To the delight of Jason, room 40 was the key to the mystery lingering behind the fate of himself and Ivy’s past love life. He guided Ivy around the secluded cave and saw the red inscription writing on the walls of the caves.
Ivy felt a strong familiarity with the place as though she had come before and lived in the cave for a long time. It brought her a warm feeling as though she was home as she trailed Jason from behind who was reading the story on the cave wall.
It was in the aboriginal Inklong’s tribe language of the sword kingdom, Inkling. The script wrote the love story of the past of a pair of Phoenix and Dragon.
It read:
o) o) {}
%*% 0 *###
/////// @!!!@!!!
<<<^^^>>> lllllll
%*% 0 *### — o) o)
%*% {} *###
It’s translated as
“There was a belief that fraternal twins were lovers in their past life.
The couple who once lived in this cave as ordinary human beings on the surface among the Inklong tribe, were actually an incarnation of a dragon while the female was an incarnation of a phoenix.
They both were sent on an order by their Inklong ancestors to help out the seven swords village with their predicaments. Due to the couple’s mythical power, they had helped to heal those in sickness and solve the plague issues with their crops; restoring back the peace of the village.
The Sea Inklong Dragon was destined to save the Inklong origins who were living in the sword kingdom from calamity while the Land Inklong Phoenix was destined to guard against the calamity and bring it to an end. The dragon and phoenix were destined to be fraternal twins in their future lives.
Slowly, facing and resolving the challenges they faced while dealing with a matter of life or death among the villagers, the pair of dragon and phoenix had been brought together in the name of love.”
Jason slowly walked to another passage and found the continuation of the script with Ivy left behind as she slowly tried to interpret the story with her very weak understanding of Inkling.
It wrote:
***\\ %*% (8) *### //***
—/\/\/\/\/\/\/\---nn
%*%(o) *###//***
@!!!@!!!>>><<<
\\ %*% <{}> *### //
It’s translated as
“The dragon had never known its’ partner was also a mythical creature till one day the phoenix revealed its’ mythical form in front of the dragon’s human form and danced the Inklong ritual dance in the sky mesmerising him. The orange-red ember glow lit over the gloomy skies of the small cliff as the phoenix invited the dragon’s human form to dance along.
The phoenix was then surprised by the mythical gold dragon incarnation form revealed in front of her as he intertwined with the phoenix in its dance ritual. With this, both mythical incarnations sealed their marital vows in the dance.
As the cave was far away from the village, the villagers could only wonder where the glows were from that night as both mythical creatures continued to live together in the cave discreetly secluded and only appear in their human form when there were mishaps in the village.
Soon, over a few months, the phoenix conceived their first child. The dragon was overjoyed by the gift of their love as he protected the family of three from harm and fed them well by disguising himself in the village in its human form wearing clothing made from weeds and being low profile when getting necessities.
They said fortune was to be found but no one knew when the ripple to a storm would begin. All good things tend to be followed by bad things. Nothing last forever but one thing did; the love between the dragon and the phoenix.”
As Jason longed to read for more, he knew they had come to a dead end as Ivy was still trying hard to understand the language.
She could tell it was the love story of a couple with Phoenix’s reference on it as she asked Phoenix to explain. “Brother, could you tell me more about what was written here? Was it your love story? It’s your symbol here!”
Jason's tears fell as he began to understand that the incarnation of the dragon and phoenix was about himself and Ivy. If this journey from now on was to learn about themselves, he was eager to find out even more as he embraced Ivy into his warm arms.
Ivy was a little surprised to see tears on his face as she gently wiped them away and giggled. “It must have been really your love story. So, what happened? What was written?”
Jason smiled at the sight of her happy self.
“It’s about us silly.” He said in his mind as he pinched the bridge of her nose. Before he could suggest finding an exit, they had been transported into the lobby.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Oh, we are back so fast into the lobby. I haven’t finished reading and understanding the meaning yet…” Ivy pouted, wanting to sulk when the sudden piercing pain in her head beat her before she could throw her tantrum. She squatted, trying to endure the pain, and held onto her head for a moment.
