“Your majesty…” a palace guard interrupted.

The Aisha slowly turned towards the voice. “Yes?” she inquired, slightly dazed by the thoughts that still had a hold on her mind. The Queen had received an ominous and anonymous letter the other day that she couldn’t quite make sense of… She repeated the text over and over again in her mind.

Amira looked on at the guard. He was a tall, broad-shouldered Lost Desert Grarrl with a golden spear and dense armour.

“You have a message. It is marked as, ‘urgent’, but we couldn’t identify the sender,” the guard said stoically.

“Let me take a look,” Queen Amira said, extending a delicate hand to grab the scroll.

She unraveled it and was shocked to see that she received the same ominous and anonymous letter, hand-written a second time. For what seemed to be the hundredth time already that morning, she read and processed the repeated message.

It said…

Surely this note was just a sick joke from some cruel citizen. Her father was long gone, though the memories still stung her heart deeply.

She knew she should just ignore it, but something deep down was telling her she needed to go. The unease these past few months in her heart and all around Neopia seemed like a sign. She also simply wanted to have a little adventure in her life. She was happy her kingdom was thriving, but the monotony of ruling was making her... bored.

She made up her mind to meet the stranger at midnight; though she was no fool - she would not go alone.

Shortly before midnight she quietly made her way outside past the city gates, along with her most trusted aide watching from the shadows. She breathed in the cool night air and admired the twinkling stars above. She had almost forgotten the breathtaking beauty of her lands.

When the clock struck twelve she looked around and in the darkness saw...

"Surely not..." she mumbled to herself, brow furrowing as she followed after the gentle gallops of the Nightsteed.

The mild flames beneath its hooves charred the grains of sand below, forming a clear path towards an area Amira knew all too well. As the Nightsteed paused behind Coltzan's Shrine, his head bowed towards the monolith, the Aisha knew she was at her destination.

Glancing around, the Queen noticed nothing abnormal, however, but a sense of uneasiness still surged within her. She questioned towards the undead Uni with a tilted head, "What is it?"

The Nightsteed did not shift, his head still turned directly towards the bottom of the Shrine. Amira glanced down, eyebrows raising as she noticed a singular raised stone jutting out of the Shrine's base. Had this always been here?

The Aisha bent down, and gently pressed upon the circular rock...

“Down below lies the catacombs of the Lost Desert. It is quite vast, and holds many of the undead, but I believe it holds great secrets that could keep the late King safe. As well as yourself, Queen Amira,” the undead Uni said. “I apologize for having been so discreet before, but it’s dangerous for just any Neopian to traverse the tunnels. I brought some supplies to aide you,” he said as he turned and exposed a pack full of items.

Queen Amira felt her blood freeze. The thought of going below terrified her, but the idea of adventure also excited her. “I don’t understand. What am I looking for? How will this keep us safe?” the Aisha asked. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a glimmer in the near distance as her hidden companion removed his cloak and the moonlight hit his shining armour.

General Dacon emerged from the shadows to join the Amira by her side. “What’s going on here?” the Tonu boomed as he held the hilt of his sword, ready to protect his Queen.

Nightsteed was not threatened and stood his ground. “Queen Amira must search through the underground labyrinth, alone. It is normally unsafe down there, but she should be protected by the undead through her royal blood. The spirit of King Coltzan III is in danger after his shrine turned grey, and the answer lies beneath.”

The Tonu protector moved to argue, but Amira raised her hand in protest. “Thank you Dacon for your unwavering devotion, but it sounds like I must go alone. I can do this; I will be fine. This is for my father, and for our people,” she said as she grabbed the items from Nightsteed.

General Dacon did not look pleased. He stood still in indecision, but then moved out of Queen Amira’s way. He watched as the Queen made her way down the stairs without any further hesitation…

Now equipped with fire, she took one last glance behind her to see the Uni and Tonu staring from the top of the stairs, backlit by the moon's distant light. General Dacon looked concerned; Nightsteed, on the other hand, gave her an encouraging nod. While she may have to brave the catacombs alone, it appeared they were willing to guard the entrance until her return, for which she was grateful.

She gulped as she turned back towards the darkness. "You wanted excitement, Amira," she thought to herself. "Well, here it is."

She eventually found herself reaching the bottom of the stairs. Holding up her torch, which only lit a few paces in front of her, she could see a winding hallway stretching out into the darkness.

