Chapter 31 - THE OUTER SPACE

Princess Chu Hua froze in the middle of the enormous hall, with flaming candle lights playing with her sight. She scanned the room if she could see anyone, but she saw no one.

She could feel her heart pounding inside her chest unusually. Although she knew that no one would harm her, the voice was too powerful to stay calm.

An iron clinked to the wall behind her, and she winced in fear as she swiftly turned around. "You aren't meant to be afraid, aren't you a warrior?" A voice echoed from behind. This time around, she didn't bother to look around hastily, instead, she slowly turned to see the person.

Shockingly, her eyes met a young man who had no eyes. He was holding a staff in his hand, with a magical gem around his neck in the form of a necklace. It's best to describe him as a blind man, but was he actually blind? He doesn't look like one.

"M-may I know you?" Princess Chu Hua stammered as she took a step backward, to the door. To her, he looks dangerous.

"I have been inside this lonely place for a couple of years now. Living as the only merman in this great sea. I'm Dishi, by the way. Welcome to our world," Dishi said.

Princess Chu Hua couldn't utter a word, instead, she was staring at him in surprise. She wondered what must have happened to his eyes. Dishi took a few steps towards her, but princess Chu Hua was too occupied by her thought that she didn't notice when he came close to her.

"Are you ready?" His voice woke her up from her thoughts. Fear gripped her and she immediately moved away. Her fearful life made Dishi laugh out loud.

" I can't imagine seeing you standing before Cthulhu," Dishi teased and mocked her.

" I wasn't meant for this, and you know that." Princess Chu Hua said, and Dishi smiled evilly. Yes, she wasn't meant for it but because of love, she received what wasn't meant for her. Is that supposed to be his problem?

" You shouldn't have trusted him in the first place. I mean, the person who gave you the sword."

" But he didn't tell me about fighting any sea beast or monster." She responded, feeling sorry for herself.

" The young man in question doesn't know about it either," Dishi confirmed the question she has been asking herself if commander Lucifer was aware of this.

" You know what, I don't have enough time for discussion, let's get to what you are here for," Dishi said and threw a sword at her, and she grabbed it in the air.

" Wow!" Dishi gasped and said," You must have been trained for you to be able to catch that sword." That statement got her smiling as Lucifer's thoughts flashed through her mind. If not for him, she wouldn't have been able to do that.

" Attention, please," Dishi called out.

"Yeah! Yeah…! I'm listening," she responded. How does he manage to see or notice what she's doing? That's what she couldn't understand.

" Good, you can ask questions where necessary, but remember to stay focused," He advised.

The hall went dark at once. Princess Chu Hua was unable to see anything. Her breath ceased after sighting the creature before her. The great ocean monster, Cthulhu. She screamed out but out of fear, the scream came like a whispering.

The creature before her was a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like, whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. It was so terrifying that one can hardly take a second look.

Cthulhu holds no respect for human beings. He sees them as insignificant who are utterly worthless within the universe.

On seeing the fear in Princess Chu Hua, the candle lights turned up as it brightened up every angle of the hall. Princess Chu Hua's back was already against the wall as she tried to escape from the terrifying monster a few seconds ago.

She was shocked to see Dishi standing before her. That wasn't what she saw earlier.

'Did I have a dream or what?' She wondered. More surprisingly, Dishi's eyes were opened. Princess Chu Hua could see his eyes like a furry furnace in flames, staring at her in disappointment.

"H-how come you have eyes?" She found herself inquiring as she tried to stand her ground and hide her fear. She patiently waited for his response, but silence reigned amidst them.

"By the way, what was that for? I mean, the scary monster I just saw. I have never seen such a creature before. It was too gigantic to look at for a few seconds." She added.

"That's just an image of whom you're going to fight."

"What! That can't be possible. What the hell was that? He's bigger than I ever imagined. How will I stand against such a creature? His looks can kill someone a hundred times before he thinks of striking." Princess Chu Hua poured out her fear of Cthulhu.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you that 'you must fight him,' if you want to save this universe from destruction," Dishi responded and princess Chu Hua could see the seriousness in him.

" What do you mean?"

" I don't expect all these questions from you. Queen Andarta should have answered all these questions before letting you in here." Dishi replied with an angry tone, and Princess Chu Hua remained calm and composed.

"To cure your curiosity, Cthulhu is a great and powerful ocean monster, who came from outer space for battle commanded by a powerful god. Yog-Sothoth. It was a deadly battle that was going on between Azathoth, the blind idiot god, and Yog-Sothoth, the great old ones.

Azathoth made a magical sword that can destroy the whole universe with just a strike, but he didn't make it to destroy the human world. When Yog-Sothoth got to know about the magical sword, he rose against Azathoth to take away the sword from him so that he can get control over everything in outer space and the earth.

The sword has a golden stone on its handle which can transform anyone into any form he wished to be. When Yog-Sothoth saw that Azathoth was more powerful than him despite having the sword, he threw it to this earth, and luckily for us, it landed on this ocean.

Queen Andarta found the sword and as a goddess as she is, she was able to see the secret behind the sword. That sword you're seeing is the same sword that enables us to look like humans rather than pure mermen and mermaids.

That same sword brought out this kingdom's building structure, which came out from nowhere. For the golden stone to be safer, queen Andarta tried everything in her powers and took off the golden stone and placed it somewhere safer. No one knows about the whereabouts of the golden stone except for queen Andarta.

Nevertheless, no one was worthy of holding the sword, so, one day it disappeared from where it was placed and went into the human world searching for who will be the caretaker of it. The sword ended up in a barren woman's womb, and she conceived a son.

Since then, we have been expecting this young man to come around this ocean. Through the help of queen Andarta, we were able to scent the sword when you were just a few miles away from the ocean.

If not that the sword had been in a hiding place, Cthulhu would have risen against us to capture the sword and take it to his master, Azathoth. Now, the sword is back. No doubt that he is coming anytime soon. Be ready!"

Dishi narrated and Princess Chu Hua tirelessly stood as she paid attention to his saga. Although she didn't seem to understand the whole thing, she needed more clarification, but she was afraid to ask any questions.

"You can ask anything if you'd like to," Dishi's voice echoed.