68: The Empty Coffin

The Empty Coffin

Music Note- Please search for 'ash_knight17-Garden of Poison (GOP)' on Spotify

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The force of the sandstorm was ruthless, swiftly enveloping the surrounding atmosphere around them in a thick veil of haze. The wind roared with enough force to cause the horses to topple over, their riders tumbling to the ground along with them.. 

Earlier, when Dante had advised Anastasia to use her shawl, she had used the transparent fabric to cover her eyes while draping the remaining length over her face. The wind forcefully pushed her aside, and she instinctively flailed her hands, shouting, 

"Prince Dante!"

Anastasia walked forward, hoping not to be separated from the others, but she couldn't see anything with the swirling sand hindering her vision. She continued to stumble aimlessly, desperately calling the princes' and princess's names. 

Thankfully, she crossed paths with Prince Dante, who said, "You are walking straight in the direction of the sandstorm. Come this way. Aiden and Emily must be somewhere on the other side." 

But as they walked on in the sandstorm, the wind's velocity increased, and it became increasingly hard for Anastasia to take a step forward as they were walking against the wind, struggling against the formidable gusts. Not a moment later, she shrieked when she felt her body being lifted off the ground. 

"Dammit!" Prince Dante cursed, quickly grabbing her wrist, "Don't let go of my hand!" 

But as the seconds passed, their struggle intensified, and slowly, it wasn't just Anastasia but even Dante who was lifted from the ground, both flying in the air in a swirling, circular motion. Anastasia, who had been trapped within the walls of the palace all these years, had never experienced anything like this before. She had seen a few sandstorms from afar, from the palace, but those tempests never reached the high walls of the kingdom. 

Anastasia closed her eyes tightly in fear as she felt her body flying in the air, thrown around at the mercy of the wind. Eventually, as if her body yielded to the natural pull of gravity or the sandstorm abruptly spat them out of its swirling fog, both of them were sent crashing to the ground. 

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"Argh…" Anastasia winced at the impact of her muscles hitting the ground with force, the landing painful despite the protective layer of sand. 

She untied the shawl from around her head and dusted off the clinging sand that had managed to find its way into her dress and hair. She turned to look at Prince Dante, who pushed his hand against the ground to stand up, looking around the place. 

"Prince Aiden and Princess Emily are missing…" Anastasia whispered as she looked around for the siblings. Worried, she turned back to look at the raging sandstorm and asked, "They aren't still trapped in there, are they?" The tales she had overheard from some of the maids, passed down from the merchants and other people within the palace, painted these sandstorms as a force from hell which swallowed people up… as if burying them alive. 

A deep frown marred Dante's forehead as his eyes moved around the place before looking back at the sandstorm and saying, 

"Their screams stopped a while ago when we were still trapped inside the sandstorm. They must have been dropped before we were." He said, "Let us walk back to see if we can find them, and if we see the horses, even better," saying this, he started to walk, and Anastasia quickly followed him. 

Anastasia covered her head with the shawl again to protect herself from the afternoon heat, and when she glanced at Dante, the man was busy searching for his siblings while his posture was as sturdy as the sun that burned brightly above their heads. 

After several minutes of walking, Anastasia began to breathe heavily. 

"Drink this," Dante offered her his water bag, which was tied to the side of his belt. "Take it." 

When Anastasia took the water bag from him, she could feel its lightness, and she said, "There is only a little left in here." 

"Unfortunately, that's all we have. The second water bag was tied to Oasis," Dante responded, and upon noticing the questioning look on her face, he clarified, "My horse's name," and she quickly nodded in understanding. 

Anastasia hadn't meant to complain about the quantity of the offered water. Pulling the lid off, she brought the nozzle to her lips and drank from it. When the cool liquid slid down her throat, it felt like the heat became bearable for a few seconds. 

Dante saw the young woman sip from his water bag with her mouth on the same nozzle he had placed his mouth on earlier. It wasn't as if he had never helped others before, by sharing his water bags with men during wars, but this was the woman who had begun to infiltrate his thoughts, increasingly occupying his mind. 

He heard Anastasia say, "I saved a sip."

"You can drink it. You seem more in need of it than me," Dante responded, before shifting his gaze ahead of him, scanning the vast expanse of smooth sand stretching in every direction. 

