Crustel

Chapter 29

   So, we swam through the cave. It was so mesmerizing. It was like a glass wall with hidden flowers behind the glass. Whenever I wanted to touch the wall, Kanyal stopped me, "Guys, the flowers that you look at are not actually flowers. Jellyfishes transform into flowers to attract their preys. The glass wall is an illusion." He explained to us. However, I couldn't control myself. I still went near. I touched one ruby-red flower. All of sudden, my jellyfish shield glowed in gold and the flower turned into dark red jellyfish. Kanyal groaned. "Let's swim faster!" He swam quicker. We followed him. Successfully, we saw the Aquan Horn statue. "Guys, we're here!" I pointed at the map which showed the end of the cave. Erica and Kanyal were excited but Ethan was quite nervous. "What's wrong?" I whispered to him. He just sent me a smile. Ethan and I used our wands to move the Aquan Horn statue. The moment the statue was moved, much to my dismay, a school of sharks was in front of us. I was frozen. Erica screamed like the typical girl from movies who always screams. The sharks swam fast towards us. I closed my eyes.

   To my surprise, my hands which were covering my face were glowing as bright as the blazing sun. The sharks couldn't see us. They swam far away from us. I heard whispers. "It's Princess Cora. Swim for your lives!" I was shocked for a moment. The sharks were scared of me. (For your information, Crustelicians have the power to read animals minds. So, we don't see it as a special power.) Kanyal was puzzled as much as Erica was. Ethan heard the sharks whispers. He was shell shocked too. My eyes noticed that the jellyfish shield was fading. "Guys, we need to get out! Our shields are fading!" I announced anxiously. We swam out of the cave as I looked at the map. Based on the information on the map, we were near Ardian's Secret Gate. The map was fading too. I was startled. My amulet glowed in green again. Kanyal saw my amulet glowing in green. He hurried towards me and said, "Cora, touch your amulet and close your eyes. You will see the message from the future." I did so. I closed my eyes. Images popped up. It had been so many years and I still remembered Elvira's face vividly. It was her at the Ardian's Secret Gate. She knew that I would get this message from the future. She was the one who sent me the message. "Cora, I know you earned new power. Don't be too confident with your new power. The map should have been faded by now. Wait there! You will receive a note from a seahorse. It will lead you to Ardian. You can follow the instructions only if you want to save Prince Melyon," She ended her message with her evil laughter.

    I explained what happened to Ethan, Erica and Kanyal. Ethan was even nervous. "Cora. Just stay here. You should not come with us to Ardian. We will save Prince Melyon...uhmm your uncle." Ethan told calmly looking at his tail. I was outraged. "It's my uncle! It's my responsibility to save him!" I roared at him. I looked right into his eyes. At that moment, I saw the secret he hid from me. I saw the past. He had already been to Ardian before with his mother. Elvira had tried to make him evil. She wanted to pass her dark magic knowledge to her beloved son. I remembered something that he told me earlier at the carriage. He said that he met Elvira at the Gling Castle. That meant that Elvira tried invading Crustel for years. She taught Ard Language and Ardian History to him. So, that was why he was enriched with Ardian's knowledge. "I think I have made up my mind. You have been officially excluded from this team, Ethan!" I growled. Ethan saw me with disbelief. I felt the excitement in Kanyal and shock in Erica. Erica couldn't deny meanwhile Kanyal couldn't agree more. "You're making a huge blunder my dear friend!" He shouted. Suddenly, a seahorse swam towards me with a note. I grabbed it and the seahorse disappeared. I looked around. Ethan was gone. 

  Erica wasn't able to believe it. "Why did you exclude him?" She asked concernedly. I took a deep breath. " I saw the traitor's face. The hidden face that I saw in Siku za usoni. When I closed my eyes, I saw Ethan with his mom's side. We were losing. He was betraying us..." I didn't continue. "What if what you saw wasn't true? I mean you can't believe everything you see. You only saw it but didn't hear him!" Erica confused me. I tried to ignore her question. I opened the note. It was another map. We followed the path. Strangely Kanyal was quiet throughout our journey. I tried to touch some jellyfish but he didn't stop me. He knew I was just trying to make him speak. He didn't even speak a word meanwhile Erica was swimming worriedly. I was appalled wondering that whether I had really made a blunder. I was thinking about Ethan. He was my best friend and Erica had a point too. I didn't hear the conversations. I felt hopeless again. I was worried as I just let my friendship shatter. We swam so far. Each of us was disturbed by our own thoughts. We stopped when I saw a prodigious gate in front of me. It was engraved in Ard Language. "WELCOME TO ARDIAN!" An enormous board with those greeting was hanging on the gate. 

   I swam nearer and pushed the gate slowly. The moment the gate opened, blazing sunlight hurt our eyes. For a moment, we couldn't see and felt as someone or something was pushing us upward. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw the magic. Yes. We were in Ardian! We made it.