Ambai peered at her mother's distant shadow. Tears burned her eyes and her lower lip trembled. 'I am going to be a bat's dinner!'
She laid limp in the bat demons grip. 'Gran, I failed you.' She whimpered.
"Little ant, are you crying? Don't worry I will eat you soon," the bat laughed. Its laughter made it unsteady as it kept waving Ambai around.
She could vividly remember her grandmother's weak form when she left the world. 'No, I can't give up yet. I have to fight for my life.' Ambai bit her lips and glared at the ugly bat.
'Ugly demon, I will stew you into a soup in hell,' she screamed pulling at its elastic skin. With her gummy mouth she bit onto the flesh.
"Hey kid, stop it that tickles," the bat giggled. It scratched itself with its other talon.
Its sharp claws scratched her face and her hands but yet still she did not let go.
"Come on kid, it's useless," The bat said scratching her even more.
Blood flowed from her gaping scalp blurring her vision. 'Never. I will never give up.' The bat's stinky blood flowed inside her throat burning her tongue.
'It burns like acid,' she whimpered. She spat out the disgusting flesh and retched.
"Kid, are you dying?" The bat looked down and giggled.
'Like hell. I would not go down without a fight.'
Ambai glared at it with all her passion. She spat out the blood in her mouth into its beady eyes.
"AHH, MY EYES," the bat screamed. In its struggle the bat dropped Ambai.
She could see the thick branches of the forest as she fell. She closed her eyes firmly and thought, 'I'm gonna die.'
All of a sudden a warm pair of hands held her. She opened her eyes wide. A man wearing golden armor was holding her in his arms.
"Prince Erudite, I will keep you safe," the man said, holding her close to his chest. "Yuki, fly low into the forest," he whispered holding the rains in his other hand.
The unknown animal under him screeched loud as it lowered them down towards the forest.
'Is that a bird? Is this man riding a bird?' Ambai glanced up at him with curiosity.
"Ahh, little ant, I WILL KILL YOU," the bat screeched plunging down.
The man glanced up and screamed, "Yuki, dodge left."
They both dodged left as the bat swooped past them.
"Hide between those braches," the man whispered pulling the reign. The bird stepped on the branch and stooped low. The man was looking ahead with a long sword in his hand.
Ambai's heart was beating rapidly. With her unsteady neck, she was looking behind them. A bat appeared behind her slowly and grinned with its teeth on display.
"Waaa, waa," she cried.
But it was too late. Before the man could notice it, the bat bit into her arms and flew high.
With blurry eyes, she watched the man being brutally killed by another bat that appeared in front of him. Her mind went blank in pain.
'I have to free myself.' Ambai wiggled around in its hold.
"Little ant, are you trying to escape?" the bat shouted and bit into her midriff.
"Waaa-waaa," She wailed, kicking the bats beady eyes.
'It hurts too much.'
She had never felt so helpless before. But Ambai clench her small hands tightly.
'Not yet, I can't die yet.'
She almost lost her consciousness when another one of the bats met with the one carrying her.
"Hey brother, this human smells delicious. Why don't you give a share of his lungs? Oh, I heard baby's liver is a delicacy. Come on share with me." That stupid bat kept annoying the one carrying her.
"Shut up this is my prey. Fuck off and find your own dinner."
The bats kept arguing for a while. After few minutes, another bat joined the argument.
"This kid is the legendary angel's tears dummy, that's why he smells so good. Have you ever listened to any of our mothers teaching?" said bat number three.
"Angels tears? I want him then. Give him to MEEEE!" bat number two furiously flew towards bat number one.
Ambai felt numb all over. Pain was clouding her consciousness but one of the bats added, "Hey, I heard the angel's essence is in the kid's penis. I—I want just that. You can have his liver and lungs."
Her eyes widened at this. 'What? My penis? They want to eat my poor little penis.'
