Salighayan; A Taboo Love Story

Chapter 9

~ Princess Mylie’s PoV

The journey to the first spirit of the ocean (which also happens to be the closest) took three days, and swimming for such lengthy periods left us drained of more than our physical strength.

I and Selena found a cave and after proper inspection to ensure no creature lived in it, we chose the place for our resting place before going to confront the spirit.

“Princess, are you sure about this?” Selena suddenly asked out of the blue.

“What do you mean?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, she looked doubtful all of a sudden and I wasn’t going to have that, not when we were this close.

“I’m just saying, I mean, these are the actual spirits of the ocean, I haven’t heard of anyone going to meet them for any reason before, not to talk of trying to trick them off a really valuable and closely guarded treasure” Selena said stating where and why her doubts where coming.

“Hmm, dear best friend, have you ever known me to back down from any challenge? Especially one set by myself for myself? Besides there is a first time for everything isn’t there? I am this close to getting what I need to achieve my dream, this is important to me than any other thing right now” I said to her.

“More than the smooth running of your kingdom? More than the safety and peace of your kingdom and it’s people?” Selena asked again and this time I got really irritated.

“Ok where is this coming from Selena? You had agreed to this as well, and till we got to this point you did not deem it fit to doubt the mission and ask these annoying questions, so what is the matter?” I asked getting all riled up.

“I am sorry if I’d offended you my princess, I didn’t mean to sound doubtful, rather I needed to ascertain where you really stood and how firm you are standing” Selena said with head bowed.

Now that was an angle I wasn’t expecting, “Hmm, so are you rest assured now? Have I been able to clear you that I have no doubts or wavering thoughts whatsoever?” I asked her with a lighter tone.

“Of course, princess, now let’s go forth” Selena said.

I noticed her mood was back to normal as well, I really didn’t believe she did that just to know if I was doubtful of the mission, I believed she as well needed her own doubts cleared, I just hoped it had work.

“Very well then off to see the first spirit” I said and we exited the cave.

Our encounter with the spirit of the north was one that was filled with awe, all our readings and all the books of the world with all their descriptions couldn’t have prepared us for the sight that greeted us.

The spirit was huge in all regards that I had initially thought it was an underwater mountain, it looked almost like the mountains I had seen in the descriptions of the surface.

It had waterfalls, it had plants growing on it and it was floating, as in it did not touch the ocean floor, rather it was a few visible meters off the ground.

As we got nearer, I discovered there was a sort of bubble around it, no wonder, I thought to myself thinking of how the waterfalls could have been possible.

When we got to the bubble, I gingerly tried poking it only to see that it was really hard yet flexible, and it reeked of really powerful magic.

Someone or something was floating towards us from inside the bubble, it passed right through the bubble without stress and I discovered it was a person made of rock, I said person because it had legs rather than a tail fin.

On seeing that I got a lot of mixed feelings, one; on how close I really was at getting my own legs, two at seeing that even a spirit chose legs rather than tail fin, although now that I think about it, I don’t think it could be convenient having a tail fin when you’re entirely made of rock.

We made a quick conversation where I introduced myself as a queen rather than a princess and told the spirit that I needed a source of power fit enough to conquer the foreign forces of the surface that suddenly started launching attacks at my kingdom. (it had introduced itself as the actual spirit of the north, a part of the gigantic thing we saw before us through the bubble)

The spirit told us right away that only a pearl was fabled to hold such immense powers that I might need, one closely guarded by the spirits themselves.

But when I asked if it was with the pearl, it just looked blankly at us as if it hadn’t comprehended my question, I tried again and got the same response.

I changed the question and asked where I could find the pearl instead and now it answered and said “it is on the arctic cycle”.

A cryptic answer and no matter how many other questions I or Selena asked, it just stared at us, finally I gave up and thanked it for it’s assistance, right after it headed back into its bubble, going straight to its complete self.

Back at the cave we had rested before going to meet the spirit, I laid down flat on the ground of the cave all tired and fed up.

“Is this how it is gonna be? Cryptic answers? Indifferent attitude from them to us?” I asked out loud to no one in particular.

“I noticed something princess” Selena said after a brief moment of silence.

I sat up at that, interested in my ever observant best friend’s words at that moment, “Well? Go on” I said to her when she stayed silent at first.

She took a deep breath “Before introductions, the spirit gave ear to us both, but immediately after it noted you were the queen as you introduced yourself to be, it stopped listening to me neither did it answer even one of my questions” she said.

