Purah hands me Vodkis as we touch down in an empty plain. The grass under my shoes is cut shorter and greener than the grass behind me. A cool breeze crawls up my legs from the different grass. I adjust my arms under Vodkis to hold her closer to my body as I squat to examine where the air is coming from.

“Stop,” Purah says. She looks off in the distance to the right for a long moment. I see nothing but emptiness, yet she remains fixated on something. Vodkis awakes into consciousness, groaning in pain. She opens her eyes to the skies. They fall down to me, then she smiles through the pain.

“You’re okay,” Vodkis says, barely vocalizing her words.

“Hey, my girlfriend needs a healer. Why are we stopping?” I say, walking up to Purah.

“I’m trying to sense any Melonians in the area before walking in.”

“Walking in?” I look around, finding a place that I can enter. “I see nothing but grass here.” She faces me and then puts her arm out to her right with her hand up.

“I have it hidden.” A transparent door that resembles a bubble reveals itself. She opens it and steps inside, holding the door for me. “Hurry now.” I see people walking behind her. They disappear behind the door once they pass the frame.

“What is this? Where did they go?” I’m shocked by the illusion that I sidestep left and right to see different angles inside. Everyone keeps vanishing as they move beyond the length of the door.

“Zazarel, get in here,” she snaps. I cautiously walk past the door sideways with Vodkis’s legs going in first. I step into a massive hidden encampment. Right at the entrance are two gigantic blue floating crystal stones. They turn in different directions as it pulsates a visible energetic vapor. Ahead of me, a dirt pathway splits the grass with several intersections coming out of it. People roam in and out of them. I realize every single one of them is a Spargarian.

“Whoa! What is this place?” Vodkis says.

“This is my encampment,” Purah says. I don’t believe her. This place is way too big and secured to be only made within the weeks of the rebellions.

“I don’t buy it,” I say, looking at one of the floating rocks. “There is no way you could’ve made this during the rebellion. The Melonians would’ve stopped you from creating this.”

“Good thing Tagenta left me gifts when I woke up. Man, that was a long slumber.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” She points at the two rocks over my head with her index and pinky fingers.

“I woke up with instructions to activate this in a place of my choosing.”

“From... Tagenta?” She nods her head, yes, as she smiles. “I’m so confused.”

“Me too,” Vodkis adds on. “Who are you, really? You look like us, but—” She stops talking to grunt from the pain. “But, you don’t.”

“Is it my eyes?” Purah says, pointing at her right eye as she chuckles. “Backwards, don’t ya think?”

“Yeah...”

“I’ll tell you once you’re both healed. Follow me.” Vodkis and I look at each other. I scrunch my face and hum, feeling uncertain if I should obey Purah. Vodkis does the same expression I’m doing, minus the humming. “Guys. Let’s go. All your questions will be answered soon. Come on now.”

“Just follow her, Zazy. The pain is throbbing now,” Vodkis says while bracing the discomfort.

“Alright,” I acknowledge, following Purah. She enters a yellow pavilion guarded by two armed guards. They greet her with bows and smiles, then give us the same gesture. Once inside, I’m immediately hit with an aroma of humid air. My skin is getting damp, and I’ve only been in here for three seconds. Straight ahead, four pools are carved into the grounds where women agitate the water by swirling their hands in it or dropping flower petals in it. Whatever touches the water, it lights up blue. “What is this place?” I say.

“Healing. Submerge yourself in these waters, and your ailments will wash away, ” Purah says.

“Just throw me in,” Vodkis says. Right when I’m about to toss her into the water, Purah jumps in front of me.

“Hold on a second. You must be naked. The water will dissolve your clothes.”

“Great,” I say in an unpleasing manner.

“Zazy, can you help me out of my clothes?”

“Uh, su- sure.”

Everyone adverts their eyes as I help Vodkis out of her dirty clothing. Some areas around her ribs, stomach, and back are red. This is my first time seeing marks like this on her. I’m usually the one who suffers pain like this. It doesn’t feel real to see her delicate hazel skin dimly shine red. She’s supposed the be my pristine, beautiful, radiant moonlight that’s in contrast to me. Now they have damaged the woman I cherish, and I’ll never forgive them for it.

