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Seeds of Evil: Rophion Forest
CHAPTER 154: ZEAL GETS TO TETAPAS’S WORLD

CHAPTER 154: ZEAL GETS TO TETAPAS’S WORLD

Two black eyes suddenly shone in the darkness of the Grotto of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy. Shortly after that, a long hissing was heard, followed by a forked tongue thrown in front, a tongue that bit only the air eventually. Even so, the one with the tongue, no one other than Tetapas, didn’t allow himself to be deceived by the appearance that there wasn’t anybody around because he knew very well that the magic of those places was deceiving. Because of this, he threw his tongue once again in front, hitting something hard in the end.

The hit over the invisible wall hurt like hell. Tetapas even felt that a hot iron crossed the top of his head after this, getting to the top of his tail in seconds only. Even so, Tetapas didn’t roar like a lion locked in a cage. He only loudly hissed through his teeth, letting a furious growl come out of his throat shortly after this because… „I really hate this trick of the Grotto of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy. I always have a problem with this because I’m not able to take my old bones out of this cage, moving onto the rocky mountain to its top and back to its bottom.”

Hissing these words through his teeth, Tetapas was really furious. He hated himself and the place where Uranus closed him a very long time ago. At the same time, the snake hated that invisible threshold, which appeared in his way from time to time, impeding him from crawling at least outside of the grotto. Thus, Fate itself was taking from him the last pleasure Tetapas still had: to walk up and down on that rocky wall of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy.

What Tetapas hit when he threw his tongue for the second time in front was that invisible threshold, which appeared there only from time to time. It wasn’t clear when exactly the threshold would appear again because it didn’t appear on a specific date or day. For example, the first time the threshold appeared there coincided with the day when he’d been released by Maranam and Tikil’s power and he got Zayleea’s power from her. Or maybe the first time it appeared when the shape-twins were born? He wasn’t sure.

Anyway, Tetapas found out the reason why that threshold appeared there the day Argol visited him, to drive him crazy as always. Coincidentally or not, Argol told him that day that the end of the snake Tetapas was close and that he needed to forget about his revenge. Why? Because… he had to enjoy the sunlight while he still could because even the light was already something forbidden for Tetapas on the Mount of Fear.

That day, Tetapas didn’t pay attention to the eagle’s words. He only told Argol not to poke his nose into his businesses and live his own life. If not, Tetapas had left him featherless for sure. After that, he turned his back to Argol and, as always, he crawled to hide in the darkness of the grotto. Nevertheless, once in his hideout, wet and cold, after he wrapped his body on many levels as he used to sleep, Tetapas remembered what Argol told him, „Two souls were born today, Tetapas. To hearts are beating in the same rhythm starting today even if they seem to have different destinies. Nevertheless, they’ll be the ones who'll cut your head when the right moment comes.”

When he remembered this, Tetapas suddenly raised his head, opening his eyes, which savagely sparkled in the darkness of the grotto. „When the time comes?” He wondered. „What time in particular: the end or the beginning?”

These words made Tetapas take thought for a long time after that day. He even tried to find out more details from Argol when the eagle passed by there again, but everything had been in vain. That’s why he often tormented his soul, wondering when that moment would come. Not that Tetapas would have been afraid of death, but because he hoped that what Argol predicted to him was his freedom. Yes, the snake Tetapas, starting the moment he lost the beat with Uranus and was closed in the grotto of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy, felt that he’d be released one day and, after that, the whole world would have shaken with fear because of his hatred and venom. Yet, hours went by, and then the years passed, but nothing happened.

Yet, everything changed the moment Maranam came to earth. Then, the invisible threshold appeared for the third time, limiting Tetapas’s access to the external world. Even so, being not that far from the entrance to the grotto and looking at the furious sky, Tetapas smiled. „I had never felt so much calmness inside, just as I never thought that my freedom would be accompanied by such a beautiful view,” he whispered that day.

Saying this, Tetapas had referred to the fury of the sky that had enchanted him. The madness of the black clouds that were chasing each other on the celestial vault was charming him. Why? Because… It reminded him about those times when he was still free to wander the world, on his own feet, and act up. Actually, Tetapas missed those days when he still had a human body, which allowed him to camouflage among humans only to drive a wedge between them, enjoying their madness after this. More than that, Tetapas loved to watch people attacking each other or throwing things to hurt the other ones, or when red drops of blood were seen on the temple of the enemy, or to see the shining of the dagger’s blade illuminated by the sun rays.

Tetapas enjoyed watching not only this. He simply loved a single creature that he could find among humans: the woman. Yes, Tetapas simply adored her skin and the pleasant scent that was felt from her hair. A woman he had often wanted by his side, but whom he could never have, something that hinted to him that happiness was something forbidden for him. How not to be so? It was natural for a woman not to be next to Tetapas because of that black aura that was always felt around him, something the sixth sense of a woman could easily feel. Because of this, women had always run away from him.

