Nostalgia turned to look at the masters who had come to buy slaves and she released her pol.

"The Great Cold," She said.

The gray hail descended on the auction hall. The people there literally froze in place and everyone had gray ice wrapped around their bodies.

With a practiced movement, she turned to the left and slashed the air. Two djinns appeared in the direction of her sword, trying to defend themselves against the flying sword.

There was nothing djinns feared more than the white bead and the Great Cold. They used both their weapons and claws to block it but it went through them with ease.

The two djinns fell to the ground with gaping wounds in their stomach. Nostalgia lunged forward and the djinns trembled in fear.

Who would challenge the daughter of Bihanzin?

She cut them down without giving them any chance to defend themselves or escape.

Then she turned her eyes to the sold slaves. As her eyes fell on them, all the chains that bound them fell on the ground.

Armad, on the other side, was looking at the intensity of her anger and comparing it to his own.

The young woman jumped to his side and grabbed his hand. Then she flew out of the hall and away from Infiria.

Meanwhile, the people on the third floor weren't affected by any of it. They saw everything unfold and chose not to interfere.

Three men sent to represent King Rafiyan Daljari just smiled and shook their heads. One of them was Asifu, the same person sent to the jinzidal earlier that year.

"That girl is insane," Asifu said. "I don't know what's going on but it's a big chance for us."

"So we won't stop them?" The other asked.

"No," Asifu said. "We won't stop them. Let her run away with the boy. She's just giving us a chance to defeat her father easily. She committed all the crimes here and we'll write it down and send it to Ururu, indicating that she was acting on behalf of her parents."

Asifu laughed. He then lowered his voice so as not to let the other people on the floor hear. "I never thought such a great opportunity would come to us so quickly. This is indeed great news. Let's present it to the King."

The other two nodded in agreement.

***

Princess Nostalgia dropped Armed in a cave. The cave was an isolated place in Sisiya that was reserved for the princess alone. She would usually go there and spend days to rest and miss her mother.

A cool stream of water ran across the cave between many chairs and couches and food and drinks that Armad had never even seen before.

Nostalgia went to a wardrobe by the side and picked a new dress, which was adorned with gold, and wiped some of the dirt and blood from his body.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Armad didn't know what to say for some time. "It seems I'm not being taken as hostage."

"No," she said and kept cleaning.

Armad frowned. It felt awkward having her cleaned his body like that but he'd more important things to focus on so he let her continued while he thought about it.

Why was she doing these things? Was she in the right state of mind? Her father was a damn jinzidal King. They made the rule about slavery. Why was his daughter helping him break the rules? It didn't make any sense. Was this some elaborate plot to get him? But that also didn't make sense. Why would she go to such length? Why not just attack him and take him hostage, surely a King had that power? He remembered this wasn't the first time she saved him. Her brothers didn't want her to save him the other time. What would they say now?

After a while, Armad grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Why?" He asked.

"Why did I save you?" She asked with a slight frown, to which Armad nodded. "I can always return you to them if you want."

Armad opened his mouth to rephrase his statement but she stopped him.

She took a deep breath and wiped her face. "Walk with me, please."

Armad hesitated for a second before he nodded. She took him to a small door at the end of the cave. Beyond the door, Armad found himself in a large garden that offered a pleasant atmosphere. The cave was in the middle of the garden and it wasn't the only cave there.

Nostalgia and Armad walked as a young man and woman for the first time in history.

"You know how to get yourself in trouble," Nostalgia said with a sigh. "Will you tell me how you became a slave?"

Armad told her everything. He didn't attempt to hide anything.

"I see," she said and just kept quiet.

Armad got tired of the short questions and irrelevant answers and decided to ask. "Are you fighting the slave trade?"

She chuckled softly. "You must have a lot of questions right now, I guess."

Armad shrugged.

"You see," she said. "My father has been looking for a way to destroy the jinzidal for a long time now. But doing so isn't possible even for him. He needs to have the pol to defeat the other four jinzidal kings. Many powerful people who hate slave-trading obey it because they can't stand against it. Even my father, who is one of the jinzidal kings, doesn't have the power to do so. I once asked him about the power of the jinzidal kings and he told me that even the Ururu can't take on all the jinzidal Kings at once, and even if they win, they will lose more than half of their army and people. Ururu will not accept that. That is why they respect the jinzidal Kings.

"My father wants to take down the jinzidal nonetheless. So he found out that except for Triple Factor, whose whereabouts are still unknown, there is only one other person who has fought against Ururu and won. That person is Bayajidda. He is the one you heard speaking in that city.

"My father discovered that Bayajidda has left a message before he was killed. The words you heard from that board were the message left behind by Bayajidda. Only the person who visits the forbidden city of giants and listens to Bayajidda speaks can hear the message. That's why my siblings and I were in the dungeon. We managed to infiltrate the forbidden city but we couldn't hear the voice. For some reason, you did. So I saved you from the forbidden city and you got the message for us.

"Now take this," she grabbed Armad's hand and put a ring on his finger without asking for permission, "we will probably never meet again. But this ring will help you out, hopefully. Stay out of trouble, please. And..." She looked at a bracelet in her wrist that was suddenly giving a faint glow. "Damn. He will be here shortly and you shouldn't meet him now, or ever."

"Why?" Armad shouted without even intending to. "Why are you helping me?"

Nostalgia frowned as if she was unable to comprehend what he was saying or he was stupid for asking about it.

"Why you say? Isn't it obvious? You know about the secret so I can't let them catch you or you'll speak."

Armad frowned. He somehow didn't expect (or hope for) that answer.

"Then why not just kill me as your brothers suggested? I'll be much quieter in the grave."

She stared at him thoughtfully. And after a while, she sighed. "Perhaps I should try killing you."

Armad ground his teeth. She was teasing him and he could see it even if her face didn't show it.

After a while, she looked serious. "If you had freed those slaves, Ururu would have killed you."

Not in the mood to hear his response, she pushed him back. Armad tripped into a portal behind him that he didn't even know was there.

He tried to jump out of it but he was too late. The power in the portal pulled him in and he disappeared.

The last thing he saw was a man appearing behind her. Just looking at him made Arma sweat.

Is that Bihanzin?