Amira still wasn't certain what these "secrets" were supposed to be, or what she was supposed to be looking for-- hieroglyphs, ancient scrolls, or tablets, perhaps?

She quietly walked down the corridor, looking up at the ceiling, walls, and floor to inspect, but she had yet to see anything of interest.

That is, until her foot landed upon a tile which sunk into the floor slightly with a soft grinding noise. Before she could even gasp at the realization that she may have set off a trap, the rest of the tiles surrounding it swung open beneath her, and she fell several feet into the abyss below with a yelp.

Thankfully, a large mound of sand broke her fall-- she sputtered and coughed out a few grains of it before realizing her torch had slipped from her hand. She scrambled off of the pile and reached for her still-lit torch on the catacomb floor, but that's when she noticed something above it, glinting from the torch's flame.....

Amira's heart ached at the sight, but as she observed it, she noticed hieroglyphs - ancient Lost Desert hieroglyphs - carved all around it. And one of the gem's points was longer than all the others. She held up the torch to the gem and the symbols and squinted at them.

She remembered this ancient script; after all, Coltzan himself had taught it to her, and she wondered if he foresaw her needing that knowledge for such a time as this.

A glance toward the end of the chamber told her that there was a door hewn into the rock, but there was no way to open it - no handle, no knob. Amira even hurried toward it to dig her nails into the grooves, but to no avail.

Going back to the gem, Amira stared at it intently before reaching out to touch it, jiggling it slightly for fear of setting off another trap. Then she turned it in one direction, and another, realizing that it could be twisted around so its longest point could line up with one hieroglyph, then another.

"Wait...C-O-L-T-Z-A-N-I-I-I," she mumbled to herself, moving the gem toward the corresponding characters. At the last one, she heard a soft rumbling, and saw the stone door slowly swing open before her. And inside was...

"At least it hasn't been stolen," Amira muttered darkly, but her joke was only half-hearted. The last time her father's crown had been compromised, it had been outrightly robbed from the shrine, launching a desert-wide search for the artifact. Sure, this time the crown still remained within the shrine's walls, but something was still terribly wrong.

"Think, Amira, think," the Aisha mumbled to herself as she delicately lifted the crown out of the box and studied it.

Thousands of Lost Desert locals frequented Coltzan's Shrine each day, offering their respects and hoping for blessings. She herself visited on a weekly basis. As queen, it was her responsibility to protect this holy monument. She had to figure out if her father's spirit was simply missing or if it had morphed into something darker and how the crown played a role.

"His spirit didn't emerge when I first approached," Amira mused. "Which is different. Normally he says something wise or offers me food or even a scroll for the palace library."

Typically, droplets from the nearby river would mysteriously rise, bringing about a gust of unusual cool air before swirling together in varying shades of blue and transforming into the face of her father. Then, a blessing would follow.

"The key to the Shrine is the crown..."

Amira stared down at the grand headpiece doubtfully before cautiously placing it on her own head. Perhaps doing so would reveal another clue or even better, her father's missing and likely manipulated spirit. The moment she did so, the crown began to sparkle, emitting a smog coloured smoke that swirled around the room.

Amira coughed lightly, waving her hands around to let the vapour dissipate, revealing...

And her father sitting at a long banquet table. No, no, no, she thought desperately to herself. She did not want to see her father's final day. She already knew the outcome of this day, so why was she seeing this?

She looked around the familiar room hoping to find a clue, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. She tried to speak with her father, to stop him from getting poisoned; unfortunately, he could not see or hear her at all.

She slammed her fist against the wall in frustration and slumped down into a chair. She took a few deep breaths to calm down and think. "You can do this, you are the queen," she reassured herself as she studied the room once more.

Suddenly, she heard a voice call out to her from nearby. "There is much to learn in the past. The past, present, and future are all connected..."

As she looked around the room desperate to find the source of the voice, she noticed a pair of eyes staring at her from an unusually dark corner of the room.

She hesitantly walked closer, and slowly she could see the figure in the shadows clearly.

"What are you doing here? What is going on? Why are we in the past?"

She was now standing right in front of...

His demeanour was unsaturated. His face drooped. His eyes shone melancholy.

Queen Amira tilted her head slowly, the questions she had just spoken seeming to reverberate about the ethereal air. She felt compelled to reach out and touch her father, gently, but she pulled her paw back. Slowly. As though a sudden movement might inadvertently dispel this illusion. Or whatever it was.