Because of this, Tetapas started to admire the women more than ever even if it meant that he had to do that from far away. Even so, he looked in amazement at them, licking his lips when a curved one passed in front of him, something that always made him want to charm her and make her fall into the trap of his spell. Yet, when he started to mumble unknown things and the eyes were slowly moving in circles, everything ended before the start. Why? Because of that squinted look, of the woman on whose tail he stepped, something that was even sharper than the blade of a dagger. This was what ended Tetapas’s spell before it started.

Tetapas remembered that one day, a furious woman even called him „snake.” She even yelled at him that he was an idiot who dared to watch her. And, to punish him, she threw a basket, woven from vine shoots, toward him, a basket that landed in Tetapas’s head, „blinding” him for a short time. This awoke him from the madness of the spell. Then, taking the basket off his head to see what happened, he saw two white chubby fists right in front of his nose. After that, the high-pitched voice of that woman told him, hissing the words through her teeth, „If I catch you once again spinning around me, I swear I’ll leave you without legs and I’ll curse you to crawl like a snake for an eternity.”

The failure that day confused Tetapas. Then this enraged him because… you see… he was a Titan, but a woman even dared to threaten him with her fist. A woman whom he couldn’t say any bad words back to. That day, he only mechanically nodded, letting her understand that he received the message she tried to send to him. After that, when she turned her back to him and quickened her pace to leave that place, Tetapas looked for a long while behind her, until she disappeared at a crossroad, thinking that he’d never see her again.

Yet, he’d been wrong in thinking so because, later after that event, he found out that the woman who scolded him for glancing at her had the power of cursing in her veins, a kind of witch. Thus, as she was furious that day when she scolded Tetapas, her words turned into a real curse. One that touched him eventually because, after that event, trying to show to the entire world that he was someone important and not a nobody as others thought, he had the genius idea of provoking Uranus to compete in the art of guessing, intending to get to the Throne of the World. Yes, even Tetapas dreamt of that throne, like many others, even if all of them knew that it was practically impossible to get it. Nevertheless, Tetapas decided not to give up on his dream, even if he was already locked in the cage of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy, in that damn cage whose walls he started to feel tightening around him, asphyxiating him after that.

„A cage that will make you curse your days forever, Tetapas. You are here for this: to bite your hands for your dare.”

The voice of that woman, who had said those words, hissing them through her teeth, seemed familiar to the snake. Because of this, Tetapas winced, raising his head a little and looking in front. He saw nobody there, and this made him wonder if he had visions or if he really heard that voice.

„Yes, you heard me for real,” she told him after this. „Even so, you still hide: like a coward that always runs from justice, Tetapas.”

„Do you say so?!” The snake growled, furious.

Those words really hurt the snake’s ego. He felt them as though the elephant stepped onto his tail. Because of this, he started to unwrap his body, unwrapping those thick rings he formed when he wrapped himself intending to go to sleep. He thought that it was a damn good idea to sleep because, each time that invisible wall appeared there, he didn’t know when it would vanish eventually. Yet, as he wasn’t that lucky that day and he couldn’t go to sleep, Tetapas started to crawl slowly toward the exit after his whole body was stretched far into the depths of that dark grotto.

To his great surprise, he didn’t hit anything when he approached the threshold. This made him attentive and wonder if what he saw at that moment was a mirage or if he had had visions before that. Even so, he didn’t think too much about this because he didn’t want to let the unwelcome guest know that, a guest whose flesh he wanted to taste eventually and lick his lips after this because Tetapas was sure that the woman’s flesh was the tastiest one.

In front of the grotto, he suddenly stopped and looked terrified at the unwelcome guest that was in front of him: Zeal. He had never expected to see her there, in front of the Grotto of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy, which was the house of a snake, but not hers. More than that, Tetapas hadn’t ever expected that Zeal would believe his words. Not after he appeared in her dreams when he told her a lot of nonsense things, hoping to take revenge on the Yātrīkars this way. By appearing in Zeal’s dream, the snake hoped to take revenge on Tikil too because that one managed to escape his prison eventually when he was still captive there. Yet, instead of only taking revenge on two enemies, Tetapas received a great gift: at the threshold of his grotto appeared what he always looked for - the woman and her beauty. A woman on Tetapas’s taste, with a curved body as Zeal had it when she wasn’t a cobra… something that made Tetapas lick his lips eventually.

