'Maybe I should try my luck with the royal house, people say they are occultic to some extent, they may believe me. No... the emperor will most likely skin me alive even if I am Masa Ed, I did him dirty that one time, and that crazy princess, mmm, never; there is no way I'd want to be at her mercy, I'd rather become a vagrant, and its not....'

  "...???..."

  Masa Ed put a sudden pause to his musings, he sensed a shift in the atmosphere. Slowly and with full alertness, he stood to his feet. Then further sensing the center of the somehow dreadful shift was behind him, he dramatically turned around—slowly and quietly—muscle tensed, blood pumping and adrenaline gushing.

  "?????????"

  Absolutely horrified on a primal level, first, his heart rate shot through the roof, second, a chill course through his spine. Then he became paralyzed; he couldn't speak—he couldn't command a muscle. All he did was stare wide eyes and in terror at the three exalted entities in his lowly field of vision illuminated by his golden lantern strapped across his neck. To his right, a large white horned snake with golden patterns rare its head and hissed at another one on his left, one of nearly the same size but fully golden from horn to tail; and this two although are at loggerheads put at a bay a third one to their diagonal side, one simultaneously in front of him but a bit farther away—a somewhat larger black one with red evil eyes that is staring right at his eyes and spirit—the source of his festering dread... a dark, vile entity.

  For a duration unknown—blood already frozen cold, eyes bloodshot, muscle fibers stiff solid—Masa Ed fought back. On a will level, he held his ground like a dove—he resists the domination of the three ancient snakes—beings of overwhelming will to command all—him and them at standstill, no progress on any side.

  But when like a reinforcement, a crowd of glowing red eyes as if of a horde of dark furry beasts appeared behind the evil one, a crowd of tongues of golden flame behind the golden one, and an army in glowing white full armor with golden patterns behind the white with gold one—the hissing one—Masa Ed jumped backwards; he was pulled. He landed with his back in the calming hot pool, his frozen legs on its floor and plum petals on its surface, all around him—his waistline actually.

  "Ayo, RUN!!!!"

  He heard a tearful cry like it came from a very far distant past and place. A scream of desperate plea that reversed the rigidity of his muscles, releasing them from their restraint. Then like he has decided to forego reason and decision-making; at a record pace—ignoring the deafening and madness-inducing evil laughter blasted at him from all directions—he turned around and scrambled out of the pool at the other side, his lantern swinging violently around his neck, sprinting at a breakneck speed. But then with the lingering thought that the tree by the pool side was a plum tree as the only one in his mind; he ran straight without turning and with no destination in mind, and with golden tongue of flames on his two sides like they are guiding him. And also, his speed nearing an inhuman range increased with the loudness of the evil laughter that stuck close to him like a plague.

  So for a very long time, Masa Ed ran, not knowing what is chasing him, where he is, and where he is going. Instead, he was focused only on leaving behind what his lantern— swinging violently across his neck that the pain from the force it hits him with on the chest, he ignores—illuminates at a faster rate than the previous times.

  ***

  Like a fish out of water gasping for breath, Masa Ed twist and turn, kicking the air; he was still running in his mind, direction and where to, who cares. Sweating like he came out of water, his heavy eye lids slowly and gradually open; yet again, he was back lying face-up on a bed covered in white.

  However, this time, the bed is a lot smaller—one person big—and the ceiling of the room his wandering eyes beheld was painted lime green, smooth, plain and minimal.

  "Rasa, rasa..."

  He heard the sweet calling voice of a woman, so responding to it, he turned his face leftward, and there he saw sitting on a seat at the beside, a woman with her head veiled by a red embroidered veil and lower face veiled by a silk cloth, looking at him with her warm amber eyes—an absolutely gorgeous beauty which by the big bulge of her chest behind her white embroidered gown, made him certain she is at the maximum at her second prime—a woman between 25 and 35.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "Young man, how are you feeling?"

  The woman inquired. At the same time, she picked a wet towel from a bowl on a table beside her and she starts dabbing his face layered with sweat with it—gently and with practised rhythm wiping it off—while she keep her enchanting eyes on his, awaiting his reply that came after he glanced at the incredibly smooth and clear honey brown skin of her hand in jewelries and white henna.