Anastasia asked Dante, "How did you come to know about the sandstorm in advance?" 

"There are high towers equipped with binoculars, which allows one to see far into the distance. Every town has one, and the high walls that guard the kingdom have six of them," Dante explained to her. "You will see some of the high-standing individuals carrying binoculars with them when they enter the Hall of Mirrors, where some of the dance and music performances are held now."

To think such things existed, Anastasia was more than amazed as they continued walking, holding the empty water bag in her hand. 

Even after many more minutes passed, and despite the fact that they didn't stop even for a moment, there was no sign of anyone, not the horses, Aiden, or Emily. Dante's eyes weren't solely focused ahead of them, looking into the distance; he also scanned the ground for any signs of shifting sand. The previous route they had travelled on horseback was one he was familiar with, but this was an unknown land and new territory for him. 

Anastasia asked him, "Is this the way back to the town we departed from, Prince?" 

"It is the direction the sandstorm travelled in. At least we will know if we need to pull someone out from beneath the sand. If you look at the ground closely, you will see the wavering patterns that differ from the smooth and clean terrain on the left side of where we are currently walking," Dante replied. He then curtly said, "Five steps." 

"What?" Anastasia turned confused.

"Five steps behind me," Dante quietly glared at her.

Anastasia's mind had been so preoccupied that she hadn't noticed when she began walking beside the prince. She quickly halted her steps to allow the gap to widen between them before following him again. 

As much as Anastasia wanted to find the prince and the princess, she didn't want to find them with their hands or legs sticking out of the ground. She could tell Prince Dante was worried even though he didn't show it, not only because of his sense of responsibility, but also because he cared about the two. 

As they continued to follow the path of the sandstorm, Anastasia caught sight of old ruins. Some of the pillars were fractured or toppled, lying in fragmented pieces on the ground. It looked like an old town where no one resided anymore. 

"This is a strange place," Anastasia said with a hint of wariness in her voice, as some of the statues looked strange, depicting creatures that sat atop the pillars, sporting horns on their heads and wings on their backs. Although there was abundant light, they cast haunting shadows. She asked him, 

"What is this place?" 

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When Anastasia moved forward to look at Dante, she noticed the concentrated expression on his face, his lips set in a thin line, before he spoke, 

"This was once a city… Many years ago, it was declared lost and buried beneath the desert sands when it was destroyed. It was called the Lair of the Underground," Dante responded, and he then turned to her and said, "Let me see if it revealed itself to my siblings too." 

Anastasia didn't stay behind to wait for the prince; she followed him as she was unfamiliar with this place. She knew the only way to stay alive was to be near him. As they crossed two fallen pillars, she asked him quietly, 

"What are those creatures made of stone, Prince?" 

Dante turned to look at the pillars before answering, "Guards. They used to stand guard and keep an eye on the people who entered and left the town." 

"To protect the town?" Anastasia asked curiously, and Dante's eyes met hers before she heard him say,

"No. To capture souls and bring them to the underworld. The dead." Dante had read about this place when he first got his hands on a book related to it. Not from the royal palace's library but from somewhere else, as the royal palace didn't believe in such things. He then called out his siblings' names loudly, 

"AIDEN! EMILY!" Anastasia heard Dante's voice echo back before the place turned quiet again.

They stepped inside a building that was connected to the rest of the ruined buildings in the town. The place was slightly dark, covered in dust and nested with cobwebs. 

"Coffins…" Anastasia remarked when her eyes fell on them. "Are there still spirits who wander around?" 

"Some are trapped; most have been brought back into the underground world," Dante replied, prompting Anastasia to move farther away from the coffins as they walked. 

"How can you tell?" Anastasia turned curious. 

"It must be the Blackthorn blood as it originated from here, like the other bloodline. We have the ability to sense and feel more than regular humans," Dante remarked, his strides long, making Anastasia keep up with him when he took a turn in the eerie corridor. 

"Other bloodline," Anastasia murmured, understanding that the Blackthorn family wasn't the only one with abilities. 

They came across a room which had dark, dull walls. Their eyes fell on the cobweb-covered coffins on the dusty table, which caught Anastasia's attention. The three coffins had intricately designed tops on them. 

