Gigantic was the word that came up to everyone’s awe-struck lips as they overlooked the very map of the world. From the biting cold Iceland stranger to life to the boiling peak of a volcano whose mega-filled crater releases dark fumes of toxic smoke to the surrounding lush forest. From the ever-drifting sands of the desert to the evergreen farmlands. From the huge masses of land to the ever-so-blue endless waves of oceans. It had everything that could satisfy even someone with the thirstiest soul that lounges for an adventure. But the most peculiar of all was its name, Sarvalokagāmi. Written in the ancient language of the land, ‘The Travarser of All Worlds’ or so it meant. Why and where the name came to be was lost in the realms of the staunch historians, but few if any would call it anything else. But even so, few are those whose existence could be heard throughout the world's edges. Be it the Capital of the Starry Sky Alliance, sometimes also called the power centre of the world or the black smoke-filled volcanic nest of Phoenix, the mystical bird symbolising rebirth. Each was an awe-inspiring place to be at. Some were in the most accessible areas of all, others not so. The elvish kingdom fell into the latter bracket.
In terms of its isolation, few can compare with it. Aurelianar, the Elvish World tree was a unique existence whose name was their capital and eventually, the kingdom was named after. Tethys and Tethailys river’s gentle water flows through its foot where the well-dressed, heavily armoured elves stood guard throughout the years. Behind them marks the end of the stone marble road and the long wooden steps that hang from the arm-thick veins of the Aurelianar. Filled with boutiques of fragrant flowers, the stairs spiral around the thick trunk of Aurelianar before reaching the peak, where an entirely different scene came into one’s view, a palace. At the top of the tree where the sunlight could no longer be blocked by the leaves of their guardian tree, the elves had built a magnificent palace of white, blue as well as other marbles. And filled every inch of it with their mark, be it their art or literature. A group of playful elemental beings called spirits pass by and live among the leaves. Born from the very essence of Aurelianar, spirits weld the very powers of nature and nonetheless, were called the best eternal friends of elves. A rather unattainable feat for simple-minded beings to couple with those who value others as nothing but beneath them. A belief of racial superiority as well as that of bloodlines primates the mindset of those who live below the shadow of this sacred tree.
But not all elves confine themselves and view others through the mindset of superiority, or perhaps they just don’t show it much. Only they might know the truth. On one of the balconies of the many luxury rooms of the elvish palace, two elves, one male, and the other female sat around the circular table covered with soft white coloured cloth. Atop that was the variety of snacks, triangular golden brown crispy-looking pieces of samosa coupled with red spicy tomato sauce being one of them. A delicacy famous throughout the lands, but only one of them enjoyed their taste while the latter didn’t glance at them. The sounds of their rather subtle quarrel and the sounds of winds could be heard that gently swayed their hair.
“ I think it's pretty clear now. You are just using delayed tactics to stop the inevitable.” The woman in a gorgeous white open-shoulder one-piece dress with a large skirt said to him. She was none other than the Queen of elves, Seraphine. Her eyebrows were furrowed, much annoyed by the elf sitting in front of him, Finwell Woodspirit who sipped his lemon tea with a thin smile across his lips.
“ I sometimes feel you are too overworked. So much that you forget things that matter the most or don’t at all.” He said, wiping his mouth with a fine golden neckerchief. His smile didn’t fade despite the ever-so-increasing glares from his guest. “ Besides, I am not like you, who could charm all the branches into one single trunk. I have a lot of branches to manage, most of which grow in different directions than my own.” He shook his head gently as if to convey his helplessness. “ Aren’t you too anxious to get the council votes?”
Seraphine’s furrows ease some. She knew Finwell’s allies on the Elvish Council worked with principals of interest rather than ideology like hers. For them, having the proposition of their interest cut short and that too by their own will was an unprecedented task to be asked for. After all, though she did threaten them with an investigation into their corruption, going through that threat was much easier than done. “ I am not anxious. If anything, I am worried. You know it well, don’t you? They have hollowed out our army over the years. You too are no different.” She glared at his face as if to see through his true intent.
“ As I said, you are missing the forest for the trees.” Finwell met her gaze with calm eyes. Not at all thinking about her sharp words. “ Let’s say we go according to your… ‘Plans’, which sounds no more than political rhetoric.”
“ There’s nothing political about my plan, you just can’t see it.”
