Voyage Of The Villainess

"Carolle,"

Malaya gained consciousness when someone called her past life name.

"Carolle, please wake up."

Malaya opened her eyes when she heard her last name being called out. And the only beings who know her real name were three people, Oliver, the priestess, and the shadow.

"Priestess?" She slowly sat down as she clenched her head.

When her vision became clear, she found herself back in space. Ball of fire that was floating in the air, and a space that looked like the entire universe.

"Did you summon me here again? But I am currently on the battlefield!"

"Your real body is alright, so far, Carolle." The priestess said with a calm voice.

"So far?"

"Your life depends on the person who caught you now." Shadow flew above the air and landed beside the priestess.

"Congratulations on crossing the Red Current!" He said with a joyful laugh. Though his laugh sounded like something that came from within the deep abyss.

No matter how much Malaya heard this, she couldn't help but creep out. However, she didn't let it show her face.

"I know you want to talk to me right now, however, I need to go back," Malaya said. "Everyone is in danger! I need to go back now!"

"You don't have to worry about that," Shadow said, then waved his shadowy hand in the air.

A magical screen appeared in front of Malaya.

From the screen, it showed all the people in the kingdom and even the beastmen.

"Your friend, you brought space last time with the Great Red Dragon of Fire. He retrieved your unconscious friends in a safe location. Those two of your companions as well arrived and helped him out."

On the screen, it showed how Oliver carried Hyun Jae back with him. Rein and Dorris were also there already. Rhyme was carrying Seth with him. While Dorris and Rein brought back the unconscious Lila, Iris, and Baru with them.

The scene ended there. And Malaya sighed with relief seeing

"Where is my body right now?" Malaya asked.

"You are kidnapped by that Siren." Shadow said.

'Ah. As expected. It must be that. He must secretly want the tears back to him. But he would not be able to find it, now that it merged with the bracelet as the fourth ornament.

"But he will not do harm to you." The priestess added.

Malaya sighed. "Why is it that the fourth ornament is something that already belongs to someone? And their life and freedom even depend on that." She observed the expressionless face of the Priestess.

"You said that this bracelet would help me fulfill my dreams. But why does it need to rob other people's freedom?" Malaya asked one more time.

There was a momentary silence in the air.

"That Siren needs to be controlled by you no matter what." The priestess finally said which made Malaya's brow furrow.

"The fourth ornament, the Mermaid Tears has two functions this time, one, it has a storage space magic which you probably know. The second function it has is..."

"That boy will be under me. Like some contractual beast." Malaya finished the priestess' words. Displeasure was clearly visible on her face. It was very clear that she was not liking a single thing about this.

"I don't need someone to be tied to my life," Malaya said with a serious tone in her voice. Then she glanced at the two arms that the priestess was missing. "I know that you save my life multiple times already, and I said that I will do everything that needs to be done for you. But I can't condemn this. Is there no other way for that boy to be freed from the tears?"

"I believe other than your death, he will not be freed from you." The priestess said with calmness in her voice.

This made Malaya furrowed her brows even more. "My death? Does it mean, he kidnapped me because he wanted to kill me?"

"No. He too, would not be able to kill you. He will not be able to kill the owner of the tears." The priestess said. "And in the first place, he doesn't want to kill you either."

"Then why did he abduct me?" 

"He wanted his master for himself only. Right now, he is making you drink something that would make you forget your memories." This time it was Shadow who spoke.

"Make my memories disappear?!" Malaya spoke with great disbelief. 

"You remember how he refused to take the goddess of the light contract even if that will result in his freedom. Sirens are such creatures." Shadow laughed. "Once they find a person or any being to their liking, they only want that person to belong to them and to belong to that person." He was clearly amused by all of this base from his taunting voice.

"The heck?" Malaya held her head as if it was aching. "Why did you let such a creepy creature be under me?"

"Sirens are very rare creatures, especially their magic. The Sirens who have the strongest magic could use their voice to control thousands of people. To go crazy for them and cause great despair. However, their song could also heal one's malice and save them if he wanted or the master holding him wanted."

Malaya was surprised by what she was hearing right now. Not even Hyun Jae or any divine magic could purify souls that were conflicted by malice. Since they were completely considered tainted and not pure. The only thing that one could do was to kill them directly without really knowing whether their soul would reach the Origin of Life or not.

Malaya fell into complete silence as her mind was filled with thoughts about the Siren. Then she glanced back at the priestess. "In the end, there is really no option of letting that guy go right?"

"Yes," The priestess simply answered.

'Ah, this is giving me a great headache. This is still just the fourth ornament, now I'm quite worried about what the fifth to the last ornament would be.' She sighed.

"You told me that my memories will be gone if I wake up, right because of what he fed me?"

"Yes." The priestess said. She still remained calm as ever as if she was simply answering to facts.

"However since both of you are telling me both this, does it mean, this might not happen as well?" Malaya asked.

"Yes," the priestess answered as well. "We will prevent anything that would make your memory disappear. However, the medicine he fed you was quite strong, you will lose your memory for an entire day before we manage to bring it back." She added.

"Losing my memory for a day," Malaya narrowed her gaze. "A whole day without my memories with that Siren, that doesn't sound good."

"Don't worry about that." A graceful smile escaped from the priestess' lips. "Though he was a bit late, someone has already saved you from that Siren already."

"Someone?" Malaya asked.

"You will know when you wake up." The priestess said, her smile remaining on her face.  "There is also one thing that I need to tell you before we send you back." Her voice turned serious.

"What is it?"

"The gods and goddesses are getting restless since you crossed the Red Current. You must remain vigilant all the time until you collect every bit of the oracles. I have covered your traces so that they would notice your presence. Only the goddess of the light and her people know that you crossed the border. Knowing her, she would not carelessly reveal it to the others. However, it is now a matter of time before all of you will be revealed."

"From the sounds of it, that is not a good thing right?"

"Yes," the priestess said. "If it got revealed to every deity in the world, some might try to make you their champions. And at worst, some might cause harm to you."

"And right now, I don't have the power to fight them? None of my friends either." Malaya said with a serious tone in her voice. Although there were still a lot of things she couldn't understand from what the priestess had told her, there was clearly one thing she understood.

"As long as I don't have all the ornaments, I will be powerless from their threat right?" Malaya asked.

"Yes." 

"But why do they want to cause problems for me?"

"You are really naive, isn't it?" Shadow said, a bit amused. "You crossed the Red Current, a feat no one has ever done without the help of those arrogant gods and goddesses. Their pride is now shattered to pieces for a mere human to do that," he laughed heartily. "You are an abnormality to them that might cause to break the balance they painstakingly kept for over a millennium now."

"I see," Malaya simply replied. "I want to return now if you don't have anything to say to me." She completely ignored the taunts of Shadow.

"Yes," The priestess nodded her head, and light particles started to envelop Malaya.

"Until we see each other again, Carolle.." The priestess's last words before Malaya disappeared.