Doomed from the Beginning

20. The Price of Time-Space Magic

Sansara was quite baffled at what was happening in front of him now. Vinasaka had said that it was his sister but she couldn’t recognise him at all. Even Vinasaka behaved quietly strangely as soon as she woke up. He was almost considering the fact that his story might be actually false but then he remembered how the old woman behaved as she recognised him downstairs when they first arrived, as if it was her highness who had told her everything about her brother. So is it possible that...that she didn’t remember him anymore.

On the other hand, the other mighty presence in the room had a different set of emotions playing through his head. First it was already a lot for him to take when the first thing he saw after meeting his sister after so long was her almost dying, then she fails to recognise him and now she was wailing on the floor in a pitiful state right in front of him begging him to help but he couldn’t even if he wanted to.

If this was 300 years ago, could anybody have believed that the pitiful woman lying there right now was Zaharia, the only rare talent who could control and even master the time space magic.Time-space magic- the magic which is sought after by thousands of mages all across the world but fate smiled on only one. However people looked on only the outside and its charms. Such a heavy magical power obviously had its own cons. ….And Vinasaka knew exactly what was the cost of this magic.

But maybe it was for the good that she didn’t remember him anymore!

There was only one thing that Vinasaka never understood...why was she trying so hard. It was never like she had wanted to live long, then what’s the point of going through all this? She could bring an end to all her sufferings by herself, the very moment she stops using her magic.

Among all these thoughts jumbled up in his head when he was almost staring at her without batting an eyelid, he heard Sansara say, “They are here!”

“Who?” Just as Vinasaka asked, both of them were terrified to see the sight in front of them where Zaharia had finally somehow managed to dispel some of the barrier magic as she spit a mouthful of blood. 

It happened in a split of a second. Both of them rushed, one to move her back and the other to mend the barrier and at the same time, several figures had appeared right that instant and the old woman who was currently almost reduced to a corpse, having felt the new presence, paced rapidly towards them and jumped onto the very first figure that appeared. 

“WATCH OUT!” Vinasaka cried but it was too late.

“MOHI,” Sansara was also evidently turning pale at the sudden progress of the events.

Zaharia blinked several times, her face deathly pale as she tried to digest the scene in front of her.

The incoming group of people were indeed alert on any unprecedented movements but this was too much of a shock. Mohi was bitten in his right arm near his wrist and the woman seemed to have latched on to him. Vinasaka didn’t want to but , “Sanyam," he called out his spiritual whip and within a second it had wrapped itself around the woman. He had always avoided using it against common people but he had no choice now. 

Sansara and the others were wondering why he was so hesitant in using that whip when he could have done it long ago but soon as the queen shouted, "Noooo," even the woman began to scream out as loudly as possible. The whip loosened its grip and once again curled itself around Vinasaka's waist but the old woman passed out on the spot.

Vinasaka sighed in relief and patted the hilt of the whip in appreciation. Sansara found the interaction cute but he had no time to keep admiring. Zaharia released herself from the already loosened grip of Sansara and rushed towards the woman where Mohi was already examining her pulse. 

"She just passed out...but the blood that she had lost...it's too much," Mohi hadn't even finished speaking when Zaharia simply without looking in a haste began to use her time magic to seal her time. 

Not again! She was already low on spiritual vitality. There was already a flow of her magic that was constantly taking place. If she loses any more vitality, she would definitely not be able to keep up, nonetheless it might be way too dangerous for her. Before Sansara and Vinasaka could stop her, they found Mohi who was the closest to her abruptly taking her hand away.

"How did you get hurt?" Mohi's expression was soft. For the time being, he did almost forget about his bleeding hand and focused on her eyes. But she didn't look at him and continued in her efforts to free herself. 

Unable to loosen his grip, she  finally said, " Who are all of you? Who gave you the right to barge into my place and hurt my people?"

Hearing this, Mohi instantly looked up but this time he didn't look for Sansara. Instead he followed Vinasaka's gaze which also confirmed his suspicions as he too shook his head in rejection.

Mohi sighed as he stood up and said, "We found Banshee!"

In the chaos of the situation, the rest of the group behind were completely overlooked. The two junior angels held a captive who looked like a very frail and petite figure under the cloth which covered the entire body and even the head. She even had a walking stick with her. She looked like she was trembling heavily as if she would have collapsed if she wasn't held by them and didn't dare to utter a word. 

Suiyo spoke up," They call her Banshee but she is just a ghost...at least more than 200 years old!"

