[ENG] Embryo of the Void

ลำดับตอนที่ #3 : Void 2 When in Doubt, Consult a Pet Gecko

Void II When in Doubt, Consult a Pet Gecko

“Take me across the Void. And I will give you what you desire most.”

Salika looked into Esca’s inscrutable face. She did not know what the woman wanted. Instinct said Esca was not a person to be trusted.

“You said you came from Melling. Aren’t there multiple witches and wizards you could ask for help?” Salika crossed her legs on a chair.

“None of them would take a job so risky, freelance or with the association. Even the caravans didn’t want me. They all said no. Besides, in Melling, I have… you could call them an unfriendly bunch of fan club, I guess?”

“Oh. People hunt you. Bounty.” Salika concluded. Esca clicked her tongue. “Listen, little miss, if you want people to risk their life for you, you need something that they are willing to sell their soul for. You can’t go up to someone and ask them to enter the Void out of the blue, unless that person is a caravan escort.”

“So is there something you are willing to sell your soul for? To meet your family again, perhaps?” For a moment Esca’s smile turned cold. Salika raised her guard. “Do not worry. I recognize independent people. My kind of people. We’re pips of the same orange. You can tell me what you want and I will find it. Just take me across the Void.”

“Heh,” Sali sneered. “Fine. What I want the most is the Library of Souls. The orb that only the Melling royalty has access to. Considering you came from there, you know what it is?”

“Of course.” Esca reached into her coat and pulled out a small velvet bag and placed it on the table. “If it suffices for payment, then I will gladly give it to you after our job is done.”

Salika snatched the bag from the table and opened it. Inside was an orb, the size of an eyeball. The orb changed its color constantly, from pink to green to blue to yellow. It matched the description in the magic books Salika read.

The ‘Library of Souls’ was a powerful magic item used to find the location of any soul, dead or alive, human or animal, Here or Beyond. Salika searched for this item for years, but because it was in the hands of the Melling royalty, she had no way of getting it.

Melling was a town high up north surrounded by ice capped mountains. Its palace was surrounded by huge stone walls with a barrier so complex, even Salika, the expert of Praya, could not hope to crack it.

But now, the treasure she searched for years on end was in her very hands. She could not let this chance go. This last chance to return herself into a normal human being, not a crippled witch or a dying girl.

“How do I know this is real?” She asked, to be careful.

Esca held her hand above the Library of Souls and commanded: “Salika.” The small round object responded with a flash of light, floated up, and rotated around Salika’s head. The barrier witch watched the object rotate round and round before settling back on her hand. She clasped the orb, memorizing its weight and texture, being handing it back to Esca reluctantly.

“I won’t ask you how you got it. You could’ve stolen or killed royalty for it, but I don’t care. That orb’s mine. I accept the job.”

“Deal…yes?”

“Deal. Your hand, here.”

The barrier witch placed a magic circle between them, and they both placed their hands on it. A strange crest in shape of a magpie appeared on the back of their hands and disappeared a few seconds later. 

“So this is your Geasa.” Another spine-chilling smile spread across the woman’s lips. Warnings flashed inside Salika’s head, but she shut them off. She knew this chance would never come back if she let it go. No matter who this woman was, they are now bound together.

Geasa are a form of contract used by witches, wizards, and other types of beings capable of using magic. Once formed, they cannot be broken unless the conditions are fulfilled or one of the party dies. In this case, Geasa will bound the two of them until they cross the Void and Salika obtain the orb, or one of them dies. If Esca does not hand over the orb once they made it across, she would face a severe punishment that could cost her life.

            “There are a lot of things I still want to know, so don’t even think of evading my questions.” Salika leaned across the table and pushed Esca with her index finger. The woman sat still with straight back, a smile still frozen onto her face, like a statue’s smile. Suddenly, a growl broke the dense atmosphere.

“Should we talk it over breakfast?” Esca tried to act innocent.

“How big is your appetite?!”

The two ended up in the marketplace. Every store owner said hello to Salika as she passed by. Esca greeted all of them by waving.

“Everyone’s so friendly. They seem to love you a lot, Sali.” Esca observed and gave Salika a nickname as she went.

“Of course!” an old man selling fish called out. “She’s the barrier prodigy and disciple of the Great Wizard! We’re all proud of our little witch Salika!”

Salika hastened her pace.

“Sali?” Esca caught up and put a gentle hand on her shoulders. “There’s no reason to hurry. It is still morning. Let’s enjoy the fresh air.”

“They want to know you. Why not stop and talk to them, huh?” Salika replied.

“Why are you angry all of a sudden? Did I do something to upset you?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Does praise annoy you?”

“It isn’t that either! Stop being so damn nosy!” She slapped Esca’s hand away.

“I apologize, but you should not let a careless remark get to you so easily.”

Salika bit her lips.

“Earlier, you said we were pips of the same orange. I’m sorry, but I dislike people who act so easy-going, so fluffy, and so floaty and smiley, like you. I’m not like you.”

Esca raised her index finger up and said in her characteristic slow and melodious voice. “I don’t mind being hated. In fact, you’re just the type of person I like: strong-willed and independent. Full of determination and willing to do anything for a goal. Can I hug you?”

