Marcus and Kyrie first took a bath. Kyrie got sand out of her body and she put her clothes in the inventory to make them automatically clean. Marcus had a change of clothes and he unequipped all his armor. They spent the night on the island. They had brought camping supplies after all.

The next day, the fisherman came for them, and they went back to Grush village. As they stepped onto the pier and walked a few paces Kyrie suddenly stopped.

Marcus said, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Kyrie said, “Why did not fly over to the island on our wyrms? Why did we take the boat?”

Marcus opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. He somehow had no answer for that. Why had they not taken their wyrms when they could have easily flown to Tulom island.

Marcus wondered about that as they made their way to the inn. He had considered flying on wyrms but had somehow dismissed that thought. He had finally decided that going with the fisherman through a boat to the island made sense even though he did not know why.

They deposited the pilaf plant, completing the quest with the innkeeper. The innkeeper was delighted and kept praising both of them. He also paid a considerable number of units which surprised Marcus. It seemed that the dish made from the pilaf plant was really popular. Then they had a late breakfast and made their way towards Reginush’s house.

Reginush led them in excitedly. He said, “You found the goring treasure already?”

Marcus and Kyrie explained to Reginush what had happened on the island. Reginush nodded and swore through the entire explanation. He reacted at all the right places making Marcus think that this guy was way more expressive than he could handle. It felt tiring simply talking to him. Reginush asked for the letter and the chest.

Marcus asked, “Do you not want the book?”

“The book’s gorking useless to me”, replied Reginush, “You can keep it.”

Marcus was pleased with that. Reginush examined the chest and said, “There is nothing more in this chest. However, this is not Eliynar’s chest. This chest gorking still belongs to the Grush family, I can see the gorking crest. However, the chest is much more modern than that. It seems that someone, one of my gorking ancestors I presume, already found the treasure and relocated it. I am saying that they gorking relocated it because if they had declared that they had found it then all of the gorking descendants would have known. I am not the only descendant of Eliynar Grush. I am the only gorking descendant of Eliynar Grush living in this village though.”

Reginush examined the letter. He sniffed it. He walked up to the fireplace and ignited the fire. He held the letter in front of the fire. Markings started to appear on the letter.

“Gorking invisible ink”, said Reginush and handed the letter to Marcus, “It’s a gorking map. It seems that my ancestor who took the treasure left a gorking map. I think he is gorking taunting the person who came looking for treasure and found this letter.”

Marcus said, “Invisible ink. I would have never thought of that.”

Kyrie said, “I would not have either.”

Reginush snorted. He said, “Gorking invisible ink. Gorking Grush family is famous or infamous for using too much of it. Anyways, the letter is now a treasure map. Can you understand the landmarks it is showing?”

Marcus looked at the map. It showed a mountain with a river flowing in between. At the base of the river, near the mountain was an X spot. The mountain was named Gunin Mountain ranges with the river titled Genlin river. Text on the map read, ‘The smallest mountain contains the biggest cavern’.

Marcus searched the Globalnet for the mountain range and the river.

Marcus said, “The Gunin Mountain ranges are found on Filinile. There is a part of the mountain ranges where the Genlin river flows between them. The smallest mountain there would hold the cavern then which has the treasure considering X marks the spot.”

Kyrie frowned and said, “Could it be that simple?”

Reginush grunted and said, “Simple or no, it is the only lead that we have got? Are you willing to check it out, adventurers?”

Marcus got a notification that his quest was updated. He looked at Kyrie who nodded.

Marcus said, “We accept. However, this will take time. We have no plans to go to Filinile as of now.”

Reginush waved a hand, “There is no gorking rush. I am not going anywhere. Take your gorking time. Just get me the gorking treasure.”

Marcus and Kyrie took their leave after that. It seemed that a phase of their quest was over, and the next phase was on a different landmass. Nothing they could do about it now.

They went to the inn to discuss their next steps. They decided to rest and spend a day in Grush.

Early in the morning, they left for Tilimore. There they were informed that the Opulential portal was now active. They took a portal directly to Opulential. They made their way straight to the library after reaching Opulential. Marcus submitted the book to the head librarian and earned 2,000 points. Marcus had now levelled up and he put two points in intelligence.

