Five Times

May 15, 2008

The moment she saw Whalros in front of her, Intelina’s tears froze; she breathed hard and her heartbeat went faster. She looked alarmed because she had heard a lot about him; mostly his negative side.

‘He must be at least 40 by now. But he mastered the art of dark magic and kept himself as young as 20. Also, he was such a demon, that he always disturbed other creatures for his good. His long waited secret desire was to rule the Ocean. He could go to any extent to get whatever he needs’, her father’s voice replayed in her ears. Everything took not more than seconds.

‘So, he is the one who killed…. my family….’ She screamed inside her. Her eyes fired at him and her nose flared in anger. Now the intensity of her breath was so strong, not in fear but in rage. ‘I have to kill him….now!’ she again screamed to herself.

At the same time, Whalros signaled one of his men to advance towards her. A man with his sword whirling in his right hand came running towards her.

She had no idea how to face him. She was not even given time to think. The man came closer. Intelina was sitting in the same place without moving a little. He neared her. She felt Goosebumps all over her body. He was just 10 steps ahead of her. He further neared her and when he was at arms distance to her, he lifted his sword up above his head; gathered all his strength and pointed right towards her neck.

She didn’t have the courage to face the sword. She just closed her eyes, but her left hand lifted unknowingly for her defense. And there happened magic.

Intelina’s left hand straightly collided with the right hand of the man that made the sword fell down. But what made everyone gasp in shock was that the man’s right hand rolled on the floor, with blood spilled all over. The man was found entwined on the floor howling in pain.

Intelina was speechless. She looked at the man and back at herself. She checked her hands, ran her fingers all around her neck. But she was absolutely fine. Even a drop of blood didn’t escape her flesh. She sat there thunderstruck. The same was the case with Whalros and all others.

Just then Intelina saw her ring shining in all green and recollected the words of God. She now understood why she was able to face the man. ‘So, is this why god presented this ring to me today? Yes… He could have known everything that would follow. He wants me to protect the Ocean from Whalros. Surely I will do it’, Intelina assured herself and she silently took the ring and hid it safely from Whalros.

Whalros could do nothing even if he came to know about the ring. But she was not interested in letting him know anything about her sudden powers.

Whalros again sent a group of five men to attack her. Only by now, Intelina rose to her feet. She was surrounded by Whalros men. Everyone, at the same time charged on her. She didn’t even defend herself. She just wanted to enjoy the magic that follows. When everyone attacked her with their swords, it was the swords that got broken instead of her.

‘How did this happen?’ shouted Whalros, coming out of the shock.

She stood there without giving any response.

‘Ah! No! This is impossible! Something is helping you. What is that?’ he asked her in an authoritative tone.

‘I don’t know’ she replied as if she was still afraid of him. But she was not actually.

‘______’

‘I don’t know anything. Please leave me. Please’ she played her part so well that Whalros finally gave up and left the palace. It was now time for him to find out what the power was.

From then on, Intelina became ‘Queen Intelina’. She crowned herself as the queen of the ocean. Also, she protected all the creatures with great care. Even she protected the sea voyagers, from being disturbed by sea creatures. All went well and years passed on.

May 15, 2018…

Intelina’s beauty grew along with herself. She became more and more admirable on each and every day. That day, she leisurely enjoyed the cool waves, played with the jelly, and admired the brightly colored fishes. Every other animal saw her and greeted her with the smile. She watched the sharks diving here and there. There was a distinct headed fish, the squid. She caressed its head gently. She moved to the upper part of the ocean to have a check. Slowly, she reached the topmost part of the ocean. She enjoyed the view of the ocean surrounding her from all sides. She was at the center of the ocean moving along with the rhythm of waves.

She could see people on the beach enjoying the evening breeze. She also saw many of them trying to get deeper into the sea, but they back off fearing the waves. She laughed at the sight instantly. And then she wondered, ‘Why did everyone admire the ocean so much? What is here except the water?’ she immersed herself in deep thoughts. Suddenly she felt an urging desire to have a beach view like others did. She couldn’t control her thirst of experiencing it. So, she headed towards the beach. She swam underwater and reached the corner of the beach. And confirming that no one saw her coming, she stepped into the land from water for the first time in her life.

