The hivemind is conquering for me?

Elaine looked at Hailey and asked. "Is that it?" Hailey nodded her head in response. "Yes, I remember just throwing it and running away to try and find mom in time. The people acting like terroritsts already infiltrated the palace way before that point and she was gone before I even managed to leave this place."

As Elaine walked forward and picked up the crystal, she muttered. "I never understood how the Altax just waltzed into the palace unimpeded. Their horns and tusks would have been a dead giveaway."

Hailey sighed as Elaine said that and just as she pressed play, Hailey mumbled. "Because they weren't Altax."

After activating the crystal, a projected image was now floating above it and in it was Hailey roughly 10 years old fiddling with the crystal. Elaine wanted to comment on how cute Hailey looked as a child, but the seriousness of the situation did not call for it.

Suddenly, Child Hailey began speaking. "Testing, testing. This is explorer princess extraordinaire, Hailey Athena, reporting her findings deep within the ancient labyrinth once again. I have my equipment all true explorers carry and plenty of food in case I get hungry, lets see what secrets I can find today!"

Elaine looked up at Hailey with her lips inverted as she tried to hold back a smile. The cuteness overload was too much to bear, even for the seriousness of the situation. Even Hailey seemed to agree as she looked away, beyond embarrassed.

Child Hailey began walking through the labyrinth and stopped at a few plugs as she explained where they were and what secrets were usually on the other side. Eventually, Hailey made her way to part they were both waiting for.

In a whisper, Child Hailey began talking. "And here is the hole that shows the King daddy exhibit. King daddy always has some juicy secrets for me when I open the hole, like the one time he was wrestling naked with the head cook, just like in the old competitions."

Elaine choked on her own spit after hearing that. That cook is still employed to this day. 'Has Dickon been unfaithful to me as well?' She thought, but child Hailey continued so she payed attention.

Child Hailey placed a finger on her lips as she began to speak. "We have to be very quiet now in case daddy, I mean King daddy is working at his desk as he will be right in front of us. I will place you in front of the hole like usual while I look at the video, that way we both get to see King daddy's secrets."

Child Hailey the took the plug out of the wall and placed the crystal up against the eyehole. Immediately, Elaine noticed that her husband was sitting in the dust covered room she had saw earlier, only it was in a perfect state.

Dickon was sat in his chair and had just downed a glass of whiskey before he picked up the bottle and poured himself another glass, repeating the process a few times. A moment later, two men entered the room and bowed before taking a seat in front of him.

"Your grace, everything is in place, we need our payment and we will begin." The leader of the two men said. Dickon Sighed and reached into his inner pocket before throwing a cred chip on the table.

"Sixteen billion as we agreed. For such an amount, I expect you to make it painless for her." Dickon said, causing Elaine to gasp. The man did not respond to the king right away as he checked the details of the chip. Once he was happy with the testing, he reached into his bad and brought out a series of horns and two pairs of large teeth as well as some white foundation makeup.

"For a man paying us to kill his wife, you seem pretty upset by the whole thing huh? Not my place to question, but you still have about three minutes to back out of the ordeal, we are killers with honour after all."

Dickon grimaced with rage at the comment before the man rolled his eyes as he began to apply the foundation. "All right fine, Athena Athena will not feel anything except for the brief moment the bullet goes through her head. The explosives we have placed around the palace will go off thirty seconds after her death. There has to be some casualties to make it look like an attack, so we have targeted two other visiting nobles, but the rest of the casualties will be staff and a few guards. Is that to your liking?"

Before Dickon could reply, the leaders buddy looked at his boss in confusion and asked. "Wait, I thought our target was the queen Bellona? Who is this Athena chick?" It was then Dickon flew into a rage.

"YOU DON'T GET TO SAY HER NAME!" He roared like a man possessed. "Your target is the bitch that has assimilated her through that fucking curse! Not my wife! She is collateral damage and already long gone. You are killing that cretin that calls herself Athena before her power comes back and you will never speak my wife's name again, do we understand each other?"

The man who spoke, looked at his boss before looking back at the king. "Whoa dude, that scared the crap out of me. That rage could give King Sigismund a run for his money. My mistake your grace."

The two men continued their cosmetic routine after the white foundation by placing the prosthetic nub horns all over their bald heads and placing the large teeth into their mouths so that they looked like a Smilodon in human form.

Once they were done, they stood up and looked at the king who's hands were shaking as he drank even more. "Do you have any more information for us your grace? For now is the last time we will ever speak."

Dickon looked at the man in anger for what he is about to do before it softened as the guilt began eating at him. "Just avoid the room down the hall and to the right. My daughter is playing there and her room is blast and soundproof. I will break the news to her later, I just want her to be happy a little while longer."

The two men looked at each other before the leader replied to Dickon. "Worry not my King. Your daughter was never apart of our plans. We are contract killers, not monsters. She will remain safe, you have our word."

Dickon did not say anything, but grumbled under his breath as he watched the two men leave. He then looked up at the picture on the wall that was of him, his wife and his daughter as a baby. "Forgive me my love, I am just setting you free."

Child Hailey plugged the hole up at that point and the crystal was shaking in her hand a glimpse of her pale face was shown before she began sprinting towards the storage room. She did not even enter the room to store the crystal like she usually does, she instead threw the crystal in the room.

As the crystal landed, the last thing it recorded was Child Hailey running away as fast as she could before it turned off after she dissapeared from frame.

Elaine was stunned silent while Hailey was holding back tears. There was a reason, other than her safety, why she never came back into the labyrinth again. It was too painful to remember.

"I-I can't believe it... Dickon he. He sounded insane. Why was he calling your mother a different name? Why would he have her killed if he loved her that much? What curse was he talking about? Hailey, this evidence... Do you know what would happen to you if it got into the wrong hands?"

After coming out of her shock, Elaine turned around to catch Hailey wiping the tears from her eyes. "*Sniff* I am fine, I-" Hailey was caught off guard as Elaine sprang to her feet and hugged the poor girl and began to stroke her hair.

"Oh you poor child, having to hold that in all to yourself for so long. No wonder you don't trust anyone and have acted the way you have all these years. Oh my sweet girl, It will be ok." She said as she began to stroke Hailey's back in a comforting way.

Hailey wanted to resist at first, but she was emotionally fragile from the whole ordeal. She then grasped Elaine tightly and began crying onto her shoulder. "He killed my mommy! He did not pull the trigger himself, but he gave the execution sentence. I will Never forgive him for it!"

Hailey's anger began to flair, causing a misuse of her powers unintentionally. Elaine picked up on this and began stroking Hailey's back in a different way and Hailey's powers became dormant once more, not that Hailey was aware such a thing happened as she was finally letting out her grief after years of being alone.

After a short while, Hailey pulled away, her eyes all puffy from crying. Elaine wiped them away before she asked.

"Hailey, we have a lot to talk about, but first. What did your father mean when he said your mother was cursed?"