The amazement seen in Tetapas’s eyes didn’t last long. It suddenly turned to curiosity and, calm, still in his place, he kept looking at that big brown cobra that was lazily moving up and down on the external wall of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy, following the same path Tetapas used to follow each time he moved through that labyrinth that was carved on the wall. Thus, carefully looking at the lazy and delicate movement of the snake Zeal, Tetapas understood that he was really charmed. Because of this, he closed his eyes eventually, raising his head a little. After that, he started to rock his body in the pleasant music of the bells of love that were heard vibrating along with the air, the one felt in the rocky area of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy.

The sweet torment of Tetapas’s soul didn’t last long. Soon, the moment he heard a hissing in front of him, he winced. More than that, he shuddered a little when the she-snake told him, „It’s a sin to dream of something forbidden, Tetapas. Or what… did nobody ever tell you that?”

Opening his eyes eventually, Tetapas was forced to look into those of the brown she-snake, who was standing in the same position as he was standing. Unlike him, the eyes of the she-snake were slowly moving in circles as if she was trying to charm him. A spell he would have gladly allowed to take over him if he had been sure that he would have had her eventually.

Yet, Tetapas was sure that that spell wasn’t for having his heart but to make him submissive. Tetapas understood this the moment he felt a strange feeling on the scales of his skin, something that made him shudder inside when he felt fear snaking in his veins. Because of this, he whispered, „You are here to look for a soul that doesn’t belong to you, right?”

The she-snake seemed to have sketched a smile. „Do you think that I’m here for this?” She cunningly asked in the end.

„I’m not sure of this, but it seems to be so. Yet, what I don’t understand is what soul you are after, Zeal.”

The unwelcome guest seemed surprised that Tetapas understood who she was. Yet, it didn’t last long, for seconds only. After that, slowly pulling back, she continued her game of „seduction” as Tetapas thought. Then, she told him, „Zeal? Is this my name? Or maybe this is the name of the one you have a crush on?”

Tetapas looked at her, confused. For a few moments, he started to doubt if he was right or wrong about who the she-snake was. No, he wasn’t wrong. He was sure that the brown she-snake was Zeal because he had seen her so many times before, in his dreams. Yes, he saw her after their souls connected that night eventually… when Zeal accepted him in her dreams. Or… maybe he was wrong?!

„No,” Tetapas suddenly shook his head. „This is you, Zeal. I’m sure of this. You are the second great-granddaughter of the queen of ice. I know that because you are so alike to me. We both want the souls of others because this will bring power to us eventually.”

The she-snake kept silent for a while. Then, suddenly, she took Zeal’s form as though trying to „convince” Tetapas that she was really there. After that, taking a few steps back and forth in front of the snake, she told him, „Well, maybe you are right and we want this eventually. Even so, I’m not here for this.”

„Aaa, no? Then, what are you here for? If it’s not a secret, of course.”

„No, it’s not a secret,” the girl replied, lurking for a few seconds at the movement of the snake behind her. Thus, she saw two shadows sneaking inside the grotto. Not only did she see that movement, but also Tetapas, who suddenly turned his head and looked over there too. Seeing nobody there, moreover when Zeal said, „A deal,” he looked at her again. He was amazed this time, even though he didn’t really understand what she meant. That’s why Zeal continued her thought, „I’m referring to a pact that will give you your freedom back, Tetapas: the freedom of your soul. Yet, this won’t be for free, of course.”

„For my freedom, you want something in exchange, right?” The snake asked, crawling his thick body around the girl’s feet, thinking to wrap around her later and make her his captive, forever.

Even if she saw him coming, Zeal said nothing. She didn’t even move from the place she was. Zeal only carefully looked at the snake, to whom she said eventually, „Any freedom is paid with blood eventually, and you know this better than me. Or… if you give something in exchange, you can avoid the spill of blood.”

„Exchanging what?” He asked, suddenly stopping his movement. „My soul?” Asking this, Tetapas used a little bit of cunningness in his voice.

„Why not?!” The girl replied with another cunning question. „Yet, I would say no to this idea. What I would like to have in exchange for your freedom are two souls, Tetapas. Those souls that sneaked inside Tikil’s grotto today, through the northern gate of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy. Entering there, they dreamt of immortality.”

Tetapas suddenly winced. „Immortality? Tikil’s grotto? What are you talking about? As far as I know, once Tikil is dead, his power stops existing too.”

„This is what you think, snake. Not the same as others think.”

„Others? Who exactly?”

„The Virgins Uyarvu! Does this name say something to you?” Tetapas winced again. „Not a simple Uyarvu, but the soul and the power of the Virgins of the Sun.”

„Āram,” the snake whispered. „The one who gave her body and soul to Helyos, dreaming of being the queen of the sky.”

Zeal looked at him, confused. „Is Āram the wife of Helyos more recently?”

The snake burst into laughter. „Not every woman that has felt the warmth of a Titan’s skin becomes his wife. At least this won’t happen to Āram. Helyos only uses her because he needs her power. A help he got by using a trick with her.”