"I am here because you placed my crown on your head, allowing me to communicate my thoughts through you directly," her father elucidated, his voice level. "And we are not in the past, at least insofar as a replayed memory of the past is different from truly being there. Indeed, Daughter, we are merely revisiting this monumental moment -- for an illustrative purpose."

"Monumental?" Amira choked. "But you... this is when you..." Tears started trickling down her face at her powerlessness to prevent his inevitable perish. "How is this day monumental?"

Coltzan managed a slight smile, though Amira could sense the tired malady behind his attempted pleasant expression. "For years, I have felt it my duty to stay in this realm, and guide the lost souls of the Lost Desert, until such a time as I have done all I could do. And though my present grey circumstances have, admittedly, eroded my willpower... I believe it is necessary to assist you now to find your path, Daughter." He nodded to his past, alive self as the scene unfolded. "How did you feel, back then, when I fell fatally ill to the poison?"

The Aisha's expression was neutral. Distant. "Distraught. Depressed. Lost. Like I couldn't live without your presence, your comfort, let alone fill your place as ruler of Sakhmet," she spoke automatically, the words flowing from the deepest, most compartmentalized depths of her soul.

Her father's slight smile, though unwavering, grew a little sadder at the thought. "Indeed you did," he affirmed. "But that wasn't the end for you -- was it? My little girl, with time, and friends, and advisors, you got past your sadness, and blossomed into the bold, capable, level-headed leader I knew you were destined to become." His smile became more genuine again.

She paused to reflect on this, watching the past. "You... you're right," she said softly, her voice hardly above a whisper. And slowly, ever so slowly, she wrapped her arms about the spirit of her father. "It's just... so good to see you again, Dad, and it's hard not to be concerned about your present grey state, but you... you're right. Sadness is sad. It affects your very being. But things do get better."

"So don't worry about me... I might be grey, but it's not the end of me. Go and tell he who sent you that Coltzan III is down but not out, and only has up to go from here." He paused for dramatic effect. "Like you did, back then, I will persevere through this sad curse. I have plenty of Neopets who visit the Shrine to keep me company, after all." He briefly chuckled before giving her a single nod. "And, though you probably already know, here is what I want you to do now..."

How will this story end?

Amira blinked in surprise. "But father," she began, "if what you say is true...then it's all the more reason that I should focus on keeping the people of Sakhmet safe."

King Coltzan shook his head, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You have done so well, Amira. Everything that has happened these past several years...you have risen to the challenge and been the leader that Sakhmet needed you to be. But this curse is bigger than one person, no matter how great."

Amira looked into her father's eyes. Despite his affliction, there was a hint of his familiar smile, just barely touching the edge of his eyes. After a long moment, she nodded.

"I will do as you suggest, Father. I can only hope that we can fix this."

Coltzan removed his hand from his daughter and stepped back. The vision around Amira began to waver. As her father began to vanish, Amira heard him say, "If anyone can, my daughter, it's you."

Several minutes later, Amira approached the bottom of the pit that she had fallen down what seemed like days ago. To her surprise, she spotted Nightsteed standing there, waiting expectantly for her arrival. She was suddenly struck by a realization.

"You knew," she said. "You knew this wasn't just about my father. The letter only said that it threatened him so I would come alone."

The Uni bowed his head. "It is as you say. Your father bade me deliver you here alone, and when the spirits speak....I obey."

Nightsteed turned and waited for Amira to approach and climb onto his back. Once she was securely in place, the undead Uni disembarked, exiting the pit. Within minutes the duo had arrived on the surface. Amira and Nightsteed were immediately accosted by a visibly-relieved General Dacon. Amira explained everything to her General and friend, and the two set off on their return journey, bidding Nightsteed farewell.

By the time Amira and Dacon climbed the steps of Sakhmet's palace, it was well into the morning hours. The exhaustion of the previous night's journey hit Amira all at once, and in that moment she wanted nothing more than to retire and sleep until the following day. But there was still work to be done.

"General, send for your fastest couriers and your most trustworthy guards. I have a mission of utmost importance for them," Amira ordered. General Dacon bowed, and with a quick "Yes, Your Majesty," he set off without complaint.

Amira sat at her desk and pulled a piece of parchment toward her. As she contemplated where to begin, she glanced up at the portrait of her father hanging on the wall. His regal visage stared down, and she imagined him, in that moment, watching over her.

"Just wait, Father. We will find a way to fix this, and you," Amira said out loud. Then she looked down, lifted a quill, and began to write.

The End.