"But how will I get out of this situation? I have to go back to my life you know!" she yelled at Zar Hhital
"That is not my problem, you should have thought about it before you joined hands with people like Alekon Do" his rage boiled over every time his name came up, he spat angrily
"Listen mister!" she grabbed him "I stab people like him, then I think about whether they are worth talking to or not. He forced me to do this. You two seem quite similar" she said and left him
"Never compare me to that soulless lowlife" he said clenching his teeth
Vikaya got ready to pull out the corpse again
"Come on!" she said "You should be doing this"
"Ah uh. It is your responsibility, however I will help you" he hovered ahead and sat on the coffin. As Vik pulled it ahead, it felt as light as a small bag of potatoes. A smoke like chain emerged again, wrapping itself around Vikaya and Zar
Seeing how light it was Vikaya almost ran ahead, without attracting any suspicion, she moved ahead at a fast steady pace
"Who knows, if the ice breaks and everything goes well maybe I will let you go at the end of our game" said Zar enjoying the ride
"So, shall we begin?" he asked in a sinister tone
Vikaya had only reached halfway "Sure" she said hoping to make it to the gate before his tale ends. Vikaya hoped he would get distracted and make it long and boring, just like those teachers in school.
"There was once a woman named Sinaxa living at a time and place which is considered non-existent and fiction on this planet" began Zar Hhital delighted
Vikaya nodded at him to go on but to her surprise he fell silent. She stopped and turned to look around but to her shock, he disappeared. Without wasting a second, she turned to quickly move on but jumped at the sight before her
"Thought I would leave you?" said Zar standing in front of her "Not so easily Pekassador. I am quite fond of you actually. So, where was I?"
He stopped for a moment "Ah yes. Sinaxa" he said and snapped his fingers while his blood-deprived eyes stared into her
In a swift moment of blackout and blinding lights in the next, Vik opened her eyes with strain and found herself in yet another unfamiliar terrain
"Where am I?" she said but to her horror no one could hear her
"It is not enough to just listen to the story, the fun is when you are a part of it" she heard Hhital's echoing voice
"Get me out of here you dead rat!" she yelled
"Relax, you are just a side character here, enjoy the show from the front row!" he said and laughed "It rhymes!"
"Are you sure they would approve?" asked man to another man sitting in a boat
"If they don't I will do everything I can to win their hearts!" he replied
They finally reached the port
"Tie up the boat" the man said to Vikaya and she nodded finally noticing what side character she was, a servant boy
As the men walked ahead she quickly followed them, they walked for a while and reached a beautiful house. Vikaya looked around the strange country, although devoid of any modern technology, the country still seemed advanced in their lifestyle, clothing and mechanical methods to make things easy
"Give me the regular ones" said one man approaching a grocery stand
The man quickly took out various fruits and vegetables in baskets and laid them out on an empty table. The buyer brought out a small box. Vikaya's mouth fell open as she watched the man's next steps. He opened the lid of the box and pulled out various boards by sliding them out. The tiny box turned into a large box! But, wait there was more! As he filled the different groceries from each basket, he slid more boards into place and they formed a compartment for each vegetable and fruit!
"Holy Smoking Goat!" exclaimed Vik "Where can I get one of these?"
The man bought the vegetables and went on his way and Vik just stood there lost. It was surprising to see how it completely slipped her mind why was she there
"Oh the story! Those men!" she said slapping her forehead. Sprinting ahead, a panic-stricken Vik realized she lost those men, until she caught a glimpse of them on the porch of a house entering inside. She followed them. The housekeeper let her in
"They are talking so you sit in the kitchen and have some iced tea" she said smiling
Vik nodded and accepted the tea. Holding the glass in her hand, she sneaked ahead, closer to the living room. The housekeeper stepped out into the lawn. Thankfully Vikaya was able to eavesdrop easily
"My daughter chose you, her standards are high so I can trust her judgement about you" said the young woman's father
"I am glad" said the young man, while his friend stood a bit behind him
"My daughter has everything to support herself, but of course one always wants a companion in life so she chose you. But if you do anything to hurt her" said the father
"We will hunt you down and kill you and your friend if he helps you in any way" completed the mother
Both men were taken aback and frightened but still nodded
"Yes sir, mam" he said
"Sinaxa!" called the mother and a beautiful woman walked out from the dining room
"Zar was right, this is a non-existent and fictional time!" remarked Vik to herself
The couple was going on a trip together before getting married in a small ceremony. They would drop their friend back at his town and sail ahead to another city
The got ready to sail that afternoon. Sinaxa bid farewell to her parents and stepped into the boat, Vikaya pushed the boat ahead and got in
"All this labour!" she groaned
A deep growl of thunder rumbled across the sky
"Is it a sign to not move ahead?" said Sinaxa anxious
"Of course" snorted Zar whom only Vik could hear
"We'll reach the town by evening and will only start our journey the next morning, I think it will be alright" said her soon-to-be husband
It wasn't going to be alright. As they embarked on the journey ignoring their higher senses, they soon met a terrifying disaster
"Pirates!" yelled the friend
Vikaya stood up, squinting her eyes and couldn't believe what her eyes saw! A black skull decorated flag furled across the old, haunted ship
They quickly sailed the other way trying to escape but the depraved pirates caught them. As the sea dacoits approached them, a frisson shot through Vik's body
"Look what we have here, trying to escape" said the smelly beady eyed captain glaring at the four of them kneeled down on his ship
"We took everything Captain, now what?" asked a pirate
"Off with their heads!" he ordered
All of them screamed with terror, begging for their lives but Vik stared with horror, her lips shut with shock
"What did I end up in?" she thought, assured that this might be her end
Their screams fell on captain ignorant deaf ears as the pirates prepared their sharp weapons
The first one to go was the friend, a quick slash the blood went flying on all of them and his head fell off. The next was the husband, slash, his head gone!