She started fussing in the bats tight clutch. 'A clean death is nice. I don't want to be ripped apart; I'd rather—rather fall from this height and have an clean death.'
"Hey worm, stop squirming around," the bat said and bit harder.
'I—I can't breathe...'
However, Bat number two took this chance to attack bat number one. The other one attacked the one carrying me. It soon became WWE of bats in air.
One of the bats bit into her left arm and started pulling; bat number three started pulling her exposed right leg.
She wailed, "Waa, waa."
'No… I don't want to die like this.'
One of her arms was torn apart and she lost her consciousness.
Ambai woke up in the dark space again.
She slumped on the floor and whispered, "I failed." Her breathing turned ragged as she hyperventilated. "I failed. My gran… she needs me and I failed."
A strangled cry escaped her throat followed by a nerve wrecking sob.
"I failed. I failed," she wailed, punching the ragged floor. "Ahhh," she pulled her hair and she stooped into fetal position.
"Why the hell are you shouting so much? You disturbed this deity's sleep," She heard the tired little Deity's voice. "Hey, are you okay?" he mumbled.
"I failed, I failed," she mumbled pulling her hair.
"Human, stop mumbling and get up. You have to go back to that world again," the deity said pulling her limp arms.
She closed her eyes and whispered, "I failed her. I failed to bring my soul back."
"You have another chance to go back and retrieve your soul," The deity whispered pulling her cheeks.
She got up and exclaimed "Whhat? I cann?" She pushed his hands away and said, "You said I have another chance right?"
"Yes, you do. Last time you were stupid enough to leave without listening to my instructions fully so I will give you another chance to go back to that world." The deity pouted.
She wiped her cheeks with her palm. "So, it was my mistake that I died." Her lips started to trembled and her eyes burned with unshed tears.
"Technically yes, but you don't have to worry so much. This deity will send you to that world again," The little deity waved his hands frantically.
As the deity was speaking the small white light appeared in front of him. He held the white light in his palm and threw it from one hand to another.
"Now listen to me carefully. When your soul split up into three, your soul energy also split. So your soul fragments became very weak." The Deity let out a deep breath and continued, "The universe never tolerates such weak existence. It always finds a way to exterminate you. That is, in all these worlds your souls will be brutally killed or extremely sick."
"Brutally killed? Extremely sick?" Ambai gasped. Her eyes widened as she glanced the floating baby.
"Yes, but when you transmigrate to these worlds, your chance of survival will increase exponentially." He patted her shoulders and whispered, "Only then you will be able to retrieve your soul fragments. Any questions?" the deity said.
Ambai bit her fingernails and slowly raised her hand. "I lost you at the 'soul splitting' part."
The deity flicked her forehead. "Silly human." The deity took a deep breath and said, "I will explain it to you in simpler terms. For example, you are this cracker,"
The Deity's small hands appeared in front of her with a small cracker. "Your soul is split into three," the deity said splitting the cracker into three.
"You are this piece," he said handing one piece over to her. "And these two are the ones that you have to find." He pointed towards the other two. "Look at these pieces closer. How are they different?"
Ambai moved closer and peered at the cracker. Sniffing she mumbled, "They are in pieces?"
Deity slapped her forehead and shouted, "Idiot, they are incomplete. Just like you." A small glass of water appeared in front of him.
"Now look what happens when I dip this piece," he said. He dipped it and the piece of cracker disintegrated in seconds.
"It—it dissolved," Ambai said with her brows scrunched up.
"Yes, now look what happens when I dip a full cracker." The deity dipped a full cracker into the water, but it took longer for it to become mushy.
"See, it took seconds for the piece of cracker to dissolve and it took minutes for the full cracker to dissolve."
"Yes, it did," Ambai nodded wiping her nose in her sleeves. "So you mean that my soul fragments are disintegrating like the pieces of cracker."
"YES, thank the lord," Deity exclaimed.
