"Teleporting is awful," Ajay screamed with pain. He didn't know it would be this bad but movies made it look awesome. All space movies had the option to teleport. He crossed it out of his to-do list.
Dhvani also felt the jolt but it wasn't as adverse as Ajay. She felt fine but she had to soothe her host.
["Do you need anything, host?"]
"Yes, I need water."
The water was everywhere. They seemed to have landed on a small island and she could practically see the ocean surrounding them. Dhvani decided to turn on her scanning system. so she could find out if something approached them. Be it may mermaid or shark.
Sharks are also very common here because she saw one circling in the waters. She cursed her system zoom. She didn't want to know what else was eyeing her host.
But anyway, she had to give him water.
She had collected many things in the system space for this journey spending almost a thousand points. And yes, Tarsh followed her. Because she lied that Tarsh was from the system, she had to take him with her.
After she took out a water bottle and presented it to Ajay, she quickly clicked the world info on her screen.
Name: Nila
Type: Lower planet
Civilization: Orcs
Mission: Take the mermaid clan away from Nila
Reason: Not enough permissions to view
She parroted it word to word so Ajay could listen. He nodded.
Tarsh came out bounding and took a very deep breath.
"This world has a dwindling number of spirits."
A sniff told him all this information. Dhvani was impressed by this feat. They waited till night fell because it was the time when spirits would be active. And Orcs would sleep.
The blue ocean sparkled like gemstones and Dhvani noticed many sharks nearing them. She waited for them to lessen the proximity and shoot them all. But her faint heart was very upset when she saw them transforming into humans.
Two burly guys had a tan complexion. They only wore shorts and were covered in many sea shells ornaments. She honestly never understood how clothes were taken into consideration while transforming.
Putting that thought aside, she concentrated on the visitors. Maybe they were the visitors because this wasn't their place and these transforming sharks owned this island.
Both of them were handsome. Dhvani had yet to see someone who wasn't heaven-defying good-looking. She got Aquaman vibes from them. She felt sad that this world didn't have movies from her time. Tarsh also exclaimed anger at this fact. Anyway, she could watch but the people of Ajay's world were missing so much stuff.
They had long hair, and they seriously left it loose. How did it remain dry? Do they have some kind of hydrophobic substances? She would like to take some if they did.
The two men bowed and Dhvani felt it was etiquette here.
"Esteemed Outsider, do we have the honor to take you with us to our king?"
His voice reminded Dhvani of the calm sea. It had a calming effect and it just felt cool to her non-existent ears.
Ajay seemed nonchalant about all this and nodded very arrogantly. He did seem fast to get into the character. Maybe he thought it was some kind of RPG.
Ajay had indeed thought like that. He didn't seem to consider that he was changing the course of history in a world that was not on the same plane as his. If he knew, he would pass out in a glorified manner.
Dhvani quickly handed him the breath-holding pill, she had rewarded in a timely manner.
Seeing him taking things out of the air seemed to impress the Shark men. It also proved their theory of an almighty outsider Ajay.
Tarsh who didn't want to miss out on this action quickly hugged Ajay's legs. Ajay picked him up and both walked into the ocean as if they owned it. The shark men followed them and turned back into sharks. Dhvani was glad she wasn't present in person for this mission. Her being virtually present was difficult enough for her to handle.
The breath-holding pill worked for thousand days. So they had to finish the mission within the time limit. It wasn't that hard, right?
Ajay swam towards the trenches. The marine world here was different from the one in Dhvani's world. She recorded it for future reminiscing and sighed happily. Then as the pressure increased in the waters, the scene changed drastically.
They arrived at what could be said as a mountain in the ocean. It was surrounded by all types of seaweeds and electric fish. Dhvani never wanted to go near them, Ajay didn't have her concerns, and to be in character, he swam without any delay. The shark men quickly took their seals out.
Dhvani laughed out loud seeing the seal. It was a childish version of a mighty sea king. Only someone who could love the person making the seal would allow the object to circulate.
She was right in her assumptions.
The mountain split into two parts and a road appeared. It was made of pearls and Dhvani looked at it as if wasting millions. The sea clan didn't value these pearls but she did. They were in all colors and sizes. But those were cut into tiles and bricks. She really wanted to cry seeing this luxury.
As they walked further, she noticed that there were large shells. The shells were like houses. She wanted to see how it would look when one was opened. As if hearing her thoughts, each shell opened one by one. She couldn't forget the magnificent sight. There was a house in the shape of a pearl with cute windows and doors. All the huge shells opened and pearls came into view. The pearls then showed the doors and people came from them. The doors were circular like the hobbits had.
Everything was circular here. She wondered if this kind of construction hurt any oysters. But how could she ask?
She signaled Tarsh and he quickly got in and out. He became proficient at that. Because they would need this kind of communication. She had no way to talk in the outside world so Tarsh was her megaphone.
