The Source of All Evil

Chapter Twenty-Two

Michaela Walker.

“So, you’re not my sister?”

Michaela sighed, staring at the ceiling while lying on the large bed in the Empress's room. One of the maids brought her here after she went through all the books Rafe showed her. The latter wasn’t in the library by the time she finished, and disoriented Michaela aimlessly followed a maid to this room, where Princess Nirvana was still awake, waiting for her.

She sighed once more, feeling as if she was drowning in a deep crevice filled with paralytic drugs, suffocating her and numbing her mind. She felt as if she were living a nightmare, that eventually turned out to be real. It felt like a story with a promising beginning, then fizzling out, failing to deliver what was expected.

Rafe’s proof was, somewhat, more compelling than she thought. The first book she read, ‘The Source of All Evil’, negated everything she believed in.

“I don’t really know, in all honesty.” She finally said, letting out a hefty breath. “Nirvana, it is true that I’m in your sister’s body, who uncannily resembles me, but I am not her. I was born and raised in the lower plane.”

Michaela has found out that the world as she knew it was far more intricate than she thought. The universe she was in now wasn’t fantasy as presumed, and in fact, it existed along with her world.

The book explained how the world consisted of three planes; the lower plane, which she was from, in which humans weren’t blessed with spiritual, divine, or celestial powers. They relied on their intellect and ancient transcripts in inventing means to better their lives, busying themselves with day-to-day routines until the moment they die.

Some from the lower plane receive an off chance of getting transmigrated to the middle or higher plane. The middle plane, which was the universe Michaela found herself in, focused on the spiritual aspect to ascend into masterly prowess to immortality. Hence, why the people she has met had outstanding abilities. These abilities surpassed and dwarfed the survival tools and means humans from the lower plane acquired. Their focal aim was towards divinity, which crippled their minds from exploring the ideas of innovative technologies, which were deemed necessary in her world.

And those who reached immortality and mastered the spiritual path would soon thrive to surmount divinity and ascend to the Celestial path, in the higher plane.

The Evil and Celestial Masters were both from the higher plane, descended to this world, in hopes of finding the Cursed queen’s descendant.

“How?” The princess sounded just as confused, and Michaela finally looked up, meeting those vibrant, confused eyes.

“You and. . . the owner of this body are half-sisters. Did you know that?!”

“Yes, father had you. . . my sister,” she corrected under the firm glare of Michaela, stammering as she went on. “With his betrothed, but since it was out of wedlock, my grandfather annulled the betrothal under the pretense that father was in love with someone else. . .”

“His betrothed was the Cursed queen, right?” The Princess nodded, and Michaela let out a sigh, remembering the woman she saw in that weird dream. “She must’ve felt betrayed, which is why she killed that innocent maid.”

The Princess bit her lower lip, taking a seat on the bed next to her, saying. “Actually, that maid is mother. People spread rumors of her dying, killed by the Cursed queen, but that’s evidently not true.”

Michaela sat up, her eyebrows knitted, watching how the Princess shifted in her seat. “She didn’t die?! I thought. . . I mean, I heard mermaids singing a song about the Cursed queen. . .”

“Yes, I know about the song.” She heaved a sigh, finally looking her way as she went on. “The Cursed queen indeed wanted to kill mother, but when she learned that she was carrying me, she let her go. . . But as soon as the queen left, someone attacked mother and almost succeeded in killing her. Father, when he managed to save mother, spread the fictitious news of her death. He did this, hoping her assailant would reveal themselves. And when he caught the person who attacked her, he confessed that he got sent by the Fire Master. However, the damage had already befallen the queen's reputation. Those who had seen the Cursed queen cornering mother, accused her for murder. . .”

The Princess stopped talking when Michaela flopped down on the bed, hiding her face under her arm. They sat there in silence; one confused about what has been entailed, and the other irritated to the point of losing her nerves, trashing on the bed like some spoiled brat.

When she calmed down, Michaela sighed, aggravated. “Rafe. . . I mean the Evil Master traveled to the lower plane to find your sister’s soul. He stole the Celestial Master’s book of magic, and with the help of dark arts, he was able to open a portal to my world. . . He would go there once every month, coming back empty-handed, that is until he met my dad.”

Michaela could feel the thick lump down her throat at the mention of her late father, feeling as if she was about to burst into tears. The feeling was fleeting, though, as she pulled a straight face, angered and, somehow, disappointed to know that Rafe did all of that for someone else.