"Then how do I stop the cracker from disintegrating?" Ambai said.
"It's very simple. You just need to go to those worlds."
"But didn't I do that last time also. How did I die then?" Ambai raised a brow.
"Last time you left before I could set the timings for the vortex. This time I will send you to the correct timing that will give you the maximum chances of survival."
"Even then my chance of survival is slim."
"Slim but survivable," the deity said in a nonchalant way. "There will be some hints to help you out. But beware; you will be facing many dangers and you have to survive until the other part of your soul is destined to live."
'I will be facing so many dangers in this world? What if those demons come back?' Ambai bit lips. 'Or maybe it is related to that prophecy my mother mentioned. Either way it's good to clarify.' She gave a sidelong glance at the floating baby.
She raised her hands up slowly. "Deity, my mother in this world mentioned something about a prophecy, is it the reason for my death?"
"I don't know anything about such prophecy," he said.
'Weird, he states that he is a deity but how could he not know about this,' Ambai held her chin. "Then do you know about this 'Angel's tear' the demons mentioned." She raised her eyebrows.
"How did you know…. Ahem, How do you expect me to know all this," the deity said.
"Aren't you a deity? Aren't you supposed to know all this?" Ambai narrowed her eyes.
"I—I am. Enough discussing this, I have to send you to this world quickly."
Ambai pursed her lips. "Fine, let's go."
She touched the small light and her soul got sucked up again.
Ambai slowly opened her eyes. The blurry vision of the ceiling of her canopy bed greeted her sight. She slowly moved her fingers but she felt someone's holding her hands. She saw a vague shadow of her mother Kaye, sleeping next to her bed.
"Mom," she whispered.
She slowly opened her bloodshot eyes and exclaimed, "Eru, My baby, are you feeling well? Wait till ask the maids to add some firewood." She rubbed her palm and blew warm air into it.
'I can talk. I can finally talk,' she sniffed. "Mom," She whispered in a horse voice. Warn drops of tears rolled down her face. She held her mother's hands.
"My precious, don't cry. It breaks my heart seeing you cry," She whispered and gave her a tight hug.
"Mom, I—Sniff—I love you so much," she whispered burying her head in her mother's shoulder.
Kaye started sobbing. "Darling, I thought we lost you again. You were burning a fever for almost two days. You did not wake up. You... you wouldn't even move. I was so scared I would lose you," she let out painful sobs after another.
"Mom, I …"
The doors open with a bang as her father rushed into her room. "Eru my son," he screamed and lifted them both in a bear hug.
Ambai felt warn tears on her shoulders. 'My dad is crying!' she glanced up at him. His bloodshot eyes met hers. "Oh Eru," He held her face in his palms and slightly kissed her forehead.
"Father," she whispered with a smirk.
He wiped his eyes subtly with his sleeves and whispered, "Oh what would I do with you. I told you multiple times not to play near the spring lake. But you just had to go and play. Forget that, I'm including swimming lesson in your itinerary." he reprimanded.
"Honey he has just woken up. We will talk about this later." Her mother swatted her husband's shoulders.
As her parents were having a discussing with each other, Ambai kept peering at them trying to burn their appearance in her memory.
'Father now has a few grey hairs and my mother is lither than I remember.'
Ambai smirked glancing at them. Her stomach growled stopping their little love spat.
"Eru, Honey, are you hungry? How could I forget? Yelli can you bring him something to eat," Her mother said.
Soon Yelli brought in a warm bowl of porridge. "Here Darling, Careful it's hot." Kaye placed the bowl on the bed tray.
Ambai ate the warm porridge with relish, while her parents observed her.
Her mother held hands and whispered, "Eru, do you want mommy to stay with you tonight?"
She noticed the black circles around her mother's eyes, 'They stayed up just for me.' "No mom, I will be fine," Ambai shook her head. "You both should take good rest," She patted her mother's hands.