Kyrie also submitted her report from adventurer versus adventurer in Tilimore and earned another 2,000 points. She also levelled up and she put her points in wisdom.

Marcus then requested the original copy of An Interview with a Demon by Lumina Lightweaver back from Sylinine. Sylinine did so. She had finished transcribing it and a digital copy was already uploaded on the Globalnet. She told Marcus she had no use for the original copy now. She regretted that she could not keep it but to her gaining knowledge from books was more important than simply collecting them.

Sylinine then said to them, “You know, I don’t mean to be rude, but I have noticed something about your statistics.”

Marcus said, “Go ahead. We won’t feel insulted. Much.”

Sylinine grinned and said, “If you don’t mind my asking then what is your current vitality.”

Marcus and Kyrie told her. Sylinine said, “Then why are your health points so low?”

Kyrie said, “Kindly explain this to us. Why do you think our health points are low?”

Sylinine joined her palms in front of her with elbows on the desk and leaned forward. She said, “The base health points for any adventurer is 100 points. Then additional health points are received based on the vitality stat of the adventurer. Till an adventurer reaches level 30, their health points are calculated as base 100 points plus their vitality multiplied by two. That means, an adventurer with 10 vitality and below level 30 shall have 120 points of health.

I know, the gain is not much, but it is only till they reach level 30. After level 30, the health points of an adventurer are calculated as base 100 points plus their vitality multiplied by four. So that would mean, an adventurer, such as you, with 25 vitality should have 200 points of health. And yet, I find you two with only 150 points of health. I wonder why that is?”

Marcus asked, “And is that triggered automatically or do the adventurers have to do something to trigger the change?”

Sylinine blinked. She said, “Yes. Of course. You have to get the blessing of Udha. She is the Goddess of Vitality for the Umaru. That triggers the change. But the quest for getting the blessing is given to every adventurer as soon as they reach level 30. Did you both not get the quest?”

Marcus and Kyrie shook their heads. Sylinine said, “Fascinating. I wonder why.”

Marcus said thoughtfully, “Maybe, it could be due to the fact that we levelled up very fast. I mean I jumped from level 24, no 25 I think to 45 when we killed Cthulhu. Kyrie faced a similar predicament. That is a huge jump. Maybe we got ignored due to such a large jump in level.”

Sylinine said, “If what you say is true, then it would impact a large number of low level adventurers. There are many who are leveling up at a fast pace after killing demons.”

Kyrie said, “The elite demons and demon lords do give high experience points.”

Sylinine said, “Interesting. Interesting. Very well then. I will tell NAIF to look into this matter. If what you have said is true, then many adventurers would not have received the quest. The NAIF would have to work to ensure that the adventurers over 30 have gotten the quest to get the blessing of Udha. Well, quest or not quest. Go to the temple of Udha. There is one in Opulential. Receive the blessing from a priest or priestess there. All will be normal then.”

Marcus said, “I have a question though. Is this blessing to be taken only for increase in health or is there a blessing for mana also? In addition, is this a one time increase or will health increase in the future too?”

Sylinine laughed and said, “Yes, there is a blessing for increase in mana too. But that comes after reaching level 50. Here, let me share something with you.”

Sylinine displayed a screen to Marcus and Kyrie.

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 2) till level 30

Mana = Base 100 + (Wisdom * 2) till level 50

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 4) from level 31 to 60

Mana = Base 100 + (Wisdom * 4) from level 51 to 100

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 6) from level 61 to 90

Mana = Base 100 + (Wisdom * 6) from level 101 to 150

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 8) from level 91 to 120

Mana = Base 100 + (Wisdom * 8) from level 151 to 200

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 10) from level 121 to 150

Mana = Base 100 + (Wisdom * 10) from level 201 to 250

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 12) from level 151 to 180

Mana = Base 100 + (Wisdom * 12) above level 250

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 14) from level 181 to 210

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 16) from level 211 to 240

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 18) from level 241 to 270

Health = Base 100 + (Vitality * 20) above level 270

“I hope this clears some things for you. It is a simple summary. You can have a detailed description if you want. These are just some of my cliff notes”, said Sylinine.

