Orelia looks slightly taken back by Midas' question and covers her mouth, shaking her head.

"It's fine Orelia you can tell me about this."

She goes to pull one hand away from her mouth, but the other pulls it back. She continues to shake her head. Midas was slowly begining to lose his patience.

"Why can't you just tell me? What's holding you back?"

"I-I just.. can't tell you! I can't!"

Midas grumbles in annoyance. Marigold glances at the two of them.

"..fine. If you can't tell me that, can you at least tell me if you know where Astra is? Maybe she can tell me what you're incapable of saying.."

Orelia slowly uncovers her mouth, putting her hands together.

"I..think I know where she is. Somewhere she hasn't moved from in a very long time."

She holds out her hands for Midas to take.

"Marigold, are you coming or staying here?"

"I'll stick around here."

"Very well. Come along Midas."

They disappear within a flash of light, leaving Marigold behind. Leaving her to remember her vivid memories of her childhood.

-------

Within seconds the flash of light was gone and Midas finds himself outside of a glittering gold castle. The one from his dreams. Although this time, it was a lot different.

No one was around, the gardens were unkept and overgrowing and the castle grounds, as well as the castle itself, was ruined and decaying.

Time hadn't treated it well, huh.

He notices the statue from his dream in the center of the courtyard, but it was completely demolished. Taking a closer look at the the figure of Oro, he can't help but notice he had a familiar face. It looked like Midas' face, same scarred eye and everything.

Perhaps Oro and Orelia used to look like humans before time took its toll on them?

Either way, it frightened him how he looks so much like Oro. He runs a thumb over his scar.

Midas looks over at the goddess as they walk through the courtyard and towards the castle entrance. The door looked similar to the one he opened back in the smaller castle on the island except it had two handprints this time.

She grunts, her hand on the left handprint.

Hesitantly, Midas presses his hand against the other handprint. Just like last time, the door slowly opens with a creak. Orelia looks to him in surprise, not expecting this to happen.

With a click of his fingers he dons Oro's outfit yet again and begins looking around the castle for Astra. Dashing up a glass staircase he comes across a door on his left and slowly opens it, checking it out.

And, to his surprise, he finds himself outside on a balcony. The one he saw in his dream. Someone was sat down with their back turned on a chair. Someone with flowing, messy brown hair and a rose gold ribbon in it. Their clothes had seen some damage, but Midas knew immediately who this was.

"Astra? Is that you?"

They flinch at the sudden voice and turn around. Midas gasps and covers his mouth when he gets a proper look at her. It was Astra, but something was horribly wrong with her:

Her entire left eye was gone with nothing but a gaping hole in its place, plus dried bloodstains streaking down that side of her face.

"Holy fucking shit. Her fucking eye's missing!!" His thoughts tell him. "What the fuck happened to her?!"

Astra tentatively gets up, staring at him. Then a smile forms on her face.

"It's really you! Oro!!"

She hugs him tight, laughing happily. Midas looks utterly confused, struggling to break free. Astra quickly lets go, her smile fading a little.

"Where...where have you been Oro? You've been gone for so long." She asks.

Midas sighs, looking away. This only makes poor Astra more upset.

"Why... aren't you answering me?"

He hugs his arms.

"Astra, I'm sorry...but I'm not Oro. I'm just a human that bares all of his powers...or what's left of it." He apologizes. "You can refer to me as Midas. I'm sorry I'm not the person you've been waiting for.."

Tears begin to fall from her right eye. Midas opens his arms and hugs the poor lonely girl tight. Astra sniffles, refusing to believe that the king she served and cared about so much was dead.

"But I...I thought we were friends..." She cries. "He said he'd come find me when the island was safe again...but he lied! He doesn't care about me at all!"

Midas sighs, rubbing her back gently.

"I'm sure he didn't lie to you. Why don't we sit down and talk for a moment. That might calm you down."

"O-Okay..."

---------

After a few minutes Astra slowly begins to calm down. The blood tears on the left of her face seemed to be permanent as they showed no signs of fading anytime soon. It unnerved Midas that she had one eye and didn't seemed bothered by it.

"So, that's why he didn't come back...he wanted to continue protecting the island for me..." Astra sighs, redoing her hair. "And then...he met you... Midas was it?"

