The throne room was impressive to say the least. And Joshua had seen a lot of throne rooms in his career. Some littered with skeletons, others littered with disgusting bugs. This one was littered with ing thorns. Good god. Was this the Sleeping Beauty curse? If so who was under it? The princess? The crown prince?

Joshua growled in frustration as he hacked away at the vines with a borrowed sword from the armory. This. Was. So. Damn. Annoying. Stepping on the floor, Joshua started to stumble on a what was likely a crack. 

He rolled his body, not wanting to get scratched by the thorns and possibly getting an eye poked out. Luckily, he stumbled into one of the chairs that the royal family sat on. “,” he groaned. He thunked his head against the backing. “This is one of the most frustrating cases ever.”

Hitting his head once again, he let out a cry of pain. “The hell?” Turning his head, he saw an empty indentation. “Oh,” he said quietly.

His fingers brushed over the empty indentation. “Where will you lead me if I put what’s lost back here?”

“To the source,” a voice whispered in his ears.

He shivered. He knew deep down that it wasn’t an evil presence. At least he thought it wasn’t. Sometimes they were tricky enough to fool even him. “The source huh?” it all. Joshua would take the damn risk. Now where was the missing stone rose?

Joshua smiled triumphantly. Slotting it in, he prayed the ceiling wouldn’t fall on him like others had. He needed this to lead him to the source. He was running out of time and the city was depending on him.

He readied himself as he heard gears start to move. Sword and gun out, he waited in his fighting stance.

But nothing menacing happened. Bricks started to move against the wall that Joshua couldn’t hack his way through, the vines breaking away as they moved to reveal a staircase.

Joshua slowly lowered his gun. Thank the goddess of this land. He was finally getting somewhere.

Holstering the gun, he started towards the stairs. Now, to find the source and stop it.