"Hmmm, that doesn''t feel right," Nn mused to himself with a furrowed brow, causing Lorelie''s heart to quake within her.


    "Why do you say it doesn''t feel right?" she asked him.


    "I''m thinking if she ended up locked up, cold, and all alone—that can''t be the end of it, right?"


    "She has to eventually leave her cage, or she has to die in the cave. Something has to happen."


    "Just being in the cave all cold and alone can''t be the end of it," Nn said with quite a bit of conviction and certainty.


    A person''s story never ends with them being in a ce cold and alone.


    Only two things can end it: either they find a way to break the cage they were held in, or they die within that cage.


    And in the majority of cases, those choices are always avable.


    Only a prisoner can bring himself out of his prison, and if he or she doesn''t wish to bring himself or herself out, then he or she will remain trapped in it forever!


    find-more-stories-on-MVLeMpYr


    The observation from Nn surprised Lorelie more than a little, for that song she yed urately described who she was.


    She had always believed that this was how she would forever remain until her life ended, and her story had alreadye to an end.


    But now, he had shown her that an ending like hers simply doesn''t make sense.


    She has to choose between two options: eventually exiting her cage or dying within it.


    It was an eye-opening moment, and Lorelie''s eyes shed before she raised her almond eyes to look at Nn, who stared back at her with caution, seeing the strange sh in those big eyes.


    "What is it?" he asked curiously as she rose up and swam to Nn.


    "Will you help me?" she asked, her eyes seemingly bing bigger.


    "Help you with what?" he asked.


    "Help me break my curse," she replied, and Nn''s expression changed a little before a deep frown settled on his face.


    "Can a curse ever be broken?" he asked dubiously.


    "I don''t know. But there is a book that does exin a thing or two about it, and I think it can help me out. Will you follow me?" she asked with those almond eyes of hers, and Nn hesitated.


    Right now, he could feel he was getting himself into an unnecessary headache. He had no reason to want to help her out at all, so why should he bother?


    "Okay, I''ll go," he replied, but his face immediately changed the second he said it, as he shed a shocked expression to Lorelie, who giggled.


    "That''s not what I—" Nn wanted to protest, but he couldn''tplete his words when a hand locked into his, and in the next instant, he was dragged forward with blinding speed as they both swam out through the window, quickly disappearing into the back of the pce and vanishing among the woods.


    KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK


    The sound of knocking could be heard on the door a few moments after he and Lorelei left.


    "Nn, are you there?" a female voice resounded but received no reply.


    Soon, the doorknob twisted, and a figure entered the room—a figure none other than Gaia.


    Her eyes shed, seeing no one in the room and hearing no sound, but she soon sighted the opened ss window and hummed slightly.


    "Guess he also moved out like the rest. Maybe I should too..." Gaia said before she half-closed the wide-open window and exited the room, locking the door shut.


    ---


    "Where... where are we going?" Nn struggled to say as he felt himself being whisked into the distance with such speed that the world was nothing but a blur.


    He had thought that he and the godly ten were fast underwater because they possessed Divine Essence and Nn had his powerful physical strength, but Nn could swear none of them could even hope to match the speed of Lorelie.


    She was simply on another level, moving with mouth-dropping speed, yet what surprised Nn the most was how easy she made it look.


    Eventually, Lorelie turned her gaze to Nn and found his face contorted in slight difort, causing her to lower her speed significantly.


    "I''m sorry," she said, embarrassed, as Nn waved her off while forcing down the queasy feeling in his stomach. He was just one second away from puking his intestines out.


    "It''s fine, it''s fine. How can you swim so fast?" Nn called out in shock, and in reply, Lorelie simply looked at her blue tail and then at Nn''s two legs.


    "Because I am an Antean. That''s all we do..." she exined as she began slowly swimming forth, and Nn kept up with her, even though he had to jog to actually keep up with her visibly normal speed.


    Less than a few seconds had passed when they moved past the forest area and appeared in a mushroom-filled world, filled with strange marine creatures that swam all around Lorelie, who visibly smiled and waved at some of them before they all left.


    "Anteans can alsomunicate with the creatures?" Nn asked with a raised eyebrow, and Lorelie nodded.


    "Most Anteans canmunicate with them, but only I and my father can listen to their words directly and understand them."


    "So you can hear them talk?" he asked as a group of sea-horse-type creatures appeared beside Lorelie, cuddling all over her.


    But they all soon turned their attention to Nn, looking at him for a long while, before they turned back to Lorelie, their lips moving before they scuttled away into the distance.


    "Why do I feel like they said something about me?" Nn mused to himself.


    "They said I should be careful around you. Your heart is not fully pure," Lorelie said, and Nn rolled his eyes.


    "And I wonder when sea-horses can now read people''s hearts..." he said, unimpressed, and Lorelie giggled at him.


    "So where are you taking me?" Nn asked. They had been on this path for close to 30 minutes now.


    "We''re almost there..." she replied.