MEMELAND

Night covered Yggdrasil.

The city looked beautiful from above.

Lights glowed from windows.

Lanterns illuminated narrow streets.

The mountain breeze carried distant conversations through the districts.

From a distance, everything seemed normal.

It wasn't.

Kai and Andre were currently hiding inside a storage room behind a bakery.

The owner had no idea they were there.

Andre was eating bread.

Again.

Kai had stopped questioning where he got it.

Some mysteries were better left unsolved.

"You think Akshay is alright?"

Kai asked.

Andre took another bite.

"No."

Kai frowned.

"That's not very reassuring."

"You asked what I think."

Andre shrugged.

"He just got arrested."

Fair point.

The room fell silent.

For the first time since escaping the palace, they actually had time to think.

And Kai hated it.

Because the more he thought, the worse everything looked.

The evidence.

The convoy.

The council.

The timing.

It all felt planned.

Too planned.

Like pieces moving across a board.

And they had arrived halfway through the game.

A knock suddenly echoed through the room.

Both men froze.

Andre immediately reached for a loose wooden plank he apparently intended to use as a weapon.

Another knock followed.

Then a familiar voice.

"If you're planning to hit me with that, at least aim properly."

Andre lowered the plank.

"Zindine."

The hidden door opened.

The hooded merchant stepped inside.

Book in hand as usual.

Kai had begun suspecting the book existed purely for dramatic effect.

Zindine looked at the room.

Then at Andre.

Then at the pile of missing bread.

"I see you've adapted well to life as a criminal."

"I never stopped."

"That's somehow worse."

Andre smiled proudly.

Zindine sighed.

Then turned serious.

"The city is a mess."

Kai stood.

"How bad?"

"Worse than yesterday."

The merchant leaned against the wall.

"Half the city believes Akshay is innocent."

"And the other half?"

"Thinks he's a traitor."

Kai clenched his fists.

That was exactly what the conspirators wanted.

Division.

Confusion.

People fighting each other instead of asking questions.

Zindine continued.

"The council has announced a formal trial."

Kai froze.

"A trial?"

The merchant nodded.

"Three days from now."

Andre swore.

Loudly.

Several times.

Creatively.

"They're moving fast."

"Very."

Zindine closed his book.

"Too fast."

Kai agreed.

A real investigation would take longer.

Much longer.

Yet somehow everything was already prepared.

Almost as if someone expected it.

The thought bothered him.

A lot.

"Can we see Akshay?"

Kai asked.

"No."

The answer came instantly.

"The prison is under military control."

"Jack?"

"Jack."

Kai looked away.

That complicated things.

Because despite everything, he still wasn't convinced Jack was the mastermind.

Something felt off.

If Jack wanted power, he already had it.

If Jack wanted Akshay dead, he had opportunities.

Yet the king remained alive.

The entire situation felt strangely careful.

As though someone wanted Akshay removed but not eliminated.

At least not yet.

Zindine suddenly reached into his robe.

He produced a folded document.

"I may have found something."

Kai took it.

The paper contained a list of names.

Military officers.

Council members.

Merchants.

Nothing immediately stood out.

Until he noticed a pattern.

Many of them had publicly supported Akshay in the past.

Now they were supporting the trial.

"What changed?"

Kai asked.

Zindine tapped the paper.

"That's the interesting part."

The merchant smiled.

A dangerous smile.

"Their opinions changed at exactly the same time."

Kai stared.

"That's impossible."

"Exactly."

People don't suddenly change political positions overnight.

Not dozens of them.

Not without a reason.

Or pressure.

Andre cracked his neck.

"So somebody convinced them."

"Or threatened them."

The room became quiet.

Neither possibility was good.

Then Zindine dropped another piece of information.

"The councilman who pushed hardest for Akshay's removal?"

Kai looked up.

"What about him?"

"He's missing."

Silence.

Andre blinked.

"Missing?"

Zindine nodded.

"Vanished shortly after the arrest."

That immediately set off alarms.

Because innocent people didn't disappear after getting what they wanted.

They celebrated.

They bragged.

They enjoyed victory.

They didn't vanish.

Unless they were afraid.

Or dead.

Kai suddenly felt that familiar sensation again.

The one he'd had ever since arriving in Yggdrasil.

Like there was another layer hidden beneath everything.

A second conspiracy behind the first.

Someone pulling strings from the shadows.

Someone nobody had seen yet.

Far beneath Yggdrasil, in a chamber lit by dim blue crystals, a hooded figure listened quietly to a report.

"The king has been arrested."

The figure nodded.

"And the trial?"

"Proceeding as planned."

A moment of silence followed.

Then the figure spoke.

"Good."

The voice was calm.

Measured.

Almost gentle.

"Let them focus on the king."

The messenger lowered his head.

"As you wish."

The figure looked toward a map hanging on the wall.

One location had been circled repeatedly.

Not Yggdrasil.

Not the prison.

Not the palace.

A distant city far beyond the mountain.

A city known as Asphyxia.

And if the plans continued uninterrupted—

That city would soon become the next battlefield.