"These are called the Triad of the First Crux," Dante said as he walked around them. "Each one holding a spirit. But only two of the spirits are present here, while the third coffin…" He placed his hand on top of the coffin and frowned, "Is empty."

Anastasia turned alarmed and looked left and right, worry starting to mar her face. They heard a slight clatter coming from another corridor, making them turn in that direction. 

"Stay close," Dante ordered her before heading in the direction that led deeper inside this place. Anastasia was on his heels, not missing a beat, while keeping her ears alert and feeling her heart beating loud enough to camouflage anything she could hear. 

They came across more statues, some that seemed frozen in time and after a few seconds, Anastasia heard, 

'Anna, come with me,' which held a light echo. Anastasia froze in her steps, turning to look behind her. 

"What happened?" Dante paused, noting that she had stopped following him.  0

"I felt… I heard my sister's voice," Anastasia said, scanning the corridor. 

'Anna, I have been waiting for you here. Come forward.'

Anastasia asked him, "Can you not hear it…?" 

"Don't pay attention to it," Dante said, and Anastasia turned to meet his eyes. "Some of these voices will confuse you, knowing it is what you want to hear, before trapping you here for eternity. Don't fall behind, no matter how tempting the words you hear may be. Because I hear them too," he confessed, "Not your sister's voice."

She gave him a nod that she understood and tried to block out the false voice that appeared to be her sister's. They finally heard whispers ahead, and walking further, they caught sight of Prince Aiden and Princess Emily. 

"Brother Dante! Anna!" Princess Emily shouted. Aiden, who was touching the skeleton, was startled by his sister's loud voice, causing his hands to fumble with the skeleton and making it fall right on top of him. "I am so happy to see that you are alright. By the time the sandstorm moved on, both of you had disappeared."

"I hoped we would find you here. It is good to see that you are unharmed," Dante remarked, placing his hand on his sister's head, and the princess smiled. 

Princess Emily said, "Aiden said that this was the lost city and we decided to take a look in here. It is so strange that it is reappearing now, isn't it?"

Prince Aiden pushed the skeleton off of him, putting it back in its coffin. 

Dante asked them, "What about the horses?" 

"They are tethered outside," Prince Aiden replied with a bright smile, and he then said, "What a bad day to say that we were going to have an amazing ride. When I said that, I wasn't expecting us to meet up with a sandstorm."

"Can we leave now?" Princess Emily asked, pursing her lips, and said, "I keep hearing voices, and it's scaring me."

"I doubt that. Look outside; it is going to be evening soon," Prince Aiden pointed at the sky, and Anastasia turned to look outside, where the sky was beginning to change colours. 

Back in the main palace, Mother Queen Ginger stood on her room's balcony, watching the gates of the palace, where guards and the carriage carts passed through. They were accompanied by her minister, Aziel. 

The Mother Queen turned around, leaving her room and going down to meet her minister. Once they stood in front of each other, the minister offered a deep bow and then handed over a rolled parchment. He said, 

"Here is the parchment, My Queen. It has been sealed."

"Wonderful. Where are my grandchildren? I didn't see them with you," the Mother Queen looked behind the minister.

"They aren't here yet? The guards told me that they had already gone ahead. Maybe they took a detour?" The minister pondered out loud, not knowing why the princes and princess weren't here yet. "Do you think something happened?"

"I don't think so, but something is going to happen very soon," the Mother Queen muttered, her lips setting in a thin line. 

"What do you mean?" The minister frowned, paying full attention to the woman he served. 

The Mother Queen slightly jerked her head forward, and they stepped out of the palace, entering the garden. She asked the minister, "Do you know about the Blackthorn rose?" 

"I am aware of what has been shared by you and what people speak of. Is the plant reviving itself again?" Aziel asked her. 

"Not fully, but I can tell that it has begun. There is something else that I have never shared about how the Blackthorn rose is related to the Crux," the Mother Queen said with a solemn look on her face, her eyes looking into the distance. "Dante's missing Crux wasn't because of some defect, but happened for a reason. Long ago, someone trapped something in this palace, in the Blackthorn plant. A ruthless demon, which was destined to appear in the one who lacks the Crux."

Minister Aziel tensed on hearing this and asked, "Are you saying that Prince Dante will be possessed by it?" 

The Mother Queen said with a grave expression on her wrinkled face, "Dante is the demon." 

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