Manusia Air (Citizens of Water)

Chapter 3: Kisah Manusia dan Ikan (A Tale of Man and Fish)

The man-fish sorcerer in front of Fajar chanted some incantations. A red crystal which was placed on Fajar's hand glowed and broke into dust. The dust swirled and penetrated into his skin. He then felt a tingling sensation, moving across his whole body, then it was gone.

"As ordered by the Honorable Five, you are not permitted to leave the Kingdom and the Sanctuary until your next trial. You may wander and explore as you please, but if you ever try to go out of the bounds of this Sanctuary, the spell I just did will snap you back here, and trust me, its going to hurt"

Fajar nodded and gulped. He had wondered of trying to sneak out since his sentence was lessened to not be imprisoned, thanks to the Seer. But knowing that magic was being played at hand, he didnt think it would be a good idea to risk it.

The sorcerer left him alone in the room. Not long after that, Marlee entered the room. Her face looked nervous.

"Hi" she greeted as she waved at him nervously.

Fajar did not reply, he felt like something was stuck on his throat.

"Are you okay? What a stupid thing to ask. Of course you must be confused and angry. This is NOT how I imagined my first interaction with a human. I'm so embarassed. Really smart, Marlee. If i were you, Id totally lost it, I cant imagine myself stranded in a human worl-" Marlee rapidly talking to herself.

"Why did you save me?" Fajar cut her coldly.

Marlee looked taken back with his reply.

"Why me? There are a lot of people who...who died in the accident"

Marlee looked she was out of words.

"ANSWER ME!" he shouted angrily. All the bottled confusion, anger, and sadness that he kept since his awakening blew up. He wanted to shout, he wanted to scream, he wanted everything to end. Marlee looked a bit scared now. He couldn't face her, he turned towards a caged hole in the wall, a window from the room to look outisde. He could see the castle from there, a few kilometres from where he was. It must be daytime, since there were lots of living sea dwellers moving around within the Kingdom, though what he could see were like dots moving from that distance.

"I've been watching you, for quite a while...I mean, before the explosion"

So she was the one who made Fajar feel like he was being watched.

"Its not just you, I swear. I've been watching every single human that I could see on that big metal things you guys were on, what is it called?"

"A ship?"

"Oh a ship...yes, on the ship. After a while, out of all the humans I've observed, you're the only one who looked really sad. Like you're carrying a very big pain and burden"

Fajar did not reply.

He felt Marlee held his right hand, he did not push it away.

"I know you're angry at me, and you have all the right to feel that way. What I did was wrong and I'm sorry, but when I saw you drowning, I just had a feeling that I needed to save you"

Fajar wanted to scowl at her. It would've been easier for him. He could've get out of his trouble, out of his pain and problems. Death, it was right on his hands. Fajar turned his face and tried to get a look at her, she didnt saw him looking at her, as she was also looking to the window. He found himself shaking, with rage, with anger. He wanted to scream, punch, anything to make Marlee feel what he felt. Hes so close to being snapped, when she asked a question that caught him off his guard.

"Whos that girl?"

"What girl?" Fajar answered, confused.

"The one that made you not jump out of the ship, what were you doing anyway?"