Marcus read what was written. The calculation of health points changed every 30 levels while the calculation of mana points changed every 50 levels. Considering the calculation that was in front of him, Marcus estimated that the maximum health an adventurer could have was 2,080 if they chose 99 points in vitality at max level and the maximum mana would be 1,288 if they chose 99 points in wisdom.

Marcus was sure that there was gear and other buffs which would increase their health and mana but he did not have sufficient information on them as of now.

Marcus and Kyrie thanked Sylinine and exited the library. They looked for the temple of Udha in their map and started towards it. It was not far from the library, merely a 30 minute walk. There they took the blessing from a priest and their health was updated accordingly. They both now had 200 points of health.

Kyrie said, “Well. That was interesting. One more level up and let’s see if I get the quest to increase my mana.”

Marcus slapped his forehead and said, “We fucking forgot to ask where to go to increase our mana.”

Kyrie said, “Relax Marcus. I am sure that the person who gives us the quest will tell us where to go.”

Marcus nodded. He said, “So, are you going to fight in the adventurer versus adventurer arena?”

Kyrie shook her head. She said, “It is still not up and running. They don’t know when it will be back.”

Marcus said, “Our major quest has also not been updated. Even Sylinine did not have anything new for us. So, what do we do?”

Kyrie said, “We can always go to Filinile to continue the treasure quest.”

Marcus did not look happy. He said, “I did not want to go there unless we got a major quest to go to that landmass. I mean there are two books which I need to search over there. That does not mean I would drop my major quest and go looking for them.”

Kyrie said, “We do have some time I think before the major quest updates.”

Marcus did not speak for some time. He was thinking. He finally said, “Let’s go and meet Marbas. I have the book. Let’s see if he tells me what he was going to tell me about myself.”

“That is somewhat a confusing statement.”

“Let’s just fucking go. We can fly there.”

Kyrie smiled. They were going to see Marbas. Hopefully Marcus would have some answers from the demon.

***

Marbas was bored. He yawned as he picked up another book, stared at it without actually looking at it, then put it down and repeated the process with another book. The last few days had been really taxing and yet extremely boring.

Timothy Candlewick, the Commander of the Order of the Sun, wanted some answers from Marbas. Marbas had told Timothy that he only dealt with adventurers. Marbas had seen that Timothy had not been pleased. From the next day, he was being regularly visited by a gnome adventurer going by the name of Zissix Trance.

Zissix brought Marbas questions and Marbas answered them only after Zissix had paid his price. Marbas did not charge much, only some minor quests not even worth mentioning for what he was providing. Zissix was a boring adventurer. He did not talk much outside of the questions he was asking. Marbas felt his interactions with the gnome unsatisfactory when it came to knowledge gathering. Zissix had no curiosity. No spark for knowledge seeking.

Marbas grinned as he thought about the next quest he would give Zissix. If the next set of questions that Zissix brings would not be interesting, then he would send him on a quest across Umanahash.

He felt a pull. It seemed that someone had come to see him. It was the magical prison at Umanahash. Marbas had a magical prison at all the landmasses and he could go to any that he wanted to. He needn’t be summoned by someone. However, Marbas seemed to enjoy spending his time in the ethereal plane with his fellow brethren, hearing their tortured cries. Also, sitting in a chair all day with nothing to do inside a magical prison which was not easily accessible by adventurers and non-adventurers alike did not sound appealing to Marbas.

The pull became stronger. Marbas groaned. He hoped it was not Zissix. Zissix had just come yesterday and Marbas was in no mood to meet him today.

The pull became so strong that he could not ignore it. He sighed and concentrated. The next moment he was sitting in the chair in the magical prison in Umanahash. Marbas looked at who had come to see him and smiled. It was a predatory smile of a hunter whose prey had just walked in.

Marbas greeted the adventurers. It was Marcus Blank and Kyrie Shiningstar. This was going to be interesting.

***

Kyrie said, “He is not here.”

Marcus looked into the magical prison that had held Marbas and said, “Did he escape?”

Kyrie shrugged, “I don’t think so. Holy knights have been posted outside. We saw the small outpost they had set up. I doubt that Marbas would be able to sneak past them.”

