7.EPISODE: TALISMAN

I follow the poison of despair disappearing, as if it were stuck under a rock that could not come out in a deep ocean.

A smell mixed with longing whispers into my heart, and this whisper seemed to give the clouds surrounding me a taste of sadness.

I deliberately mingled with the soil of a fossilized universe.

Although my roots forced me to become a slave by imprisoning me in an eternal land, my soul, wearing my helpless body, would not accept defeat.

"There is no place in Munzevi called Porto."

My ears focused on this sentence that spilled between Adrushan's lips, ignoring all that was left. Munzevi was the last seal to stuck dagger into my questions left unanswered. Where is Munzevi? It was this real slap in my face that drove me mad, and it made me accept what had happened.

There was a little silence. During this time, I took a step towards Adrushan, ignoring the tears that began to descend in my eyes suddenly. Adrushan was standing where he was, in shock, just watching my tears flow down my cheeks. For a moment, he put up with the distance between us.

"Where am I?

"We are going to go stop your whining." This man, who did not play a muscle in his face, grabbed me by my arm and pulled me towards him, making me walk. He intended to complete what he wanted to do to the end.

For a while, silence surrounded the roads, we passed with great surprise. I have seen houses of different structures that I have never seen before. These houses look like a normal house. Independent tree houses surprised me.

I have never come across a house like this in Porto.

"Why are you looking around like that?" Adrushan asked and took great steps and entered a narrow street.

"Very interesting." I said, keeping my eyes on the houses.

"Its architecture is very different. I have never seen tree houses like this."

He looked at me over his shoulder and said, "Stop serving trick, Misha." He looked very serious and harsh. After his gaze wandered across my face for a few seconds, he turned in front of himself and we kept walking. I followed Adrushan along the way without saying a word. Finally, we came to the end of a long and narrow street. Although I felt the gaze of

drunk, smelly, strangely dressed people around us was a pressure on me, I ignored them as if nothing had happened.

He hesitated. As he pulled me under his arm and hugged me slightly, I continued to walk in shaky steps without any reaction, even though for a moment my heart accelerated strangely.

"Do not be afraid, you little liar. You are my bait; I will not make them feed you." I paused and looked at him with my eyebrows raised. In an instant, this narrow street, which does not sound, except for the sounds of our breath, became quite quiet.

"Why are we here?" when I asked, he bowed his head and looked soulless.

"I forbid you to ask questions, Misha." he said in a mechanical voice.

I looked him, frowning. After looking in my eyes for a few seconds, we started walking again.

An iron door stood in front of us. This iron door, which covered almost the entire wall, looked eerie. As we approached the door, I looked over the door. After Adrushan removed a stone resembling a diamond in his pocket and placed it in the ring standing next to the iron door, the iron door opened from side to side, accompanied by a noise that would deafen the ears.

He quickly pushed his black hair, which fell on his forehead, with the back of his hand.

I know it is stupid, but I was looking at him like I was fascinated. Could a man be so handsome?

I had to neutralize my thoughts by destroying them, but this is the first time I have succumbed to a man.

He looked at me sarcastically, raising his eyebrows.

"Are you ready? We are here to find out who are you, what your purpose is. Fall in front of me and walk."

I looked at him frowning, and then I looked at the tree house which was standing in front of us.

I looked at the tree house. As I began to climb the stairs, which were surrounded by cobwebs, taking heavy steps, I had to look over my shoulder to Adrushan. I climbed the steps with absolute confidence.

When we reached the end of the steps, we entered a large and unfurnished hall. Everything was driving me crazy. The exterior was a tree, and the interior was a spacious house.

It was like I was lost in a dream. Although I wanted it all to end, I was aware that this situation I was in was real.

" Mother Gwen ," Adrushan said, and his voice echoed on the walls of the empty room. "It is me, Adruşhan, Mother Gwen."

For a few seconds, I looked senseless at Adrushan's face like a mad. There was no one here.

Then I heard the sound of an iron door opening, and the two of us turned and looked in the direction it was coming from. It scared me to see that what had just been a wall was now an iron door.

As the iron door opened like an automatic door, an old woman came out from inside. The woman's hair was white, stubbornly backward in the confusion of her face. She wore a long black dress and old boots on her feet.

When these old eyes found me, I could barely contain myself not to hide behind Adrushan.

"Who is this, Adrushan?" the old woman asked.

"Misha, Mother Gwen." Adrushan said. I looked at him frowning, focused on my eyes like a savage, this woman looked at me as if she was whispering something was wrong.

"She says she does not belong here. I was in my house, and when I went down to the secret library section, I saw her unconscious on the floor. Oh, she is making up slingshots, and I think The Wizard Ohannes had something to do with it, Mother Gwen"

The old woman looked at me, raising her eyebrows, and a few steps closer, pointing at my face with her hand: "Come closer to me, Misha."

As I took a step or two and approached the old woman, the old woman also approached me and put her index finger on my heart.

"It is a trap," said the old woman, in a voice so enigmatic that I cannot make sense of it. "This trap reeks of betrayal. I see two men drowning in blood. Adruşhan, this girl is who was directed for a purpose to the locked door of this trap."

"I do not understand, Mother Gwen."Although I wanted to lift my head when I breathed the astonishment in Adrushan's voice, I could not do it. The old lady stopped it.

"This purpose is like a nested node. It is dark everywhere, I see knights on black horses. There is a dark face stuck in the middle of disaster.