“No? You say if we pull our troops from the border, it would lessen the pressure on Easparton, which then could fight with Oasis in full. Tell me, when was the last time you heard them not fighting? For others, it might look like a civil war, but we know the truth. It is nothing more than a celebration for them if you call it one.” He paused and looked at her but didn’t find her weaving much. So he added some thoughts. “ Even if many died there, nothing would change for them or us. Perhaps there would be few of those, but not too few to matter.”
“And as I said, your eyes have lost their ambition since you started to mend with those greedy fools.”
“ Then enlighten me, please.” He raised his hands sideways and motioned her to continue.
“This time, it's special. That beast… their so-called guardian was at its last breath. You know what it meant, right? It meant an only chance to bring back the glory of elves, to wipe out those insects from our land for good.”
Finwell sighed at her ferocious face, she seemed much convinced by herself. An attitude that had not changed since the death of her husband at the hands of humans. “ And so you forgot? That beast was at most Four stars in terms of strength. Humans sure call it their guardian, but we all know that he stopped being one long ago. Even if he died, there’s not much to say about Thar’s five-star-level threatening force. That’s why I said, nothing will change as much as the overall picture is involved. They didn’t make their move during the Divine war, much less now.”
“It's different.” She cut him off, who wanted to say some more. She stopped herself from growling at his mention of those insects as ‘humans’, and continued. “ Did you forget why that beast is even mentioned so much?”
Her words made Finwell think about something. Indeed, Thar’s guardian beast was not crowned as such because of its strength as much as others think. No, the most important reason for its nefarious reputation was its ability to suck the very life of the world. Different from the Law domain of Four Star Mages which was the manifestation of the world’s laws, his ability was natural. It was there much before when even the concept of law domain became famous. That beast would suck the life from anything and everything. From the blade of the grass beneath their shoes to the towering trees above their heads, nothing would be spared. There was once a time when forest spread to all corners of the Southern Continent, collectively called The Great Elvish Forest. It was the rise of the Dusty Devil which changed much of that into a barren wasteland of today. It was he who ensured not even a speck of grass could grow in the lands of Thar. To say much, he was the natural enemy of their sacred tree. One crates life while the other consumes it. Such was the destiny of these two guardians and the races beneath them.
“ To assimilate the life of others.” He answered her question which got a nod from the elvish queen.
“ Yes and once he died, there would be no one left to suck the life from the living beings.” She straightened her already straight back and leaned slightly forward. “ And once that happens, no one can stop the expansion of the domain of our world’s tree.”
“ You mean..” A look of understanding suddenly drew on his face. He looked excited with rapid breaths. “ If we use this means to suddenly insert our law domain into the whole of Thar, even their Five Star level force would have to step back. As long as we handle initial attacks well, this whole continent would be ours.”
Seraphine smiled as she looked at his shaking body. Everyone who knows elves knows the reason for their continued existence under the thump of Thar and such an overwhelming force was not their national strength but the strength of their sacred tree. It holds the power of the Law domain, which covers much of their territory. Unless somehow this power was forced to be repelled, it mattered less for how many came. They are all manageable. That was the real reason why Seraphine was so confident about her success. She knew even Finwell knew how great their chances of success were. Sure he didn’t ask about how she could suddenly expand the law domain to such a large area, but both of them are smart people. Not everything needed to be said. She stood up and said to him as she moved towards the door. “ Since you know it now, you have to understand our future can’t be made with the hollowed army we have today. I think we should start to honestly work towards the glory of elves.”
The sound of the door closing came from behind and Finwell’s excited body became calm. He looked at the door with the same smile as in the beginning and once again picked up the slightly cold tea. “ Ai, how cold. I don’t think that much time passed, or was it?” It was unsure if he was talking about the tea or someone, but he nonetheless muttered with calm.
“ You didn’t seem that much excited about the prospect of elvish glory.” A strange monotone sound came from the dark shadow near the curtails. The shadow looked eerie, wriggling as it talked.
“ When someone lives inside the iron castle for too long, they tend to get disillusioned from reality.” Finwell was not surprised at the sudden voice and replied with calmness. “ Luckily, I am also responsible for our foreign relationships so I don’t have this problem.”
“ You seemed too smug for someone whose race might get doomed soon.”
“ Ain’t that true for both of us, my human friend?” His words garnered no response from the shadow as if it didn’t hear his words at all. Finwell was not discouraged and chimed every so steadily. “ Since you are here, I presume you are now ready to take the delivery?”
“ One week.” The shadow replied and the flickering of it stopped as if all before was just an illusion. The only sound that remained was that of gentle wind and the moving of curtains.