Marcus said, “The holy knights are averaging at level 80 currently. Somehow, they seem to have leveled up too after the fight with Cthulhu.”

“They actually leveled up during the fight”, said Kyrie, “Earlier we saw that they were around level 50. However, Cthulhu and his demons were level 80. So, the holy knights became level 80 too.”

“Huh!” said Marcus, “I did not notice that.”

“There are a lot of things you do not notice Marcus Blank.”

“I noticed.”

Kyrie rolled her eyes. She said, “What do we do?”

Marcus said, “We can inform the holy knights that apparently Marbas is out of his prison. Let’s see the fucking panic it would create.”

Kyrie said, “I don’t think that is a good idea.”

“Then what do you propose we fucking do?” Marcus felt a bit irritated with Kyrie.

Before Kyrie could reply, Marbas materialized in the chair inside the dome.

“Welcome Marcus Blank and Kyrie Shiningstar. It is a pleasure to see you both”, purred Marcus.

Marcus could see Marbas smiling. However, the smile unnerved him. He did not know why but he felt Marbas was considering them as one would consider food. Maybe Marbas wanted to eat them. He did look like a lion after all. Marcus dismissed the thought with the shake of his head. It would not do him well to get such fucking stupid thoughts.

Marcus said, “I have your book.”

Marcus took the book out of his inventory and held it up in his hand.

Marbas said, “Straight to business, I see. No pleasantries. No small talk. No questions or anything?”

Kyrie said, “I have a question. Where were you? You were clearly not in this dome magical prison. So, that means you were somewhere else. Where was that? And how can you get out of this dome? I thought you were imprisoned in it?”

Marbas laughed. He said, “Interesting questions. I shall tell you the answers in return for a question of my own. More of an information requirement rather than a question. Are you okay with it Kyrie Shiningstar?”

“Depends on the information required”, replied Kyrie.

“I want to know about your family”, said Marbas.

Kyrie said, “Not much to tell. My mother is a water nymph named Taranushadra Flowhearth. My father, not my biological father, but the father who raised me is Florinth Flowhearth. He is a water nymph too. I am the eldest of five siblings, three females and two males. And before you ask, yes my last name is from my biological father. My sisters are named Tylivianna and Cannassindra while my brothers are named Chosonn and Bullonick. We are… were… are… I don’t know now but we were one happy family with my father and my siblings actually accepting me for who I am. You know. Different nymph father. Does not look like a water nymph even though I have the characteristics of a water nymph and all that. What else do you want to know? Where we lived. What we did all day. Or was something else on your mind?”

Marbas narrowed his eyes as he asked, “And you never knew your biological father. Never met him. No one told you who he was.”

“No.”

Marbas stared at her for some time. Then he clapped his paws and said, “Well, you seem to be telling the truth.”

“I don’t like to lie”, said Kyrie shifting a bit uncomfortably.

“That does not mean that you do not tell a lie”, said Marbas, “Now, as to your questions. This dome is my magical prison. That is true. However, this is not my only prison. I have such a magical prison on each of the landmasses of Una. Each of these prisons are difficult to access. You knew about this prison from reading the book. That is why you were able to find it. Many adventurers and non-adventurers are often lost while finding their way to me. As for when I am not here, I could be in any of the other prisons and also in my prison in the ethereal realm. That is where I was. I cannot escape this magical prison if you are concerned that a high level demon would rampage across Una. Even if I escape, I doubt I would rampage.”

“You would rather scheme”, said Marcus.

Marbas grinned, showing all his teeth. Marcus and Kyrie both shuddered.

Marbas then said, “The book if you please.”

Marcus handed Marbas the book. It passed through the dome easily. Marbas looked at it and turned a few pages.

Marbas declared, “It is the original that you promised me.”

Marcus nodded, “I don’t like to fucking lie too.”

Marbas laughed at that. Then he said, “Very well Marcus Blank. I shall tell you what you are. Are you ready?”

“Fucking dramatice aren’t you, Marbas?” muttered Marcus.

“You”, said Marbas pointing at Marcus with a flourish, “are what they call a Game Destroyer.”