"Hmm, Ms.Yelli please stay with the prince tonight," Her father said, glancing at the little maid.
"Yes, Your highness," she curtsied.
Ambai woke up early in the morning by the bright sunlight shinning through her window blinds.
She stretched and yawned.
"Your highness; Do you need any assistance" came Yelli's voice from the door.
'I really wanted to take a bath to wash off the sweat.'
"Yes, can you please prepare the bath for me," she said in a hoarse voice. She rushed to the bedside table and wore her veil before the maid could enter the room.
Yelli opened the door slowly and walked towards her bathroom. 'Em, even she seems to have some grey hairs now,' Ambai thought glancing at her auburn hair.
Ambai walked towards the window and was greeted by a view of a forest of giant trees. She gasped softly, "So much has changed. Even the trees have grown taller than I remember," she mumbled.
"Your highness, did you say something?" Yelli whispered behind her.
"Oh, Ms.Yelli, I was enjoying the view," she said gesturing towards the window.
"Hmm," she hummed. "The bath is ready your highness." she strode out after that.
The maids prepared an herbal and aromatic rose bath with fresh rose petals floating on top. Even the towels were folded neatly neat to the changing screen.
Ambai stripped out of her slacks and her shirt and sniffed it. "This is rancid," she whispered plugging her nose. She walked in front of a long mirror near the bath and was greeted by a small figure of a teenage boy. Her collar bones were protruding but her cheeks were fuller.
But what surprised her the most was that his face looked seventy percent similar to her actual face. "Wow, this kid looks like me, except the teeth. His teeth are not stained yellow," she mumbled.
She strode to the bathtub and took a quick bath. She walked out of the bath smelling like roses. "Ah, this is so refreshing," she said drying her hair with a towel. Her blond hair dripped onto her shoulders.
Shivering, she dressed herself quickly.
There was also another box with some patterns. "These patterns... I have seen them before." She turned the box side to side, trying to remember where she had seen it. It looked like a normal rubrics cube size with strange patterns. "Ah ha got it. This looks similar to my veil box," She exclaimed.
Opening the box Ambai found a small black mask made of flexible fabric. "Hmm this one looks very different from my veil. Maybe it's a face mask! Let me try it on." Magically the mask moulds on her face as if sensing her fine contours.
She ran towards the mirror and took a good look. The black mask was cover her entire face including her eyes; only shape of her straight nose and her plump lips were seen.
"Oh my, it feels like a one-way mirror. I can see myself, but others can't see me. My vision is also much clearer than the white veil cloth. I love it," she exclaimed. She weirdly felt like a spy so started striking some poses.
"Ayiaa," she kicked her legs above her head. But her legs did not even reach above her shoulders. "Ow, this is harder than I thought," She mumbled holding her aching back.
"Eru are you in there? Have you finished your bath?" my mother's muffled voice came from outside the door.
"Coming," Ambai said and darted to the bathroom door with my short legs.
"Oh you decided to wear your training mask; it looks good on you dear," Kaye smirked as she opened the door.
Pinching her chubby cheeks she said, "Your father has improvised your training plan for you to strengthening your defenses, but don't worry. If it's too much for you just come to me. I will talk to that brute," she said leading her to her wardrobe.
She opened the wardrobe door and pointed at the chain-mail and a leather suit, "I have prepared your training gear in here."
"As for now, you need to take a lot of rest to boast your strength," She pushed me lightly towards my bedside table. There was a small spread of steaming porridge and some jujubes.
'Oh, Bed and Breakfast. I likie,' Ambai grinned.
"Eat up dear. Mommy has something to do so I will meet you after your class," her mother left after saying this.
After eating her breakfast, Ambai fell asleep on her soft bed. "What a wonderful life." She mumbled before dozing off.
Knocking on the door woke her from her sleepy state. "Your highness, It's time for your Training," her muffled voice came from outside the door.
Eyes wide Ambai glanced at the door, "What training?"