SCATTERED PEARLS ☆ KIMCHAY AU

☠︎︎ 50. The Eternal Loop ☠︎︎

— we loved and cried

every time and then we died

so many times we forgot it all

what was all of it for? —

"What are you talking about? Why can't you for once speak clearly without all those riddles and rhymes? Are you even my real grandmother? How old are you? Why are you talking as if all of this already happened before? Why—"

"All right, slow down, darlin'... slow down," Kim squeezed Chay's waist.

"So many questions," the Oracle chuckled. "You were always such a curious child, Porchay. I answered one question, and you came up with another two."

Well, of course, Chay had so many questions. All of it was so confusing, and none of it truly made sense. Chay stepped closer to the Oracle and said, "listen, granny... answer my questions or else—"

He couldn't even finish his words when it suddenly felt like the ground beneath his feet disappeared, and for a moment, he felt like he was falling into an abyss. His heart sank, but then he realised that he wasn't falling at all. Instead, he was sitting at the table, Kim right next to him, and his Oracle grandmother was walking towards them, two mugs of something hot in her hands. She put the mugs in front of Kim and Chay and sat down as well.

"What did you do?" Chay asked.

"Moved us from there," Kim pointed at the front door, "to here," he looked around the table.

"It's called teleportation, sweethearts," the Oracle smiled, and Chay didn't know whether he should see that smile as reassuring or unsettling. "Now, when we are all nicely sitting, it's time for you two to listen. And go on, don't be afraid, take a sip," the Oracle cocked her head towards the mugs she had given them. "It's just tea. Good for your body and mind."

Chay looked at Kim, who nodded and grabbed the mug, "sink me, but I'm sure that your grandmother won't try to poison us."

Chay reached out for his mug as well. Yeah, Kim was probably right. He glanced at his grandmother and took the first sip. The tea was still hot and sweet, but it tasted like no other tea Chay ever had. The only thing he could guess was that in there was honey. But he kept drinking, pushing away all doubts he still might have had about this Oracle and grandmother in front of him.

"Tasty?" The Oracle asked, and she took a sip from her own mug, which suddenly appeared in front of her.

"It's fine," Chay nodded.

"So, you said you'll finally explain..." Kim said, trying to push the Oracle to finally talk.

The Oracle's eyes turned a little darker. There was a purple hue in them that Chay had never seen before. She gripped the mug tighter and sighed, "this is not my first time talking to you like that. This isn't even your first time asking me all those questions. It's just the first time that this conversation is happening this late and in this shack. The curse of the siren... that curse was never on you, Kimhan. It was a curse on the whole pirate world, and it started way before you were born. The curse said only the one who from the pain the pirate become, the one who most feared become, the one who will have a lover centuries afar, only that the cure can break, only that one the loop will break. The pirate world has been struggling with the same problems over and over again. Every time the war ends, it starts all over again, every time pirate ships sink in the ocean in the middle of a violent storm, they appear again in the world, not remembering anything and going through it all over again. Everything bad in the pirate world keeps looping over and over and over again. Only when a pirate finds real and complete happiness, only then the loop will stop. Only then will everything go back to normal. You two have come so far this time. We have never been so close to breaking this curse. Never."