Our boat cruised slowly through the tranquil river for a long time. Then we caught sight of dancing light from the riverbed. We all dropped our jaws. Rising out of nowhere was a palace like nothing I had ever seen. Columns of jade rocks with fluorescent walls surrounded the vast area. Manicure gardens of rainbow-colored weeds and stones decorated every corner. Gems and rubies paved the winding paths. Then the boat landed on the soft muddy bottom.

"Your ride is over," the oarsman said. We took it as our cue to get off. I gingerly stepped outside, feeling quite jumpy at the strange new world around us. Atith seemed excited while Samudra and Tusita didn't seem so impressed.

"My father's palace is better," she said with a shrug.

For a while, we had to walk through a field of dancing weeds and curious fishes. Until we emerged again, we found a massive rocky gate. There were gigantic green-scaled men guarding the gold-inlaid stone entrance.

"Who's there?" one of the men yelled out in alarm. In a blinding speed, a dozen fish-like men quickly surrounded us, pointing their conch spear at our throats. Their bodies and faces had patches of scales, fins and gills. My mouth went dry even I was actually underwater.

"We're not enemies," Tusita said, holding her empty hands to prove it. "We wish to speak to your king."

"Who are you?" another guard asked. His eyes were large and all black like a fish's.

"We're the avatars of the Meru gods," Atith answered, trying to give an impression of superiority. "Tell your king we have come to visit him."

"Do you have an invitation from His Majesty?" he said.

I pulled out the god's scale from my bag and held it up to show them.

"This belongs to the Naga King," I said, "I'm sure it is his wish to see me."

The fishy men looked at the sparkling scale in my hand and then nodded at each other. I could see something passed between their large eyes. Then they turned to us again.

"Follow us, mortal and godlings."

The gate rolled open with a rumbling sound, and a gentle light greeted us from the inside. We walked behind the guards like well-behaved captives. Through corridors lit only by the glows of gems, we craned our heads around, gawking at the glittering walls. They were encrusted with minerals of every hue. Rose quartz, crystals, pink diamonds, spiky red cinnabar, all embedded on the forest green ceilings made of jade and topaz. Some corners of the palace walls were transparent, some were rainbows of tourmaline, amethyst, garnet, and opal. The floor was lit like a dream. All the allure of the palace was truly like no other.

"O Meru gods, I take it back, this is one of the most beautiful palaces I've ever seen," Tusita breathed.

"The Nagas are a wealthy race I tell you," Atith said.

The guards asked us to wait while others carried our message to their sovereign. We stood in a chamber lit by glowing crystals. After a long moment later, the door opened again and instead of the guards, came dancing women adorned with flowing dresses.

"Here comes entertainment!" Atith said in delight.

Distant music played as they circled around us. The women's perfumery hair swirled about their bare shoulders. They were graceful with swaying gait and flirty hips.

"My eyes feel so blessed," Atith said in pure awe.

"Right," Tusita scoffed. "Keep your mind wakeful, or these serpent maidens will lure you to their chamber and then swallow you whole."

"Aw! Is that true?" He recoiled from the crested dancers. I knew Tusita must have sensed something disquieting about this place. It only increased my anxiety.

In spite of that, I was fairly impressed by their movements. Their dresses swirled, and jewelry swung around their wrists and ankles while they spun around us.

One of them came to me, her veiled face raised, showing two onyx eyes fringed with jetty lashes. Her glances were seducing as she danced with grace. She stroked my cheek and ran her hands along my arms and stepped around me.

"Strangers from the middle world, never in my life have I seen a lady more pleasant than thee," the maiden coaxed softly in my ear, wrapping her arms around my body from behind. "Will you delight me and join in our dance, or shall we do it together in privacy?"

I could feel her supple breasts squashed against me softly. My face blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh gods...no, anyone help me," I said. But the others were also preoccupied. The serpent maidens bore fame of their enchanted beauty and seduction. No one who had encountered them had the will to resist. But it wasn't the sort of seamlessness that had captured my heart. My mind was too full of my princess. I did not find their company enjoyable.

I tore myself from the dancers. Then through the transparent wall, I noticed slender a girl. Her face was veiled and her eyes gleamed at me in secret. A sharp breath hitched in my throat.

I tried to weave out of the circling women, but my friends came to hold me back in alarm.