“ So anxious. Why do no guests of mine finish their snacks before leaving?” Finwell said to himself but his smile was much wider than before. He stood up and left whistling to himself.
***
Easparton, inside one of the hollowed mountains that now acts as the make-shift industry. Today it was greeted with the presence of a high-level visit, the vice city lord, Adrian. Looking at the dark stone walls of the interior and the many people moving to their day-to-day work, only to stop when he visited them, Adrian had some mixed feelings. He felt a little empty inside, for he wanted the industries to be expanded, and produce much larger of an output. But it was inside the mountains, everything was limited and slow. An air of oppression floated around whichever place he visited, only held back by the many spells which made it this confined place well-lit. “ The ventilation here seems to be lacking, is it always the same?” He asked the man following behind him. He was the owner of this place, a middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties. Large tied red hairs and most notably, he was missing one middle finger from his left hand.
“ Somedays go we suddenly got an influx of workers. That might be the reason.” The man, Max said with a humble look. Who doesn’t know the strict vice lord of theirs? He didn’t want to get fined and besides, he didn’t lie. “ We are essentially working over capacity, but I already noticed this problem and called for improvement, but the other side is taking their time.” He added at last.
“Overcapacity?” Adrian didn’t take his last words seriously but focused more on the former. After all, this place was a part of the defence corridors, and things that were made here were all war-related. He looked at his assistant for an answer who shook his head after flipping through the thick files on his hands.
“ Sir, the order came from City Lord’s Mansion,” Max said with haste. Worried he might be questioned for making some side money in times of need. “That, it was a strange artefact, perhaps a golem,”
“ You made them here and are still not sure?” Adrian raised his eyebrow at his words. After all, if the order came from the City Lord’s Mansion and even his assistants didn’t know about it, then it only meant someone with power higher than his own ordered it. There is only one.
“ Please come with me sir,” Max said and started walking towards the interior, passing through rows of workbenches where different people with dark robes kept fielding with many metal equipment. As they walked, he kept explaining some things to them. “ We don’t reforge parts of artefacts or general engraving here, only things that might need a more delicate hand. Like a mana amplifier for anchors.” Seeing Adrian giving a short nod, he continued. “ Some days ago, we were rushed with many new helpers and were told to stop whatever we were doing and make certain kinds of artefacts.”
They soon stopped in front of a guarded door, the one that led to the storehouse. He motioned the guard to open it, who only did so after using some spells at them to confirm their identities. “ You see sir, these guys are also with them, they won’t even let me inside without further body checks for both coming and going. But since you are with me, they are going easy today.” Max whispered in a low voice. Adrian felt an even stronger curiosity for the artefacts behind the doors. The room inside was spotlessly clean. Large metal boxes with sealed runes were placed in neat lineups. But not too many as he expected, just seven, about half his height. “Open them,” Adrian said to one of the guards who was guarding the door. He figured Max might not have the key to open it, which turned out to be true. The guard didn’t say much as he just came forward and started to open the boxes one by one. The thing that appeared in front of them surprised everyone.
“Mosquitoes?” Adrian sounded unsure. Inside the boxes, the densely packed things were placed in trays. They looked like tiny metal insects with small wings, almost similar to flies or mosquitoes. Adrian recited a quick levitation spell and one of such things floated up to his hands. Looking closely, it looked well similar to a small insect, if not for the metal body. “ Just what are these?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“They are golems, sir. I asked one guy and he replied with such.” Max spoke from his experience earlier. He too was surprised earlier.
“Can they be so small? Can someone even control them?” Though not much, even Adrian knew some about golems. And to control one, the easiest one was engraving control formations on reshaped metals.
Max hesitated but still said. “ One of them said it was not made to be controlled traditionally. They said something about adding some runes related to souls on them.”
Adrian paused, his eyes grew wide for a moment as he looked at the face of the man beside him. He then squinted his eyes and stared deep into other’s as if to see through his words. He couldn’t help it, soul after all meant too much trouble. There were two principal ways of controlling golems, Manipulation and Possession. Later was self-explanatory, which needed one’s soul to be transplanted into golems. But the conditions are not well known and no one can do it, at least Adrian had not heard of anyone who could achieve that. That leaves only manipulation, which again was done in two ways. One by engraving formations on the golem, it was the most famous of all. Another lesser-known one was connecting a golem directly with one’s soul and moving it to one’s will, which puts a heavy burden on the soul in return for absolute control and perfect synchronisation with the user. He looked at the boxes again, there were at least thousands of such small mosquitoes in total. ‘ Did Easparton train mages capable of controlling golems with soul manipulation in secret? But then, why order to make such golems now?’ Adrian couldn’t help but think. In the end, he couldn’t guess too much about the specific use case. He put the golem back and started to move outside. “ How many did they order you to make?”