„He promised to marry her if she helps him with Maranam.”

„Something like that,” replied Tetapas confidently, starting to move around Zeal again, for the second time. „Yet, as I said already, her help is useless for her, but not for him.”

„Do you think Āram suspects already that she’s been deceived?” The girl asked, seeming not to be aware that Tetapas was wrapping around her.

„Honestly, I have no idea about this. If you want to find out, you should ask her, not me.”

„Something impossible once she’s not alone but with one of Maranam’s trustful helpers.”

Tetapas suddenly stopped moving. „One of the panthers is here?” Zeal nodded. „Which one?”

„I’m not sure because I saw her only from behind. You can find out which one if you go to Tikil’s den.”

„And? What do I win if I go there?” The Titan asked, wrapping his body around the girl’s body for the third time.

„To have a word to say in this war, snake! The right to ask Maranam to give you whatever you want because, having one of the panthers in your paws, you’ll make him weak, and the weakest one always accepts conditions.”

So suddenly, that Tetapas didn’t expect that, he saw that he was wrapped not around Zeal’s human body, but around a big brown cobra. A cobra that vanished like the blow of the wind eventually when the spell was gone. It happened because the big brown cobra finished her mission: she told Tetapas what he had to know. The only one who didn’t realize that he’d been used was Tetapas, who was still rocking his body on his thick tail, hearing the pleasant ringing of the love bells in the air.

***

Stepping back, Āram’s eyes weirdly sparkled while a cold-like ice feeling sneaked in her stomach so suddenly. Then, looking to her right, where Koṭumai was, she asked in a shaking voice, „Where did they come so many? There were only two at first!”

Koṭumai cooked her nose, looking at those few dozen cobras that hissed their forked tongues in front of them. „You are who said this: they were only two. At first. Now, they have called a few more sisters here. And I think that only part of those that have been called are here now.”

„Only a part? Do you want to say that more than this will come?”

The panther grinned this time. „Actually, I don’t doubt this because I have the feeling that someone in particular has sent them here to say „welcome” us, to the area of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy. A „welcome” I won’t leave without a reward. For this, I’ll say „hello” to that person, as warm as her „welcome.” Then, suddenly touching her aquamarine bracelet, which she wore on her left arm, closer to her shoulder, she pulled it toward her, turning it into a whip, braided in six, which she used to make the horizon resound.

Seeing that weapon of death, hissing its sharp top right in front of them, the cobras pulled back. They moved back only a few steps. Then, forming a circle around the two virgins, they waited for the next step.

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„They are waiting for an order,” Āram thought loudly. „Yet, whose order are they waiting for?”

„Of another cobra, of course: the one over there.” Saying this, Koṭumai looked at the upper rock that was on the rocky wall seen to their left. There she saw, so close to the sharp edge of the rock, a silhouette. „No one other than Zeal, the daughter of the Kingdom of Ice.”

Āram frowned, hearing that name. Then, looking in the same direction as the panther was looking, she also clearly saw Zeal’s silhouette on that rock. She saw that Zeal was looking at them while holding a bow in her hands and had an arrow ready to be shot.

„A warning only! That arrow targets the ground and not us.”

„Rather than warning us about something, she wants to send a message,” explained Koṭumai the thought Zeal could have had. „Not to venture into the heart of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy if we want to survive.”

Squinting, Āram tried to see Zeal’s eyes. Eyes that were savagely shining at that moment, as she thought. In Zeal’s glance, Āram also saw the determination. Then, seconds after this, the bow vibrated in Zeal’s hands and the arrow headed with its sharp top toward the middle of the circle formed by the cobras. After being shot, the arrow pierced the air, stubbing into the ground, at Koṭumai’s feet, right between the tops of her boots.

Koṭumai didn’t move from her place even if she saw the arrow coming toward them. The panther didn’t even look at that arrow, not even after she felt the vibration of this in the soles of her boots. Only when she spotted Eṉōl appearing to Zeal’s left and Kirivas to the girl’s right, did she understand that if they were there wasn’t to warn them about something or send a message to them, but they were there to watch each of the steps they would take eventually. A risky movement in the panther’s opinion, but still an intelligent one, she had to accept that. Why did Koṭumai think so? Because they were definitely cleaver if they got there without being felt by the Virgins Uyarvu or by Maranam, and this meant only one thing: the power of their enemy increased a lot and they were already capable of deceiving them by walking up and down in front of their nose without being spotted.

Understanding that message, she asked Āram without looking at her, „Can you send a message?”

„A message? To whom?”

„To one of your sisters. Tell them that we need a few cats to chase the mice away, those over there that are dancing on our table right now.”

Āram looked at her, confused. „Mice?” A question that made Koṭumai gnash her teeth.

