Chapter 8: The Meeting

It's said that all souls in this realms come in pairs. For every soul born, there will be another following right behind as its mate. One soul might come into the universe earlier than the other and one might take birth in a completely different realm from the other.

Either way, souls that come in pairs will be soulmates of each other for every lifetime, and the bond between the two souls will be above and beyond any other bond. Because soul mates are connected to one another beyond the physical realm, appearances, distances, and circumstances can neither separate them nor keep them apart.

Destiny and fate brings them together while space and time deepens their bond.

Princesses Nari and Qamari froze within the glamorous sea of flowers, as two figures, one in white robes and the other in dark blue, appeared before them. Time seemed to slow and space crackled with powerful invisible energy as the four individuals arranged to marry met for the very first time.

Princess Qamari felt as if she had turned into a statue. She couldn't move a single limb nor think straight upon connecting gazes with the blue-clothed man.

His tall lean figure that seemed to loom over her figure, deep dark eyes, sharp up-turned nose, and perfectly shaped thin lips captured her whole attention as if under the enchantment of a twisted magical snare that wanted to swallow her whole, as he stood there surrounded by an assortment of flowers.

She heard her heartbeat beating frantically as a warm mass of energy slowly formed in the pit of her stomach, and rapidly spread throughout her body.

Her surroundings blurred as her body crashed to the ground, her head pounding and throbbing as if a thousand nails were being hammered into it. Clutching it tightly, she bit firmly into her lips, trying to endure the pain before peppermint and sandalwood assaulted her senses and she passed out.

Stranded in the middle of a body of water, Qamari was sitting with her legs folded beneath her white-blue silk dress on a silver rafter before a golden sword.

Surrounded by a green-blue crystalline body of water filled with floating flowers of iridescent red, orange, and yellow on one side and a flowering tree and palm grove on the other, behind her, the sun's rays were warded off by umbrellas of lotus leaf clusters.

Gathering her palms together in front of her chest, she closed her eyes, walked into the water, and sunk into the embrace of its depth. Bitter cold and absolute darkness greeted her, sending shuddering waves of pain through her body. The sudden darkness and pain brought about a vague sense of familiarity in her.

"Dorga!" The abrupt call shattered her trance into a million shreds, pulling her consciousness deep into the void of darkness.

After what felt like an eternity in the darkness, Qamari saw a sliver of light and rushed towards it without hesitation. The moment bright radiance enveloped her body, her head shot up through the surface of the water.

She greedily sucked in the fresh air into her burning lungs before slowly skimming to the edge of the shore. The instant her right palm touched the sand, pain shot through her brain, bringing tears to her eyes and blinding her vision. It was a long while later that she felt a long chain with dripping pearls on its end in her hand.

As soon as she lifted her hand and looked upon the lavender chain, an unexpected sense of loss and emptiness filled her heart, as her stomach coiled in knots and an unbearable pain flooded her whole being. Uncontrollable tears streamed down her face, quenching the dry sand.

"What is happening to me?" She gasped frightfully as her surroundings swirled and her vision blurred again.

The raucous chatter and booming laughter of people entered her ears as the fragrant smell of steaming meat and fresh bread drifted into her nose.

Opening her eyes, Qamari found herself standing on the balcony of a spacious bedroom, as memories exploded in her mind. Upon gazing in the direction of the boisterous crowd, she saw people who were meant to be her parents according to the memory, standing in the center of the crowd, intermittently exchanging brief glances and reticent smiles with each other whenever they thought no one was watching them.

Her little brothers were engaged in a heated discussion with the three frail boys of the Maha and Reen, king and queen, of Gujir farther away. To the east side of the courtyard, her elder brother was nodding along to something the Yuv, Crown Prince of Madhi, was saying, all the while fidgeting and attempting to mask his boredom.

Although she had never met these people in her life before, she could feel that they were family, her beloved ones, from the bottom of her heart. She was experiencing emotions that were completely unrelated to the memories she received. She was just not able to comprehend exactly what was happening to her.

One second she was in the imperial palace of the Amayan Empire, the next, she was floating in a state between illusion and reality.

There was a nagging feeling in her heart that whatever she was experiencing right now had some sort of connection with the blue-robed man in the flower garden.

Sighing deeply, she went back into the room and sat down on the stool before the mirror. The huge chandelier in the center of the room reflected on the jewels in her red and yellow sari, creating a brilliance of light across the room. The attendant waiting silently in the room stepped forward and started working on her hair the moment she sat.

Something about all this was very unsettling to her, causing her to think about the nightmares that she had been experiencing as a child.

Qamari sighed again. As a Kumari, Princess, of a kingdom, the act was both unseemly and ill-suited. But she could not care about such things at the moment.

All her thoughts were on the rituals that would take place later in the evening. According to the memories in her mind, her older sister, now sixteen and married for three years, would be coming back from her husband's kingdom to personally get her ready soon.

Even though the prospect of seeing her sister again for the first time after she got married made her happy, she was annoyed at the fact that it took her own marriage to get her sister's in-laws to allow her to visit them.

Another reason why she was not looking forward to the evening. At whatever time, women always seem to be treated as commodities, having no rights of their own.

As the attendant finished adorning the last piece of the jeweled combs into her long koyal black hair, her chamber doors swung open. She turned to see the door guards bow before her mother pranced inside, her dark blue sari swaying off her shoulder, to where the attendants trailed behind her.

Tension filled the air as her own attendant silently stepped back to the side while she faced her mother alone.

"No. I am not afraid of what is to come.

I am Princess Qamari Ramulas, named after the brilliant moon shining brightly in the center of the sky even on the darkest of nights. But I am afraid of bearing witness to a devastating massacre." With that thought, the scene around her shattered into a million pieces as her soul got sucked into a whirlpool of blinding light, her mind tearing in pain.

Princess Qamari jolted awake with a groan, her skull jumping like the beat of a drum, as she inhaled deeply and the fresh scent of peppermint and sandalwood invaded her senses. It took her a moment to calm her pulsing heart and shaking body, the murmuring and scrambling sound of people rushing in and out of the room reverberating in her ears. Turning her head over, she slowly opened her eyes and her gaze connected with bottomless dark ones.