As soon as Netra met with Paari, she rushed out of the palace to see the night-dwellers. They were all temporarily accommodated in the houses of mound people. Night-dwellers and mound people were working together to build new homes. The mound looked crowded. Her eyes looked for Giza but she could not find him anywhere.
“Appa, why did you bring everyone from the night side? Did you free the prisoners?” Netra ran to her dad and asked him.
“Prisoners? What prisoners? We brought everyone from there because Isfe’s tornado collapsed, Netra. No one said anything about prisoners.”
“Oh no!” Netra murmured. “How long was I asleep?”
“About six days!” He replied. He could clearly see his daughter’s distraught.
“No!” Netra slapped her head hard. “The coven leaders! They are all there. In the forbidden forest. Isfe was keeping them as prisoners. Without the tornado, they might all be dead!” Netra said hurriedly.
“They were all alive?” Maayon asked in astonishment.
Without wasting a second, Netra and Maayon hopped on their hover vehicles and went to the night side. The tornado city that had beautiful trees and plants is now a barren land covered in snow. The trees were all dead, some uprooted due to the harsh climate and some stood there without life. The huts that they lived in were all covered in snow.
“That way, appa!” Netra led the way and soon they discovered the crystal cave. The colorful crystals have lost their colors and are now just icicles. Netra ran into the cave and Maayon followed his daughter. As she reached the dark ends of the cave, she started calling for the coven leaders. Nothing came back except for the echo of her voice.
“We need them to break the curse, appa! What if they are dead?” Netra asked her dad, worried.
“They will be alright!” Maayon patted his daughter’s shoulder and he ran before her to look for them.
“Netra!” He called for her and Netra ran in the direction of his call. The sight they had before them was giving them goosebumps. Pamba had turned herself into her snake form and wrapped all four of them in her tight grip giving them a chance to survive this harsh weather.
“Pamba!” Netra called and the snake slowly lifted its head and hissed at her. Maayon quickly used his spell to warm up the place and Pamba slowly let them out of her constricted wrap. The men were barely breathing! Maayon broke open the crystal wall and ran in to help them.
“They are dying. We have to take them to our place.” He said and Netra nodded her head in agreement. Pamba was too weak to turn herself into her human form and hence Netra picked her up in her hands and placed her gently on the vehicle. Maayon placed two of them in his vehicle and two of them in Netra’s vehicle and they flew to their mound.
The next few days were spent in the nursery with the sick ones. Ellavan and Senthalir spent their time near Anastasia to make her better. Paari’s health got better too and he spent his days understanding the new environment. Netra sat near Pamba and Maayon spent his days with the coven leaders until they got better.
“You have been very helpful, Pamba. I can never thank you enough.” Netra told Pamba after she regained her health.
“I'm truly honored to help you in this great cause, princess. I was so scared when everyone left the place. I thought I would die there without telling our people that I had helped our god.”
“I promise you, Pamba. You will see your world, your people! You will die in honor and I will make sure that you will go to the light as you wished for. I am giving you my word.” Netra hugged Pamba and Pamba broke down into tears of happiness. A god promising light to her and thanking her is the ultimate euphoria to her.