“They didn’t say the exact number. Only to not stop making these until they told us to.”
‘I wonder what prompted him to do so….’ Adrian thought as he left the room where the guards started to reseal the boxes. Their eyes, hidden behind the vial of cloth that covered much of their face flickered with some thoughts as they looked at the backs of people who just left.
***
Inside his room, Azir stood up and stretched himself as if to wake his still-sleeping body. Looking at the rather spacious room, he felt his heart was the same as the room, empty. He has been alone in the house since Rayen and Cherry left. Though he wanted to say to himself he always lived alone, those words never truly left his lips. He stood up from his plain red bedsheet that he laid across the floor to compensate for the lack of the furry dog who also acted as his makeshift bed, and started to wash. Today was a special day, as evident that he wore a clean, bright red shirt with a golden strip collar, finely made silk engraved into small beetles to the front and a large centipede that wrapped around the back—coupled with green pants with scorpion engraving at the sides. He washed his hair and used rose-fragrant oil to comb it well. Not something he does daily. He took a final look at his dress before setting himself off.
The moment he opened his door, a heavy sound of bands with their constant thumping of drums and blowing trumpets with heavy shouts from leading men who kept shouting for steady footsteps crashed into him. He couldn’t adjust well as his eyes got blinded monetarily due to sunlight, but soon his vision returned and provided a view that couldn’t be expected here. White, was the only colour that dominated the landscape of this time. From the side of the roads, knee-deep snow was piled up, a rather strange phenomenon in the middle of a barren desert. The heavy snowfall covered the whole of Oasis and even the surrounding for days at this point. Azir looked at the snowfall coming from the sky and from what he knew, the snowfall was very tame inside the city. He heard from some people that outside it was almost blizzard-level snowfall at nighttime and sometimes even during the day. He didn’t have seen what a blizzard looks like but he thought it would be significant in scale to even make their gossip inside the walls. But even if that was the case, he felt it was not his problem, because he felt no more chilled than any normal day. If anything, he felt a little cosy as if he returned to his Cherry in bed mode. It was strange, so much so that when he told Boss Sam about it, he noticed Sam’s eyes going wide and lips almost drained of colour. He then refused to talk about it when asked, which just puzzled Azir. Remembering the scene, he bent down and put some snow into his hand, and that’s the only time he felt cold from it. It was for this reason that he wore no cold clothes atop himself.
But by this point, he had to throw the snow away and put his hands on his ears, it was loud. So much so, that he could feel the very air vibrating from their presence. He couldn’t tell what medicine they took, but for the last two weeks they just kept going ever so loud that one could hear it even on the other side of the city. The only salvage he got was the house walls were thick enough that no noise could break into his house. Shaking the distracted thoughts and moving his feet towards the shop of Boss Sam. It wasn't too long of a walk and he found the man standing in front of the closed door of the shop. Different from him, Sam wore a thick black coat with yellow hand gloves and a brown muffler wrapped around his neck. Despite this, he could not help but shake a little whenever the chilly winds flowed.
“Boss, is it cold?” Azir couldn’t help but ask when he got close. He found Sam’s shiny bald head too was covered with some kind of woven hat.
Sam could only nod, stopping short of snort. He got in an especially bad mood when he found the boy walking just fine with thin clothes. He couldn’t help it as he got shouted at by his wife yesterday for sneezing all over the place whenever a mild gust of wind blew while the one in front of him could throw his whole body into the piles of snow just fine. Azir even got praised by his wife, but not him. Thinking up to here, Sam gave a closer look towards the boy who was tilting his head towards him as if to imitate Rayen who was not there. Sam also found that with the right clothes, Azir looked rather handsome. It turned out, his wife’s many praises towards Azir were not so wrong after all.
“By the way Boss,” Azir, who was unaware of Sam's thoughts, asked him. “ Are you sure the city lord’s mansion was looking for investors?”
“ Do you think I would joke about such things?”
“No, no boss, it's just that you didn’t look like someone who would part with his money for things like this?”
‘You think I want to?’ Sam almost screamed inside his head as he looked at the carefree boy in front of him. The scene from two days ago was still fresh in his mind.
