Violent pressure forces my lungs to convulse, and I expel a burning liquid. I choke, sputter, every breath a jagged knife tearing through my throat.
Air floods in, raw and unfamiliar. My body trembles uncontrollably, muscles spasming as if they are waking from death. My heart slams against my ribs, frantic, desperate to remind me I am still alive.
I-I… I'm alive!
The realization is sudden, unexpected.
I can breathe.
Tears and snot and saliva streak across my face as I cough my lungs out. I feel a hand run down my back, and when I get to calm down, I look up to find Ike next to me.
"V-Vyswe'eyaga…" He helps me sit upright, then his hands cradle my face. He looks into my eyes, almost disbelieving.
I don't really understand what is happening. Last I remember, I breathed out my last while being devoured by something sinister… I wonder if that was the incarnation of Death I heard so much about. But now I am here, not dead, and breathing.
Did he save me? How?
My thoughts feel like a jumbled mess.
"Ike." I lean forward, resting my head on his neck, and nestle my face there. He is wet, but he is warm, so very warm, and that is all that matters for now. Quiet tears stream down my face, and I feel his hand in my soaked hair, gently patting me.
What has got into me? I should get a grip on myself.
When I open my eyes and jolt at the sight of figures observing us in the water, the mermaids. Only that they are different now, they have transformed entirely, from frightening monstrosities to young and breathtaking half-women half-fish creatures, the true definition of mermaids.
"Vyswe'eyaga! Ike!"
In the distance, Kayin and the others are bouncing from stone to stone to get to us.
"What… what has happened?" I ask in a haze.
"I have no idea. I lost sight of you after that giant junju thwarted our escape, then I was preoccupied with these other ones," he says, eyeing them cautiously. "Then I was suddenly blinded by a white light, and when I regained my sight, they turned into what they are now. The water levels also shrunk back to normal, and they fled out of sight."
He looks down at me, his expression caught between disbelief and fright. His fingers trace the contours of my face with fragile care. "When I found you—" his voice falters, tightening with strain, "you were face down in the pond, lifeless."
I swallow hard. Then… I really did drown… I had died, or almost did.
"But… but she saved you."
"Who… saved me?"
"Lo, thou hast awakened, fair child." Water climbs up like a hill, behind the mermaids, and Mami Wata's figure is shaped from it. She, too, has changed—the stormy blue light of her eyes has turned light and calm, and the shape of her body does not look like she threatens to boil and explode at a given moment. She leans her fluid body down slightly, a gentle smile as her voice resounds in a melodious symphony. "How delightful."
"Ma-Mami Wata…"
She chuckles. "One of the countless titles bestowed upon me by mortal tongues through the ages, indeed. 'Tis I."
There is a long, stunned silence that follows.
"Am I missing something?" Ewa's voice echoes. And now that I get a closer look at her, I notice that the wound she had received earlier has healed completely. There is still a hole gaping through the fabric of her lower abdomen, but the skin underneath is perfectly smooth. "Moments ago, that thing was hellbent on murdering us with her minions over there. How come they've all turned nice and pretty out of the blue?"
Kayin also steps up. "You called her Mami Wata, Vyswe'eyaga, what does that mean, and what is she saying?"
"How peculiar…" Mami Wata muses, "These mortals differ from thee, child… Yet in sooth… are much the same. The nature of their Spiritual essence hath transformed in some, whilst those who are sorcerers hath theirs in bonds." She looks down at me, "Their speech, too, hath altered entirely. Pray tell… just how many centuries hath trickled by?"
"I-I…" The words stumble out of me in a stutter. Why is everyone turning to me for their issues to be answered? I have some questions of my own.
Mami Wata and her daughters were junjus, but then they are not anymore. She wanted to kill me for something I did not know and do. What possibly coula have been done to her to provoke such enmity? I was wounded and dead, but I am healed and live once again… Well, I suppose the latter is easy to explain—Mami Wata must be the one to be thanked for that… somehow.
But can they all stop staring at me?
I am exhausted and disoriented. My head hurts so much, I think I will become sick. I don't want to deal with this. Why does it have to be me?
No… I should calm down. One thing at a time. First… the higher spiritual being.
After taking several deep breaths, I get on my feet with Ike's help, looking straight at Mami Wata. "O, great spirit. I fear I do not have the answers to all your questions. I do know that over six millennia have passed since the empire fell, but know little else. B-but—uh… Would you, please, allow me to diffuse the confusion with my comrades?"
I shift awkwardly when she observes me longer than necessary.
"So be it… I am bound to grant thee thus much."
"Thank you."
"What did she say?" N'jobu repeats.
