chapter 24

Ibaeran woke up lying on the bed in the room given to her by the king.

Ibaeran the remembered how the king commanded her to travel to the Kiri Dumo and the tremendous power that flowed through her entire as she attempted to do as the king commanded.

She remembered the way she felt as the power flowed through, it was a strange feeling, one that Ibaeran lack the words to describe.

The power overwhelmed her and made her lose herself within, it raw and great for her to control and it kept rising and rising, reaching a level of power higher than most Uha Tamunarans and if allowed to continue to grow it might have even surpassed the king himself.

Ibaeran at the moment realized the amount of power she possessed and it frighten because she had just realized that lying within her was power to bring down entire nations and if did not find away to master and control the power within she may end up destroying everything around.

Ibaeran came out of her train of thought when she heard someone knock at the room door.

Ibaeran then went to see who was knocking on the door, upon opening the door she saw a guard holding a tray of food for Ibaeran.

It was the same guard ordered by the king to take Ibaeran away and bring her food once she was awake.

“The king instructed me to bring you food once you had awakened” said the guard.

“Thank you but how did you know I was awake” asked Ibaeran.

“My power as an Uha Tamunaran allows me to sense thing like when person is, hungry, tired, confused, sad, angry, happy, awake or sleeping” said the guard.

“Oh, what an interesting power” said Ibaeran never having heard such a power like the one the guard possessed.

“It’s more of a curse than power” said the guard.

“Why?” asked Ibaeran, wondering why an Uha Tamunaran would see his very own power as a curse.

“My power allows me to sense whatever someone else it makes me unsure of what emotions are mine and which emotions are coming from someone else. In a single day I feel fear, rage, hatred, happiness, regret, sorrow, sadness and pain, and I don’t know if those emotions are mine or come from someone else. I have never known what I truly felt about anything because of this power” said the guard.

Ibaeran upon hearing what the guard said could help but feel sad for him as she couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must feel like to live a life where you won’t even sure of what you’re feeling, the thought of such a life alone seemed miserable, she could only imagine how terrible it would be to actually live like that.

“I’m sorry” said Ibaeran, softly.

“I know. I can sense it and thank you. Your feelings of sadness for me are more bearable than the constant feeling of fear, rage and hatred I constantly feel while I’m within the palace walls” said the guard before handing Ibaeran the food and leaving.

Ibaeran upon receiving the food went back to her room, thinking about what the guard said as she ate the food.

She had never had never heard of Uha Tamunaran’s power being a source of pain or sorrowing so the idea of an Uha Tamunaran experiencing and kind of pain due to their own power was foreign to her.

She continued to think about the guard even after she had finished her meal, unable to begin to imagine what it must be like to possess a power that alienates you from yourself in such a way that you are unable to know what you’re feeling, such a life in her mind would be a fate far worse than any form of death but yet that guard had managed to live with it for the entirety of his life till that very moment feeling emotions of different kinds unsure of which ones were his and which ones came from someone else.

Ibaeran sighed deeply as thought more about the guard before hearing a knock at the door.

Ibaeran then went to see who was at the door, this time it was the two maids, Minji and Finita.

“Oh it’s you” Ibaeran, a bit surprised to see the two maids again.

“The king sent us to check up on you and see if you were alright” said Minji.

“I’m fine, I just used the power of Su Baera for the first and I guess my body couldn’t handle it” said Ibaeran.

“Power of any kind is not easy master and control; it took me and my sister a very long time before we learnt to control our own abilities” said Finita.

“You are right about that, when I used the power of the Su Baera it was too much for me to control and I ended up being overwhelmed by it. I still can believe all that power lies within me” said Ibaeran remembering how it felt using her powers as a Su Baera for the first time.

“Nobody ever forgets the first time the used their powers, for us Uha Tamunarans the first time of using ones power is as special being born” said Finita with a small smile on her face remembering the first time she and her sister first discovered and used their powers.

Ibaeran then thought about the guard that brought food and then out of sheer curiosity asked, “Can I ask you question about your powers”.

“What do you wish to know about our powers” asked Finita.

“Do they cause you pain of any kind” asked Ibaeran.

The two maids upon hearing what Ibaeran said were shocked, wondering why she wanted to know if their powers inflicted and kind of pain to them.

“Why do you want to know?” asked Finita.

“I’m just curious” said Ibaeran.

The two maid then looked at each other, not entirely sure of how they could answer such question as it was a question that did not have straight forward answer to.

“Well, most Uha Tamunarans are born with abilities that inflict some level of pain or discomfort to them those that possess such abilities such as the ability to change forms and appearance which involves breaking down, restructuring and reforming of several body parts feel a great deal of pain whenever they use their abilities while most like me and my sister can make use of our powers and abilities without feeling any form of pain” said Minji.

“So your powers don’t harm Uha Tamunarans like you two in anyway?” asked Ibaeran.

“Not exactly, it is true we don’t feel any physical pain from using her powers but our powers like every other Uha Tamunaran is connected to our life energy and if we continuously use them within a short span of time we may harm ourselves and even die” said Finita.

“You mean to say, you two could die from over using your powers?” said Ibaeran, shocked to hear that Uha Tamunaran’s great power, the thing made them feared by everybody within the four nations could kill them if they use it too much.

“Yes but only if we us continuously use within a short span of time” said Minji.

“I always thought that you Uha Tamunarans were unstoppable god like beings. I would have never believed that anything could end one of you much less your very own power” said Ibaeran.

“We are far from being gods for despite all the power and strength we may possess we have an equally or sometimes even greater flaw” said Finita.

“Does every Uha Tamunaran really possess some kind of flaw, even the king?” asked Ibaeran who was unable to believe that all Uha Tamunarans including the king had some kind of flaw.

The maids upon hearing what Ibaeran said remained almost as though they were afraid of answering the question.

“We cannot answer such a question” said Finita.

“Why not?” asked Ibaeran, wondering why they could not give her answer.

“Because it would be safer for all of us if that question is never answer for the king would not hesitate to end the lives of anyone who attempted to answer it” said Minji.

With that said the two maids left the room, carrying the now empty tray of food served to her by the guard who sense the emotions of the people around him but was left unsure which were his and which came from others.

Ibaeran was now, once again left alone in her room, thinking about the Uha Tamunaran’s and how they were different from the way she originally saw them back when she was just a slave.

She thought about how the great powers the Uha Tamunaran’s possessed could end their lives if they used too much of it, to think, the very power the Uha Tamunarans used oppress and subdue her people was their greatest weakness.

Ibaeran also thought about the way the maids reacted upon hearing the question she asked about every Uha Tamunarans having a flaw of some kind including the king and what they said about the king ending the lives of anyone who attempted to answer such a question.

Ibaeran, upon thinking about what the two maids said her fear for the king grew as she thought of the king being able to end someone’s life just for attempting to answer a question greatly terrified her and made her realize just how easy it was for the king to get enrage and end a life.

Her sense of fear for the king also worsened upon remembering what she saw upon entering the king’s throne room, remembering the terrible and inhumane sight of seeing the dead bodies of the former governors and the king standing like a towing giant over her with his blood over hand, completely unfazed after taking so many lives.

The king was indeed a cruel and heart person who was capable of doing anything in order to achieve his goals, something Ibaeran was only beginning to fully understand at the very moment.