„I mean those over there. We have to chase them away if we don’t want to reveal our plan to them.”

„I think they have found it out already if they are here.”

„Maybe not. Maybe they only saw us while we sneaked toward this place. Because of this, they took the risk and appeared on that rock, thinking that we would be scared and would turn back. Something that won’t happen though. So, tell me: can you or cannot you send that thought to a Uyarvu?”

„No,” Āram shook her head after the failed attempt to connect her mind to another Uyarvu’s mind. „This place is a perfect Barrier. Nothing crosses its invisible walls.”

Koṭumai frowned. Then, staring at the grotto, which she knew was the grotto of Tetapas, where she saw nobody at its entrance, she murmured, „The Fire Jar of Fate. The one Tetapas uses to gather souls inside. Now I understand why this place doesn’t allow others to send a message to someone from outside: it creates the perfect trap to lure the victims inside it.”

The Virgin of the Sun shuddered. „Do you mean we are meant to be Tetapas’s victims?”

„Only if we allow this. Something I won’t ever allow.”

Koṭumai’s fury had no limits at that moment. Not when she saw Zeal’s cobras tightening the circle around them more and more while throwing their forked tongues toward them. She felt outraged because her thick and sharp whip didn’t help her to get rid of her enemies, not even if it was deeply biting their skin. Understanding this, she took a step behind, intending to avoid the poisonous bites of the cobras. Thus, touching the arrow thrown by Zeal, she remembered about it and looked at the sharp metallic top of the arrow where she saw a piece of cloth fixed on it.

„I think you were right about the message,” she told her companion, making Āram stare in amazement at her. Then, bending a little, Koṭumai took the piece of cloth from the arrow and, unwrapping it, she read the message, „You’ll do yourself a favor if you turn back, shadow of Maranam. If not, if you stubbornly continue to tempt the fate that’s hidden in the heart of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy, you’ll just bring death closer to you. A death that lurks on you already, from everywhere.”

The moment she read the last word, the piece of cloth ignited itself, making Koṭumai shudder. She hadn't expected that the piece of cloth, which had the color of the desert sand, would have its own magic. More than that, she hadn't expected that those red letters, written on that magic cloth, which had the color of blood, would also be magic. At the same time, she hadn't expected that Zeal would have such magic, of the fire, not in the Kingdom of Ice. Yet, Zeal had it and this made Koṭumai shudder again. The panther even felt itches on her skin while icy spears pierced her bones. „Similar to the power of death that follows us from everywhere.”

„Death? Which death are you talking about, Koṭumai? The death hidden in the heart of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy?”

Looking into Āram’s frightened glance, Koṭumai nodded. She hoped that the death they talked about was only a useless threat. Yet, it seemed so real at that moment. More than that, she understood that everything was more than real the moment she saw more cobras descending the rocky walls of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy or getting out of holes or from under the stones around them, and heading straight toward them eventually.

What amazed her more than seeing the cobras was to see that the green creatures suddenly moved from in front of them. Yes, the cobras created a kind of corridor, not allowing them to return to the Field of Fate, but to head straight to the slope that was leading their steps to the former Grotto of the Coal Burners. Seeing that slope, Koṭumai found it strange, covered by briers and stained with blood because so many Coal Burners died there after Rueb’s death. The souls of those poor victims were still there, wandering those rocky areas, not having the right to head toward Purgatorium and salvation yet. Koṭumai saw those shadows staring at her and Āram while waiting for them at the Gates of Fate, the one hidden in the depths of the Mount of Fear, where they headed eventually, followed from close by the servants of their enemy - the cobras.

At the entrance to that grotto, Koṭumai stopped for a few seconds and looked back. Zeal and her companions weren’t on that rock anymore. There, she saw only a flag: a red-like fire one, with the symbol of death on it. That flag suddenly stretched the cloth of its body, leaving that symbol of death to be clearly seen. This happened because of the wind that started to blow around, a wind controlled by Karayel, who tried to make Koṭumai fear while looking at the symbol of perdition. Seeing it, Koṭumai smiled eventually because she knew something others didn’t know: all of that was only an illusion. She was actually right in thinking so because, right after she turned her back to that wall, the red cloth of the flag ignited, controlled by the power of the panther this time.

***

„You think he took the bait?” Keṉṉal asked Alena while the two foxes were sneaking deeper and deeper into Tetapas’s grotto.

They left the Camp of Beasts along with the fake Zeal, whom they had to accompany toward the Grotto of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy. However, while going there, Karayel told Inmar, „I think it’s better for us if you stay here and guard this place because we don’t know if we are capable of deceiving Tetapas eventually. He’s an ancient Titan, in the end, one that can scuttle our plan in seconds only if he’s as smart as others say he is.”

„I don’t see how I can help you from here,” Inmar asked, confused.

