"What is so important about going to that island right now...???"
Ami felt a slight tremor of fear at his sharp, piercing gaze. She stood there, frozen, not knowing how to answer him...
"I am asking you... what is there that attracts you to that place, where humans are forbidden to enter?"
Raising his voice in anger, he questioned her again. Ami was startled... her eyes began to well up with tears. She felt she couldn't bear him behaving toward her in such a harsh manner. Quickly, she lowered her eyes, looking away from him...
"Amika..."
He called out her name with a tone of sternness.
"Devi, why are you getting so angry..."
She asked, trembling and shivering. Even her words were faltering... He realized this and, closing his eyes for a moment, tried to regain his self-control.
"Devi... I understood that people are living there, in that place where humans have no entry."
As soon as she said this, Devi looked at her in shock.
"Are you... are you crazy or something...?"
Saying this, he looked toward the distant island. The mist that had been covering it was beginning to clear, making the island visible once again.
"I'm not crazy... I'm serious. There were lights there. Whether it was lightning or fire... I don't know... and then, a blue light..."
As she spoke, Devi was filled with bewilderment. She had seen things there that shouldn't be seen. But in that same instant, his face grew pale and weary.
"That's just what you imagined... nothing is as you think it is. It's not a residential area like you believe it to be..." He said.
"How does Devi know that...?" Ami asked with a hint of irritation.
"It's not just me; isn't this something everyone knows?"
He said this while turning his face away from her. Then, he walked toward the edge of the hill, jumped onto a rock at the very end, and sat down. Ami followed him. Though she tried to climb up and sit with him, the rock was too high for her to manage without help. Disappointed, she headed toward a smaller rock nearby.
Even though she prepared to walk, before she could, a hand grabbed hers... It was none other than... Devi himself...
As she looked at him wondering what he was doing, Devi suddenly pulled her in front of him... Then, placing his hands under her arms, he lifted Ami with great ease, as if she were a small child... and sat her down right beside him...
Ami looked at him with wide, surprised eyes, but his gaze was fixed somewhere far in the distance...
"U are very strong..." she said, as if giving a compliment...
"Beyond u can imagin..." he said with a wink...
"Thallal..." (Bragging/Exaggerating)
He didn't understand the slang she used to tease him... so he just stared at her...
"Oops... Sorry... My dad is an Indian. Mom is from here... So, in Dad's country, when we talk ourselves up or praise ourselves too much, the people there use a slang word for it: Thallal... (exaggerating )... It's a word used to mock someone. Like saying someone is baselessly praising themselves... having no shame... Just like that, Devi is bragging about himself..."
Ami teased him while explaining the meaning...
"Oh, is that so... But I'm not just showing off... I am strong... it's beyond what you can imagine..." he said seriously... while Ami's smile remained just as it was...
"Okay, let me prove it..."
As if to convince her, he said this and jumped down from the rock...
"Okay, I'll pick up that rock..."
Saying that, he pointed toward a rather large rock near her. Ami gave him a look as if to say, "Go ahead then," and at that, he went and lifted it effortlessly... just like how Prabhas lifted the Shivalingam in Baahubali (its a south Indian movie )... Ami watched with her eyes wide in shock...
In the time it took her to look, he hurled that massive rock into the sea as if he were just throwing a small pebble into the water... then he looked at Ami and flexed his muscles as if to ask, "How was that?"
"Do you understand now...???" he asked.
"Oh, please, anyone can do that..." she replied, putting aside her amazement and acting as if it were nothing...
"Oho, well then, why don't you try lifting something like that... let me see it..."
He stood in front of her with his arms crossed...
"I wasn't talking about people like me... I meant someone like you..."someone who is strong...".
She quickly tried to talk her way out of it.
"There is no person as strong as me...".
As he said this, he placed his hands on the rock on either side of her and stood there.
"Prove it...".
She said seriously.
"If I am to prove it, come with me to my homeland..."
He said.
"Where is your homeland...???".
She asked with wide, curious eyes.
"Far from here... on a beautiful island in the depths of the sea...".
He said.
"Wait, it isn't the island hidden by those clouds, the one called 'Mystic Shadow,' is it...?".
She asked.
"How do you know it's a beautiful island...?".
He raised an eyebrow.
"Alex showed me... a video his drone captured... it wasn't the whole thing, but..."
.
She hesitated to speak... as he raised his eyebrow as if to ask "What?", she continued without further hesitation.
"Mmm... there's a lot... dreams that come seeking me on nights what Devi cannot even think...".
By the time she reached the end, her voice had grown quiet.