“It’s so hard on you. I’m sorry.” Jason squatted with her before seeing her memory pixels flowing at him again into the pouch by his side. Ivy shook her head and forced a smile to comfort Jason as she gently placed her head onto his palm and find it soothing.
“Oh, this is so soothing... It feels better now…” Ivy said as Jason caressed her head with another hand.
“So, we were really lovers from the past, Ivy. I wonder what was the ending…” Jason pondered to himself as Ivy who felt much better, looked at him who looked like he was yearning for something.
“Shall we head to the next room? Maybe we will get to see the continuation?” Ivy suggested as Jason smiled and nodded before leading her to find the next room, 20.
When they were in front of room 20, Ivy turned the doorknob for them to enter instead. For a moment, Jason was at ease knowing what could be worse than watching their own deaths over and over again before this. He was glad to see Ivy’s old chirpy self but none of them knew the worse was yet to come.
The moment they entered, they could feel the fiery heat from the fire burning in front of them. The Inklong tribe villagers were chanting “SIOOKAR SIOOKAR!!” which meant “burn them!” over and over again as Ivy hasten her steps and went to the front of the crowd for a better view.
She saw the phoenix’s incarnation of her human form was all tied up with a huge belly, kneeling in front of the fire camp the villagers built. The villagers were violently stoning her and next to her was the calm-looking dragon’s incarnation in his human form who looked identical to Jason. He was kneeling and begging the villagers to let them go. He looked fearfully at his wife who was in tremendous pain as the villager continued to stone them both.
“KUITU! Mu Lang Kuitu! Nng Sai Kuitu!” One of the villagers yelled in their tribe’s inkling language which Ivy tried hard to understand but she could only understand the word “kuitu” which meant demons. The villager was saying “You’re both demons! How could we have trusted demons!”
Ivy turned around to look at Jason and questioned him to explain but instead, he was trying hard to not fall apart and break down in front of Ivy. The villagers continued to stone the kneeling couple.
“BODAK!! Bodak puakit peh, jinyak jeh luit! Wata lang bodak hainia lang! Lumu lang hainia wata noa eh chopa mik!” The dragon incarnation who was kneeling down was yelling back at the villagers. He meant “No! All we did was heal those who were sick and bring peace and wealth to your village! How could you treat us this way?!”
“Gongjam taupi lait eh! Gongjam taupi! Kima siti! Hoipi ahma mehlam silah gongjam taupi! Gongjam taupi silah lumu noa eh!” Another villager yelled as the phoenix knew no matter what they said it was useless. The villager meant “It’s all witchcraft! You must perish! The glow every night is the proof that you’re both demons!”
With that, the villagers were united in preparing to burn them alive. The phoenix knew there future prediction by the Inklong ancestors was unfolding.
“My dearest husband… It seems fate had brought us to this ending. If the next life allows, I promise you I will always find you and stay by your side for eternity.” The phoenix cried as she declared her love for one last time before the villagers who were stoning them carried the dragon away.
“No!! No!! Stop!!!” The dragon was screaming as he watched his wife who was bloody from the bleeding of being stoned, crying, and giving up on living as she lay on the ground lifelessly.
He knew he couldn't bear for her to watch him burnt alive. He decided to betray the order given by the ancestors and chose to protect the love of his life as he transformed into his mythical gold dragon form and wanted to set the village on the fire. The villagers were very terrified as the enraged mythical dragon was turning black.
The present Ivy stood watching the events unfolding in front of her as she felt enraged with a piercing agony in her heart as though she was there before and she could understand what the dying phoenix in front of her was going through. She cried out in pain as both her heart and head were in pain.
Jason wrapped her into his arm to comfort her. This time he saw not just pixels of her memories from her head but her feelings from her heart were fading away into his pouch. Ivy was on the verge of breaking down as the excruciating pain was driving her insane and the agony was drowning her further into the abyss of her hungry evil side.
