Dhaga opened his eyes to make sense of where he was. He recalled he was meditating when he was interrupted by a voice. The mysterious strands that immobilized him were gone and he was suddenly moving freely. A quick look was enough to convince him that he was neither in the large cavern nor surrounded by water. He was surrounded by pure darkness with no light to be seen anywhere. The young naga felt like he was just moving through nothingness. With nothing serving as a guide, Dhaga felt himself wandering aimlessly in space. As he wondered if he would get out, the unfamiliar voice returned.

“Welcome to my realm, young naga.”

The voice appeared to have approached him from all directions. Meanwhile, the darkness concealed the owner of the voice.

“Where am I?”

Dhaga wasn’t in the mood for niceties. He was worried sick about his sister and this stranger was taking up his valuable time.

“Seiluxr said you can be a hothead at times.”

“What?”

Dhaga thought he misheard the stranger but he was certain his sister’s name was spoken out loud. The thought of the stranger being responsible for his sister’s disappearance formed in his mind. Before the naga could voice his thoughts, the stranger spoke again.

“I met your sister before her demise. She had such promise as a sorceress but her time was sadly cut short. In return for her freeing me, I will grant you the following powers. Pick one for yourself and give the others to those worthy of them. I’m certain you nagas need help against your foes. Despite being away, I can sense our enemies closing in.”

Dhaga felt immense amounts of energy surging within him. Then, he watched as five orbs formed around him. The orbs orbited around him rapidly at first but they eventually settled into a steady motion. Each of them was a different color: red, blue, yellow, pink and black. Recalling what the stranger told him, the young naga studied the orbs but, other than their colors, nothing else differentiated them. As he leaned closer, he could sense something different from each orb. He first focused on the red orb which had incredible magical powers emitting from its surface. The magical energies felt almost familiar.

It's a shame Seiluxr won't get her hands on this. She would have loved it!

Next, he approached the blue orb which had no magical properties. However, he didn’t know what it was about the object but, when he approached it, he felt raw power that threatened to swallow him whole. He could sense the power crushing down on him the closer he was to the orb. When the nerves became too much, Dhaga backed away allowing his heart to calm down.

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That orb isn’t for me, that’s for certain.

When it came to the yellow orb, Dhaga felt the opposite of what he experienced with the blue orb. He felt the inability to approach it as something solid stood in his way. He wanted to get closer but the pressure kept him at bay. After a few attempts, he gave up due to no progress. Dhaga’s attention then turned to the pink orb. He reached out with his fingers and, upon contact, his eyes widened as a cut he received recently vanished.

A healing orb?

Healing magic was extremely rare for the nagas. This was largely due to the abundance of tidal wells within naga territory. The tidal wells had healing properties that depended heavily on the phases of the moon. The wells were at their most powerful during a full moon at which they were capable of saving a naga from a near death experience. During a new moon, the wells could only heal minor cuts and injuries. Given their heavy reliance on the wells, the nagas never adopted or developed healing magic. Dhaga had learned firsthand how shortsighted the approach was when his patrol faced enemies outside their territory, rendering the tidal wells irrelevant. A healing orb could improve the odds of naga survival when they operated outside naga territory. The pink orb, after healing his wound, no longer glowed brightly.

Huh?

The black orb glowed brighter than the other ones. Dhaga reached out to make contact, feeling himself pulled into a different realm. The new realm was covered in darkness similar to where he was.

Curses! I should’ve known this orb involves dark magic.

Yet, the young naga felt no fear in this realm. He felt a certain degree of calmness when the darkness parted to show a pack of sea creatures Dhaga had never seen before. The creatures were mostly dark on top with white undersides and white patches around the eyes. They moved in a very coordinated formation as they surrounded a prey much bigger than them. As the creatures took turns attacking the prey, the young naga felt something swell up within him, as though his very instincts were telling him to act. Normally, he was someone who relied to reasoning. This time, he trusted his gut feeling and, as he made contact with the prey, he found himself back in the large cavern.

“Dhaga!”

The young naga turned towards his podmate. As he turned, it dawned on him that the strands were no longer there. He could move freely while his necklace no longer shone. He began questioning if he was hallucinating since he entered the cavern.

“Are you okay, Dhaga?” asked the naga who was easily twice the size of Dhaga. “You seem to be zoning out a lot.”

“Sorry, Athexhi.” Dhaga looked down at the hand that made contact with the black orb. “I cannot explain what I experienced but something tells me that my sister is dead.”

“Are you sure?” Athexhi stopped beside Dhaga.

“I haven’t seen her corpse or gotten any confirmation but a certain voice convinced me so.”

Dhaga felt a punch send his back a few meters in the water.

“What was that for?” He angrily shouted at Athexhi.

“I was worried that you fell under a charming spell,” said the giant naga. “Doesn’t seem that way.”

“Let’s head back,” said Dhaga who couldn’t suppress his smile. “I know you think I’ve gone crazy but I know what I said was true.”