"Yes. Met is a strong word though. He's mainly the reason why I exist and was born with golden hands, a golden touch." He explains. "The reason why I have all of his power now is because in a life or death situation he sacrificed himself and healed me... thus giving up his power and passing it on to me..."

Astra hums with a sad sigh. Midas opens his hand and lets the staff appear in his palm.

"Hence why I'm worthy enough to wield this."

The girl glances at it, a small smile on her face.

"I'm glad he went out protecting what he and I cared about though. Protecting the people of the island and, I guess, protecting you." She giggles. "Gotta say though, you do remind me a lot of him when he had a human form."

Midas blushes in surprise, sweat sliding down his face.

"Same scar, same personality at times. You even fit perfectly into his outfit. You sure you're not him reincarnated?"

He grips on to the edge of his seat, gold sliding up his arms and on the chair.

"I... I-I..."

This godforsaken question was starting to overwhelm Midas now. He was start to consider the answer;

Maybe he really is Oro...

They have similar appearances, scars over the same eyes.

It was all linking together. At this point, Midas didn't know who he was anymore.

Was he Midas? A man cursed with a golden touch.

Or Oro? A god of light and gold with powers beyond comprehension.

"Are you okay? You've been staring at me for a while. I haven't made you uncomfortable have I?"

"Huh? Oh, no. I don't mean to stare, and it's probably a sore subject, but... what exactly happened to you eye?"

Astra rubs her arms.

"Well...a run in with the Cube Queen just before Oro and Orelia came to confront her didn't end well. Oro didn't want me waiting around in his palanquin alone, afraid that I'd get hurt. So he took me with him into the Cube palace and..."

She pauses.

"Well... the Queen found me and stabbed my eye with a dagger, yanking it out... there's not really much else to it..."

Midas covers his mouth, feeling awful and sick to his stomach. He had a shard of glass fly into his eye, but she had her whole eye torn out.

"I'm... really sorry to hear that. I-I shouldn't have asked."

"Oh, no! It's okay Midas. Don't worry."

Midas ponders the thought of asking about who killed the Cube King, but sighs. He wanted answers.

"Hey, Astra? Mind if I ask another question?"

She nods with a smile.

"Orelia couldn't answer this. For some reason she physically couldn't. But maybe you can."

He pauses.

"Do you know who killed the Cube King?"

Astra stares at Midas, thinking to herself. She eventually speaks up.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I suspect Orelia didn't tell you because Oro kinda forced her not to... Think of as a seal or something.."

Midas folds his arms, thinking it wasn't fair to force Orelia to contain the truth. But it seems like Astra didn't have this seal placed on her, meaning she could tell him.

"So, who did it?"

"... I'll show you..."

Stretching out her hands, Astra begins to form some kind of illusion. A flash of light consumes Midas' vision.

---------

Meanwhile, back on the island...

Dark Jonesy sighs, stretching his arms as he lies on the statue of the cube. He couldn't help but worry about Midas and Jones. Both seemed like things weren't going well for them at home.

He mutters to himself.

Suddenly, he senses footsteps behind him. He swivels around and sees the same guard that summoned a cube in the stacks a few weeks ago.

"Dark Jonesy I presume?" The guard says. "You've been summoned by her majesty the Cube Queen."

"You have no choice. The Cube's dark energy runs through your veins. You can't resist her control forever human."

The guard raises his spear.

"Now I won't ask again. Come with me now, or face the consequences."

Dark Jonesy growls in annoyance, cracking his knuckles and summoning his powers.

He stands up and picks up a nearby stop sign with telekinesis.

The guard barely has time to dodge out of the way before throwing his spear at the snapshot. It misses, causing him to laugh.

The guard chuckles.

"Easy."

He suddenly teleports to the spear before levitating in front of Dark Jonesy, a grin behind his masked helmet.

"I'll be strategic and improvise."

And he pushes the spear into his side, causing him to fall from the cube and fall to his knees.

The guard manifests a pair of prison shackles and puts them around his wrists, grabbing him and teleporting away.

"Don't worry. The Queen has a wonderful plan for Oro and the rest of his friends."

Dark Jonesy gasps, knowing who he was on about.

------