The moment she shared with Rafe at the restaurant in Hema village crossed her mind, and Michaela couldn’t stay strong as her tears exposed what she was feeling in her heart. She thought that Rafe liked her, but it turned out he liked the owner of this body and not her.

Though the book explained that Michaela’s soul from this plane transmigrated to her world, she couldn’t fathom what that meant. . .

“Did the Evil Master tell you this?”

She shook her head, wiping her reddened cheeks as she chuckled, a hint of bitterness in her tone of voice, saying. “One of the books Rafe gave me was his journal. He rambled on about how the gods sent him to find the descendant of the Cursed queen. And when he arrived here, he met your sister and got captivated by her beautiful soul, her loving heart, and her unyielding personality. . . He wrote pages and pages about how he wanted her to be his Empress, sounding obsessed when your father refused.”

The bitter feeling trapped inside her heart was unpleasant and sinful, vehemently, she added. “The Celestial Master then appeared, sent by the heavens to assist the Evil Master to find the Cursed queen. These two never see eye-to-eye, and when the Evil Master realized that the other had a magical book that could help him in his quest, he stole it. . .”

They both frowned when they heard someone softly knocking on the door. Michaela had no knowledge of royal etiquette. She sat there and waited for whoever it was to enter. However, the Princess figured that whoever behind the door was waiting for permission to enter.

“Come in,” Her voice was gentle, bearing the elegance and prestige for growing up amongst royalty, and Michaela thought the person behind the door wouldn’t hear her. She was about to get the door, but the person opened it, walking in. It was the same maid who escorted her from the library to this room, bowing her head to both of them.

“His excellency asked for you to accompany him for tonight.”

Michaela let out a snort, eying the maid who kept her head down. “Tell that bastard he can go and suck a d**k!”

Princess Nirvana grimaced at what she said while the maid lifted her head, staring at her with wide leafy-green eyes.

“Yes, you heard me, and you better tell him what I said. He can go and suck a d**k!”

The maid’s cheeks reddened, stumbling on her words, saying. “My lady, relaying this message to His Excellency is the same as condemning myself to death.”

Michaela got startled when the maid knelt on the ground, bellowing. “Please, my lady. Don’t make me do this.”

Michaela was so surprised by her reaction, rendered speechless, and Princess Nirvana took over, politely asking the maid to stand up.

“Michaela, the Evil Master is known for his viciousness and cruelty. Albeit you are close, I don’t think he’ll tolerate you disrespecting him. . .”

“Are you telling me to do as he says?! I don’t give a damn about who he is and what he can and cannot do! After fooling me for weeks, you expect me to ‘keep him company’?!”

Michaela felt humiliated, raging that all this time, she thought there was hope for her to go back home. She was smart, and she figured that the Evil Master wouldn’t let her go even if there was a chance for her to return to her world.

Her loud voice woke Kirby up as it wobbled its way to her, letting out a whine. Michaela’s face softened, picking it up, her eyes darting towards the trembling maid. “You don’t have to tell him what I said if you don’t want to, but there is no way I’m staying in the same room with that bastard.”

Michaela turned around and went back to the bed, huffing as she sat down. The Princess showed a smile to the shaken maid, asking her to tell her Master that Michaela wasn’t feeling well. Once the maid left, Princess Nirvana settled beside her.

“Disobeying him will only make matters worse, Michaela. I know you don’t want to be here as much as I do. . .”

“I don’t,” she stubbornly cut in, her hand rubbing Kirby’s cheeks softly. “Which is why I’m leaving this place in the morning.”

Contrary to her harsh tone of voice, her hands gently caressed her pet.

“I need to leave. I still need to go see mother.”

Hearing this, Michaela recalled the dream, scowling as she searched her clothes. The princess, who watched in confusion, wondered what she was looking for. Michaela gave up when she couldn’t find anything on her.

“A vial. . . I had this dream or something when we were in the forest. A woman in a black dress gave me a vial with a strange liquid inside it. Given the crazy situation, I thought, maybe, I really had it on me.” Looking at the Princess, she added. “For some odd reason, I feel that wasn’t a dream, and the woman I saw was your sister’s mother.”

The Princess seemed to believe her, curtly nodding, studying her as she said. “You healed my wounds and the dark aura that encircled you must’ve been triggered. . . I want to try something. . .”

The princess asked Michaela to close her eyes and imagine the vial. The latter released a hefty breath, following her instructions as she closed her eyes. She imagined the crystal vial, recalling the way it looked, listening to the Princess’s words when she asked her to hold it in her hand. Michaela could see her hand grasping it, opening her eyes wide when she felt something forming in her grip.