Chapter 22

Ibaeran soon found herself seating on a dining table with none other than the king of all Uha Tamunarans and his son, prince Tanyino, an Uha Tamunaran that looked like the unholy combination of a lizard and a man with scaly skin that greatly resembled that of a man, snake like forked tongue which extended out of his mouth each time he opened it and a long slender scaly tail.

Ibaeran wished she could leave as her entire body was completely tensed up with fear, so much so that her entire body was shaking and as she attempted to use her shaking hand to hold the spoon so she can begin to eat she spilled so the food on herself.

Prince Tanyino, upon seeing Ibaeran make a fool of herself with her food, couldn’t help but smile as he closed his eyes and nodded his head, finding it her to believed that she was the Su Baera his father had spent so much time and energy searching for.

“I can’t believe a thing like you is actually the Su Baera,” said the prince.

Ibaeran felt insulted upon hearing what the prince said and wanted to give a fitting reply to him but then remembered where she was and the repercussions of her insulting the prince of the Uha Tamunarans.

“Don’t tell me Tanyino that you’ve forgotten about the lessons I taught you” said the king annoyed with his son for the remark he made about Ibaeran.

“I know father, you taught me to respect power above all else but honestly father look at her. Seriously father, there nothing special about her, in fact she even looks weaker than...” the prince was stopped mid-sentence by the king using some of his power to send a jolt of pain through his entire body.

The prince, now in incredible pain bowed his face down to the table with tears falling down from his eyes due to the pain inflicted upon him by his father.

“I’m sorry father; please pardon my insubordinate behavior,” said the prince.

The king then sighed before snapping his fingers and freeing his son from his power which inflicted pain upon him.

Ibaeran was beyond horrified at that very moment, whatever fear she had for that king had greatly intensified upon seeing him, without even an ounce of hesitation use his own power inflict pain upon his son, his very own blood.

“You’re lucky I’m in a pleasant mood son, otherwise I would have left you in that state for an entire week” said the king to his son.

“Thank you, father,” said the prince while bowing down his head before continuing his meal.

Ibaeran then looked at the king with even more fear in her heart for him but apart from fear she felt a great deal of disgust for the king over the way he treated his own son, using his own power to inflict pain upon him for such a minor act, it was an act crueler than anything she had seen an Uha Tamunaran.

Ibaeran then looked at the prince, pitying him for having the king as his father.

The king noticed the was the way Ibaeran was looking at his son the spoke, with a voice that made Ibaeran shake with fear, “Don’t pity or feel sorry for him, his knows the rules that governor the action of everyone within the walls of the palace and he just broke the most important one of all”.

“And what might that be?” asked Ibaeran with fear still in her eyes.

“Respect all powers greater than your own. That is the number one rule in this palace and anyone who breaks it will be punished. Do you understand Su Baera” asked the king, looking at Ibaeran almost as though he was threatening her.

“Yes, your majesty” said Ibaeran softly, understanding what he meant.

“Good, so for your sake I suggest you don’t break it” said the king before getting up from his seat.

“I’ve had enough food for the day, you two may continue your meal” said the king before leaving.

Ibaeran and the prince were now seated alone in the dining table having their meals.

Ibaeran could see that the prince was struggling to eat due to the overwhelming pain inflicted upon him by his father; even though the pain had stopped his body still ached and was incredibly weakened.

Ibaeran, feeling sorry for the prince could stop herself from asking, “Are you okay?”

The prince upon hearing her speak replied softly, “I’m…I’m fine”.

“Are you sure, you don’t look fine?” said Ibaeran.

“I’m fine” said the prince once again, focusing solely on his food and ignoring Ibaeran.

Ibaeran just sighed before continuing her meal, giving up on talking to the prince and focusing solely on her meal.

The prince, feeling every part of his body aching in pain could barely hold his spoon as his hand shook uncontrollably while he held it.

Putting food in to his mouth was an even worse story as he would often miss his mouth whenever he tried to eat.

It was sad to watch and even though Ibaeran tried to ignore the prince and focus on her meal the sorry sight of the prince struggling to do something as simple as eating thanks to something his own father did to him made Ibaeran’s heart ache out of pity for the prince.

“I’m not really hungry” said the prince after several fail attempts in trying to put a single morsel of food in his mouth.

Ibaeran knew he was lying but did not say anything, knowing that the stubborn prince would just lie and deny it.

The prince was about to leave but as he tried to get up, he felt his feet ach and shake, far too weak to support his body standing up.

The prince tried to ignore his aching legs, not wanting Ibaeran to see him as a weakling and tried to plant his firmly on the ground and walk away only to immediately collapse on the floor the moment he tried to take a step.