Marcus felt something shift within him. He suddenly felt cold as if he had been plunged in icy water. The world blurred and he could not see, could not breath, could not hear, could not speak. He shivered but he felt as if he could not shiver. He had no body to shiver. Before his mind could process the information Marbas had given, before he could understand what was happening, darkness enveloped Marcus.

***

“What did you do to him?” shouted Kyrie at Marbas.

Marbas said, “Me? Nothing. It seems that your teammate has suffered some form of shock finding out what he was.”

“He is a…”, said Kyrie and frowned, “Why can I not remember it? You just told us. He is a…” Still she was not able to continue.

“Don’t worry”, said Marbas, “That is the power of the Game Masters meddling with you. You will soon not remember what was discussed here. You will remember it as an important discussion and with passage of time, you will not put proper consideration on it.”

“What do you mean?” Kyrie seemed furious, “What do you mean the Game Masters are meddling with me. Are they wiping my memory?”

“Such ignorance”, said Marbas in a low voice, “And yet I find it tasty. I wonder why.”

Kyrie looked disgusted at Marbas. She then looked at Marcus and examined him. He simply seemed to have passed out. She wondered why. Marbas had told Marcus what he was. Kyrie had heard it too but for some reason could not remember it. According to Marbas this was the work of the Game Masters. This was giving her a headache.

Kyrie decided to simply leave the cave. She bent down and picked Marcus up. She started to carry him out of the cave.

Marbas said, “Are we done then?”

“For now”, said Kyrie.

Marbas laughed. He said, “For now. I like you. For all the questions that you have asked and have not asked, I like you, Kyrie Shiningstar.”

The way Marbas spoke her name sent chills down Kyrie’s spine. She ignored him and started to move out of the cave.

Marbas said in a soft voice which carried over to Kyrie, “And yet you do not ask the most important question.”

Do not be goaded by the demon lord, Kyrie, thought Kyrie, do not talk with him anymore.

But she could not resist herself. Gently placing Marcus on the ground she walked back to Marbas.

“What question?” she asked.

Marbas smiled. “Who is my biological father, Marbas?” said Marbas in a slightly mocking tone, “What is the history behind him and my mother?”

Kyrie said, “You lie. You do not know anything about my biological father.”

Marbas’ grin was so wide now that Kyrie could see each of his sharp teeth clearly. He said, “Oh, but I do know. I do not lie, remember? Wouldn’t you like to know about him? I could tell you for a price.”

Kyrie struggled with herself for a moment. When she had left Una, she had decided to leave everything behind, her family and the knowledge that she would ever get to know about her father. And here was a demon on Una who would give her the information. It would be for a price of course.

Then Kyrie looked at Marcus. She looked at what the information had done to him. She took a resolute breath.

“No”, said Kyrie walking away from Marbas.

Kyrie picked Marcus up again and started walking towards the exit. She had almost reached the exit when Marbas spoke again. She never expected Marbas’ next words. They sent her in a state of rage and shock. She dropped Marcus when she heard them and asked for Marbas’ price even though she did not like it.

Marbas had said, “Your biological father is on Una.”

***

When Marcus opened his eyes, he saw colours. Swirling colours all around him. He closed them. The swirling colours were giving him nausea. Then he opened them again. The colours seemed to have stopped swirling, but now they were bright.

Marcus closed his eyes again and muttered, “Third time’s the charm.”

Marcus opened his eyes to find himself in an office. The office was big and white. He could see walls surrounding him but there was no door, or windows. This was odd.

Marcus looked around. Cabinets as high as the room were present on one side of the wall. The wall was high, Marcus estimated it to be twenty feet high. There was a desk in front of the cabinets. On this desk was a computer, a photo frame, a few files and some stationery. There was a chair behind the desk for someone working, Marcus presumed, and two chairs in front of the desk for the visitors, Marcus presumed again.

The desk was wooden, polished mahogany and looked very odd in the white office. The chairs were also of different colours. The chair behind the desk was blue in colour while the visitors chairs were red and green in colour.

Marcus wondered out loud, “Where the fuck am I?”

“You my dear friend are in your fucking mind. How do you like it?”

Marcus whirled at the sound of the voice. It was a familiar voice, one which he had heard a lot. Marcus saw himself standing in front of him. The other Marcus was wearing a three piece suit which was made up of many colours. He had a long hat on his head and was wearing flip flops instead of shoes. He looked odd with the ensemble.

