Aarav and Kiara had been walking with the pilgrims for days. These pilgrims would sing all the way. They would sing praises of some gods, or how a certain battle took place. They would talk about the political scenario, the fall and rise of some faraway kingdoms.

Kiara would tell Aarav what their companions were talking about. He had learnt to speak in bits and pieces but was nowhere enough.

“You should buy a translator. It must be very difficult for you to learn a different language”, a man in a turban with a beard said to Aarav.

“Like he’s some aristocrat”, another man in a turban and similar attire said while hitting the man who spoke first.

“Translator?”, Aarav asked confused.

“Something like this.”

He showed a small device like an iPod.

“You won’t find this anywhere in Taiba. You should take it. It’s only 500 An Copper Coins”

“Don’t believe him. It must be fake or broken. Where the hell a beggar like you get something worth millions”, interjected the bearded man.

Aarav knew not to believe them. Giving away 500 copper coins was out of the question. They didn’t really have that much.

“It’s not fake. It was broken but I fixed it. I’m telling the truth. An aristocrat threw it. See there’s even some marking on it.”

The device had a tulip engraved on it.

“Looks like some royal insignia. But what’s junk is junk. It’s not like you are some Engineer. Don’t scam good people here. They are already doing such a favour by travelling with us. Otherwise, we would already have been attacked by wild beasts more than once”

“What do you mean by that? You’ve been saying that we did you favour all the way”, asked Kiara.

“Of course, I should show my gratefulness. It’s already such great luck to have natives of Sanka travel with us. Those people don’t like to meddle with strangers. Oh, Right! You guys are not really from Sanka so you might not know about the legend”

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“Legend?”

“I don’t know if it is true but many thousands of years ago the first natives and the guardian of the forests had an agreement. The agreement was that the guardian would protect the natives inside the great forest and the natives would protect the forest in return. So far not a single animal has attacked us. So, Bakhi, don’t scam them.”

“I was not scamming”, said Bakhi pouting.

Aarav was inspecting the translator. If he was going to find a way for himself and others, he had to communicate himself. Putting Kiara in front every time was a bit bothersome for him.

“How does it work?”, Kiara asked seeing interest in Aarav’s face.

“It has 10 languages stored in it. It will work fine with them. If you need more. You would need to connect to Starlink”

“Starlink. What’s that?”

“You don’t know that? Well, it’s something like a ….ummm…device up in the space. It transfers data back and forth. Oh, it also helps with communication. You can access it once you reach Caito city. Sometimes you can find coverage in higher areas”, Bakhi tried hard to explain.

Kiara had a dumb expression. She thought, ”so it’s either internet or cellular network. Those things exist here”

“Ok. We will give you 10 coppers for it. And nothing more.”

“That’s too less.”

“It’s junk. And you are not someone who can fix this. I’m not buying some junk if not this price”

“Fine. You can have it”, Bakhi sighed and sold the translator.

Aarav was looking at Kiara disbelievingly. Surely, women’s bargaining power was terrifying.

A dark and gloomy room came into view…….

A man in 40s could be seen holding an amber locket, the same amber locket which Aarav had with him. He was sitting on an armchair facing a table. His arms were resting on the table while he held the locket. There was anger written all over his face.

“Your highness, it was Marquise Riverr who made it”, a short middle-aged man reported to the King. It was the same short man who was trying to stop the burly man from entering the study room, men who chased away the princess.

“Where is he now?”

“He is in Jeiti town of Taiba planet.”

“And what’s he doing there?”

“The rumoured gateway to purgatory. He’s been researching on that for a while.”

“I should have nipped at the bud. Now, he has bitten my own family”, said the king while clutching the locket tightly in his fists. A pedestal appeared on the top of the table, the king put the locket on the pedestal and the pedestal went inside with he locket.

“I’m going out for a while. Don’t let anyone inside this room.”

Some rustling sounds disturbed Aarav’s sleep as well as his dream. He was puzzled.

“Marquise, highness, what the hell was I dreaming about”

The rustling sound increased followed by some thud sounds. Aarav peeped out of his tent.

A tall and muscular man was dragging another man’s body. He was armoured and a huge machete was around his waist.

Bandits….