Two old men were loudly talking just outside his workshop window. First, he wanted to ignore them. But who would know that they would keep shouting with no end, which soon turned into a brawl with curses that never stopped? He had enough soon, and with a conviction to curse even louder, he slammed open that window, which happened to also hit one of the old guys and made his nose crooked a little. As the man fell back, Sam noticed his shoes which made his anger turn dead cold. Their disguise of plain white kurta and pyjamas looked civilian enough, but their shoes gave away. Those were custom-made brown leather shoes with thin black striped carcasses of scavengers as the hardened point, something only the people from the city lord’s mansion had access to. He knows them well, for he sold many of such similar but counterfeit products during his heydays, he would never mistake them to be anything else. But what was in front of his eyes was genuine.
Needless to say, he was too far ahead to ignore them and had to bite his tongue and ask them about their less-than-savvy behaviour. Who would have known, they started to talk almost immediately, as if waiting for this exact moment. They had a certain sharpness to their eyes when looking at him, not something one finds in those normal persons who talk about the sudden investment opportunities at the city lord’s mansion. But still, their language puzzled him. They said they fought because one on the right, the one whose nose got crooked, refused to bring their workers for investment. He didn’t understand until he asked Azir, and guess what? That boy had money to spare. He had lived a life of a fool if he still didn't understand anything. He keenly had a feeling, perhaps if didn’t understand why they were suddenly talking so much about investment this and that, he might have been given a ride at the onset of night, and be brought to a dimly lit room somewhere to have a friendly discussion.
So now they were here, walking towards the highest summit of the mountain. The road was not so lonely, people on both sides cleaning the road, with big smiles on their faces and bodies so energetic that it didn't match the look of white and grey hair of them. Many were even kneeling while facing towards the peak, muttering with rigorous voices “Long Live Great Mother!!” again and again. Sam felt his chest tightening when he looked at their excited, almost frantic eyes but Azir was unaffected.
“Boss,” The boy asked in a somewhat puzzled voice. “ There’s no parade of the Great Mother upcoming, right?”
“ That’s the thing with this snow, it holds a special significant value to us old guys. You don’t feel cold, do you? You have seen Lord Bardar’s magic, right? But let me say it, he can do many things, but even he won’t have such fine control over it.” Sam shook his head, Azir even felt his eyes looked a little disdainful about it. But he couldn’t think much as he heard Sam saying, “And most of all, Oasis has a history of such snowfall which is not recorded in books that you read till now.”
“ Boss, why is it not recorded?”
Sam didn’t answer his last question but continued on his own “ It is always used to be like this, covered in the deep snow, whenever she holds the reins at the top. In a way, the snow represents her presence at the peak.” His eyes were a little lost and so was his voice towards the end. Sam didn’t mention the name, but Azir was not stupid to need it. For a moment, deep green flashed within Azir’s pupils, it stayed there for a moment before it disappeared in them, unnoticed. It was a silent walk from then until they arrived in front of the city lord’s mansion. Where the guards who seemed to be waiting for them took them towards the back garden. A big garden with a green patch of grass laid everywhere until rows of different plants, not all flowers. Moving just a little forward, just when the sweet smell of the garden hit their nose, they found a table with chairs of wood just some distance from them. The chairs were not empty either, someone was sitting there, looking towards them.
“Professor Bladurus? What happened to you?” Azir suddenly shouted. He knew the man who sat in front of them. He was surprised. Far from the man who made even the most enchanted chairs cry out in anguish at his presence, the Bladurus in front of him was skinny. He was so skinny that he looked like a malnourished worker who only ate three dry breads and water for a day while working in mines. His dress was almost slipping through his neck and eyes as if he would fall out from their sockets.
“It's nothing, I just fought a beast some days ago.” Bladurus was expecting such a reaction as he shook his thin arm in front of them. “ Please come here, it's bad for valuable investors to keep standing.”
“No, no, the pleasure is ours.” Sam suddenly said as he put his hands on Azir’s head and made him bow along with him. Only then did he pull the boy to sit at the chair facing towards Bladurus. Azir wanted to complain, but he found Sam glaring at him so he shut himself up.
“Please, be at ease, I can’t feel comfortable otherwise.” Despite hearing Bladurus say so, Sam can only smile with a stiff face. It doesn’t help that even though he knew his acting skills were top-notch, the man in front of him was not something to be fooled around with. Honesty, sometimes after all, also has its uses for an actor. Azir was different, he knew Bladurus from his kindergarten days, and he was much more at ease with him.
