Part 33

In the fathomless depths of the sea.

Barzak, seated on the back of a giant turtle, travels deeper into the heart of the Astralind Sea.
He wears a water-repelling ethereal cloak—one that Bahar gave him.
In his hand glows a red magical stone called Thaju. An ancient magic for breathing underwater.

As he descends toward the submerged city, the ruins of the Rasab people lie scattered around him—broken towers, pillars wrapped in bone-like crusts, and strange circular houses whose walls still bear the scorched stains of fire.

There is no light beneath the water, only a bluish glow radiating from the ruins of the old temple at the centre of the city.

Inside an intact chamber beneath the ruins, its entrance sealed by a living moss, Barzak discovers the ancient weapon—a small, square stone-shaped object.

******

A gentle twilight atmosphere.
The sky dyed in shades of red, the edge of the sea roaring.

A vast rocky valley, behind which the blood-red sun sinks slowly, like the flame of a burning volcano.

In the middle of that valley stands Barzak. In his hand burns the weapon—made of a mysterious, unsettling kind of power—as if it is alive.
Its name is still unknown, but something terrible, something older than memory, thrashes within it.

Bahar stands beside him.

On Barzak’s face rests a deep confidence, and in Bahar’s eyes—a strange mix of fear and fascination.

Barzak gives a faint smile.
“Are you ready?” His voice teasing, but his eyes aflame.
Bahar steps back a little and says, “I feel… something strange.”

Barzak lifts his gaze to the moon, then murmurs softly,
“Don’t be afraid… I’m here.”

Then—he hurls the weapon into the sky.

A violent wave of light, a sharp blinding flash, a heavy trembling roar—
the sky itself seemed to shudder.

Bahar flinches.
“Ah—!”
The invisible shock of the blast hits her body.
Her hair blown wild, dust on her face, fear in her eyes.
Her hand grips Barzak’s arm without thinking—tight, as if it is the only shelter in the world.

Barzak speaks softly,
“Frightened?”
Bahar rests her head against his chest.

The sun has almost set.
The whole valley bathed in silver shadow.

Suddenly,
again.
A silent tremor in the air.

But what is this?
How is it possible?

Barzak’s empty hand jolts—
the weapon has returned on its own, resting in his palm—silent, glowing faintly.

Bahar steps back in fear.
Disbelief in her eyes.

Barzak and Bahar both stare quietly for a moment.

In the distance, the light fades into the darkness.

An ancient weapon. As mysterious as the Rasab people themselves.

******

"But that oath was never fulfilled. Barzak disappeared."
These words were first spoken by Arsan Tibor.
He was an outcast.
A wanderer whose two eyes were white, and on his forehead was carved the symbol of a sword, a crescent, and beneath it a wavering line of fire.

He said that at dusk, when the ice of Yordil begins to melt, it was at that very moment Barzak vanished.

What had happened?

Some say—
Barzak went into hiding on his own.
Some say he was summoned by the ancient Kalab, that weapon which sees its master’s weakness through the eye of knowledge.
Some say the curse of the Rasaabs had awakened.

Thanoro was never found again; the Jhbar was never opened again.
The ancient weapon Kalab never roared again.

But why this broken oath?
Why did he disappear?
These questions stand like dark shadows in the history of Balan, behind which lie many secrets, many truths that are still left unspoken.

The threads of truth have been buried under the dust of time, threads that once held together the glory and desire of Balan.

Barzak Bhagar’s path seemed lost within an unseen storm, from which no clue of return was ever found.
His memory remains only like a silent lament, drifting in the wind, untouchable to all.

What lay behind the breaking of that oath?
Perhaps only time knows, or some hidden force, or the deceit of men.

Some say something happened that people fear to even speak of; some say Barzak’s hopes and faith were lost in the depths of dreaming.

But the reality remains that the oath was never fulfilled.
All the light was lost.