I thought it over, trying to reason out how true that could be “But the spirit hardly answered five questions out of the ton we threw at it, could it just be that it only had a set of particular questions it could actually answer?” I asked trying to ensure we do not jump into conclusions despite the fact that Selena was mostly right about things like this.

“I’m pretty confident I got it right, it gave reverence to you for your rank, and I’m guessing your rank is as well why it couldn’t answer all of yours” Selena said.

“What do you mean?” I asked even though I was starting to get her point.

“What ranks higher than a queen?” she asked rhetorically “A goddess, so I’m pretty confident if you had introduced yourself as a goddess rather than a queen, we would’ve gotten more cooperation from it” she said confidently.

I thought about this and discovered she might very well be right, they were spirits of the ocean, only gods and goddesses ranked higher than them and they ranked equally with the kings and queens.

“Do you really think we’d have a better chance with our ruse if I claimed the goddess status? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could like command the pearl out of them?” I said with a new light lighting up my face.

“Well I don’t know about commanding it off of them, but I’m pretty sure that will get us a more positive response and attitude from them” Selena said chuckling at the expression on my beaming face.

“fine now all that is left is for us to decode the cryptic message of where the pearl is, what is arctic cycle?” I asked baffled by it but I was sure I had seen it or possibly heard it before.

“Beats me” Selena said and shrugged.

“I am very sure that I’ve either read it, seen it or heard it before and I don’t forget things so easily, unless…” I said and my face lit up once again as I figured out what the word was.

“Unless what?” Selena asked very much interested in what I had discovered.

“It’s a human word, they use it on the surface, arctic, yes I had read it before” I said still beaming but it quickly changed into a frown as I tried to remember what it meant.

“Ok, so what does it mean?” Selena asked but I held a hand up for her to be silent as I thought deeply trying to remember what the word meant.

“Arctic, arctic, it is used to describe a particular region, I believe according to the temperature of the region, temperate…, tropical…, then arctic would be…, cold!!” I shouted as it came to me.

“What?!” Selena asked still not cleared.

“The arctic is use to describe cold region, very, very cold region” I said to clear her.

“So the pearl being on the arctic cycle would mean it is at a very, very cold place?” Selena deduced and I completed the clue cracking.

“Yes, which means the pearl is with the icy spirit of the south!” I said with glee.

Cracking the clue mad me so happy that I swiveled about Selena and grabbed her to join before hugging her tightly.

Finally there was something we are sure of since the mission started.

“Hey Selena” I said to my best friend as we hugged “The kingdom and it’s people are equally of high importance to me, but then so is my heart, and I intend to follow it, I’ll do so and try not to let one affect the other so much, ok?”

She nodded her consent and we broke off the hug “I know princess, I know” she said.

“Now, let us get back hone first, then we prepare for the long journey to the spirit of the south, and as well prepare the ruse to use, because if I’m going to pull off being a goddess, a great deal of planning and preparing has to be done” I said to my friend and aid and then we headed home.

*

~ Mike’s PoV

I was really frustrated, really angry at myself for setting such a difficult task, who was I kidding, how could I possibly hope to get someone with such combined talents?

Ok in the course of the tons of interviews I had conducted, I had found a few who could almost do it all, and I would have settled for any if only I had been contented with them.

I wasn’t just satisfied with any of them, and it has started to feel like I won’t even get any as it was going.

I held my temple with my fingers and rubbed on it gently, trying to placate the headache hammering its way across.

The headache had been consistent these past few days, and now with this haywire interviews it only got worse.

“So Sir, I’m sure you already know of my competence in the business aspect, but I am also very competent in the pleasure aspect too, I can satisfy any of your demands and wants and needs” the lady before me said and bent forward a little to show me even more of her already exposed cleavage.

I signed deeply, this really isn’t what I was looking for, or what I needed, “Fine, drop your contact information, I’ll call you” I said to her.

I’ve had a couple of them like that, one thing was that at least I won’t have to search about for call girls whenever I need that particular itch scratched.

But, this wasn’t what I needed.

I signed again and stood up, leaving the place and the dozen of ladies still waiting for an interview that will never come.

I headed straight home, still lost in thought as to what I really needed to fill my hollow heart, it wasn’t s*x, neither was it drugs or alcohol, it even wasn’t death, I had tried that as well.

So what was it?