“Heck no!” Salika darted backwards as Esca tried to pull her into an embrace. Then, she felt something lugging on one side of her hair.

That day, people of Praya heard the loudest scream in history.

“Hamish! I told you to stay still during the day. I apologize, this is Hamish the Third, my pet Tokay gecko.”

It took Esca around ten minutes to remove her pet from Salika’s hair. The latter was left in a state of shock. The up side was that she forgot all her frustration with Esca within a moment. That anger was replaced by silence. Salika stared at the gigantic blue lizard with neon orange polka dots in soundless horror. The animal was as long as her forearm, and it rested lovingly on Esca’s shoulder. Why…had she not notice this insanely large and terrifying animal during the morning they spent together?

“No, no, she doesn’t hate you. She’s just…shocked. You surprised her, Hamy. You shouldn’t cling to a girl’s hair, my baby boy.” Esca said as she stroked the creature’s back. To Salika’s eyes, that was the most creepy, hair-raising gesture she had ever witnessed.

“I’m going to shave. I’m going to become a nun and shave.” That was Salika’s first words in the past fifteen minutes.

Hamish went back to his resting place on Esca’s back, shielded from the sun by her long black hair.

On the way back to Salika’s Barrier Repair, they passed the town blacksmith. The owner was a tall, tanned old man with thick arms and long, white beard tied into pigtails. He wore a jumper pant with leather suspenders. As they passed by, Salika’s face scrounge up in distress.

“Do you not like the blacksmith?” Esca asked.

“It’s not that.”

“Gee, that answer again? You’re so full of mysteries!”

“You too. You wouldn’t tell me your real name.”

“I guess all girls have their own little secrets. For example, her first kiss, or her first love… Well, but if she forgets to shower or hasn’t washed her hair for three days, it is not a secret worth digging into.”

“What part of your secret is ‘little’? Oh, so her real name is a common girl’s secret!”

“Names don’t define us, therefore they are little things. If that’s so, all people called Piggy or Fatty will be walking water tanks. Wait, is that blacksmith perhaps…an exhibitionist?!”

“Da heck did you get that from?! No! I just don’t like the sight of hot iron, alright?! Don’t call random people an exhibitionist!”

“I love people who express their thoughts so strongly! Are you trying to make me fall in love with you?”

“…Just get that gecko away from me.”

Hamish made a sound. In a blink of an eye, Salika was hiding on a branch of a tree.

“I think you’re more likely to encounter a gecko on a tree…”

“I hate you and your stupid pet! Why does the Goddess have to be so cruel to me!?”

A women with plastic smile and a pet gecko… Salika regretted using her Geasa.

They were back at Salika’s house and Esca got a good look at it. The house was two story tall and made of wood. Unlike other houses, it was built on a hill, so there was no need for elevation to avoid flooding and insects. It looked quite lonely with no other houses around. She spotted remnants of a playground on the front yard and a tree with a broken branch.

“You live alone.” Esca remarked. “It must be fun.”

“You don’t know what it’s like to cry yourself to sleep.” Salika replied coldly.

Esca’s poker smile wavered, but she regained her composure as if she had swallowed down what she was going to say. “I…just wanted freedom only those who are alone can have.”

They were eating breakfast together. Salika was reminded of unpleasant times. Esca the Annoying should not have mentioned the fact that she lived alone. It reminded Salika of the reason she almost flipped the world over in search for the Library of Souls.

 The way Esca ate her food so daintily annoyed her, and the way she smiled when she realized she was being watched… that pissed her off. If she does not have the orb and Salika still had conscience not to kill or steal for it, this women would not be frustrating her like this.

Esca seemed oblivious to her malicious glare. The way Esca’s lips moved when she said she liked rice made her nerves tick. And when they finished eating, Esca started touching and flipping her neat collection of notes, then made a surprised face after finding out there was not a speck of dust on the shelves.

“Why do you want to cross the Void?” Salika asked, that being a polite and socially acceptable way of saying ‘stop touching my stuff.’

“There is something I need to find and do no matter what. Like how you need the Library of Souls. Do not worry, you would not have to aid me in that. I can tell you want to get rid of me as soon as possible.”

Salika had her doubts. Crossing the Void…if Esca wanted to cross, she could hitch a ride on a caravan and be through with it. Why bother coming here? Why bother circling the earth at all? She could not comprehend why such a simple job was declined by so many. Just what was Esca’s ulterior motive that drove so many people away?

The witch brushed that aside. She was protected by the Geasa as much as her interests were. This was no time to think too deep.

“We would need money for supplies, transportation, and security.” Salika brought out a small leather notebook. “This much.”

Esca gazed at the long tail of zeroes and chuckled. “Well, that’s not a lot at all.”

“How will you get it? That’s not even a whole year of working for me.”

“I’ll send Hamish to compete in The Voice.”

“The what?”

“That was a joke. I have an easier and faster way, even if Hamish can sing better than any human and I am more than eager to show him off.”

“Huh? Geckos sing? And what the heck is this faster way you talked about?”

“Gambling, of course! Right, Hamish? Let’s gamble with the richest man in Praya and get the money we need!”

Salika went pale.

“Are you out of your sane mind?!”