The moment she stepped on the sand, she felt heavenly. The sand was so chill that she loved it for no reason. She saw a pair in a distance, waiting to have their foot brushed by the waves. They had their pants rolled up a little to secure it from getting wet. But when the waves neared them, they tried their best to avoid it. Intelina watched them doing it again and again and she liked it. She wanted to try it for herself. She too lifted her frock a little, even though she had no idea why they did that. She blindly followed them. She neared the sea and waited for the waves. When it came closer, she stepped back and back and back till the wave reiterated.

She chuckled at the adventure she had. Her joy was boundless. She jumped up and down and she felt like winning the entire world. All these years, she was happy. But she didn’t encounter anything that would make her blush. And now she wanted to adore it to the fullest. And she repeated it again and again with her heart filled with delight. One time, the waves splashed at her foot. She bounced like touching the fire. She then ordered the waves not to touch her again, because she felt like a loser if it does. And this continued for long, till she banged her back at a gigantic person.

Before she could turn around to check who it was, the most unexpected thing happened. The person grabbed her by her shoulder, letting her not to turn, loosened the ring from her finger and let her free.

Only then she turned to see him.

Whalros.

‘What are you doing Whalros? Give that to me’, Intelina shouted at him authoritatively.

But now, he was in no state to listen to her. Because he had unfolded the secret about the ring a long time ago and he had been waiting for the right time to act on. Now, it was his time and he was in no mood to wait.

The next thing he did, took her by surprise. He gathered all his energy and swung the ring in the air. The ring quickened horizontally in the air and rested miles away from the sea.

Intelina stood there watching the sky, paralyzed. She felt the powers draining from her. She lost it. She committed a great blunder. She lost it because of her unusual desire. She cursed herself for her mistake. But she could do nothing. It was too late to realize it.

Whalros grabbed her arms and let her into the sea. She didn’t resist him because she couldn’t. She was ready to get punished for her blunder. But she greatly worried about the other organisms, little creatures, and the humans.

Whalros took Intelina to his palace, dragged her straight into a room, forcefully pushed her into a chair and tied her with 5 different colored ropes.

Intelina had lost her entire powers. He could have very well killed her. But he didn’t. Despite being her enemy, he couldn’t stop himself falling for such a beauty. Yes… he had developed a secret crush on her in these many years. At the same time, she was the only one, ceasing him from achieving his goal. So, he first decided to accomplish his goal, and then her. He gave a lustful look at her and without a word he left.

Intelina sat there cursing herself for all she did. She uttered a silent prayer to god. Truly she apologized to god for her mistakes.

‘I know I deserve this. But please save the people from Whalros. He was such a brat that he would kill humans, for his comfort. Please stop him from doing anything wrong. I could even die or what I did. But please here me once. Please show me a way to stop him. I think I did my best these many years in protecting the ocean from the cruel man. At least consider that and let me know what I could do to save others. I don’t need all the powers you gave me once. But control him with your powers. That’s enough. Please assure me that nothing wrong happens. Please…….Please…….Please’ she went on talking until her throat went dry. She couldn’t speak further.

Luckily, her request was heard and god appeared in front of her. She greeted him with her heads down. She instantly apologized and went silent. It was the god’s turn to talk.

‘It’s Okay Intelina. You are the queen of the ocean. The ocean is your life. But you desired for the life in the land and you enjoyed it. It is nothing wrong in enjoying it, but being careless is. That’s why you ended up here. But don’t worry. Everything will be fine soon. You are now tied in 5 magical ropes. So, only your ring can get you out from here. Your ring has to touch the ocean 5 times, to get these ropes unraveled. Until then, let the fate decide what happens. Let’s hope for the best’ the god disappeared.

Intelina calmed herself and let everything to the almighty. She hoped the ring would reach her soon.