Ibaeran upon seeing the prince collapsed on the floor rushed to his aid, not caring that he was the prince of the Uha Tamunarans and simply just wanted to help him.

“Take my hand” asked Ibaeran as she walked up to prince and extended her hand to him.

“No, I don’t need your help. I can get up on my own” said the prince, refusing to accept her hand.

Ibaeran seeing that the prince was still being stubborn and refusing her help just sigh out of annoyance before saying, “You don’t have to pretend to be strong you know”.

“I’m not pretending, I am strong,” said the prince.

“Alright then, if you’re not pretending, prove it by getting up” said Ibaeran, wanting to prove her point to the stubborn prince.

The prince, too stubborn to admit his own weakness, tried to get up only to collapse back down to the ground.

“Like I said before, you don’t have to pretend to be strong. Because whether you want to admit it or not, in the state you’re in at the moment a simple breeze would be enough to bring you down to your knees, so please, for your sake let me help you” said Ibaeran.

The prince looked away from her for a few moments, feeling a great deal of shame for being too weak to stand on his two feet before begrudgingly accepting Ibaeran’s hands.

And the moment the prince stretched out his hand to accept Ibaeran’s both he and Ibaeran felt the immense power of steel wings of the Su Baera flow out Ibaeran’s body and in to the prince, healing him and restoring his strength.

Ibaeran then pulled him up and upon doing so the prince found that his body no longer ached or felt weak.

“What did you do to me?” asked the prince softly, feeling a small sense of gratitude for Ibaeran for helping him up and healing his body.

“I’m not entirely sure myself” said Ibaeran while looking at her trying to understand what she had done and how she did it.

The prince, now fully healed and able to hold his spoon firmly and aim for his mouth without missing took his seat and continued his meal.

Ibaeran knowing she was not going to hear the prince say thank you went back to her seat and continued eating as well.

As soon as Ibaeran and the prince were done eating and were about to leave, the prince called out to Ibaeran, saying “Su Baera”.

Ibaeran, upon hearing the prince turned to him.

The prince then cleared his throat before saying, “I was wrong. You may appear to be nothing more than a weak and frail girl but possess an acceptable level of power, power I must respect”.

“Thank you, your majesty,” said Ibaeran, knowing that that would be the closest form gratitude she was going to get from the prince.

After that both Ibaeran and the prince left the dining table and went to their rooms to rest for the night but as Ibaeran left she couldn’t help but sense that something was lurking in the shadows, watching her every move.

She looked back several times to see if someone truly was watching her only to see that no one was behind her each and every time.

Ibaeran eventually stopped turning back to check her surroundings and convinced herself that whatever she was feeling was all in her head.

Ibaeran then made her way to her room.

Ibaeran then immediately lied down upon her bed and then began to think about everything that had happened since she stepped foot in the palace.

Ibaeran thought about the two servants that came to prepare her to dine with the king and what they said about humans and how they saw them as a threat because of the machines they built.

Ibaeran then thought about how strange and bizarre it for the Uha Tamunarans to fear them because of the machines they built especially since they possessed the power to destroy anything they could have ever built with ease.

Ibaeran then thought about the war between the E’Uhas and E’Tamunrans, finding it hard to believe that there was once a time he Uha Tamunarans were divided.

She then wondered what overwhelmingly powerful force would have been able to force the two races to stop the war and come together.

Thinking about how a power that could cause fear between both E’Uhas and E’Tamunrans frightened Ibaeran a bit as she thought that such a power would be greater than the king of all Uha Tamunarans himself.

Ibaeran already knew from the rumors that spread around all the nations of the king and his overwhelming which was said to be greater than any Uha Tamunaran that has ever lived, that simple fact alone was enough reason for Ibaeran to fear but if there was indeed a power that was greater than his Ibaeran would not only fear it but also tremble before it as she felt that anything that was above the king’s power would far exceed any form of power she could ever imagine.

As Ibaeran slowly drifted away to sleep for the night, she hoped that whatever it was that was powerful enough to end the between the two Uha Tamunaran races she would never have to encounter it.

But as Ibaeran slept soundly in the room given to her by the king, shadowy figure slowly opened and peeped through the door, watching Ibaeran as she slept before one of the royal guards who was be roaming the palace halls slowly began to approach the room forcing the figure to flee, moving faster than the naked eyes perceive.

The figure retreated to the massive forest like garden outside the palace.

Once there it stood in front of palace, looking at the window of room where Ibaeran was sleeping before making its way back to a small wooden house that rested on top of a great hill within garden.