Sinaxa was a powerful woman, a devotee of the Necroreccion goddess Devonssa. Ever since they crossed paths with the pirates she began mumbling verses to call upon the goddess. Before they could reach to harm her, a bright flash of light blinded them all the pirates and knocked them unconscious, the goddess appeared with glowing eyes and flowing aura around her
"Please bring my husband and his friend back!" she begged
"Don't beg Sinaxa. Demand what you what!" the goddess commanded
"Bring my husband and his friend back!" she said with a stronger voice
"Good!" said the goddess and smiled "Put their heads back on their bodies"
Sinaxa got up hurriedly, her feet still weak. She picked up the heads with tears in her eyes and put them back on the kneeled down bodies
The goddess swayed her staff and two bright lights appeared out of the gem and entered the bodies, the bodies healed and breath entered. Slowly both of them opened their eyes, Sinaxa was relieved to see that they are completely fine
But her relief was short-lived
"No!" she exclaimed with shock
She had placed her husband's head on the friend's body and the friend's head on her husband's body. What would she now?
Vikaya saw this with tremors of shock. She slowly got back up on her feet
"Oh sh-" she began but before she could complete she was pulled out of this strange realm back to the land that doesn't exist
"Shrinking shrimps!" she completed
"Wasn't anything like Jack Sparrow, was it? So, tell me..." began Zar standing in front of her
Vik shook her head with fear "Captain Jack Sparrow" she corrected
Vikaya tried to look ahead, but her view was completely blocked by the clever Hhital
"Can that goddess really resurrect the dead?" she exclaimed, slowly walking ahead
Zar nodded
"But I thought highly of Sinaxa until she made that mistake, who does that?" said Vik
"Fear. Fear and anxiety Pekassador" replied Zar getting impatient. Vik kept walking ahead
"So, tell me Pekassador" he repeated and held her shoulder which immediately stopped her from moving ahead, she tried but in vain
"Oye! That's cheating!" she yelled
"Hypocrisy is high here, I see" Zar remarked glancing at her sharply
"So tell me Vikaya, who should Sinaxa consider her boyfriend now? The one who has the head or the one who has the body?" said Zar
"Unfreeze me first" she demanded
"Off with your head with if you stall" warned the Hhital. She nodded
"Umm" said Vik thinking hard while slowly putting one feet closer to her destination
After thinking for a few seconds she hoped she got it
"The man who has the head" she replied
Zar raised his eyebrows impressed yet surprised "Why?" he asked
"Well, there are two reasons. Completely throwing science and biology out of the window. The love they have is stored in their memories, the feelings they have, is remembered by the head. That's why"
"I know that didn't make you come up with the answer. The second reason?" asked Zar curious
Vik sighed "I believe love is an expression of the soul. Love is strongly felt through the soul and the soul sits in the Ajna, our third eye which is located in our head" she concluded
"Perfecto!" said Zar delighted and swooped into a cloud of smoke and flew across the land onto the tree again
Vik saw this in horror! But to add to that, she found out that she was only two feet away from the gate! What a luck! She pulled the coffin, almost begging it to move but it didn't. She dropped the chains and ran ahead to escape but alas, the gate was gone
"Don't you think love is felt in the heart?" asked Zar hanging on the tree
Vikaya yelled with anger and stomped across the land and grabbed the Hhitala and dragged him down
"Now now don't ruin the fun, we are just getting started" he said unfazed
"Also, science and biology are one-dimensional, they limit the true power of the truth. Discard them will you?" he said
"I will kill you!" she said
The Hhital broke into a sardonic laugh
"You can't kill what's already dead" he said "Now, shall we start again or do you want a little break?"