The history of this girl trapped in a trap."said the old woman.

"I do not understand." the old woman looked in my eyes when I asked. My trembling body was ready to erupt like a volcano. She took two steps back, quickly pulling her finger over my heart. She just looked in my eyes for a few seconds. She shook her head and turned towards Adrushan.

"This girl does not belong here, Adrushan." The old woman continued to look at Adrushan, frowned, stunned, when her eyes became large, as if they were coming out of their sockets.

"Mother Gwen, this is a play by The Wizard Ohannes." Adrushan said.

"No, this girl does not belong here, Adrushan. There is something else, but I could not see that mysterious door that closed in front of it like a black curtain. Ohannes the wizard had nothing to do with it."

"And if this girl does not belong here, why do I find her in the secret library of my house? Who brought her there, Mother Gwen?"

Adrushan pressed his teeth together. I kept watching Adrushan and Gwen without making a sound.

"Do not push yourself, Adrushan. She has a very powerful talisman, and the strange thing is how this girl can breathe in Munzevi. People who do not belong here cannot live here."

Adrushan looked in the direction I was, with surprised eyes. His black curved frowns frowned and he swallowed, raising his head slightly up. As I gazed at his throatball, my gaze broke free from his throatball and focused on his eyes, which resembled combative waves.

" Mother Gwen, why did she come across me? What does she have to do with me? Something fishy, senseless is going on around here. What will happen, now? Only you can guide me," Adrushan's voice was sharp.

After about two minutes of silence, I saw old woman Gwen pulling a small notebook out of a bag made of animal skin hanging on the wall. Approaching Adrushan, she said, "You can find the answer to this mysterious talisman on the Rocky Hill of Craig, Adrushan."

The thoughts of these people I did not know had on me, shook me like a spinning ring. He looked in my eyes for a few minutes, maybe a lot longer. He approached me quickly in a way I never understood.

"Let go of me! I want to go home. I did not do anything. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in your house."

As Adrushan focused on the sentences that spilled between my lips, I took my gaze from Adrushan and focused on old woman Gwen. She approached us, taking heavy steps towards us: "There is no exit door in Munzevi. This is a very dangerous place for outsiders."said old lady Gwen.

I paused in the face of what the old woman said. Was this really a place without an exit door?

"This girl does not belong here, Adrushan. Take this notebook, you have to go to the Rocky Hill of Craig on the night the Evan stones shine. This little notebook will help you along the way."

"Oh, Mother Gwen, I cannot deal with this little lying girl. Let her go, as she came from, where he came from." I had a strange feeling that these sentences spilled between Adrushan's lips, opened the door.

"It is dangerous for her here, Adrushan. I saw that mysterious talisman in your heart. On the night when the Evan stones shine, you have to go to Craig's Rock Hill."

"Mother Gwen, I do not understand what you are saying. Why Craig Rock Hill? What does the talisman you are talking about have to do with me?"

I was tiny where I was when all my muscles contracted in the face of what I heard. The voice of old woman Gwen and Adrushan continued to echo in the empty room. The talisman in my heart, what was it called? I did not know. I am standing in front of these two people and a strange city. What was going on?

Gwen, the old woman who looked at me and Adrushan with her stiff eyes, stood away from us, retreating a step or two.

Approaching the iron door, which opened sideways, the old woman looked over her shoulder at us both.

"I do not have the answer to this talisman, Adrushan. Go to Rocky Hill of Craig. Ohannes the Wizard had nothing to do with it. Get out of here." The old woman who entered through the anchored door, disappeared. We were alone in the spare room. Adrushan looked directly into my eyes. I pressed my trembling lips firmly against each other. My wobbly and erratic breath had reached a level that would upset all balances.

He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me towards him, saying, "We will talk later."he said, in a thoughtful voice.

As much as my tremors had decreased when he slowly released me, I could not get over the intensity of the sudden shock for a while.

"Let's go." He turned his back on me and quickly descended the steps surrounded by cobwebs. I followed Adrushan down the stairs without staying in this creepy house any longer. I was in a place I never knew about: in Munzevi. And I took refuge with a man I never knew. What Mother Gwen said was hanging in the corner of my mind, and despair had already taken over me.

As I looked at the suddenly pressing rain with shocked eyes, I tried to warm up by rubbing my hands into my arms as my body slowly began to chill.

The rain was increasing with each passing second. I kept walking through the narrow streets with Adrushan until my body was soaked. All of a sudden, when the thunder rumbled, I felt that my greatest fear had found me. I had already started crying when I pressed both hands against my ears in fear.

Adrushan, who looked at me over his shoulder with confused eyes, held on to my knee with his strong hands and then to my waist and lifted me up in one go and held me in his arms.

The sky thundered once more. This time it was even more violent. My tears still flowed at me. The knot around my throat became tighter. I was powerlessly clinging to this man I never knew. Maybe there was no one here I could trust but him.

For about fifteen minutes, we were walking in the rain, in a narrow street surrounded by drinking places. The smell of soil enveloping the environment, filled my lungs.

I could tell we were coming home by the sound of the door locking. After he opened the door and walked in, he left my wet body slightly on top of the seat. Even though I forced my eyes open, I could not open them.

"I do not really belong here."I mumbled.

He slanted slowly towards my ear and whispered, "You are still playing so well, you little liar.".

- END OF EPISODE-