"How can oysters make such large pearls?"Tarsh, the ever dramatist, exclaimed loudly.
No one could resist such a cute child.
A nearby merman kneeled and talked in a low voice.
"These are all made by the leading architect of our community. He is an oyster spirit. He can make pearls and shells, and he built all our houses."
That being said, she understood that no one was harmed. That was good to know.
Everyone looked closely at Ajay and Tarsh but it didn't feel rude. Finally, they arrived at their destination.
The underwater palace was large but it wasn't much different from everything around here. It was arranged in the shape of a lotus and each leaf had a small shell on it. The lotus flower itself was large and it was pale pink in color. It formed a contrast with all the white shells and green leaves.
The flower was a mansion and after entering it, Dhvani saw a new world. The water was sealed outside the lotus flower and inside was a large-scale view of colors. There were all water plants floating in the water. But there was an invisible boundary separating water from the air. If marine museums were like this, no one would want to leave them. Maybe they would earn more than cinema theatres.
Ajay and Tarsh were taken into the main room where there were five people present. Two women and three men.
The one in the center was the king. Because he wore a golden crown. The crown had a pattern of ivy and roses entangled in each other. He was the tallest and he also had a white beard. The woman next to him was slim and she seemed to be a princess. She had a similar crown but it was silver in color and the flowers on it were all lilies. She looked like her father with sea blue eyes, and a pale complexion but her hair color was black. Her father had silver-white hair.
The king bowed without any hesitation.
Ajay also bowed learning from the mermen.
The king then offered Ajay and Tarsh to sit with them for drinks. The drinks were pure water. It should be a luxury considering they lived in the salty sea.
Tarsh sipped the glass and made himself comfortable on the chair made of a pearl. It also had a cushion on it. Dhvani feared that it would topple him because of its circular shape.
Ajay talked first.
"Ocean king, I come here to take you from this world."
He stopped there for a theatrical effect but sadly he got none.
"Yes, we have been waiting for you. It will be difficult leaving here. The orcs will come to war in a month."
Yes, they had to find a place that wasn't water to teleport. But they had to take everything from here. Such a large-scale relocation plan would turn deadly if their enemies, the orcs learned.
Dhvani wanted to know what exactly the problem between the mermaids and orcs was.
"The orcs think that we magic yielders are a scourge and must be wiped from the surface of this world. They have killed many of our clans. My wife was taken back by her family. We really have no choice but to leave. If we stay, they will start killing us. O Esteemed benefactor, I have a small wish. Can you help me?"
Ajay nodded.
"My queen is held captive by the orcs. Because she is an orc, they haven't injured her yet. Please bring her back to us. She also wants to leave with us."
Dhvani finally understood the dangerous part of the mission. They had to go undercover in the orc world and bring back the queen.
Ajay nodded again.
"Thank you, benefactor. When shall we leave?"
"We will wait for today. Introduce your craftsmen to me. I will need to know everything about the orc world. In the meantime, you will gather everyone on the island we arrived at."
The king nodded.
The princess who was quiet spoke.
"Benefactor, I would like to marry you if you can get my mother out."
Ajay choked on his water. Dhvani cackled wildly.
"Sister, you don't know what marriage is. How about you become my sister?"
"Yes, daughter, our benefactor's love line has been already entangled and it has no loose ends. So he will never marry another person but his tangled loved one."
The girl nodded sadly. Her eyes were very innocent and pure. And she had learned this from the kind of TV shows or whatever the mermen watched. But she showed how much she loved her mother. Because she didn't think a human partner would be okay with spirits. At least orcs had animal sides.
She really saw many pure spirits. She had to consider a class teaching the spirits about the sinister world. They couldn't be innocent always.
Ajay was taken to his temporary residence. He then fell on the pearl bed and sighed in comfort.
"System Status," he thought.
["Online."]
"Do you think we can go into the orc world?"
["Host, you can do anything you set your mind on."]
"How will I change to an orc?"
["You can ask for help from Tarsh. He can change your aura to an animal so you can be mistaken as an orc."]
Ajay nodded and fell asleep. Tarsh slept in Dhvani's house. He played with the kittens and named the plant Kuvali.
She also slept without any worries because she would have to be alert in the orc world.
The next day, Ajay left in a hurry. He was very uncomfortable because he had the smell of snow lion. He didn't know if there were snow lions in this world. Ajay had to wear a hairball of a snow lion cub given by Tarsh.
So that's how he found himself surrounded by many young lions, tigers, cats, and even lions.
"Which cub are you? Why do you smell like all of us?"
Ajay almost fainted at this. How did he know that because the snow lion cubs were the most favorite, they almost carried the scent of all the animals in the spirit world and now he became a museum exhibit in the orc world?