Marcus said, “You are me. No. Who are you?”

The other Marcus said, “I am you. You are correct yet incorrect. I am a part of your consciousness, a construct of the spell cast in your brain to help you. I am here yet I am not. I am your worst nightmare. I am your best memory. I am; You know what I am, don’t you?”

Marcus frowned. He was feeling confused. He said, “No, I don’t know who you are. That’s why I fucking asked you. You look like me but you feel different.”

The other Marcus clapped his hands together. He said, “Call me the Over Achieving Hatter, the distant cousin to the Under Achieving Trouser, directly related to a Mad Hatter.”

“What?”

“Exactly. You can call me Memory.”

Marcus said, “Memory?”

Memory replied, “Yes. Memory. With a Capital M. Remember the capitals. They are very important. Without capitals you cannot tell the difference between-”

Marcus interrupted Memory, “I know the joke. Somehow. Please don’t tell it to me right now. My head seems to be pounding.”

Memory said, “Your head is indeed pounding. You have received information that has affected your self imposed amnesia. It is interfering with the directive you had set upon the spell. The spell is fighting back. It will take some time but everything will stabilize. Till that time you and I get to spend some fucking quality time. I fucking love it. Memory and ahem, what is your name?”

Marcus said, “You don’t know my name?”

Memory smiled, “Oh, I know your name. However, I do not know what you are calling yourself.”

Chills spread down Marcus’ spine as he said, “Marcus Blank.”

Memory clapped his hands again and his hat wobbled. He said, “An excellent name. A classic. Marcus. I always liked the name. And Blank. A play on your amnesiac condition, eh? Naice. I like it. Still haven’t lost your touch have you?”

“What are you saying?” said Marcus, “Can you please speak in a manner that I can understand?”

“No can do, Scooby Doo”, said Memory. He walked towards the desk and sat on the blue chair. Memory spinned around in the chair and said, “You are free to sit down too, you know. No need to keep on tiring those fucking non existent legs of yours.”

Marcus sat down on the green chair. Memory stopped spinning and said, “I know you have some fucking questions but now is not the time. You got some information. Information you were not supposed to fucking get. Fucking demons and their knowledge. You are not supposed to be here. Not until; well it doesn’t matter. You are here. And I am sure you would want to know something before you go.”

Marcus nodded. He asked, “What is this place?”

Memory said, “I cannot tell you much. Only that you created this place. It is for you and you alone. You can access this place at any time but you need to unlock it. You have not fulfilled the parameters for accessing this place so what I can tell you is fucking limited. However, I can tell you that the information that you obtained from Marbas sent you here as it affected the spell.”

“What spell?”

“The spell that you have put on yourself. The spell which is going to help you. Help Una. I cannot say more than this.”

Marcus was now confused more than ever. Here was a person looking exactly like him in weird clothes telling him that he did this to himself to save Una. What did this mean?

Marcus said, “Is this something to do with me being a Game Destroyer?”

Memory gave a short bark like laugh and said, “But that’s the thing. You are not a Game Destroyer. Don’t you see. Don’t you remember what Marbas told you?”

A screen appeared in thin air in front of them as Memory waved his arm. On the screen was Marbas.

The on screen Marbas said, “You are what they call a Game Destroyer.”

“See”, said Memory pointing at the screen, “Do you see? He did not lie but he did not tell you the entire truth.”

Marcus said, “What the fuck are you saying? He is telling me that I am a Game Destroyer.”

“You are not listening”, groaned Memory, “Fucking listen.”

Memory repeated the clip. Marcus heard Marbas say the same thing again. He frowned as he looked at Memory. He did not understand what Memory was trying to say. Memory looked at the expression on Marcus’ face and repeated the clip.

Something clicked within Marcus the fourth time Memory repeated the clip. Marcus wondered aloud, “Who are they?”

“Bingo”, said Memory, “You finally got it. Answer it and you will find out more about yourself. However, I recommend not going back to this demon Marbas unless you really have to.”

“And how do I get the answers I require? What are the parameters for unlocking this room again?” said Marcus.