He was terrified that Ivy was also losing her humanity which was unexpected. He quickly led her to run along to find an exit before he tripped and fell to the ground while Ivy managed to summon seven swords as she draw one next to her from the ground. She looked as though she was ready to charge on any of the villagers with her wild rogue eyes but right when she was about to strike her attack, the environment absorbed them back into the lobby.
For a moment, Jason wondered how Ivy could summon those seven swords and if she was related to the sword village. However, watching her raging none stop as she frantically run around the aisle of the tower and destroyed whatever was in her way, it pained Jason to watch her lose her sanity as he walked closer to her and attempt to calm her.
No doubt he was injured by her scratches but the moment his hand touches her head, she began to slowly calm down and lose consciousness instead. Jason sat her laying on his lap as he cried at the entire lesson he learned about their past holding on to her.
Back in reality, Ivy’s heartbeat went irregular again that night with a seizure attack. Peter panicked as the doctors struggled with Ivy’s seizures for a brief moment. Jin and Cassandra rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night to accompany Peter while James hurried over thereafter.
The doctors were running some tests on Ivy and when her results were out, apparently, the seizures were the effect of her blood clot on her head injury. The family was once again back to square one with very minimal progress in her situation as they desperately hope for good news but to no avail.
Jin and Cassandra sat outside of Ivy’s room leaving the elders some space to themselves by Ivy’s side. Jin’s phone rang many times as Ryan and Ryu were notified much later via text message by Casandra but Jin just didn’t know how to answer the brothers anymore even if he picked up the call.
Every time the answer was the same; to tell them not to worry and that Ivy was still not awake. Jin was rather lost himself. He was on the verge of giving up hope of Ivy ever waking up again. In the family, he was the most prudent and smartest and he trusted his guts always. This time, his guts were never at peace since the day Ivy went into a coma.
Cassandra slipped her hand into Jin’s and gripped them to comfort him. “Don’t worry. Ivy has always been a fighter, darling. You need to have a little more faith in your sister.” Cassandra said as she knew Jin must have thought of the worst-case scenario.
Jin sighed. “You know I really want to believe it’s all going to be fine. I want to believe whatever we tell others as comfort or whatever others comfort us. But…” Jin wiped his face with his free hand.
“It’s beginning to be a lie…” Jin wiped away his tears as Cassandra was a little surprised. She had rarely or rather almost never seen the man she loved cry before. In fact, it was a rare sight. Not even when Peter scolded him for work-related matters and gave him tough punishments. She knew Jin had reached his limits as she enveloped him in her arms.
“Ai Yu, don’t forget Ai Yee wants to see you succeed and you shouldn’t lead yourself to believe in what you believe before it happens. Cause this will be very unfair for Ai Yee who is still fighting.” Cassandra caressed his sharp-looking face.
Jin knew whenever Cassandra used their Chinese names, she wanted to tell him something that is of significance and important but also to keep him comfortable. Sometimes, it’s amazing how using different languages could convey a better message in a different tone.
He tried not to let his mind wander as he paid attention to her.
“Remember the times when you led me out of my nightmares from the trauma I had from Jeremy’s underlings? Now, this is the time you could fight back and avenge me by protecting what’s worth of Ai Yee and your family.”
Jin looked deep into Cassandra’s eyes and understood what she meant.
“But, before any of that, you need to make sure you’re always in a good health state whether mentally or physically. So, don’t ever neglect yourself. Studies are essential to get you further. So, guide yourself through it. Because after all this and whatever the results are, I will still be by your side cheering for you.” Jin smiled sadly as he stole a kiss from Cassandra.
“Thank you for not giving up on me…” Jin said in a choking voice.
“No, it’s thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it to today. So darling, I still need you.” Cassandra said gently in tears as Jin hugged her and nodded.
“I love you, Cassie.” Cassandra pulled away from his hug to kiss him as a declaration of her undying love for Jin, her savior.