Me: What do you mean?
Shanta: You just keep saying "mean, mean." Can't you understand?
Me: Where are they? And who are you?
Shanta: They're trapped in my magic now. And you probably won't recognize me in this form.(Shanta changed shape as she was speaking)
Me: You?
Shanta: Yes. Those water-fairies prevented me from taking you away that day, and today this water-fairy is preventing you from staying with me. I won't let that happen.
Me: Look, I don't love you. You enchanted me. I never loved you.
Shanta: I don't want to hear any of that. I've gotten everything I've wanted so far. I want you, and if I don't get you, I won't let anyone else get you.
Me: Please, return them.
Shanta: Mmm, I shall. But you must forget this water-fairy forever. You must eliminate all the love you have for her.
Me: I could never do that.
Shanta: Then forget them too. If I can't have you, I shan't let her either.
Me: Give me back my sister. She is human — she cannot stay in your world.
Shanta: I don't know much. I love you. If you don't marry me, I'll make them our slaves.
Me: Listen, please—
She would not allow me to say anything more. She disappeared.
I didn't know what to do. Then suddenly, I remembered the water-fairy commander had given me a small phone. It was in my pocket. I called the commander with it.
I was sitting on a bench. The commander arrived. He emerged from the sea and sat beside me like a normal human being. I told him everything.
Commander: This is what I feared. That is why Queen Mother had forbidden me to send you here. But she allowed you to come. You decided to come. Now you see why you were warned. If you hadn't come, your family would have been safe — and our princess would have been well.
Me: I will go to Sky City. I will bring them back.
Commander: Crazy? You will be king of the water-fairies. If you travel to Sky City, you will never be allowed to come back. If you try to come back, they will kill you. They will keep you prisoner.
Me: Apart from that, there is no way we can save them.
Commander: There is. Go with me. You must prepare yourself.
Me: Where do we go?
Commander: I have already spoken with Queen Mother; she says to bring you back to Water City right away.
Me: Alright, let's go.
I went back with the commander to the Water Realm and went straight to the queen.
Queen: They have done a grave wrong in abducting the Water City princess and future queen. We must fight them.
Commander: Forgive me, Your Majesty. We were not successful in defeating them until now. I don't believe we can even now.
Prime Minister: Our forces are strong now. We cannot save the princess without war.
Queen: Yes, the Prime Minister is right.
Commander: I do believe our forces are much stronger now. But their army is still stronger than ours. This will not be a war against humans. It will be against the Sky People.
Commander: Yes, that is right. But we must do something.
Commander: Listen, Queen Mother, give me fifteen days. I'll get the king ready.
Prime Minister: How can that be accomplished in such a short period of time? And he is a human boy.
Commander: Prime Minister, our King Harqumas was also a human child once.
Prime Minister: He wielded the great trident. But our king now doesn't.
Commander: You know the prophecy very well. It says that a human child will become the king of Water City; that king will be bestowed with the trident.
Queen: Our King Hiloraj sacrificed himself to make that man's child king. We must remember that. Anyway, we have found our king. Commander, prepare him. And organize the coronation immediately, Prime Minister.
Commander: Alright.
Queen Mother left crying. The commander stayed with me and began training me.
Commander: Our Queen Mother loved the princess so much. She never allowed her out of sight. But now you have been with her for a while. She cried every day.
Me: Oooooh…
Commander: We had a prince once.
Me: But?
Commander: But he fell in love with a fairy of the sky. A sky-fairy can't stay in this water. And our prince couldn't stay in their world. So they decided to stay among humans. They stayed in your country and were living a heaven-like life. They even had a daughter. Our king and queen were aware of this, but the sky-fairy's king was unable to accept it — because the fairy was a high princess.
Me: What followed next?
Commander: The king commanded the fairy to leave the prince many times and return, but she didn't. So the king sent men, killed the prince and his daughter, and kidnapped the sky-princess.
Me: And you didn't do anything then?
Commander: We'd had old scores. But there had been an agreement: if one of us killed one of theirs by force, then and only then would there be war. Since both of them ruled here, by that rule both of them should have been spared — which our king did. But their king could not stand it.
Me: Did you battle them?
Commander: We could never beat them. Lots of innocent people would die if we went to war against them. So we stopped fighting.
Me: Now you have permission to go to war, don't you?
Commander: We will fight them — in their Kingdom of the Sky we will attack them. We'll show them that living underwater doesn't make us weak.(The commander started crying.)
Me: You're crying?
Commander: They murdered my little boy. What was the matter with him? Nothing. They just threw him from a height.
Me: Don't cry. You will take your revenge — you will, I swear.
Fifteen days passed by. I was always thinking about my parents and how they must have been worried. We had not warned them that we were missing. I was scared Shanta was going to do something to them. But there was no stopping it.
Today was my initiation. It was all weird. The commander said that drinking these would make one strong. I finally achieved the title of king. I was seated on the throne. The minister was giving me advice. I remained silent.
After all the proceedings—
Commander: We have to leave now, Your Majesty.
Me: But where to?
Commander: To the world beneath the earth.
Me: Where's that?
Commander: Beneath the ground.
Me: You mean the underworld. That's fictional too.
Commander: Many things seem imaginary but are not. You've already found proof of that.
Me: Yes.
Commander: Terrible things will await us there. We'll have to get through them.
Me: How can I, a mere human, do all that?
Commander: You're forgetting you're a king now. The king of the water-city. That water belongs to you to command. You only need to learn how to control it. That will do.
Me: Yes. I see.
Commander: Then let's go.
Me: Hmm, let's go.
We sailed in a boat shaped like a fish and arrived at a place. There was a massive pit in the ground. It looked like the gate of the underworld.
Me: Let's go already.
Commander: We will go, but no one from the royal court can come in here. We must turn ourselves into spies.
Me: Why?
Commander: Because the world under the earth is full of thievery, robbery, battles, and bloodshed. It's the worst place on earth. No king or prince of any royal family can tread there.
Me: I see. But who lives there?
Commander: Anyone can live there — humans, jinn, fairies, strange creatures — you will see them all there.
Me: What do we do now then?
Commander: You should not be scared. I'll bring some clothes for us. And this ship is not one of the royal court's. It will take us in. Just drop your royal clothes outside.
Me: Alright, let's go then.
We entered through that pit. I thought we'd arrived, but no — we descended and arrived in front of a huge door.
There are three gates to the underworld.The commander said:• One lies in the Sahara Desert — used by the Sky People• One lies in a cemetery in Switzerland — where they come and go• And the one here — used by the Water People
We finally stepped into the underworld. I was surprised just looking around — I couldn't understand how people survive there.
Me: How do people survive here? Where do they get oxygen?
Commander: Oxygen comes from above.
Me: Wow. That one spot was just beautiful to me.
Commander: You will be able to see the places later. If the great Trident is favorably disposed toward you, then you will be the king of all these. All the kings will be under your feet.
Me: I don't require all that. I just want to live with my family.
Commander: Situations grant you the power of choice. Let us go to our destination.