"Let's rest for a bit. In the afternoon we will go back to the cave to interrogate the King's servant. Maybe he knows about that secret room and remembers the name of the place where the King's descendants were currently residing. If we can have the name of the place it will be easy to search that whole place thoroughly," Elva said.

"Alright, I'll go to the kitchen to prepare something for lunch," Veronica said and left the balcony.

Elva continues eating the oranges that she left behind on the plate.

While eating the fruit, her mind fell into deep thoughts. Graven was taken away by those men!

What are they going to do with him? She hoped that he was still alive.

After she finished eating the fruit, she entered the house and rest in her bedroom.

Hours went by.

Lunchtime comes.

Veronica knocked on the door of Elva's room. "Lunch is ready!" she announced and returned to the kitchen to set the table.

Elva exited the room and went to the kitchen to eat lunch with Veronica.

One hour later. After eating lunch, the women proceed to the cave.

The King, aka Ormon, was wide awake during that time when the women made their appearance inside the cave.

"My lady, are you here to release me?" he asked excitedly.

Elva shook her head. "Tell me, what you know about the secret room beneath the castle!" she said.

"My lady, w-what do you mean?" Ormon asked in bewilderment.

"My companions unearthed a secret room that wasn't destroyed by the fire. What did you know about that room?" Elva asked.

Ormon shook his head. "My lady, the King prohibited me to enter such forbidden room. I don't know about that room you mentioned. I did remember that there's one room that I was not allowed to enter, the King prohibited me from entering it. That must be the secret room!" he said innocently.

The two women looked at each other, shaking their heads.

"Did you already remember the name of the place where the King's descendants have migrated to?" Elva asked.

Ormon shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, my lady. I still can't remember the name until now. I have a weak memory," he explained.

The two women left the cave, feeling frustrated.