“So, do I just dip in and wait till I feel better?” Vodkis says.

“Well, yes and no,” Purah says, kneeling next to a pool. “Come over here. Zazarel, take your clothes off too, and get in the pool behind me.” I feel timid being naked around a room full of women, but I take off my clothes for the sake of healing. No one but Vodkis watches me gently step into the pool. Her smile helps alleviate my shyness. “Are you in?” I place most of my body and put my back against the wall to hide my scars.

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“I am,” I say, crossing my arms.

“Now, go under the water and breathe it in.”

“What?”

“You got to be joking,” Vodkis says, standing out of the water. “You want us to drown?” Purah puts her hands together to cup the water in Vodkis’s pool.

“It isn’t harmful,” Purah says. She inhales the water until there is nothing left, then exhales blue fog out her nose. “This water is not just regular old water. Submerge, then breathe as you would normally do.”

“How long do we stay under?” I say.

“It’s up to you.” Vodkis takes a deep breath twice then removes her head wrap.

“Are you okay, Vodkis?”

“I’ll go first. Can you watch over me?” Vodkis says, after taking a fast glance at Purah.

“I’ll watch over you.” Since the pools are separated by a thin barrier, I can reach halfway over to her side. She takes hold of my hand as she slowly goes under the water. Her grip tightens between my fingers as she breathes in the water. The more I see the bubbles surface, the more comfortable I get from seeing it working. I stay by Vodkis’s side, even at the moment she comes out. “Did it work? How do you feel?”

“Rejuvenated! Better than I ever felt!”

“Wonderful! Zazarel, you’re up,” Purah says.

“Okay,” I say, letting go of Vodkis’s hand. She catches my hand the moment I let go.

“I got you too. I’ll be watching over you,” Vodkis says to me.

“I love you,” I say, only my lips. I go under the water with my eyes closed at first. Everything looks clear, except the water above my head. I take a small amount of water into my nose to see what it will do.

Strange... I don’t feel anything going in.

I pull in more water in my nose, but I still get the same feeling. It feels like I’m breathing air underwater.

How is this possible?

The water cures all my aches from days ago, and the pain from the taser, plus it fills the core of my body with an energy I never felt before. After fully healing myself, I stand halfway out of the water, and then examine my hands, sensing the boost of power it gave me.

“Purah, you didn’t say it’ll make me feel stronger,” I say, clenching my fists. “Did you sense it too, Vodkis?”

“Now that you mention it,” Vodkis mumbles, opening and closing her hands. “I do feel strong.”

“Wonderful,” Purah says with a loud clap. “Give them some new clothes, please,” she directs the two women working on the other pools to step outside by speaking fluently in our native tongue.

“You know our language, Rakasaha?”

“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, most of the people Zazarel and I know weren’t able to learn it.” Purah crosses her legs and arms when she sits down to listen to her. “We were lucky enough that our elders gave us lessons in how to speak it.”

“If they hadn’t murdered them. I would,” I pause in mid-speech to compose my anger. Vodkis eases my emotions by holding my hands and telling me it’s okay. “Yeah... I sometimes have to ask Vodkis about certain words and phrases.” She increases her attempts to calm me down as she carefully watches my face. I want to cry, but I shut my eyes tight and then focus on her touch to prevent any tears from forming.

“It’s okay.” Those two words are her commands to let my tears drip without saying it directly. “It’s okay, Zazy.” When I open my eyes and see her purple eyes staring at me, my tears build.

“Can you not?” I laugh and cry.

“Sorry, yet not sorry.”

“Damn invaders. Once we take back our world, I’ll personally see to our people learning our sacred language again.” Purah’s words sound hopeful, yet her mysterious self is keeping me cautious. I still don’t know exactly who or what she is.

“So, are you going to tell us who you are?” I say. She turns around to look at the pool women enter with our clothing, set them near the entrance, and continue messing with the pool. “Purah?”

