The Unravelling(1)

After the end of the first half, the stadium, along with its crowd, took a long break.

Seated in his designated position, the King closed his eyes as he was bored.

He heard a voice whisper to his ears, "Caspian."

The voice was familiar to him, so he didn't have to check who it belonged to.

Also, there were only a few people, who could call him by his actual name, and not his royal title.

He replied back to his brother, "Conan, what is it?"

Despite not being able to maintain a good relationship with his children, he had an excellent one with his elder brother.

Even when he was chosen instead of his elder brother, his brother didn't hate him or take his frustration and anger out on him.

To him, his elder brother was his role model and someone he could trust as both of them aspires to be able to improve Aztec.

"There's something that requires your immediate attention," stated Conan.

The seriousness in his words made Caspian open his eyes and look straight at his brother.

"What "something" is this? Is it that bad," whispered Caspian as he narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Well…. It is strange and....just come, I don't know how to assess the situation," stammered Conan.

Listening to him, Caspian thought, 'Something that could even throw him off his feet!'

His brother was the most composed between the two of them, and for something to startle him, that must mean it is quite peculiar.

He roused himself from his lazy spirit and reported to his brother, "Lead the way."

The two walked for a few minutes until the king found himself at the entrance of their destination.

He gave a skeptical glance at his brother, "The Med Bay?"

"Yes," confirmed Conan, who then knocked on the door.

The door was opened by a brown-haired young woman, about twenty-five years old.

As soon as she saw the king, she bowed her head, "Your Highness."

"Please, no need for formalities," said the humble king.

He walked into the bay and saw many small rooms; some visible and some not.

He waited for his brother to fully explain the situation.

"It is about a participant. It is better if you see it yourself. Klara, lead the way."

Caspian was fairly acquainted with Klara. She was the best medical personnel in Aztec, despite her young age.

He had recommended her to the stadium board when they were picking the individual to handle the med bay section.

Klara took them to a room, and the first thing Caspian noticed was the horrible stench.

If not for the material used to build the walls, he reckoned the smell would have terrorized the entire stadium due to the cultivators' super smell ability.

After a second, Caspian adapted and ignored the horrid smell, he went closer to the bed in the room and lifted the veil on it, to see what was under.

"What in Heaven's name?!" whispered the King, trying not to draw too much attention.

On the bed was a body, or rather, a corpse, but that was not the surprising thing about it.

The corpse was rapidly melting….detoriating…..decaying. The king wasn't sure what best describes the corpse.

All its body hair was constantly falling off slowly. The bizarre alteration was moving the corpse towards a creature Conan knew well.

"Zombies!" muttered the king from the corner of his mouth.

He now knew why his brother found it difficult to explain the situation, as right in front of him was a seemingly impossible scenario.

Not wanting to jump to a conclusion, Conan tried to gather information, "What is this?"

"A corpse, a---" Klara explained before she was cut off.

"--I know it is a corpse, but what exactly is this corpse?!" scowled Caspian.

Pushing up her glasses, the expert divulged fully, "Well, an hour ago, it was a healthy corpse of a dead participant….I believe his name was Ray, a commoner."

"Hmmm…..Ray. I watched his match, however, how did he become this?" asked Conan.

He unknowingly exuded a pressure that ferociously demanded answers.

Seeing this, his brother intervened, "Klara called me when she noticed this….bizarre occurrence. When I asked her, she explained that she could not assess it either, as knowledgeable in transformations like this. I called you here to ask how to proceed."

"Do we have an expert in things like this?"

"No, but it appears that the corpse is transforming to something similar to a zombie. We can work from that angle," replied Klara.

"Brother, I only know how to kill creatures like Zombie, I'm not well versed in their habits and physiology. Who do you know is proficient in stuff like that?"

Conan held his chin as he thought deeply. Different names flashed through his mind before he selected a few, "Only four, to my knowledge. It is hard to find someone with such interest."

He gave the list, "Constance Reid. Gabe Hunt. Kit Hamilton, and your daughter, Sierra. The first three are unavailable, which leaves the last one, and luckily for us, she is very available, and even in this bay right now."

Caspian cocked his head at the mention of his daughter, "Sierra?"

'Oh...that's true. I remember she had a thirst for dark knowledge,' reasoned Caspian.

This steeled him further to learn more about his children.

He focused on the current priority, "Send someone to call her."

After Klara went out, Caspian sat on a chair and sighed as he looked at the opaque glass wall.

"What are you thinking of?" asked a curious Conan.

"Nothing," smiled Caspian.

Following his brother, Conan also sighed and fell on a chair, he said to him, "I have known you for many years. Frankly, I am thinking the same as you."

Caspian looked at the corpse, watching its flesh squirm and darken further, "Something is happening and we do not know it. It is all moving too fast, and sometimes, I wonder if our preparations would be enough."

The two brothers descended into silence. They knew each other well enough to know what they wanted a period of silence.

Moments later, the door kicked open and Caspian saw his daughter along with a purple-haired girl with blue eyes.

"Father," Sierra greeted Caspian.

"We need your help," Caspian smiled at his daughter.

Looking at the female beside her, he asked, "This is.....?"

"My friend," warned Sierra.

"Well, I don't think she can stay here. We are doing something important," queried Caspian.

He was being honest as the capital affairs shouldn't be revealed openly, especially when he did not know what they might find out from the corpse.

However, Sierra firmly replied, "She stays or I go. She can help."

Noticing the direction of the conversation, Conan gave an answer on behalf of his ignorant brother, "Ok, we will believe you. Her name is Jaya, right?"

As he wanted to recruit some teenagers to the army, he had researched the bio of all of them.

"Yes, sir," replied Jaya, who knew she was in presence of high-tier nobles.

"Jaya, anything in this room cannot leave the room. Do you understand?" eyed Conan.

"Yes."

"Good."

He shifted his position and allowed them to get a good look at the corpse.

The two brothers chuckled as the expression of the two girls was different from them.

The brothers had been alarmed upon seeing the corpse, while the two friends felt more interested in it.

"What is it?" asked Sierra.

"Not it, who. And it is Ray, a former participant who died," corrected Caspian.

"Ray…. I ran into him a few times. He shouldn't be like this, no human corpse should be like this," muttered Jaya

"That must mean it is not a human corpse, which would explain why you called me here, isn't it?" asked Sierra.

"Yes," affirmed Caspian.

Conan gave more information, "The change denotes that it is beyond the physiology of humans, but we can confirm that it was a human before."

"It looks more like a zombie now," Jaya chipped in.

She noticed something strange, "The owner of the body is dead, so the body should be dead, but it is still ongoing transformation to a creature similar to a zombie."

Not intimidated by the people in her presence, she asked Klara, "Miss, can you confirm it is dead?"

"I can't confirm, but, it was dead hours ago!" replied Klara, who had become drowned in the background.

"Hmmmm….Sierra, what do you think?" quipped Sierra.

Sierra moved closer to the corpse and used a nearby wooden stick to touch it.

Puncturing the skin, she gave her opinion, "I think we have been looking at it from a closed perspective. Why do we say it is similar to a zombie?"

Trying to join their conversation, Caspian replied, "Because it has to be."

"Why is that?"

"Because…..." Caspian tried to find his words, but it was to no avail.

He was rescued by Conan, who tried things from Sierra's angle, "Because we have not seen something like this."

"Exactly, but right here, right now, there are facts laid down in front of us," explained Sierra.

From her expressions, one could tell that she was completely drawn in by the case of the corpse.