“Professor, what kind of beast did this to you?”
“ What do you know? That beast was the most despicable of beings. She's a heartless, brainless, brutish thieving ball of discarded fur made of decade hairs that should be locked in a basement full of pickles for the benefit of mankind. If not for that nine-eyed piece of rotten socks, I wouldn’t have ended up getting punished.” As if pent up for too long Bladurus started to rant with a series of curses. Perhaps he felt there was no outsider that he named forty different curses for the beast in question. Azir was still ok, who would occasionally nod along with him, but Sam almost choked on his glass of water. He felt the description of the beast in the mouth of the vice city lord seemed too similar to Thar’s guardian beast. Coincidence? Sam thought it was not, because he heard Bladurus add at the end. “ By the way, don’t say these things in front of your dog. We shouldn’t teach bad things to pets.”
Azir thought some and agreed, he too knew that his professor feared dogs for odd reasons. Sam had an interesting face when he looked at the teacher and student cursing at how bad the dogs could be. A little voice inside him wanted to complain to the dog in question about how these people were badmouthing her behind the scenes, but he quickly suppressed those evil thoughts back. It was just so that he heard Bladurus was not all about side talks. Soon he told them his ‘investment plans’. The tax was foregone, investment time was short, about three years and the return rate was guaranteed. Double per year. Sam was speechless. What about subtle hints? Call for investment? He felt they were being invested here, rather than them investing. His eyes were a little red, if he knew the terms were so good, he would have brought the whole treasure chest to invest. No, he would have taken loans using his property.
“ Brother Sam, are you ok?” He suddenly heard Bladurus asking him, seeing him being dazed.
“ Ah, I am ok. I just remembered something. What were we discussing if you don't mind me asking?” Sam took a deep breath and asked, but the one who replied was the hateful boy, who was so obvious to all. He felt he found the weakness of Azir, he lacked the worldly experience to see through the faultlines.
“By the way,” It was when they were done signing some documents that Bladurus suddenly turned to Azir with a smile that looked a little out of place. “ What do you think about Great Mother choosing a somewhat pacifist to rule over Thar?” It was an absurd question, seemingly out of nowhere. And the topic itself was almost a taboo, at least it should have been as much as Sam thought with a palpitating heart, but he found the man in front of them smiling ever so little. He turned to look around with caution and found no one was there besides them. Just as he prepared to act frantically like others who mentioned her, Azir spoke before him.
“ What’s there to ask? I don’t have any complaints.” As Azir said, his eyes were unwavering, and there was a strong green light within his eyes. “Since the Great Mother chose Lord Bardar as her successor, it simply meant he was better than all others. Everything else is just rumoured, worth less than the sand here.”
“ Even the war?”
“ Would someone chosen by the Great Mother be afraid of war? Besides, isn't everyone here our people, does it matter whether one lives in the East or West? All are equal in front of her.”
This time, both Sam and Bladurus noticed the strong green light in his eyes. It made the former shut up while the latter smiled even more. “ Correct, but not fully. But I am happy that you can have such clarity of thought. Only Thar understood Thar the best.” He didn’t say much and kept nodding his head as if thinking about something.
“ By the way, Professor, why did you make them set up this table and chairs at the gate of the garden?” Azir asked about the question which puzzled him a little. The green light in Azir's eyes faded away. He looked at the inside of the garden, he felt some strange kind of feeling from there, but he couldn’t tell what.
“Oh that, it is because there is a secret hidden there. You see, what you see there is an illusion made from magic and in truth, there is a deep well at the centre with flowing blood.” Bladurus lowered his voice and looked around as if to hide this secret but Azir didn’t buy it.
“ If you don’t want to say then don’t. I won’t fall for your pranks like during school days.” Azir stood up, not wanting to talk to the guy who once caused him to eat lemon pickle mixed with his pastries. Sam besides him was sweating a lot. It was a relief that their talk also came to an end and some people came to take them away. After all, they couldn’t just talk to Bladurus the whole day.
It was just as they were gone, that Bladurus shook his head and snapped his fingers. The green garden behind him disappeared in haze and instead, a rocky surface appeared. It was covered with red splashes of blood that led to the centre of the well, which was so deep that one couldn’t see its end. Only the constant sound of some splashes and the iron-like smell of blood leaked from there. “ Ai, as they say, no one believes you when you tell the truth…hmm wait, Rayen would definitely believe me. But it doesn’t matter though, all are our people.” Only these words lingered in the air.