„Simple: if you see that he tries to lure me into his grotto or kill me, use your power and break Zeal’s spell. You are the only one who can do that once you have Ahi’s magic in your veins.”

„What about us?” Alena asked Karayel. „Should we stay here too?”

Karayel shook his head. „You have to be there. Not with me, but inside of the grotto.”

Keṉṉal shuddered. „In the snake’s grotto? Have you lost your mind or you are definitely looking to give us to lose? You know very well that whoever enters that grotto, never comes back. Not alive, because his soul is closed in the Jar of Fate, Koṭi.”

„Not if you are careful and make sure that the snake doesn’t see you entering his kingdom.”

„Something damn difficult because… Tetapas is an ancient Titan, you are the one who said that and that he’s smart.”

Looking at Alena, Karayel smiled. „Yes, I said that. What I forgot to mention was that when Uranus closed him in that grotto, Tetapas lost one of his biggest powers.”

„The power of seeing the shadows that sneak into his grotto,” Inmar whispered, thoughtful.

„You are actually right because, what Tetapas’s eyes don’t see entering his grotto, his senses won’t feel it after that, even if that person is next to him.”

„What about the Yātrīkars? As far as I know, Tetapas felt them right after they entered the grotto. This happened when they went there to look for Tikil. Yet, not knowing the way, they entered Tetapas’s grotto by mistake,” Keṉṉal informed the others.

„Mmm, I also found this out. The other winds that wandered this rocky area that day told me about this. They said that the leader of the Yātrīkars made a huge mistake that day when she allowed the Yātrīkar that fell into the River Maranam to follow them into the Grotto.”

„The same river from where Tetapas took his power once.”

„Yes, Inmar. You are right because again the first Master of that river with black water was Tetapas and not Maranam. A river whose power he lost the day Uranus closed him into the grotto.”

„And he just simply gave that river to Maranam? It seems absurd to me,” said Alena, frowning.

„I never said that,” Karayel rushed to defend his position, looking at the fox. „Maranam got the right to control the power of the black river after he closed Tartos in his stone cage.”

„Tartos? The one about whom others say that Ruled over the Underworld?” Inmar asked. Karayel nodded. „It’s just a legend. Ahi told me about this once.”

„It’s what is said. I’m not sure if these are true or not. What I know for sure, and I know this because this is something that only the winds know, is that Tetapas controlled the River with Black Water at first. Then, when he’d been closed in that grotto and Maranam won the fight with Tartos, this river belonged to Maranam. If it’s true or not, I can’t say for sure.”

„Then we are back to the starting point,” Keṉṉal said. „We aren’t sure of anything. Even so, we still want to venture into Tetapas’s cage without being sure that we will return alive.”

„It’s a risk we have to take, Keṉṉal.”

„I don’t see why, Alena! We are talking about our lives! Our lives are at stake.”

„Not only our lives are at stake but also the Fate and the Future of the world. Yet, we’ll take care of the rest later. Now it’s important to know how you expect us to enter that grotto and what you expect to find there.”

Listening to Alena’s words, Karayel’s face hardened for a few moments. Then, when his eyes strangely sparkled, he looked up this time and whispered, „I hope to return an old favor, one I have to pay back before it’s too late.”

„To pay back to whom?” Alena asked, confused.

„This is a debt you have with the one that ruled over the sky once, Zayleea, right?” Karayel winced, looking at Inmar, frightened. The fox laughed. „Don’t worry!” She told him, taking a seat on a stone. „Your secret is safe, actually.”

„Secret? What secret?” Asked Keṉṉal when she felt the worm of curiosity squirming in her chest.

„About a forbidden love, which I felt once,” Karayel thought. „A love felt only by me, right from the moment I saw her beautiful blue eyes and her hair that smelled like wildflowers and raindrops. This is what charmed me that day.”

„Even so, you didn’t accept to help Zayleea that day even if she asked you to help her,” he heard Inmar’s voice in his head. „You were upset with her because she was the one who stole your heart but still preferred another man, a rival, against whom you couldn’t fight because he was your king.”

„I didn’t know then that he won the right to be with her longer before me. I found out about Boor and Zayleea’s love long after she vanished.”

„A guilt that melted you inside day by day all these years, right?”

„I haven't had a single moment of peace since that day. Because of this, I swore to myself to do the impossible to find her. Something I couldn’t do eventually: find her.”

„Until that day when Alena told Zeal about her mother. That day you read Alena’s thoughts and found out where Zayleea was closed.” Karayel nodded. Seeing him nodding, Keṉṉal and Alena exchanged glances because they finally understood that Inmar and Karayel were telepathically communicating at that moment, using a private channel not to be heard by the two foxes, a trick Inmar used to make sure Karayel’s secret would be safe. „Leaving this aside, what do you intend to do now? Honestly, I think the same as Keṉṉal and Alena because I don’t understand what you have in mind.”