"Oh, umm… She is very curious about you guys, and it would appear that she is confused about our current timeline. But I asked her for a moment to speak with you guys, and she agreed. And the reason you don't understand her is that she speaks an older, more archaic version of the Tongue."
"S-she's curious about us?" Sazayi bristles, watching her carefully. "Is it a good thing?"
"It's fine… I think. Alright, uh, where to start?" I collect my thoughts, considering my words. "I present to you Mami Wata… she is a Genie, beings my people recognize as Higher Spiritual beings… and if you were wondering, she is the spiritual being tied to the element of water. The half-women half-fish creatures with her are called mermaids; they are her daughters."
"A… Higher Spiritual being?" Kayin raises his head, gazing at her in wonder. "I think read about them in past records… But I was under the impression they were just a myth. This is amazing," he gasps.
N'jobu folds his arms, looking unsure. "You say she is a Higher Spiritual being, Vyswe'eyaga… so what, you are saying we are standing before some kind of greater form of lifeform?"
"Umm, yes, actually. Genies are the living incarnations of concepts of the world. In a way, their state of being are closer to the divine than mere mortals, they also used to be worshipped as deities in the past."
"A matter that did sorely vex both me and mine kin at the time," Mami Wata says in a saddened tone. "Forsooth, the Creator is ever grievously offended when his favoured children pour their veneration upon aught else of his own handiwork."
We all gape at her in stunned silence. This is not because she suddenly barged into the conversation, but because she spoke in the language everyone understands.
"I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" Gamba asks belatedly.
"No. You did not…" Ewa responds.
"She… she learned the language by just listening to a few sentences?" Sazayi fumbles, "That's… Is such a thing possible?"
"It is. As thou dost witness. I find it most displeasing when voices sound in mine ear, yet I cannot fathom their meaning. Tho I witnessed how the tongues of mortals shift with the turning of time's wheel, 'tis with little toil that I study thy speech and swiftly make it mine own."
Another stretch of stunned silence.
"She sounds funny, though."
I cringe at Ewa's… lack of tact, but Mami Wata does not seem to mind. Anyway, it is for the better, it makes things less complicated now.
"Now then," she leans closer, "thou hast spoken of the Nchāren empire's fall, child, and of millennia slipping by?"
I nod and tell her my point of view on the days before I was put in a coma-like sleep. I also tell her of the months I spent after waking up—alone—and how I met Kayin and his expedition group, and off the mission I was given by Tchio.
She listens without interrupting, observing me and the others with an eerie stillness. I cannot tell from her facial features if any of the news I bring her affects her in any way, but her daughters don't have the same composure as their matron. They appear visibly shaken as I recount, gasping and looking between themselves in distress, their tails flapping nervously against the water.
"Which brings me to ask," I continue. "My Lady, what happened to you and your daughters, how did you turn into junjus, and… why did you harbour such hate toward me when you were in that state? Do you…" I swallow hard, "Do you know why all this is happening?"
She quietly regards me once more, then a deep sigh echoes.
"I see..." She pauses for several more seconds before saying, "This 'Corrosion' of which thou dost speak, I believe it was the very plague that afflicted me and mine daughters." Her body ripples, "I do faintly recall—that corrupted thing creeping into my and mine daughters' very being, corrupting both mind and soul. 'Twas as tho I were torn asunder, then callously knit together again and again—an agony without end, ever waxing in its brutality. An eternity of suffering, wherein all thought was bent to harm, to kill, to destroy… and to hatred beyond measure."
Her voice is steady, almost nonchalant, but I somehow feel the deep agony and sorrow in her words. I recall what I saw when she swallowed me; that corrupted core, reaching out its cold tendrils to me, thieving on what little life was left of me. It did not feel as agonising as what Mami Wata described, but… they are very probably of the same source.
"I thought the torment endless," she said, and her expression softens, "That is, until I felt thee."
I snap my head up. "Me?"
"Indeed. I felt that familiar warmth, a flame bright and pure, burning away at the filth in my heart and bringing gentle heat unto my soul grown cold."
I open my mouth, then close it, then I shift my weight under my feet. Everyone is now focused on me—human and otherwise—and the attention makes me feel awkward.
"I-I don't remember doing anything—I mean, I-I was drowning…" My hand instinctively reaches for the pendant around my neck. "A-anyway, from what you said, the Corrosion is the reason you and your daughters turned into junjus, right? Might you have any idea where it came from, when it started even?"
"I fear not, for I keep no measure of time as thou and thy mortal kind do." She pauses, and her voice becoming pensive. "However, I do recall one discourse with mine own kin—thou wouldst know him as… Anansy, I believe. 'Twas in the days when thy people yet walked the earth. He warned me, saying, 'These mortals have been up to no good.' I inquired what he meant, but he dismissed it as naught but a hunch. It stirred me not, for it was no rare thing—he had spoken thus on several occasions before."
