The following night I made a remarkable discovery inside a cigar box available in my chamber, that I hadn’t bothered to check previously.

I had been pacing about the room, waiting for the appropriate time to create the portal for Kiara, when the hand painted image of the castle on the exterior of the cigar box drew my attention to it. Inside, I found a folded white paper with very faint lines drawn across it.

At first the faint lines seemed random. However, when I threw the gold dust into the air and for a brief moment held the paper in between me and the glowing portal, the lines suddenly became very detailed and dark. It was a map.

Kiara came in through the portal to find me lost in the map.

“What’s that?” she said.

“A map,” I said, “I think. Take a look.”

As I gave her the map, I noticed that the lines became less dark, since the paper was no longer directly in between me and a light source.

“A map?” Kiara said, taking a quick glance at the paper. ‘But it’s blank.”

I brought the paper near one of the torches in the room and played with the angles, until once again, all the lines darkened with detail.

“It is really a map,” Kiara said, with a hand over her mouth.

“Of the town?” I asked.

“Not the town,” Kiara said, “it’s divided into boxes. I think it’s a map of this castle.”

“Why would a castle need a map?” I said. “Because there are way too many rooms?”

Kiara shrugged.

“Maybe it helps find some special room?” Barely had she uttered those words that a notification emerged in my vision. Kiara’s gasp confirmed she too had received a message.

A new quest has been unlocked because you spoke the key word: ‘special room’.

Objective: Get to the special room.

Rewards: Unlock the quest to the world that the special room leads to.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

So the quest basically led to another quest?

We stared at each other.

“How do you feel about this?” Kiara asked me.

Curiosity was bubbling inside me. After a stretch of relative boredom, my heart welcomed a new quest.

But then, there was Kiara. I had put her in enough danger and I didn’t want to repeat it. I sighed and shook my head.

“Let’s not bother with it,” I said. Kiara’s face fell but she didn’t argue. The entire night I spent dreaming about a giant door to a secret room. But try as I might, I never found a way to open the door.

The next day dawned.

Not a long time after Kiara left, I found myself itching to go looking for the secret room. I had placed the map inside the cigar box yesterday night. I should have burnt and destroyed it.

Soon I found myself peering at the lines of the map, before forcing myself to put it into the box and sliding it under the bed. The mystery of the secret room was very tempting. I wished so badly if only there was something to distract me from the map. I would be so gleeful if farm reports came in now.

But nothing such happened. I surrendered to my desires. Resisting was futile especially with the cigar box within hand reach. I took the piece of the paper near the torch again.

“Special room,” I said once the lines of the map had become darker.

Once again the quest was offered.

My heart was beating loudly. I shouldn’t be doing this. I paused for a moment, inflating my mouth at my lack of self control.

Accepting defeat, I accepted the quest.

A dot appeared at one point on the map. I was certain that it was indicating the room.

It took me a few minutes, but I was able to find my position in the castle with regards to the map. After that it was simply a matter of following the corridors exactly as shown in the map.

As I made my way through the castle, map in hand, monsters would politely query me if I needed any assistance, and I would dismiss them. It was not easy being a king. The monsters, despite possessing nothing but love for me in their hearts, believed I needed their help at all times.

Eventually I arrived at the point where the map led to. Except there was nothing. It was just a turn along the corridor. No room.

Had I made a mistake in following the directions. I reviewed but found no error on my part.

But where was the room? If the map was right, then I should be standing inside it. Wait a minute… standing.

I looked down at the floor. It was laid with black and white tiles. Two tiles away, there was a tile that should have been black, but was instead a shade of brown. It sparked my curiosity, and I stepped on it.

A new notification popped up in my vision.

You possess the map, as such you will be allowed entrance in 3… 2… 1…

The place suddenly changed. The corridor entirely disappeared. I found myself in a closed room, lacking any entrances or windows. However, there was a trap door.

A very familiar feeling climbed up the back of my neck. Initially, I couldn’t identify what it was. Then I realized I was sensing evil. But then, the entire castle was filled with my monsters, why was it such a surprise then?

It dawned on me that I was sensing evil coming from the trap door. When I took a step closer to the trap door the evil feeling intensified. Were there monsters down there?