"Me? I'm the king of the Bāndhan Kingdom!", he replied proudly.
"Haha haha!", Valli Amma laughed out so loud that Anya had to step away from her to save her ears from bursting.
"Haha, huh. What did you just say? The king of Bāndhas? You?", Valli Amma asked.
Anya looked confused as much as I was.
"Yes. I am Veer Bāndha, the ruling king of the Bāndhan Kingdom now", he insisted.
I never saw his eyes. It was always covered by the messy hair he had. He whipped them back and allowed us to look into his eyes.
It was all white with no iris. I stumbled back.
"You are blind?", Anya asked.
"Yes I am. But I can see things normal people like you can't"
Anya and I looked at each other grinning when he called us 'normal people'. Valli Amma's laughing was still uncontrollable.
"Things like what?", I asked.
"The souls of people", he replied.
After a small pause, he continued. "You two have pure souls without much stain on them. They're just not fulfilled, maybe that'll happen after a few more reincarnations", he said that nodding at me and Valli Amma, not at Anya. She looked down.
"Your soul is a bit…", he turned to Anya.
"I know. I did some terrible things that stained not only my hands but the soul itself. I acted against its will and obeyed a certain someone to earn this. It was all my fault", she said.
"Hmm", he nodded then placed his hand on his chin deep in thought. We all stood silent except for Valli Amma, who could just manage to lower her laughing sound.
"My wife is a witch. I just found out a month ago. She had learned it from her tribal people. She was not a royal heir as I thought her to be. I just saw that her soul was pure. A pure soul doesn't always mean they have good intentions. A soul can't reflect the thoughts of people, only the actions they did in their lives, even past lives. Maybe if I look at her soul now, it should be stained like a sewage", his face was filled with anger.
Witch? The queen of Bāndha? If what he said was true then that was why in my judgment, the king was absent and the queen made the decision.
"There is a look alike who's playing the king now. My face was pasted over his face by my wife as if it was a mask. Her skills as a witch was really something else. That look alike rarely comes out of his chamber, pretending that he has a chronic disease", he grunted.
The place became a little more silent once Valli Amma completely stopped laughing and listened to him.
He pointed at the scars on his face and said, "She did this to make me unrecognizable and throwed me inside the prison. Even the guard never knew who I was. Not only she locked me up, she also put on a curse on me", his voice became drier.
A curse?
"But I don't know what that curse does myself. I just don't know what I was doing and saying sometimes. After over a week, only now I'm on my own"
I immediately understood what happened to him. When we first met, he threatened me and fell silent for some reason — a completely different person he was. And then he rode the Peru Venpavalā like a Shoalian warrior even though it was worshipped in his kingdom.
"Multiple personality disorder!", I exclaimed stating a modern term for that timeline. Valli Amma and Veer Bāndha looked puzzled.
"A what?", he asked.
"It's some kind of disorder. A single person has different personalities and has a heavy amnesia", Anya explained.
He looked confused, "I don't know what that curse does excatly, but you could be right"
Valli Amma finally spoke, "Now I understand…"
"… The queen just throwed me in the prison instead of killing me for what I said in front of the palace court that day. I had said that the king was acting like a queen, never leaving his room. She should've killed me for that. She just didn't have any respect or anything for her husband to ignore my crime."
"I don't see how throwing you into the prison is ignoring your crime", I shot back.
"I know another secret…", Veer Bāndha declared.
"There are two people who doesn't belong here is in my country"
Anya and I again looked at eachother.
"We should get rid of them before they destroy my country. But first I should get rid of my wife Elil Bāndha. How can I do that?", he feel silent.
If everything he had said was true, then giving him answers and wasting time wasn't an option because he would forget it when the other personality kicks in.
I looked around and asked Anya, "How did you get us in here past the village gates. Weren't there any guards there?"
We two moved away from the arguing Veer and Valli Amma. "No. I unarmed those two guards and locked them in their own chambers. There is no other guards around here", Anya stated.
"You sure are incredible", I said.
The sun was gradually rising and I turned to the side to face her, "Anya, how do we defeat a god?"
I was sure she doesn't know it either. I asked it anyway. That question had been itching my brain for sometime.
She just looked at me with her beady eyes without saying anything.
"What? What are you looking at?", I asked.
"Dalāy isn't as dependable as I thought he would be. He just revealed some things and gave no useful ideas to defeat master. Master must be stronger than the Yali — the being that rules Kaalam. And if I'm correct Dalāy isn't even as strong as Yali. If even he couldn't defeat master, how can he help 'us' to defeat master?", she said dryly.
I looked to the sky and wished this all would be over soon and that Anya wouldn't have to worry a thing and rejoin with her mother.
"Why should we take revenge on master?", I asked after a long pause.
She just stared at me.
"Yeah he made you lose your access to your real timeline. But if defeating him is, as you say, impossible, why shouldn't we try to find a way to get back to your timeline?", I suggested.
"It's not possible", she said simply.
"How would you know? We should atleast try right? Maybe Dalāy is a selfish who lies to accomplish his goals. Maybe what he said about abandoning timelines was a lie too…"
"No Velan. It's all the truth. And don't make me say it again. I believe Dalāy", she said stubbornly.
Alright, if she believes him that much then so be it, I thought. There was silence. I took out the scroll of master to take a look at it. I noticed a spell.
Beast Summoning.
The spell was simple to memorize and the rules were to take any inanimate object and focus my life energy into it saying the spell. The last word of the spell was the name of the beast we intend to summon. We could summon a total of 13 different beasts it said. I memorized a few of the interesting beast names and closed the scroll.
Anya wasn't paying any attention to me. She looked zoned out too much. I said to her. "Anya, I'm sorry".
"Velan, look over there", she pointed to the forest. I turned to face the forest on the east where we came from yesterday.
A large figure was floating toward us which was followed by a large number of people — guards. The floating figure was the peru venpavalā rode by Kandan and Neelan.
They were coming to this village. Anya raised her hand and out of air formed an elegant long sword. I thought, maybe it's time to check out the new technique.
I crouched and took a rock from the ground as Anya ran to the other two to warn them. I recited the spell and finished it with the word, "Pisāsu".
The name of the beast might feel cute to some. But it's a scary beast that is both small and agile. As I focused my life energy on the stone, I became a little tired but the spell worked at last.
I dropped the stone and jumped back to where Anya and others were standing. The stone transformed into a black slimy figure and finally got the shape of a human with two legs and two arms, veins protruding everywhere on its black skin, the eyes shone bright red.
The devilish figure turned to face me and I ordered, "Kill those guards when they cross the gates!". I noticed Valli Amma shrieking at the sight of the creature.
Anya stood on guard with her sword ready to fight the guards. The peru venpavalā followed by the guards came closer and closer.
"Brother it was all your fault! I told you not to shout!", Kandan's voice became audible.
"Here goes Kandan again", I said.
"Kandan! Aren't they pirates?", Veer Bāndha asked, his voice distasteful.
"Yeah but we might need them", I said thinking of something — an idea came to my mind, at last.
"What are you thinking?", Anya asked as I faced the gates with a proud look.