There has always been a clear difference between demons and ghosts. A normal ghost never possesses as much power as a demon. Besides demons aren't necessarily born out of people when they die. Demons are either by birth or are the mages who often deviate from their path and often return as a bearer of evil energy after having their spiritual power or vitality sucked out dry. 

Now that he carefully considered it, Sansara found himself wondering how Vinasaka might have died or whether he ever died. He suddenly didn't feel too good about it and decided to move on and focus on the topic at hand.

"So you mean she was behind all this?" Sansara asked Mohi as if to deviate from the thought in his head.

After hearing the words, both Vinasaka and Zaharia looked at her when 'Banshee' actually began to sob again. It was like she was wheezing out her cries silently before she started wailing. Sansara was quite taken aback and was terrified of the outcome when Mohi just pst-ed and the rest of the newcomers either facepalmed or sighed.

What is happening? Isn't someone supposed to die?

Seeing the question mark on Sansara's face, Roy rushed to his side and explained, "Don't worry, my lord. Looks like it doesn't really affect any spiritual essence bearers," which clearly meant that it has no effect on mages. But after ingesting this new piece of information,even though he kinda knew the answer, Sansara looked at Vinasaka since he didn't have spiritual essence in him but evil energy instead.

"Ghosts are normally inferior creatures than demons," Sansara nodded as if this new statement of Vinasaka gave him a lot of knowledge.

Mohi rubbed his temples in annoyance as he said,"All she does is cry every time we say anything...the whole way she had been doing the same!"

They wanted to laugh but the situation with her highness trying to heal the old woman pathetically in front of them helped them to rather maintain their composure. Sila suddenly knelt beside her and asked, "Are you the queen of this kingdom? The people of this kingdom were worried about her highness. It's good that you are fine, your highness. The people will be happy…

…..but you mustn't push yourself too hard. How about you heal first and then help her heal?" As Sila finished, the others watched with their eyes coming out of their sockets, especially Vinasaka since he knows the best how adamant she can be at times. To be able to have her agree with him so easily like that, something was definitely up. She looked at his eyes and felt as if she was looking at herself, as if she had known him. As he led her to rest, the rest gradually followed them and this time Sansara's healing magic worked quite fast. She needed a good amount of rest.

The palace prison was right underground and it was no ordinary prison. It was indeed a heavy spell prison which was probably not possible to invade without the queen. So for the time being, both 'Banshee' and the 'old woman' were tied up and held captive inside a barrier each led by Roy and Sila.

They decided to bring the topic of the red diamond the next day when she felt better. They invited themselves to rest for the day in the palace itself but didn’t really dare to use the rooms. More or less everyone was gathered in the hall downstairs except Mohi and Sila. When Sila finally came down, Sansara curiously inquired, “Where’s Mohi? His wound has just healed. He should rest.”

“Oh..I asked Guardian angel to come down with me but he insisted on guarding her highness. He said it might still not be safe completely.” Sila obediently reported to Sansara before joining Roy on the opposite side.

When Sansara sat down beside Vinasaka, he noticed a smirk half painted on the latter’s lips. However, it quickly disappeared as he said, “Might not be entirely wrong!”

“What do you mean?”

“That Banshee...I mean that ghost, she doesn’t look like she would pull off such a thing!”

Suiyo was fast asleep on the floor a long time ago whereas Roy and Sila nodded with a ‘there’s-more?’ face. Sansara considered the fact silently before he abruptly turned to Vinasaka and asked, “By the way, what’s with your whip? Why didn’t you use it from the beginning?”

“Ah this?” he patted his waist where the whip lay very proudly before he continued, “It isn’t really good at being used against common people without spiritual energy. It’s a miracle but the woman isn’t dead yet, so I was just hesitating….Normally he is a bit of an i***t, but looks like he did a good job today?” Hearing his owner's praise, he shrinked a bit as if he was embarrassed or that’s what Sansara thought he had seen. It was cute though, so Sansara couldn’t hold back his chuckle.

“You should rest up…,” Vinasaka got up lazily and headed towards the door as Lyca silently cooed towards Sansara in his cat form. By now, he has gotten used to the fact that Sansara is still not used to his wolf form.

“Where are you going?” he asked hastily before Vinasaka stepped out.

“Some work!”

The tone wasn’t particularly rude but just those two words, and Sansara was somehow reminded of the fact that he was after all The Demon Overlord. He naturally shut up but also felt disappointed...kinda...by the fact that they probably weren’t of the same level ...of the same world….