"Will you put out a light if it's dark? We cling to hope, in the days of despair. The Pearl is our hope of regaining health." The King quietly whispered. He kept stroking his wife's hand which was trembling.
The Queen's eyes never left the Pearl. Arella did not have to think hard. She could see how dear the Pearl was to them. But it was useless, it could not heal the King. Arella could not find any energy in the orb.
"But, we guess it is time. We want to return it." The King spoke with difficulty. The Queen had patches of water pooling in her eyes but did not contradict her King.
Arella felt very awkward. She felt as if she was a big villain, bullying good people and snatching their candies.
"Help us return it to the mermaids." The King looked at her with clear eyes. Despite having a frail body, the eyes were adamant. The King was a good rabbit.
"I do not know where to find them." Arella jerked her hands while speaking. Her arms had become numb because of the pain and bloodlessness. Even if her vitality remained, she could die of blood loss! She had to finish this mission soon, that too, without dying!
"You are not one of them?" The Queen asked with surprise. Her voice was tinted nasally but the Queen did not lose her composure.
Was she? Even Arella did not know! So, she remained silent.
"I know their hideout, but I cannot lead you." The King spoke solemnly.
"Of course you can." Arella cut in between and picked up the bed in her arms. The King lost balance and fell on the bed and the Queen was too shocked to react in time!
"Hop on. I don't have much time." Arella looked at the stilled Queen and spoke generously.
The Queen without wasting any time hopped on the bed and Arella, cradling the bed and its inhabitants, started walking.
Thanks to the directions, she effortlessly came out of the web of the tunnels. She even stopped for a while and uprooted some green grass. She put the bundle on the bed, letting the pair feed on it.
The bed was huge and her arms hurt, but thinking of it as the last lap, Arella continued to march forward. Soon, they reached the bank of the pond. It was the same pond where she had started her journey to the hill.
The King let her walk at the edge of the pond. Then, he let her stop in front of a huge tree. The Pearl started to glow red and then, a winding staircase appeared on the water, going downwards.
Following the King's words, she stepped on the staircase. She did not have to walk because as soon as she stepped on the stairs, the staircase started becoming submerged in water. Arella quickly took a long breath.
"No need. As long as we are on the staircase, we can breathe normally." The Queen guided Arella.
Soon, they found themselves in front of an underwater cave. The Pearl, which was still in her hand, started shining brightly and wisps of red streaks appeared underwater.
Noticing the fluctuations, someone came out of the cave. It was none other than a mermaid. Slowly, other mermaids followed and came out of the cave. A jubilant expression appeared on their faces.
Happily, they started swimming in circles around the staircase. At first, Arella followed their movements out of alertness, but soon she began to feel dizzy. Hence, she stopped watching them.
The water was blooming red, not only because of the shining Pearl but also because of the blood! Her blood was slowly painting the water red.
A long awaited ding appeared in her mind, but it was not what she was expecting.
"Ding. Excessive blood loss detected. Vitality 5. You will die when vitality becomes 0."
Arella knew that she was only left with one option now- give the Pearl back to the mermaids in order to complete the mission. But the thing was, she was running out of time!
"Stop," Arella shouted loudly to attract the attention of the happily swirling mermaids.
Shortly, a mermaid with a Staff came to her. He had a huge white beard and sported an old fashioned crown. He must be the Mermaid King. Arella thought.
"We are here to return the Pearl. We expect you to stop sending soldiers to ruin our grasslands." Despite being frail, the Rabbit King did not reveal any weakness in front of his enemy.
"We wouldn't have if you hadn't attacked us first!" The Mermaid King angrily roared.
"We wouldn't have to if you had listened to our pleas!" The Rabbit Queen responded with the same momentum.
Arella did not have any time to watch this reunion drama.
"I can return the Pearl, but I want something in exchange." She spoke calmly.
Both the couple rabbits and the Mer clan turned to her simultaneously.
