"Brother, I came to save you!"
Footsteps.
The guards approached our cell.
Anya moved swiftly like the wind and summoned a golden staff out of thin air, fixing it across the door to lock it from the inside. Some guards tried to bash it open while others stared anxiously from the broken roof above.
"Good job," I told Anya. She nodded, but her expression shifted when the half-conscious tall guy started yelling, "It was all that mermaid's fault! Save the others, but leave her in the dungeons!"
Anya shook her head. The monk girl rushed to her side.
"Valli Amma, what are you staring at?" Anya asked.
"Valli… Amma?" I repeated. Amma meant mother. She didn't look older than us.
"That's how it is," Anya replied casually. "She's wiser and purer than I am, so it's fine for me to call her Amma."
I turned to the monk. "Valli Amma, do you know who they are?"
But she wasn't listening. Her eyes were fixed on the floating peru venpavalā that burst through the roof — armed, saddled, magnificent. She muttered, "Dear god, save those poor chaps and knock some sense into them. Such an unholy thing… unholy!"
I understood immediately.
The Bāndhas dignified venpavalās, especially peru venpavalās.
Other kingdoms, like the Shoalians, used them in war.
The newcomer must've been from the Shoalian side.
Anya finally answered my question, "The tall one is a pirate. That's all I know. We couldn't get along — not with him mistaking me for a mermaid."
The tall guy shouted again, "Catch or kill that mermaid before she lures us into the ocean and eats us for dinner!"
Meanwhile, the newcomer crouched beside him. "Stop it, brother! Did someone hit your head?"
The peru venpavalā glowed with divine brilliance. I approached the newcomer.
"Stop right there! Who are you!?" he barked.
"The real question is — who are you?" I countered.
"Me? I'm the co-captain of the world's greatest pirate crew! The name's Kandan. Surely you've heard of me!"
The name clicked inside my mind — a famous Shoalian pirate.
Meaning the tall guy was his captain, Neelan.
But I lied. "Never heard of you. Anyway, nice to meet you, Mr. Pirate."
His face went pale.
"Those two are well-known pirates from the Shoalian Empire," Valli Amma declared, answering a question asked long ago.
"Finally! Someone in this room who isn't a fool!" Kandan cheered.
The banging on the cell door intensified.
I realized my quiet companion was no longer hiding. He stood near the peru venpavalā, whispering into its ear. The fish began to glow brighter and brighter.
Then he shouted, "Everyone! Get on its back! Now's the chance!"
We didn't hesitate — Anya grabbed my hand and Valli Amma's, dragging us onto the glowing creature.
"Don't leave your owner behind, you dumb fish!" Kandan yelled while climbing on. Valli Amma winced at him cursing the divine creature, clutching her beaded necklace tightly.
The pirate duo scrambled aboard. My companion slapped the venpavalā lightly on its neck. Its radiance surged. The door's hinges snapped.
Light exploded.
The guards burst in, only to be blinded instantly.
My companion guided the fish through the hallways — swift, fluid, unstoppable. I kept my eyes shut, unable to handle the luminous intensity.
Neelan screamed nonsense the entire time.
Kandan kept yelling at him to stop trying to throw himself off the fish. That's all I could hear.
We shot upward through a vent, burst through a wall, and finally emerged into a forest near the city border of Nagarā.
Before I knew what was going on, we were well outside the prison and were moving through a dense forest located near the city border.
The venpavalā halted suddenly, flinging everyone off — except Anya and Valli Amma, who somehow held on.
My companion lay unconscious on the ground. He didn't look injured. Just… drained.
"I can investigate him later," I thought.
The pirate duo were already screaming again.
"Brother, stop it! We're not at the ocean bed!" Kandan yelled.
"We are! I can't breathe like on land! You must be my imagination — you're killed by the mermaid!" Neelan retorted.
"Kandan," I called him, "get your captain out of here before the guards catch up. And hit him in the head if you want him to stop screaming."
"Nobody but my brother orders me around! So cut the crap and get lost!" he snapped.
Fine. Their problem.
"We're leaving," I told Anya and Valli Amma.
I carried my unconscious companion over my shoulder, and we walked deeper into the forest as the voices of the pirates grew distant.
"Anya," I called. She turned.
"I believe in you. In Dalāy too. But I need more answers."
"I already told you everything I know… so what do you mean?" she asked.
"I want to meet Dalāy," I said.
She opened her mouth, but Valli Amma cut in sharply, "Shameful! Fancying themselves with divine beings! Those shameful pirates!"
I ignored her while Anya missed something she wanted to say.
We kept walking.
The forest was silent — unnaturally so.
We walked the faint path in silence.
I carried my thoughts the same way I carried the man on my back: heavily.
If the Time Emperor Yali was truly omniscient, how could we defy him?
What would happen once we left the city, where he could reach us again?
"You do realize that leaving the city means the master can enter our dreams again, right?" Anya said softly.
I nodded. "But we have no choice."
She smiled faintly. "Velan… I've always felt alone since entering Kaalam. But thanks for believing me… I feel at home."
"Then what about me?" Valli Amma argued. "I believed you too! Are you saying I don't understand you or something?"
Anya panicked, "No, Valli Amma! He just feels… different."
"Different?" Valli Amma smirked. "We have a word for that— it's—"
"NOTHING!" Anya snapped, her face turning red.
We quieted.
The trees thinned.
The forest ended.
Sunlight bathed the ground.
Ahead lay a small town guarded by two men.
I tightened my grip on my companion. My arms ached.
Then—
[KILL HER]
A voice exploded inside my skull.
[KILL HER, VELAN. SHE'S LYING. DO NOT BELIEVE HER.]
Master's voice.
My knees buckled. I dropped my companion and clutched my ears.
Anya rushed beside me. "Velan!? Can you hear me!?"
I grit my teeth. "It's master. He's screaming."
[KILL]
"How come I'm not hearing anything…?" Anya muttered, then pulled out her beaded necklace — the same as Valli Amma's.
I turned toward Valli Amma as she stepped closer, lifting her own necklace—
And then the world went black.
Silence.