"A tale for the history books"
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It had been a few hours since lady Kalah and prince Shiro left with one of the warships belonging to the special powers.
After they had departed, Prince Shiro feared that the supreme generals may send more ships after them, but lady Kalah was confident that they wouldn't.
After all, even if they'd followed behind them they'd be sailing right towards the same people that effortlessly overpowered their strongest soldiers. Not to mention that it only took one of these foreign persons to handle four supreme generals…
And there was no public knowledge how much more of these foreigners wielded the same power is the one known as Airu.
The night after their departure, Prince Shiro had woken up in an uncomfortably small bed. He and lady Kalah hadn't really spoken to each other since the night before.
Rubbing his aching temples prince Shiro stood up and left the room, and once he was outside, the first thing he felt was a tingling sensation that sent chills over his skin.
The sound of a serpent's tail rattling made his throat feel dry, as he approached lady Kalah who was sitting in front of a bonfire, holding a few fish impaled on a thin stick against it.
She looked up, and snorted.
"Hungry?"
Prince Shiro sat in front to the side of lady Kalah. As he waited for her to finish with the fish, he pulled his blindfold from around his head and looked down at it.
His milky eyes started watering up from the heat of the bonfire. Once lady kayak finished cooking the fishes, he wiped his face with the blindfold and tossed it into the calm fire.
Taking a bite out of the fish, Prince Shiro took a look over at lady Kalah's sharp expression and said:
"So… my brother, reiyo told me about what you did at the flower family estate."
Lady Kalah looked past the fire as she chewed her fish and waited a moment before responding.
"And what of it?… I told you four weeks ago that I had business with my family to take care of before we made our leave."
Prince shiro scrunched his nose at the sight of her blank expression. In his mind, he couldn't fathom how on earth lady Kalah could do what she had done just one night ago and not feel an ounce of guilt.
Sure, they both knew the evil of the royal families were, but for some reason he could never find it in himself to take a life of anyone without a second's thought of if what he did would help anyone in the future.
He knew lady Kalah almost better than anyone, and yet he still couldn't understand exactly how far she'd be willing to go to in order to pave the way for her better future.
"You never told me that you intended on slaughtering every single one of the flower family's combatants."
"I could understand if you had only killed the ones who went along with the government's plans on inciting another war, but there were members of our families who disagreed with them. Did they deserve to die as well?"
Lady Kalah sat silently for a few moments. And then said in a flat voice:
"If that were true, then explain to me how come they didn't use the power and influence they hold to help people and children like you and me back during the war. If they truly believed the opposite of those in power, then how come they waited until now and behind closed doors to express their opinions?…"
"People like that are people who'll only ever act on something that affects them directly but'll turn a blind eye to it so long as someone else is suffering so that they won't have to."
Lady Kalah cracked her fingers, and said:
"I believe that people with power who don't have the resolve to use it deserve to die. Especially if they associate with those in power who incite wars which only cause the deaths of others, while they sit safely behind their egos."
Hearing lady Kalah's words, Prince shiro felt an ache in his head.
"Then what about those children whose parents you've killed? How do you know that your actions today won't eventually drive them to end up the same as their elders?"
Lady Kalah's head lowered. The bonfire crackled as she reached for another roasted fish and chewed on it, and then she said:
"You and I both know that from the moment you're born into a royal family, all children are indoctrinated with their elder's beliefs. And eventually, they're beyond saving…"
"I couldn't bring myself to kill those children, but hopefully the deaths of their elders will be a wake up call. Because if it isn't… then they won't live through what's about to come out of our actions."
For a moment, Prince shiro heard the rattling sound of lady Kalah's soul more clearly.
Though he couldn't exactly see her eyes, he had a feeling that behind them was something entirely different from the same woman he'd spoken to just a few weeks ago.
Prince shiro's fingers dug into his palms.
"Have you ever thought even for a second that what we're doing could be the cause of the second blood war?"
Lady Kalah's expression towards Prince Shiro turned into one of disgust. She stayed silent for a moment as if to see whether or not he had been serious with such an odd question.
"Don't tell me you agreed to come all this way with me without knowing that the consequences of our actions could lead to the second war…"
"I'll tell you here and now, that inciting a war isn't my intent, but that's been a risk since the moment I've decided to defect that I've been willing to accept, because like it or not, war always has been inevitable."
Prince shiro wiped his hands down his face and sighed deeply. Suddenly feeling a crushing wave of uncertainty, he took another cooked fish and sunk his teeth into it…
And spent the next few weeks silently awaiting the moment they'd cross the world border and enter the old earth.
***
The next few weeks went by slowly for lady Kalah and prince Shiro.
At some point lady Kalah was meditating while listening to the ocean's waves slamming against the ship's hull, when suddenly a force so strong tugged at the warship that lady Kalah was immediately pulled out of her trance.
Prince Shiro came onto the ship's deck and shouted in a tense voice:
"Lady Kalah! What the hell's going on?!"
Lady Kalah didn't answer his question. Of course Prince Shiro didn't understand what was going on, after all his sorcery would only allow him to hear see the outline of sentient beings and objects, so the sudden force of the seas wasn't something he could comprehend.
Lady Kalah gripped the ship's front edges, and looked down at the raging seas. Through the hazy air, she could barely make out a growing whirlpool.
It was swirling around so fast that Prince Shiro couldn't hear lady Kalah's fervent shouts.
"It's a whirlpool! Grab onto something!"
As soon as Prince Shiro hugged the ship's mast, raging waters slammed against the ship again. This time with a force so strong that lady Kalah could hear the bottom of the ship beginning to break.
The ship groaned loudly as its wooden body broke while the whirlpool pulled them in faster.
Lady Kalah never took her eyes off the center of the whirlpool. Her wet hair was flailing around in front of her face, but she noticed that the sea was folding inward.
For a second, a curious thought momentarily distracted lady Kalah from the situation in front of her.
Could this sudden whirlpool be the border that separated the mainland from the old earth?
It made sense. The last time the supreme generals traveled to the world border, they didn't necessarily see or feel anything blocking them from crossing over.
But her thoughts were immediately cut off as the ship's vessel reached the sea's center, the vessel of the boat began to be torn apart so fast as if it was being put through a grinder.
As the warship tilted, lady Kalah found herself dangling off the edge of the ship's edge. Prince Shiro had also slid off the boat, but before he fell into the spiral he gripped lady Kalah's leg tightly.
"What the hell do we do now?!"
Lady Kalah's eyes darted between Prince Shiro and the whirlpool. Without thinking, she let go of the ship's edge and fell into the spiral along with Shiro.
The both of them were immediately submerged by the hungry waters, and flailed their arms like hooked fish for a while until they passed out from a lack of oxygen.
Very quickly, their vision went blurry and then their eyes fluttered closed.
They were as good as dead…
Until a giant animal the size of an island came into sight. Its wide glossy eyes were focused onto the two unconscious bodies.
A loud thundering sound came from the animal as it began to speak in an ancient incoherent language.
At the same time it spoke, a pale hand with black nails cupped lady Kalah's cheek.
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Continued in chapter 130: King Airu
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