Chapter 2

Adam frowned at the sight before him. True he hadn't expected a mass improvement when it came to the land or anything, but it actually looked almost worse than it had during his first visit to the kingdom.

He glanced at Veena as she tossed the strap of a bag over her shoulder. "Ve, are things getting worse here?"

She turned and frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"Things actually look worse than before."

She nodded. "I know, but my father won't tell me a damn thing." She sighed and then quickly smiled at him. "Come on, I want to show you something before we leave."

Adam glanced down at the sleeping tiger. "Should I get Cringer?"

"Let him sleep. I have no doubt he won't feel safe enough to do it for a while"

Adam nodded. "Yeah, we have no idea what's going to happen once we get to where we have to go."

She nodded. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Veena walked out of the room, and he followed after her. Through corridors and flights of stairs until they reached the main entrance of the Castle.

"Veena, where are we going?"

She glanced over her shoulder at him. "You'll see."

He had no option but to trust her much as she had on Eternia. They soon walked along the streets of the Goblin City through things he was sure were not in Eternos. Suddenly she took a sharp turn he would have missed if he hasn't been watching her.

"Ve?"

"We're almost there. Just a little further."

Weird barbed vines crossed over his head creating a tunnel around them. They were as bare as everything else he had seen in this Kingdom. Well except for the bit of green in the Labyrinth itself.

"Where are we going?"

They entered what had once been a garden, but was now dry and bare of life. Even the fountain in its center was dry.

"This is it."

Adam frowned as he continued to look around. "Ve, I don't understand."

She turned to face him. "Welcome to the Royal Gardens. This is where my brothers and I played."

Adam watched as Veena sat on the edge of the dry fountain. "Ve, why did you bring me here?"

"This is the last place I saw everyone." She hung her head slightly. "We were playing hide n seek."

"Veena, should you really be here?" Adam took a step towards her.

She raised her head, with tears rolling down her cheeks. "I've been coming here every day to remind myself why I'm training so hard."

Adam nodded. "Ve, you couldn't have stopped her any more than I could've stopped my sister from being kidnapped."

"What happened to her, your sister?"

"Skeletor kidnapped her and gave her to someone named Hordak. Hordak had someone use magic on her to keep her under his control. I was barely able to get her to see the light."

Veena slowly stood up. "I take it she came home."

"Only for visits. She feels horrible about what she did while under his control. So she remains on Etheria helping to fight against him."

"Hopefully I won't have that problem. I don't think I could actually fight any of them."

"Hopefully it doesn't come to that, Ve."

Suddenly Hoggle ran up to them completely out of breath. After taking a few quick ones, he panted. "You two need to get back to the Castle. He's looking for you."

Veena nodded. "Thanks, Hoggle. You catch your breath. We'll go see what my father wants."

The dwarf nodded as he confined to try and catch his breath.

Sighing, she looked at Adam. "Our adventure might be starting soon."

Adam nodded. "Have any idea who we could be going after first?"

Shaking her head she walked towards him. "No, but we better hurry. I don't want a lecture when we get back."

Still somewhat breathless Hoggle pointed at a door hidden in the wall. "That leads into the Castle. I don't know if you remember the way or not."

"It's locked, Hoggle. I've tried it before."

"It might open now. Let's give it a try." Adam walked over and placed his hand on the door handle

"I've tried almost it every day."

Adam squeezed the handle and pushed the door with his other hand. It reluctantly opened inward into a dusty obviously unused hallway.

"I kicked it only two days ago when it wouldn't open for me."

"It was really stuck, Ve. I had to really push for it open." He gave a sheepish grin.

So I know I'm a day late in posting this, but I didn't feel right posting it yesterday. So I hope you call enjoyed this tiny little chapter.

Review if you please.

CL