Once Human, Now a Parasite

Faded Grass already accepted the fact that Arthur and his group are powerhouses which shouldn’t be provoked so he obeyed the parasite and unwilling sailed the ship toward where the waterfall is supposed to be .

The rest of the passengers were scared shitless of the parasite and especially Zaarae, whose aura made them fall unconscious, waking up only several hours later . Even the orc guards protecting their employers didn’t dare glance at the Empress and stood as far away from the strange group as possible .

Three days after their departure, the black ship reached a unique and strangely beautiful place . The black waters seemed to be stopped by an invisible barrier, which protected a small floating island, from which fell a breath-taking shiny waterfall . The clear water fell into the bottomless abyss down below, however, what makes this particular waterfall special is that it’s eternal, it keeps flowing until the end of time itself .

It’s a magical place not easily reached or entered, in fact, were it not for Arthur’s presence, the captain wouldn’t have come here, after all, the sea is crawling with monsters, there were even sea kings .

He didn’t see any in their way here but that’s only because Arthur killed them the moment they got too close . Furthermore, some of the intelligent ones kept a safe distance and only watched the passing black ship, it was as if they were ordered not to interfere with the ship or its passengers .

"It’s beautiful!"

Shen Shen’s eyes shone as she watched the falling translucent waters, her soul and body were being drawn to the waterfall as if it was calling her .

"Let’s get a closer look . "

Zaarae held her hand and walked on the air with Shen Shen . Arthur and Fariya followed but Esco and Vyncent remained on the ship . Radolf and Midolf were still nowhere to be seen, presumably at their rooms or invisible somewhere around .

When the little girl was a hundred meters or so from the waterfall, her hair starting floating upwards and a blinding white light emanated from her chest . Zaarae smiled and gave the girl a gentle push

"Have fun . "

Shen Shen didn’t respond, her eyes were closed and her heartbeat significantly decreased . When she passed the 50 meters mark, the shiny water slowly went to her direction and started ’dancing’, enveloping her but not hurting her . Actually, it seemed to be careful as to not startle the girl, which was in the midst of enlightenment .

"I told you she’ll like it . "

Zaarae spoke to Arthur, who was standing next to her and looking at Shen Shen .

"What’s this place anyway?"

"The waterfall is the tears of Poseidon . It’ll cleanse her body and strengthen her soul . "

"Poseidon? On earth, he’s the Greek God of Sea . "

The Empress nodded her head and explained, "Yes, he’s the God of Sea and, overall, a good person in my opinion . He’s one of the higher-gods but wasn’t the creation of Dmitra or ’God’ . "

"Did he die?" curiously asked Arthur .

"I know what you’re thinking but his body merged back with the sea and only his tears still remain . It may look harmless but a single drop of that water can kill you . "

Hearing this, Arthur instinctively took a step back, which caused the woman to giggle .

"Don’t worry, as long as you don’t purposely get too close then it won’t do anything . Plus, it recognizes you as Shen Shen’s companion so the possibility of being attacked is non-existent . "

Zaarae paused for a breath before stating, "There was this old legend with a mysterious origin��� it says that Poseidon’s tears, Dmitra’s Origin Water, the dust of the First Star, a Devil’s blood, and the Seed of the World Tree, if properly fused together, can produce a miraculous thing . "

"What’s this miraculous thing?"

She shrugged her shoulders and answered, "I don’t know . Some say it’s eternal life, invincibility, the ability to control the space-time continuum . No one really knows . I reckon that the Garden of Words knows the true answer . "

Now that the garden was brought up, Arthur couldn’t help but ask .

"The Garden of Words... do you know anything about it? How to reach it or where is it?"

Zaarae felt happy that Arthur was more talkative than usual, she sweetly smiled, stepped closer to him, and replied .

"The Garden of Words holds more knowledge than Qihea amassed in her entire, long life . It’s a place outside of this existence, the multiverse, I mean . Unaffected by the natural, unbreakable elemental laws, or even time and space . I have visited once but there’s a rule to not disclose anything about it so even if I wanted to tell you, I can’t . The restriction is beyond my understanding or anyone else’s, that is . However, I can tell you that it’s in the boundary between Life and Death but I think you already know that . "

She briefly paused before resuming, "The elemental laws affect all the living but time doesn’t spare the dead . It’s not a simple question of ’where’ is it... or even ’when’ . Anyway, those two followers of yours may come in handy later . Their assistance is essential but, Arthur, reaching the Garden is not an easy feat . Many tried but ended up falling into a place opposite of their expectation . "

Arthur nodded his head and asked again, "What about its origin? How was it created? By whom?"

"Let me answer you with a question, then . Who created the dragons? Vampires? Blood Magic? No one knows . They just appeared . It’s just the same for the Garden of Words, it is its mysticality that makes it so sought for and unique . "

Zaarae looked at the spiraling shiny water flying in the air and questioned . "Have you heard of the Frog of Destiny?"

"Isn’t that one of the mythical beings?"

"Yes, but it is the most mysterious of all the twelve . In the past, I spent ten thousand years looking for it but I found nothing . If it wants to appear then it appears, that’s just how it is . The frog is able to take you where you desire, no matter where it is . It’s one of the ways to reach the Garden of Words but I really doubt you’ll stumble upon it . As far as I know, the only one of the Twelve who met the frog was Moriah... geez, one meeting and look how he turned up . Its ability is really ’heaven-defying’ . "