"Anansi?" Sazayi asks, "That giant spider?"
"No, not that one. She is speaking of the Genie of Erudition." I elaborate when they stare at me in confusion. "You remember how I told you that Anansis are mystical beasts, right? Well, mystical beasts are, essentially, fragments of a Genie's beings, independent extensions of them, of sorts."
Kayin, Sazayi and N'jobu frown in dissatisfaction when they realize that I will not explain further. But this is hardly the time for a whole history class.
I sigh. Disappointment growing in my heart.
This information is not so bad, it is not much, but insightful still. At least I now know, I might learn more about this Corrosion from the Clever One. I just need to find him… and hope he hasn't been tainted like Mami Wata was.
"You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you, my Lady?" I ask tentatively.
"Mine kind doth never settle in one place, dear child, nor hast we ever cared to track the location of each other."
I nod. Of course, it wouldn't be so simple.
"I cannot fathom how grievous thy burden must be, nor how heavy the weight upon thine shoulders. To awaken alone, bereft of thy kin, in a world most harsh and foreign. To bear a divine charge whilst thou art yet so young… Thou art a brave one, indeed."
"…Ah." My voice catches in my throat, and I feel a lump inside. It takes me some time to collect myself before I manage to talk properly. "T-thank you. It, it wasn't so bad… Um, will you and your daughters be alright?"
"My soul is weakened and sorely maimed, I shall need time to recover from the centuries of torment. As for mine daughters," she pauses, "Not all hath been freed—still do I hear their cries and distress. Therefore, shall I not rest, nor take ease, till each of them hath found peace."
"How are you going to do that?"
Her forms ripples. "With thine aid… I could save them."
My help?!
"Vyswe'eyaga can't go with you… venerable spirit," Kayin announces quickly, "As you know, she already has another pressing obligation."
She chuckles softly. "Far be it from me to turn her from her path."
Her liquid body ripples again, and her form dissolves in a swirling vortex. When it dissipates, Mami Wata now stands upon the still water in a complete humanoid form. But I, along with everyone else, nearly choke on our breath at the sight before us.
Her figure is unveiled, radiant and unadorned, as though a sculptor's masterpiece had stepped into life. Her face is the loveliest thing I had ever seen, graceful and timeless. Lustrous hair cascades down her shoulders, veiling her back like a silken curtain, flowing all the way to her ankles. The curves of her body shimmer with an otherworldly allure, mesmerizing, breath-taking.
None of us had expected such a vision—naked, unearthly, and impossibly beautiful. A hush falls over the group; even the air seems to hold its breath.
Shock binds us in silence. From the corner of my eye, I perceive Ike struggling to look away, yet I cannot summon the same resolve. My gaze is ensnared by the aquamarine jewels she has for eyes. My eyes rove helplessly across the divine contours of her nude body. She is so enthralling that I cannot find it in myself to be jealous of the sheer beauty she exudes, all I feel is admiration and awe.
"O mine! Do pardon me, children," her voice tolls like a bell within my mind, snapping me out of my trance. In a quiet trickle, water rises from her feet and winds about her body, weaving itself into a deep blue robe that conceals her nakedness. "I had forgotten how… sensitive thou humans art."
"Sorry… W-we didn't mean to—"
"Do not fret, dear," she smiles the most beautiful smile, then beckons me with an elegant wave of her finger. "Come closer."
I hesitate for a fraction of a second, and when I make I step forward, I feel Ike's hand claps around my forearm. When we make eye contact, a tacit agreement goes between us, and he slowly let go.
I don't even need to use my water walking spell; my feet hold firm the moment they make contact with the water. Her daughters swim aside to let me through, and in a couple of steps, I am standing before her. She is even taller than I expected—she is at least three meters tall.
She raises her hand, palm facing me, waiting. I mimic her gesture.
I watch her nervously when she suddenly intermingles her fingers with mine, but the awkwardness quickly fades when I feel warmth in my chest.
A gasp escapes my lips when my whole arm catches fire. But I do not burn. Even my clothes are intact. I only feel a strange familiar warmth.
There is a tentative pull, the heat in my arm is being tugged, gently, as if asking for my permission. My gaze shift from my burning arm to Mami Wata's face, where a gentle smile rests upon her lips. I don't know how I do it, but I… let go, and the tug becomes stronger. The fire upon my arm subsides, and I watch as light flows from me into her, settling at last in the centre of her chest.
She lowers her hand, resting it on top of her chest. "I thank thee. Now shall I be able to save mine precious daughters… with this ember thou hast lent me."