"Nikita, where are you going?"

When I looked at the place where she stood again, there was no sight of her.

"What's wrong?" Tusita asked.

"It was Amarisa!" I said frantically. "She was standing there watching me just a moment ago!" My eyes were still searching in desperation.

"You're not mistaken, are you?"

"I knew it was her!"

"Calm down, Nikita, perhaps the reflection on the walls misled you," Tusita soothed me. "We shall see the princess soon. Then we'll take her back to the mortal world with us."

A troop of guards poured into the room afterward. Before I even realized it, the serpent women were gone as quickly as they had come. All this must be a test.

"His Majesty requests for your presence immediately!" a tall solemn guard yelled to us.

Without anything else was said, we were escorted out of the room. This time we felt more like real captives than visitors. They led us into a massive cave-like hall even more impressive than the rest of the palace. More guards formed in two rows beside those colossal glowing pillars. They stood straight like human soldiers, yet their bodies were covered in hard crust and had crab claws for arms. Others carried large shells on their backs. It could have been amusing if they didn't look terrifying.

At the far end of the hall was a throne made of pearls, crystals, and gold. We stood in an eerie silence. Then three scaly guards raised their long shell-horns and blew. Another door opened and out came a school of fresh-water dolphins, the property of the rivers.

A tall man appeared into the hall. His long flowing silk clothes glinted like snake scales under the light. There was a strange familiarity of his movement —a mixture of sinuous, stalking grace and elegance. As he stepped forward, the light deepened the glory of his face. My heart leaped to my throat. Everything was real now for I recognized that pair of glowing green eyes.

There standing majestically before us was the serpent god.

"Lord Kauravya, respected friend of the Devas," Tusita said with a humble bow. "Forgive us for we have come to your palace unannounced, but my friend Nikita has an important matter to speak with you."

"I know why you are here," he said tersely. We looked at each other. Of course, he had known we were coming. He had been expecting me. A moment later, I stepped forward.

"Truth be told, Your Majesty, I am here to bring Princess Amarisa back home," I said, cutting to the chase.

"How foolish do you think I am? Have you no shame to speak of my beloved daughter whom you have abandoned?" the King of Serpents growled bitterly back. I winced at his piercing glare.

"My lord, I have not abandoned her," I said. "That was never my intention..."

"Then why did she come crying to me, begging me to shoo away her tears?"

"I must admit to you, my lord, I have done some terrible deeds, but all I wanted was to protect Amarisa," I said truthfully. "I pushed her away because my life is cursed with pending doom. I did not want her to bear the weight of this unforgiving fate with me."

"Liar!" the Naga King said in a low fierce hiss. "You're still the same even as a girl in this lifetime, charming the heart of my daughter and leave her behind, unheeded and forgotten. Today you shall pass the Gates of Yama and be vanquished by my hand!"

Then he turned to his guards.

"Seize them!"

"I sort of saw that coming," Tusita muttered beside me.

My spirals glowed red hot in my palms. Tusita drew out her bow. Atith had his spear ready in his hand, and Samudra his carved knives. The Naga soldiers surrounded us in a breath. Then they charged forward with a cry.

The fight took place, and everything was a confusing blur of actions.

Three crab soldiers advanced at us, but Tusita knocked them out with a swing of her bow shaft. They grumbled to the floor, rolling over each other. A troop of fish guards lashed their spears at Atith. He dodged them before jumping on top of a snail guard and rode him around like a horse.

"You're only good in a cooking pot!" Atith yelled, spinning his spear over his head in madness. Samudra fought two serpent guards, who appeared with their swinging tails.

I was the only one left untouched, not knowing what to do in the midst of this chaos.

"Please, my lord, we came in peace," I begged. "Let me see Amarisa, and I will trouble you no more."

The Naga King gritted his teeth and glared at me.

"I know you have claimed the living sword that could kill demons and gods," he said with challenging eyes. "Why don't you charge at me?"

"I have no desire to fight you," I said. "I am here to apologize for my mistakes. I know Amarisa will not stop her lamentation unless she sees me in person."

"Shame and disgrace to me if I let you!" he cried. "My child has fallen into your crafty charm. She was betrayed by your lies and dishonesty. You have tormented my beloved child, yet now you're here fighting and making mischief in my house! Now die, you deceiving mortal!"