  "I am fine. Where is this place?"

  "I see, you are lost." The woman replied and Masa Ed responded with a frown that when the woman saw it, she resumed her words at the same time she moved the wet towel lower, wiping his sculpted broad chest and arms with it:

  "I found you passed out in my garden. This place is Axum... Axum city, Ethiopia. You must be a tourist?"

  "Yes, I separated from my family. Have you informed the cityguards?" Masa Ed responded and inquired. His eyes locked with the woman's scrutinizing ones were unreadable.

  Time passed, the woman kept wiping him diligently amidst the subtly tensed silence. And it was only after she was done that she responded as she returned the towel to the bowl:

  "It will be difficult for me today. Today is our new moon festival and our cityguards will be overwhelmed with duties. I was thinking I will wait till tomorrow..."

  "No." Masa Ed interrupted. "Don't involve them any longer; I know where my parents are."

  "If you say so." The woman seemed to smile warmly at him from behind her face veil. Then she picked a small towel from the bedside table, picked a small glass bottle beside it and pour a bit of its powdery content on it before she starts wiping Masa Ed's face and chest with the small towel.

  "You were in a bad shape when I found you; were you being chased?" The woman resumed the conversation.

  "No... I was running because I encountered something terrifying." Masa Ed replied.

  "No wonder...! You must have gotten close to that mountain, its periphery is a place even we the locals dare not trespass. Our legend says a greedy, nagging hag lives on top of it; any young boy that gets close to the mountain, she will turn them into her boy slave, you were brave and fortunate to have escaped her evil claws."

  At her words that sounded like a mockery of someone at first and then a praise directed at him at the end, Masa Ed smiled. He remembered he once thought he was kidnapped by a rich woman that intended to make him his boy toy when he first woke up in the strange place, a thought which he now thinks is very close to what their local legends says about the mountain which might be where the strange place he escaped from is.

  '....yes'

  "..." As something suddenly flashed in his mind, he turned his gaze to the woman who is feeling his temperature by placing the back of his palm on his forehead.

  "Please did you see a lantern when you found me?"

  "A lantern?" The woman answered. Then she locked her confused and curious eyes with his. "You took a lantern to a tour?"

  "No never mind, its nothing." Masa Ed response was hasty and its delivery rapid. Nevertheless, as intended, the woman's curiosity vanished. Then she stood up, revealing her tall and elegant feminine self outfitted in a silk wrap neckline embroidered gown cinched at the waist and her head veil reaching below her knees far, and her black silk face veil revealing only her eyes up.

  "I will be back." She informed Masa Ed after carrying the bowl that contained the towel. Then with natural elegance in her womanly steps, she walked out of the softly lit room, leaving Masa Ed who has a faint look of worry on his face behind.

  'This is bad, I don't trust this woman, and how did I even pass out...'

  Masa Ed paused his thought as he felt a drop of sweat trickled down his forehead. So about to raise his right hand to wipe it, he discovered it was wrapped and bounded, then about to use his left arm, he discovered it was also wrapped and bounded.

  'Its over. I have always known after one good luck is a series of bad luck. There is no way to escape this place in this state; I might as well wait and see what she is up to. I just hope she is not working for any those cruel people.'

  Masa Ed concluded in his mind and then he breath in and out severally to calm his palpitating heart before he shut his eyes.

  Knowing he is in a situation where he can't make a move yet, he decided to postpone making plans till when he can, while he also pray the woman stall in making her next move that will spell doom for him.

  "Young man..." The woman called as she entered the room after not long, moving closer to him. And responding, Masa Ed opened his eyes. Although, he was worried about her next course of actions, he still turned his face left to look at her, but what he saw was a woman like a guileless happy wife taking care of her beloved family. On one hand she held a kettle and on the other she held a tray that held stuffs.

  "I hope you don't dislike tea and cakes. I also brought medicine." The woman gently placed the tray on the bedside table and the kettle, she carefully placed on the floor after bending down a little.

  'That's poison I am certain of it, and if its not, its surely a knockout drug.'

  "Young man, you are sweating?"