The sage took to meditating, and Kiara and I left the palace. Thankfully, it was a Sunday, so Kiara could spend her day with me without worrying about office work.

We passed the village of the Skhites. It was deserted, and the entrances were blocked by plants.

“Where has everyone gone?” Kiara asked me.

“That's the mystery,” I said. I stuck my tongue out as something crossed my mind. “Did I give you Sam’s number?”

“I think I have it,” Kiara said.

“Well, he’s a player, so if you call him he can tell you what happened to the players and the eviluns after the explosion.”

Kiara promised to relay Sam's answer the next day.

We moved at a leisurely pace to avoid getting tired. We kept rechecking our direction all the time. The last thing we would want to do was move around in circles.

It was late afternoon when we reached the river. On the opposite bank was the tall wall surrounding the town. I had given word to the zombie queen that I would return by nightfall. Would I be able to keep it? It was odd, but I didn’t want to let the zombie queen down.

The bridge was gone. All that remained of it were a few pieces of wood at the point the bridge was supposed to begin. Faraway, some buildings rose above the walls of the town. They too had been invaded by plants and were in a poor state.

The river was rushing fast.

“You plan to cross that?” Kiara asked. She wasn’t particularly keen on taking a dip in the river.

“It’ll be stupid not to, after coming so far,” I said. We climbed down to the point where the land met the water, and plunged into the river. We swam diagonally across it and arrived on the other side. We fell on the bank, wet as fish.

“I hope I don’t catch a cold,” Kiara said, shaking her hair to dry it.

We entered the town through the gate. The town was no longer the one we had known. No, the plants weren’t responsible for that–

Much of the town was submerged.

The entire town was filled with what we initially thought was water. The portions of land that were slightly elevated had turned into small islands.

There was no sign of life anywhere.

“What happened to this place?” Kiara said. “And look! This is not water… it’s more like a gas of some sort.”

We went to the very edge of the ‘lake’ that occupied most of the town. The water-like fluid was emitting a kind of odorless vapor. The substance was blue in color, though only slightly.

Was it some kind of an acid?

I didn’t feel at ease being so close to it and withdrew to higher grounds. Neutrality didn’t ensure that you would be unharmed if you fell into a pool of toxic liquid.

“Where is the time bomb?” Kiara asked me.

“It’s in the eastern part of the town,” I said.

“You plan to go swimming to the place?” Kiara asked cynically with a half-smile.

“I don’t want to swim in that,” I said to her, pointing at the haze above the ‘water’.

Kiara threw a rock aimlessly. It plopped into the water. She gasped, for the rock came back to the surface in a few seconds.

The liquid definitely had some unique properties.

The sun set. My mission for the day was accomplished. I had wanted to see the state of the town, and I had seen it. It was time to return. I sent Kiara back to the real world through the portal. Before leaving she made me vow that I wouldn’t let the queen put a finger on me.

I swam back across the river to the forest side and trekked all the way back to the village. Thankfully the moon was up in full, and it aided me in traversing the thick jungle. I reached the zombie village in five hours.

The zombie queen was waiting for me at the doorway of her house. She had put the boys to sleep.

“So, what did you see in the town?” she asked me with genuine curiosity. She looked more lively today than the past two days. I reckoned it had to do with spending cheerful time with the boys.

I on the other hand could barely keep my eyes open, exhausted after scaling so many kilometers over uneven terrain.

“Nothing,” I said to the zombie queen.

“Nothing?” she asked me.

“Nothing. Nobody lives there. It’s in ruins and the place is covered by some liquid. Stones float in it.”

“That’s odd,” Dieana said thoughtfully.

“It is. I must take a bath now. Don’t wait for me, go to sleep. Good night.”

That night the only dreams that came to me revolved around the town of the monsters. I saw myself carving a boat out of stone and then rowing myself to the site of the bomb’s discovery. The zombie queen and the kids were my companions in the boat.

And then when I finally got to touch the time bomb, I found myself transported to the real world. But here too I was living with the zombie queen and the boys. The real surprise came when I went to the office. I had a new boss– Bolsh.