“I will. You too waited long enough.” I float out of the pool and over to my clothes. The water on my body dries off when I touch the ground. “Well, my name is Purah.”

“Obviously.”

“Zazy,” Vodkis whispers loudly, backhanding my arm. “Be nice.”

“Sorry. Continue.”

“I was created since the beginning of time,” Purah claims. I side-eye her and squint.

“Are you serious?” Vodkis says.

“I am. I was Tagenta’s first creation. He’s my husband.” I instantly scoff at this ridiculous story. “Zazarel, it’s the truth. I swear.” I look at Vodkis for validation on whether to take Purah at face value. All Vodkis gives me is a shrug. “Guys, I’m being honest.”

“Alright, alright. Continue,” I say.

“I was created to be Tagenta’s assistant when he was repopulating our universe.”

“Repopulating? What happened back then?”

“A massive cataclysmic event unfolded, nearly wiping this entire universe. It took nearly all of his power to stop it from nearly erasing all lifeforms. Unfortunately, our planet was taken away.” Purah pauses when tears seep out of her eyes.

“What caused that?”

“A man named Genale.” Her verve spikes for a split second. A burst of energy blows out of her like a strong gust of wind, making me stagger back. “His miscalculated so-called accident eradicated galaxies!”

“Whoa!” Vodkis says.

“Crap! Sorry, guys. I’ve been asleep for so long. I don’t know my own power sometimes. I’m still learning how I was created.” She clears her throat and awkwardly avoids eye contact before looking back at us. “Fast forward from the galactic murder, Tagenta created our people and looked over us.”

“Yeah, he looked over,” I say sarcastically. “You’re so-called husband apparently left us hundreds of years ago.”

“Yes... he did.”

“Why would he do that to us? Why would he let us suffer?”

"What would you do if most of your childeren violated your rules?"

“I would be mad.”

“What would you do if they kept doing that for hundreds of years?” The words from the oracle come into my head. That’s another person to tell me about our impiety that led us in this situation. “We acted like snot-nosed evil, unruly children. Tagenta hated it. He took a remnant of the people that never acted against him and stopped overlooking us with his protection.”

“So, he disowned us?” Vodkis says. Purah lightly nods her head.

“Now he’s coming back. Why?” I say.

“I don’t know, but Ihope it’s for something good,” Purah says.

“If you call visions of war and death good, then I don’t believe it.” Vodkis puts herself under my arm and uses it to latch herself on my body for a snuggle-like hold. I break my attention away from Purah to focus on comfortably holding Vodkis. “What is it?”

“I believe her,” Vodkis whispers.

“You’ve got to be kid—”

“I’m not. I think something good will come out of this. The visions, what you’ve done, it’ll happen, Zazy. We’ll be free.” She lets go of me to stand in front of Purah. “So, you’re the wife of a deity we’ve never known?”

“I am,” Purah answers with a head nod. “I’m also you’re foremother.” I try my best not to make a face in response to that statement. Every word that comes out of her mouth sounds so far-fetched.

“Are you immortal?”

“In a sense, yes. I can’t remember my past life, but I know I’ve taken records of what happened before. I keep them all in a secret cave.” When she says the word cave, she shushes us with her index finger over her mouth. “It’s quite interesting reading what I’ve done eons ago. Oh, did I mention I de-age back to eighteen?”

“You didn’t,” I say nonchalantly.

“Oh, cool! So, yeah. I’m eighteen.”

“Can I see this cave?”

“Uh,” she hums, nefariously, slowly rubbing her hands together. “My past selfs said never to show anyone it.”

“Why not?”

“I’m still reading through my book to find out why. Sorry, but I’ll let you know when I find it.”

“Well,” Vodkis softly says, returning to my side. “Uhh... Um, what do we do now?”

“I have a big battle plan I’m working on.” Purah grins and chuckles while rubbing her hands vertically.

“What are you hatching?” I say.

“A massive united assault on Melon’s castle. We’re gonna take him down in one swoop.”

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