„Defeating Fate with my own hands!”

„Do you want to destroy the Fire Jar? The one that swallows souls?” Karayel slightly bit his lower lip, looking elsewhere. „If you avoid looking into my eyes, it means I’m right. Yet, I have to warn you about one thing, Karayel: nobody ever has been able to approach that Jar, something you want to destroy, actually. At the same time, I consider this risky because this can be something working against us eventually because I’m sure Parca created that jar for a reason.”

„We can find out the reason if we approach the jar, don’t you also think so? Thus, if we find this out, we can have something against Parca.”

„It sounds tempting. Even so, I don’t think it’ll work.”

„If we rush things to happen, it won’t work. Yet, if we do things carefully, using the trick of our heart, we can succeed. For this, I need Keṉṉal and Alena closer to that jar, as much as possible. I don’t need them to take the risk: they have to approach it only. Then, when they feel that their power works against the jar, they have to stop. It’ll be enough for them because, from that place, they can see if there is any crack in the clay body of the jar. If there is one, no matter how small, Fate will work for us, releasing those souls from captivity.”

„What if it doesn’t work as you plan? What if my foxes fail?”

„Then… we are lost: once and for all. The same would happen to the world because there won’t be a way back after this. We’ll be all sentenced to death, just as Tetapas has planned for us.” Then, clenching his fists, Karayel took a few steps in front, heading toward Tetapas’s grotto. After a few steps, when the slope turned into a very steep one, covered by sharp stones, he turned into a snake to make sure another snake wouldn’t smell him approaching his den.

***

„Tetapas has bitten the bait,” whispered Alena, answering Keṉṉal’s question. „Karayel is also gone from in front of the grotto.”

„Did he hit the pike, leaving us prey to these places?”

Alena shook her head, without opening her eyes. Then, when she felt Keṉṉal’s hand touching her left arm, Alena looked at her and said, „Karayel is still around, somewhere close to the Grotto of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy, waiting for us to get out of here. Actually, he had nothing else to do next to the snake while he fulfilled his part of the mission. Now it’s time for us to fulfill our part.”

„It goes without saying, once we are here. Yet… I have no idea where we can find that damn jar. This place seems to be a damn dangerous labyrinth. And these glassy walls… brr, I feel chilly only when looking at them. It makes me see Tetapas all over I glance.”

„This is because he’s here,” replied Alena with the voice of her mind, staring at Tetapas’s image on one of the walls in front of them. There, she saw the image of a huge snake, crawling his thick body through the water that was on the floor of those sinuous tunnels. „Even if he’s here, he didn’t feel us. He just… looks for his inquietude.”

„His inquietude?” Asked Keṉṉal, staring into Alena’s eyes. „What do you mean?”

„You’ll see! Now, follow me! We don’t have time to waste!”

Saying this, Alena carefully looked around. Then, she continued to advance through that tunnel the moment she saw a firefly in front of her. Keṉṉal, thinking that it would be easier for them to find the right path, formed that firefly. Yet, the firefly moved in circles for a long time, controlled by the power of those tunnels. A power that finally mixed its magic with the power of the two foxes, leading their footsteps to Hell’s mouth eventually, as Keṉṉal named that jar right before entering that grotto.

Keṉṉal wasn’t actually wrong in calling that Jar the Hell’s mouth just as Alena wasn't wrong in trusting the fluorescent guide, which led them to the rocky room of the grotto of Tetapas eventually, where Parca hid the Jar Koṭi a very long time ago. A room that was as big as the world at first glance. It also had bats hanging upside down on all the corners of the room, with sticky drops that were dripping off the walls, multiplying the other drops that were already on the floor, wetting the legs of the two foxes and covering those many rocks seen all over that room, as if Fate put them there for an unknown purpose.

Carefully looking at that room, the two foxes felt anxious. They felt the worm of dread sneaking inside them because that place seemed full of hidden traps. „Because of this, we won’t take any step in front,” Keṉṉal suddenly said, seeing the strange movement of the air next to one of the rocks beside the jar. „This floor, even if it seems sure, has enough holes under it.”

„It looks safe for me because of the rocks.”

„It’s a perfect illusion only. Or what, do you think Parca hasn’t made sure nobody would ever approach the jar?”

„You are probably right. Yet, I don’t think she has created holes like traps because… she could have forgotten where she placed them and fell into them eventually.”

„Something I doubt. That Parca passed by here after this.”

„What makes you think this?”

„The energy of this place and its aura. I feel a black aura all around, one that vibrates on my skin right now, an energy that has something black inside… I think it’s part of Tikil’s power.”

„The power of the Titan of Dread here? It seems absurd to me. Tetapas and he hated each other.”