“Can’t fucking tell you much mate but your time’s up. The spell seems to have stabilized in your mind. Time for you to go”, said Memory.

“Wait”, said Marcus, “I have so many questions.”

Memory said, “And I will answer them. Once you come back to me. Oh, this is so exciting. I shall give you a hint. Learn more about Una, the Umaru and the Game Masters. You shall find your way back to me. I fucking believe in you Marcus Blank. Now toodles.”

Marcus tried to say something but his vision swam. He blacked out again.

***

Kyrie looked at the sleeping form of Marcus. It had been two days now. She was getting concerned. She wondered about the adventurer in front of her.

Marcus was a thorough adventurer and a good teammate. He liked to research well and always had your back. However, his amnesia was now concerning Kyrie. She was sure that whatever Marbas said triggered some memory that Marcus had and it made him lose consciousness. She hoped that he would wake up fast so that she could have some answers.

She was also getting bored with no adventurer versus adventurer fights. Then she felt guilty about that. Here was Marcus, unconscious, and no one knew when he would wake up and Kyrie was thinking about adventurer versus adventurer. She had to get her priorities straight.

Considering her priorities, she thought about her conversation with Marbas. He knew about her biological father. He knew that he was on Una and Marbas was willing to give information about him to Kyrie for a price.

She knew the price. Marbas wanted her bow. Kyrie did not want to give up her bow. The price was too high. She had decided that when she had come to Una, that she would leave her past behind. And now her past had come back, not to haunt her exactly, but to irritate her.

Kyrie decided to move past this. She put the thought of finding her biological father aside. Marbas may have sparked her hope momentarily, but now again, there were just ashes.

Kyrie looked at Marcus again. They were in a hospital in Opulential. When Marcus had passed out, Kyrie had carried him outside. With the help of the holy knights, she had brought him to the hospital in Opulentaial which was in a NAIF facility. Adventurers had to be admitted to the hospital of the NAIF facility. It was the rule. Marcus had not woken up since then and two days had already passed.

Kyrie wondered what she should do. She did not know when Marcus would wake up. The doctors of the facility were confused too. Per their diagnosis, there was nothing wrong with Marcus physically or magically. Yet he was unconscious. Kyrie was sure they had missed something but she was not sure what.

They had Marcus under observation for now. If he did not wake up in a week, then a request would be sent to the Game Masters to come examine him. None of the doctors seemed comfortable with that according to Kyrie. Considering the state of Marcus, Kyrie believed that it could be a possibility.

Kyrie stood up and exited Marcus’ room. She exited the hospital and went to the arena. She relaxed after seeing it. Even though she was not fighting, Kyrie considered the arena as her center. It helped reduce her stress, just to see it.

Being a water nymph, Kyrie considered that it should be water that would calm her the most. But Kyrie had always been competitive since her childhood. She had to be the best swimmer, the best archer, the best dancer, and now, the best adventurer. And so, the arena helped her relax.

There were no matches but the adventurers were free to roam the seating spaces in the arena. Kyrie took a walk amongst the row of seats and smiled. This somehow felt good. This felt like a familiar environment. This felt like comfort.

There were other adventurers in the arena and Kyrie waved at them. She recognized a few of them; she had fought them. She made small talk with them.

She spent the day at the arena, either walking amongst the seats or talking with adventurers present there, and then went back to the inn that she was staying at in the evening. She would go and visit Marcus tomorrow. Maybe he would wake up then.

Kyrie walked into the common room of the inn and stopped short. The common room seemed to be filled with adventurers. Twenty of them in fact. Kyrie counted them fast. She did because as soon as she had entered the common room, all eyes had turned on her.

All of the twenty adventurers were looking at her with interest. Two of the adventurers stepped forwards. Kyrie felt they were familiar but could not place them. One was an elf while the other a feliur. The adventurers behind them were a motley of different species.

The elf said, “Well, hello there Kyrie Shiningstar. Pleased to meet you dear. I am Tamara Goodleaf and this feliur here is my dear friend Tanniv Kinner.”

Tanniv gave Kyrie a short nod. Tamara continued, “I am sure you have heard of us. We are the champions of Una after all and we need to talk.”