With a strange powerful growl, his body expanded in size, growing taller and larger. Scales started to grow on his face and down his arms and body. His green eyes glowed brighter with the heat of anger. I watched in bewilderment as his face split in two then three then seven. His jaws protruded with fangs and teeth grew frighteningly sharp. The dolphins scattered away in fear, and even the soldiers stepped out of his path.

"You shall never hurt my daughter again," the serpent god hissed in many voices as he rose higher to the ceiling. The serpent god slithered down the length of the hall, snarling and spitting out a glob of green gooey slime at me. I didn't have time to realize what it was, but I hurled myself out of the way. It hit one of the pillars, melting it like a candle.

"Be aware of the venom!" Tusita yelled a warning to me while she was single-handedly piling up a troop of clam-shelled soldiers.

Suddenly I dropped to the floor and choked on the fume of poison that descended upon me. It burned in my throat and lungs, turning my inside raw with hot pain. Then it seemed the world rippled around me like the wind on water.

I tried to get up but my body sank to the floor again as the constant, pitiless, ever-increasing agony assaulted me. My heart went out of its rhythm. I clutched my throat and gasped at the strangling burn of the vicious fume.

"Now you feel the same agony," the King spoke, towering over my slowly weakened body. "You shall never cheat and break her heart ever again."

I struggled to speak.

"If my death will soothe your anger, then let it be so as you see fit," I said. "It was with this mindset that I came down here. I have no hopes of ever returning, so please if you have mercy. Before I perish, let me glimpse Amarisa's face for one last time."

There was a slight pause in the air as if the Naga had not expected to hear the words of my last wish. Then out of nowhere, a familiar voice came drifting through the hall into my ringing ears.

"Nikita! Oh, Nikita!"

My head turned, and I saw through my feverish vision, the woman of my dying heart running with tears pouring from her eyes. She was so dear to me that I was overjoyed seeing her again despite my state.

"Oh Lord Father, what is the meaning of this punishment? Please stop!" she cried and fell to her knees by my side. She was weeping and gathering me to her protectively.

"Daughter, why did you ask me so when not that long ago you wished to forget this girl who has deceived you?" he said. "Now you begged me to spare her life?"

"No, father, you don't understand. She never was made for justice in this unjust world," Amarisa protested. "Please leave all vengeance aside and forgive her for my sake! I love her so much so that I must die if she does not live. Is my death a light matter to you, too?"

The Naga King hissed furiously. All his seven heads coiled as if in rage. I thought he was going to strike us both, but he did not. Instead, his massive serpentine body began to shrink back in size, and soon he turned to his human form again. This time his face was poised and withdrawn from all emotions.

All around us, I heard no more sound of fighting.

The Serpent Lord looked at us with unwavering eyes. Amarisa's hands kept touching my blood-drained face in pity. Tears like morning dew still rolled off her cheeks. I tried to apologize to her with my eyes. I hoped she knew how much I was sorry and wished she could forgive me, and that I had missed her.

"I sense you have made yourself mistress of my daughter's heart," the King finally spoke again. "I have heard the voices of those ever-living gods that the hour of your doom has not yet come. This must be your destiny. Your life is not for me to take."

Amarisa was beyond relieved.

"Forgive me," was all I could muster up in a whisper.

"I will forgive you unless you swear me an oath," the King spoke solemnly. "You shall never again do her injustice, or you shall be slain by my own hand. Do you swear it?"

"I swear it," I said.

"Let none know of this brawl which has happened privily, only the Almighty Lord can judge you. Only he who knows the future decides the future."

"O Father, thank you!" Amarisa said with a gratified bow.

"One more thing," the Naga King continued, "I must ensure that she will be bound to you in all her lifetimes."

"What do you mean?" Amarisa asked, looking at him with a frown.

But the King of Serpents just stared straight at me with a purposeful gleam in his eyes.

"I shall let my child return to the Middle World as I had done it a thousand years ago. But before you leave my palace, you shall do as I bid you."

Surprise and relief flooded through me like waves. I could no longer feel the pain as though his words had cured me. I almost could not fathom this turn of event. I struggled to sit up at last.

"I would do anything you ask, my lord," I said.

"Then today with no delay," he began, "you must marry my daughter."