„I won’t deny this fact. The same you can’t do. Yet, in case of need, two fierce enemies can help each other. I think it’s the case because… it seems to me that Tikil has helped Parca to create this place in exchange for something he needed. What exactly? We’ll find out later after we are out of here. Now… let’s break that jar over there, a bottomless one it seems to me that’s always starving for souls.”

„To make it, we have to approach it, Keṉṉal. First, we have to find out where its weakest energetic point is and to attack from there.”

„We’ll do this from here.” After that, squatting, Keṉṉal blew red air over her left palm, forming other fluorescent fireflies. Then, using her power, she sent them toward the jar, which they surrounded eventually. Seeing the fireflies there, Keṉṉal closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander that place freely, looking at the big clay jar through the eyes of the fireflies. Thus, she saw the perfection of the Jar Koṭi, whose shiny surface had been perfectly caressed by the hand of the Potter of Fate, outlining each part of it: the handle, its body, and the upper edge that supported the transparent cap. Through that cap, right in the middle of it, where it should have been a small round handle, Keṉṉal finally saw the crack she needed.

Seeing the gap, Keṉṉal returned to the real world, and, looking at Alena, she told her, „The cap is the gap, Alena. We have to send our power right there. And, once we feel that we’ve sent enough power toward that gap, we have to run. If not, if the power and the spirit of that jar feel us around it, we get captive inside that jar forever because the jar can heal its „wounds” if another soul is closed inside it.”

„Then… you think that’s useless to try to break it?”

„No. Our efforts won’t be in vain if we do things right. That’s why, do as I said, and I assure you that we’ll succeed in breaking it.”

Nodding, to let Keṉṉal know that she understood the message, Alena formed the famous fireball above her palm just as Keṉṉal did. Then, when the balls were the size of a golf ball, they sent them toward the jar’s cap and started to form other balls. Thus, using their power, each of the two foxes managed to create six red balls and a big black one, which they formed together. After that, when the 12 fireballs surrounded the jar, and the black one was right above the cap, Keṉṉal pointed with her head toward the exit, toward which they sneaked soon after this, as fast as they could.

They ran away just in time because, seconds after that, the twelve balls joined the clay body of the jar while the big black ball entered through the gap Keṉṉal saw on it. It didn’t stay too much inside because the jar spat that ball shortly after this. A huge mistake of the spirit that lived inside the jar because, by throwing the black ball outside the jar, the perfect form of the jar cracked. After that, the cap fell apart, falling next to the jar eventually, and dozens of souls were released from it, souls that had been seen running through that room and looking for the exit to escape from that place too.

A single soul that escaped that jar didn’t look for salvation after that. He was totally black and was faceless. His nails were long and sharp, as black as the rest of his body and vestment. He also had his eyes closed or at least those who would have seen him at that moment would have had that feeling. Yet, the moment the Spirit of the Jar Koṭi opened his eyes, a fire sparkled in them while he focused his glance toward a single place: where the two foxes had stood while working against him. Foxes that ran as chased by the devil toward the exit, followed from close by the Spirit, who moved like the wind through those sinuous tunnels, following them.

***

A black scarf had been taken by the wind off Parca’s head seconds after her beloved Jar Koṭi cracked, releasing the evil spirit and the souls closed inside it. How had that spirit gotten inside of the Jar Koṭi? Simple: Parca, with Tikil’s help, closed him inside the jar because… that Spirit was the first king of the Veḷḷams in fact, a beast that was always thirsty for blood and hungry to eat others’souls.

Parca and Tikil, even if he was fierce and scary, had defeated that Spirit. At that time, the Titan of Dread had just been closed inside that grotto and was still dreaming of freedom. This is how Parca managed to convince him to help her with the Spirit: by promising him the desired freedom. What Parca didn’t tell Tikil that day was when he would get back his freedom. Even so, she knew that it’d be so one day because she had the vision of two foxes breaking the Jar, foxes that were part of Inmar’s tribe, the only ones who could give Parca and other souls the freedom back.

Actually, Parca eagerly waited for that moment for centuries. She started to dream about her freedom more after that day when Zayleea fell prey to Tetapas. Yet, before falling prey to that snake and being closed into his jar, Zayleea predicted the death of both of them. What Zayleea didn’t know at that time was that Parca did everything for a purpose: to have the power to turn back time and change things at her will.

Yet, she had to wait for this for a very long time. Plan that started only when the black scarf had been taken by the wind off her head, and Irkā and Patavi split their bodies forever, killing Parca this way. Even so, none of them was aware of her freedom. They, feeling something strange inside, turned their back to that place, and headed, each of them toward the destiny they had. Their path was unknown even to them at that moment, just as it was something unknown to the world, a secret path that had to lead their footsteps to glory or maybe… to death.