"W-what was that?" I ask in wonder. Those flames were not normal flames. They did not require any spark but instead flared spontaneously, and as it burned, not even an ounce of my spiritual essence was consumed.
She smiles again, but this one is different, it's the type of smile that says she knows something I do not.
"Why, of course, this is thine Endue."
"My… Endue? What do you mean?"
She hums lightly. "It is not for me to tell, thou must seek the answer thyself, child."
Before I can voice any protest, the water moves under my feet, and I am back on solid land among my companions. I stare belatedly at Mami Wata, the Lady of the Sea, who performs a small, elegant bow. "Whensoever thou art in need of aid, stand thou beside flowing water and call upon me… and I shall come."
I wanted to ask her more, it frustrates me that she may know something about this strange new power I seem to be bestowed with but would not say anything. But it is not like I could force the answer out of her.
As she straightens, she suddenly staggers forward, her face frozen in shock. Her gaze drops to the centre of her chest, and my breath halts at the sight of a blade lodged there.
A deafening silence follows—neither I, nor Mami Wata, nor her daughters, nor anyone else dares to breathe a word. Time itself seems to falter; we remain transfixed, staring at the weapon that has impossibly materialized in her chest. Then, with brutal swiftness, time surges forward again: Mami Wata collapses to her knees as the blade is wrenched free.
Her daughters scream. Hands seize me, dragging me back, yet I cannot tear my eyes away. I stare at Mami Wata—at her aquamarine eyes, which had never betrayed emotion, now widened in a shock that mirrors my own, at her chest, where silver blood seeps from the gaping wound.
But all comes to silence when a terrible essence submerges us. It is like a dam being opened and we are hit by the furious torrent. It is that same regrettably familiar foul essence of the junjus, but immeasurably worst—It is violence and rage and madness all at once.
This essence is so overbearing that shiver at the mere thought of gleaning into it with my Gaze. It is to the point that every single soul in this cave is visibly and physically affected by it. I can't move. I can't speak. I am a frozen statue, my limbs useless appendages that my brain forgot what to make use of.
The ground quakes and there is the sound of splashing water. That is the only sound that reverberates as we all remain still, and soon a figure walks its way over Mami Wata's shoulder. He is tall, incredibly tall, easily twice the height of Mami Wata, a veritable giant.
"Oho... would you look at that?" His voice is dark and deep. I feel can feel it in my bones. The giant looms like a living monolith—a mountain of muscles and barely restrained strength. A massive, curved blade rests across his broad shoulders, catching the light. He grins, and the sight of those rows of sharp, pearly teeth chills me more than the weapon itself. His blood red eyes examine, with interest, Mami Wata's kneeling figure who is still writhing in pain on the water.
"I was wondering what sort of disturbance required that I be sent for investigation." He seizes her by the hair and haul her until their faces meet. "And here I stumble into this… curious scene. What has become of you, Lady of the Sea? Are these insects responsible for that?"
Only now does he acknowledge us—and I wish he hadn't. His eyes lock onto mine, and every hair on my body bristles. His eyes widen just slightly, and in that instant he releases her. My vision blurs, the world tilting, and when clarity returns, my blood runs cold: his massive head looms before me. My body trembles, or tries to, but even that is denied to me as his grip holds me firmly in his fist.
I feel like a measly doll in his fist as he studies from all angles.
"A daughter of the People of Old?" His grin becomes rapacious, his eyes glowing maliciously. "O, how long it has been? Tell me, are you responsible for what has happened here?"
My throat tightens, suffocated at the sight of those crimson eyes. A primal terror seizes me; deeper than any fear I ever imagined possible.
"No matter. It had been eons since I last saw those of your kind. Are there more of you lurking around? If you tell me where they hide, I promise to eat you last—"
My body is abruptly released, and I am falling. When I next open my eyes, I find myself on another rock platform on the other side of the cave… and I am in Ike's arms.
I gasp, staring at his expressionless face before my eyes flicker past to the giant looming behind. He stands motionless, frozen in the same posture as before, his arm still raised as though he were holding me aloft. Except… his closed fist is devoid their fingers and spraying blood like a fountain.
The giant regards his mutilated hand with chilling detachment. And after some time turn his gaze shifts back to us, something dangerous gleaning in his eyes.
"This… this is getting interesting." He stretches his arm toward us, and before our stunned eyes the bloody stump begins to mend. From bones to nerves to muscles to skin. "You will be the first to die."
"Enough!" Mami Wata's voice explodes, and in the next instant the giant is hurled against the cave wall, an icicle spearing through his shoulder. He seems utterly unfazed, even as she staggers to her feet. "I shall keep the fiend at bay. Go now, children—seize this chance and flee."
"Wha—"
I don't get to finish my sentence before a sudden flood surges forth and sweeps us away.