The idea of building a boat, or at least a raft with stones stuck with me. It swirled around in my head as I played hopscotch with Kanim and Tulip the next day. But I couldn’t quite brainstorm how to engineer such a watercraft.

Around dusk, I was able to sneak out of the village, while I was in the middle of a hide and seek game. The kids kept searching for me in the village while I quietly made my way out. I put the farms behind, so that nobody should see me. I found a safe spot behind a large tree that had aerial roots hanging from the top and activated the portal for Kiara.

“I talked with your brother last night,” Kiara said.

“What did Sam say?” I asked. My heart was beating fast, and every now and then I kept glancing towards the village. The worst thing would be if the kids had spotted me leaving the gate. And searching for me they might get lost in the forest. That would be terrible. I had at most a few minutes to spare for my chat with Kiara.

“The players are in the same place where they had settled after being evicted from the town,” Kiara replied, observing my impatient behavior. “But the place has changed. Sam tried to come in the direction of the town a couple of days ago, however he discovered the shores of a sea instead. Not a water sea. But of a liquid that gives off vapors all the time.

“There are monsters prowling around the settlement of the players. Roughly equal proportions of neutral ones and eviluns. This has confused the players, and the evil monsters take advantage and frequently raid the settlement. And yes, all the players had received a notification of the time bomb explosion.”

I guessed it was just a matter of time and the remaining neutral monsters would revert to eviluns, and they too would take up the old tradition of player hunting. Too bad I put so much effort in for them. But I was not their king any more, it didn’t really matter.

“A sea of vapor-emanating liquid?” I said, rubbing my chin.

“It sounds the same as what we saw in the town,” Kiara said.

I heard the snap of a twig, and swung my head and was startled. For there was the zombie queen appearing from behind the big banyan. She might have been there longer and possibly had heard our entire conversation.

“I saw from the window that you were going out of the village,” the zombie queen stated.

My breath was stuck in my throat. No explanations came to my head.

Thankfully, Kiara spoke.

“So you are the zombie queen?” she said.

“I am indeed… and you are? I saw you come into this place through a ring of fire. It was quite bright.”

“I am Kiara. I am Vicky’s g… friend,” Kiara said, and I was glad that she didn’t say ‘girlfriend’, otherwise Dieana would kick me out of the village. No evilese for me then.

“I happened to hear what you two were speaking,” the zombie queen said. She frowned at me. “So you were a king of monsters? Funny, I never knew.”

I considered how I should respond. I decided that it was best to be straightforward. Why keep Dieana in the dark?

“Isn't it weird that you do not know that I was once a king?” I asked her. “Even she knows, don’t you Kiara?”

“I do,” Kiara said, getting my hint, nodding earnestly. “King of all the monsters.”

The queen stared stiffly, as if she was being humiliated.

“See?” I said, “even she knows. The other night I asked you how we met and you couldn’t give a proper answer. In fact you barely seem to remember anything at all. I will ask you a question. Can you recount what you were doing on this day last week?”

The zombie queen tried to recall, but it was evident from the convulsion on her face that she was failing.

“I… I,” she struggled to speak, unwilling to accept the truth. She closed her eyes and gave her best, but still failed. “I can’t remember… I can’t remember anything at all!” She buried her face into her hands.

“It’s okay, don’t blame yourself,” I said with some tenderness. I didn’t want Dieana to have a panic attack. “Rest assured that whatever is wrong it is not because of you. Dharti has changed… and I am partly responsible.”

“But how can you two remember?” Dieana asked, looking up from her hands. “And what about the zombies? Have they also forgotten everything like me?”

“I remember because, like I said, I am partly responsible for what has happened,” I said. “Kiara remembers because she was not in this world, but in another one at the time when the change took place. The zombies know nothing about the past.”

I let a moment of silence pass as the zombie queen absorbed all the new information.

“Am I even the queen then?” she said. “And… and the other night you said that you might not be my husband.” Her eyes went wide with dread as she spoke.

I sighed. I would have to break the truth to her.

“Yes, you are the queen of all the zombies,” I told her. “As for whether I am your husband: No, I am not. That is the truth. I am sorry if it hurts you, but it is the truth, believe me.”

The queen wept fitfully. Kiara was sympathetic and put an arm around her.

“But, trust me, you were a good friend of mine in the past,” I said to Dieana. “And you helped me tremendously.”

“Then what about Tulip and Kanim?” Dieana said, her voice moist. “Why do they call you ‘father’? And why do you bother to even spend time with them if you are not their father?”

“They are a result of the change,” I said. “They are neither your sons nor are they my sons. But that doesn’t mean that we should stop caring for them. At the end of the day they are children. All children deserve love.”

Dieana cried more at these words. I could understand her tears. Tulip and Kanim were nice, obedient kids. Kiara continued to rub Dieana’s back, consoling her with soft words. After a while the queen quietened.

“So what now?” she asked me. “What do we do? There is no point in staying together if we are not husband and wife.”

“I would like to stay in your village,” I told Dieana. “If you allow me, that is. I need the evilese you have. And I would still like to play with Kanim and Tulip.”

“I shall not disallow you from staying in the village,” the zombie queen said. “And I will let you have the evilese too. But that doesn’t mean that you will have to stay with me at my home… if you do not want to. And I thank you for making me realize everything.”