Nyai Rara Kidul

Issue 8: Under the Sea

Open eyes.

Limestone walls, dark, wet, dripping with water.

Kandita still alive.

Kandita sit up, looking around and finding only a narrow stone wall.

“Welcome—”

“Hya?!!”

“—to under the sea.”

Suddenly hearing a man's voice at a close distance, Kandita startled. It make her turn her head to the source of the voice, Kandita find a middle-aged man in bare-chest and wearing only cloth-clad pants up to his ankles, his hair is greenish-black and his eyes were reddish-orange.

“Thou mayest be pondering thy whereabouts, questioning the verity of this realm. As I erstwhile declared, thou art beneath the waves. I discovered thee in the throes of drowning, hence I did ferry thee to this humble grotto nestled in the depths. 'Tis somewhat confined, yet 'tis a haven wherein thou mayst draw thy breath unfettered.”

Kandita didn't pay much attention to the man's words, she's stunned to see her skin disease healed, no longer the pain she felt every time. It astonishing her, but it's enough to relieve her.

After that, Kandita only pay attention to the man.

“Are you a fisherman?”

“Nay. Thou … art akin to myself.”

Kandita is getting more and more confused, not knowing why there is someone under the sea, when it make the most sense to her that a fisherman have rescued her.

“… Like me?”

“Aye. I am akin to thee, yet … our essence doth bear variance.”

Not understanding what the man mean, Kandita stopped asking questions, lost in thought, not knowing what to do under the sea, in this narrow cave.

“What?”

“… Thank you very much for helping me. But … I already have nothing to repay your kindness.”

“Wherefore, thou asketh? Thou needst not repay me, for I aid thee willingly. Furthermore, there is no necessity for such formality.”

Kandita fell silent again, still feeling empty, not knowing how else she will continue her life.

“Ah, ye, of course. Thou dost hunger, rite?”

“Eh? No, thank you.”

“I shall fetch thee sustenance. Dost thou partake of kelp?”

“Huh? What?”

“Aight then, shall I procure sustenance from the surface.”

The man throw himself into the water, diving out of the cave.

Kandita approach the water, looking in, wondering how deep the cave is. With her excellent eyesight, Kandita is able to see the bottom of the water and the passage leading out of the cave,

It hasn't been that long, and already the silhouette of the man swimming back is visible.

“Hyah?!”

“Aho na, na, na!”
※ “Oh no, no, no!”

The man climb up in a hurry as if chased by something, making Kandita startled, somehow the man's appearance is now cyan.

Then a new voice heard, this time a woman.

“Tatah idanim twam tam guptabani ….”
※ “So hither thou art, hiding her, I see ….”