"I have heard that the Pearl can heal. Heal the Rabbit King and I will give the Pearl back." She spoke in a determined manner.
Once she entered the waters, she realized that it had a streak of spiritual energy. And when the Mermaid King appeared, she understood the source of it.
It was the unassuming, plain Staff that the Mermaid King was holding. The Staff was the real treasure. Maybe Pearl was only a switch to activate the Staff, but undoubtedly, the real power lay in the Staff.
The Pearl couldn't heal the Rabbit King, but the Staff could.
She knew it was an unnecessary drag on time, but to her, it was worth it. The Rabbit couple were good rabbits. Had not met with the mishap, they would have ruled wisely.
Without them, she would have taken a lot of time to find the Mer clan. So, she just wanted to repay their kindness.
"Impossible! I told them that the Pearl does not have the healing powers. It is impossible to heal him!" The Mermaid King pointed at the King and flared his nostrils.
"The Pearl cannot but the Staff can." Arella looked straight at the Staff in the Mer king's hand.
Along with her, countless eyes shifted to the Staff. The Mer clan looked at their king with confusion.
"No, even the Staff cannot!" The Mer king panicked and shouted in defense.
"Ding. Danger. Excessive blood loss detected. Vitality 3. You will die when vitality becomes 0."
"Then use them together!" Arella found the shifty Mer king very irritating and the sudden ding made her nervous. She had to complete the mission soon!
"No, I cannot order the Staff…." The Mer King's speech stopped in between because the Staff in his hand started vibrating! The King looked at it with speechlessness.
The Staff flew out of his grip and the Pearl too, floated away from Arella's grip. Both uniting in the middle. A bright white light broke out of the combination of the Staff and the Pearl.
The brightness made the mer clan bow down with pressure. The rabbit couple were sprinkled with the fragments of the white light and the severed leg of the Rabbit King started growing at an exponential rate!
Only Arella remained untouched.
When the light disappeared, the Staff and the Pearl disappeared with it. The Rabbit King got healed and a ding appeared in Arella's mind.
"Ding. Congratulations on completing part 2. Mission completed. Ejecting the trainee out of the Novice Terrain."
Instead of becoming happy, Arella frowned. Because she did not know what exactly happened! Did the Staff and Pearl have a consciousness? Why did they act on their own?
"You were blessed by the King and Queen. We hope that we will put the past behind us. Let's start afresh." The Mer King humbly spoke to the Rabbits and Arella.
"The King and Queen?" All three of them asked together.
"Yes, the Staff is our King, and the Pearl is the Queen. You abducted the Queen making the King mad at us. He took back his blessings and shut himself. But now, since they have reunited, they seem to have forgiven you. So, we, the Mer clan have no reason to keep up the enmity…." The Mer king was speaking passionately, but Arella's body started disappearing.
The vision in front of her went blank.
Outside, on the plush carpet, Arella's body lay flat, bleeding.
"Open." Princess Anna's stoic voice was heard in the empty room and a door like path opened. Both Princess Anna and Adrian walked in. The test was finished, hence the defensive shield could be pried open.
Adrian pursed his lips when he saw Arella's miserable body. She had a lot of scratches on her palms. There were pores on her arms which were bleeding and her ankle was red, swollen like a lump.
Adrian wasted no time. He hurriedly took a piece of blank paper out of his pocket.
He put the blank paper on Arella's bleeding pores. Soon, the blood was absorbed without leaving behind any stain on the paper. Adrian did not feel surprised. He continued to let the paper absorb as much of her blood as possible.
Princess Anna who wanted to praise Arella for completing the Novice mission without any deaths or restarts, fell into a deep contemplation after seeing Adrian's actions.
"So, that is why you agreed to the weekend training. You wanted her to bleed. But you couldn't do so. Hence you used me." Princess Anna's voice did not have a speck of doubt. She was simply stating a fact.