"Mia ! Mia are you alright? How did you... " Lin exclaimed picking her up but he was shuttering, having problem articulating his speech "How are you even here? Is it really even possible. ""Lin.Its really you " Mia whispered with her voice so feeble it was barely audible."Aaahhmmm! If we are all alright here, can somebody explain what is going on here" Xie demanded."Uummm, this is Lin's wife" Boshu interrupted as he looked at Lin with a meaningful glare. Lin nodded. Boshu continued "But how she ended up here we have no clue, may be she can enlighten us about it. But let her catch her breath first. And we might as well give the couple a little bit space. ""Yeah! Right. Right. Brother, Birdie, let's go take s look over there" Roe pulled the two of them away ."Birdie? Who's Birdie" Boshu was heard protesting as they went.Lin kissed Mia on the forehead and pulled her close. "Tell me Mia what happened. How are you even out of the barrier. "Mia shifted a little bit into a sitting pos
Meanwhile a convoy from the human world was speedily approaching towards the Southern region. It was a a place of quite. Footfall in this region was bare minimum. The only noise that came from here were the roar of the huge ocean waves clashing against the rocky mountain edges. It was a place where leave alone humans, immortals feared to tread.The region belonged to the mer- people. They were a tribe created between human and Pisces. Legends have it that once when the the Twelfth Zodiac had taken a human form, it had fallen in love with a human girl. Since the mer-people were descendents of their children, they were seen as an outcast by the rest of the worlds.Even though they were blessed with tremendous power, fish like abilities underwater, water bending skills , astrological knowledge, they were treated like criminals and banished in the forlorn southern region. This humiliation and anger drove them into frenzy. They became desperate to prove their worth. In their quest for it, th
It was sometimes since Mia was gone underwater. Lin and the rest of the waited eagerly for her to resurface. Roe and Xie kept exchanging strange looks while they waited. Lin had his fists clenched. Boshu circled the horizon once and then around Lin once. After what seemed like quite a long time, Mia swam back tot he shore. Lin rushed to help her out of the water. She sat leaning against Lin, facing the others."I tried taking to the creature. It is down there. But it refuses to take us all to the tree of knowledge. It said it can only take me there. However is does agree to take the rest of you back to the stream at the ridge. ""What ridge? " Roe asked. Mia looked at Lin."The one in our world. Precisely it agreed to take us back home. But only Mia can go get the answers from the tree of knowledge. This is messed up. Mia can't it take me instead of you. " Lin was very frustrated."I tried. It said no. " Mia said. " Well you can tell me what to ask. ""It's not that simple Mia. The tr
Mia went under water and swam tot he spot where she had last seen the creature. She was half expecting it to still be there waiting for her after she broke it's trust and brought Lin along. But luckily it was there. It was going round and round in a circle as if agitated. It turned around as soon as Mia came near. It swam fast towards her. Mia halted at its sudden advance. She tried to explain the situation to it. But it wasn't interested. It came towards her, grabbed her hands and pulled her along. By this time Mia was able to communicate with it fluently through telepathy though it was only under water. The creature was a little preoccupied with something. She didn't understand what. Nevertheless they went on across different waters. High and low, dark and light, strong and weak, the waters all had stories and lives in them of their own. Mia wanted to stay back a little and marvel them a bit more, explore them a bit more. But they didn't have time for that. It was quite sometime tha
Lin was having an uneasy feeling as he sat waiting for Mia to return. He couldn't sit very long though. He stood up and started patrolling the perimeter. Boshu joined him."I don't have a good feeling about this? " Lin confided in Boshu."About what? " Boshu asked."Mia . I am having a strange feeling about it. " He said."Well, if you say so, everything around us right now is strange. What do you think is normal going around here. " Boshu had a practical answer.Mia on the other hand was trying to make sense of the things she had just seen. She had the opportunity to have a glance at the very core secret of the mer-witches' survival, a mystery well preserved from the outside world. After the extinction of the male population, the mer-witches had no other option than to resort to dark forces for their survival. The dark forces allowed their queen to have one male child at a time. That child would then be cloaked in dark aura so it remains hidden from the rest of the world till it reac
Mia went a few more steps closer to it. She straightened up her posture, forgetting all the strategies she had in mind before by simple looking at its sheer splendour. She moved up close enough for her to touch the glass like partition in the mirror like object that was acting like a barrier between her and the tree. She moved in close and accidentally tripped. She held out her hand hoping to hold the mirror like object to get a grip, but instead she was sucked in. She was transported inside the mirror and was standing face to face with the tree now. It was a tree after all. Huge, enormous with trunks that glittered. It's leaves looked like the kind of a succulent. They were even more colourful than the rainbow."You decided to come indirectly. That is quite brave for a tiny little soul like you" The tree exclaimed as she was about to touch it's trunk. She was startled again though it wasn't for the first time she was hearing it speak. The method of communication was same between them
Mia emerged from the water, completely drenched from head to toe."Mia, Mia! Mia are you alright? " Lin leapt in the waters, totally forgetting about the under current situation.He swam like a fanatic and brought her back to the shore in his arms. He was literally checking all over her body for injury marks. But there weren't any which left him even more worried.The others stood infront but no one dared ask anything, seeing Lin in such a frenzy. They were all too anxious to know what had happened but wisely chose to give the couple some privacy before asking for answers."Mia, I can't find any injury marks. Where are you hurt? Why can't I find it? " He asked."It's because, there aren't any. " Mia said with a smile.Her mind wondered off to the fact that she had to drink from the stream of oblivion, connecting her fate with that of Jin forever. She would have to let go of the things most beloved to her in this life, her little fox and Lin. She was fighting hard to hold back the tears
"Mia you know I am better at lies and deceptions than you. " Lin said , holding her tight with his glance. "So dont even try to. You will only be wasting your energy trying to push me away or hide anything from me. I know something terrible has happened back there. I know how difficult it might have been. And I also know you might have been forced to make certain decisions that might be worse than the disaster we are trying to evade. Mia look at me. "Lin pulled her face close to his " You don't need to fight alone. You have me. I will be your soldier, I will be your shield. Don't try to fight alone, Mia please. Everything has a way out. No matter what decision you made, I will be there . Just tell me Mia. What happened back there. Tell me. "His voice was getting desperate. Mia could sense that he was getting a hint of what sort of a tragedy awaited them, but she could not confide in him." Really? Since we are doing a little round of sharing secrets, why don't you tell me what you, a