Beginning Beyond The Horizon

As the small coracle boat drifted slowly down the river towards the Kylista, the five Tanzanies and Bong began to see sunlight filtering through the dense ashy gray forest. The five Tanzanies and Bong felt the fresh air begin to blow around them.

"Look ahead," U-ri said. "Michio, not you. Keep your eyes closed."

Bong asked, "Why does he have to close his eyes?"

U-ri explained, "I'm not sure, but I read that once the Kylista knows your name and locks eyes with you, it has the power to make you fall in love. The Kylista has the most angelic and soft voice that makes people fall in love with the sound of their voices and even convince them to kill each other."

Bong turned to look at the Kylista who was standing in the middle of the river not far from them. He found that the Kylista's eyes were only looking at Michio.

"It sounds terrible," Bong said. "I didn't even know such creatures existed among us."

Abrafo said, "How could you know these things when you are a prince who walks freely in the safety of the palace walls?"

U-ri looked at Abrafo and said with a smile. "Aren't you the same? Although we have dealt with big size creature, but nothing like the creatures we encountered in the southern land." He looked at Michio and found that Michio's eyes were rolling back and forth behind his closed eyelids. He reached out and placed his hand on Michio's hands. "Don't listen to anyone or anything. You just need to concentrate on what the buddha had taught you."

Hearing the Kylista calling his name, Michio felt his heart jumping with joy and the temptations of wanting to open his eyes was hard to resist, but he knows that he is a man of faith and he must suppressed any silly thoughts and temptations, he closed his eyes and continued to pray, but the temptations were so strong that even with his close eyes, he began to see image of himself walking down a floras forest with beautiful naked women running around.

Michio sighed and said, "Amitabha..."

The five Tanzanies and Bong knows by now that they should not mention anyone's name, so Yul tapped lightly on U-ri's shoulder and asked, "How do we kill it or preventing it from killing us?" He looked at Michio. "He can't go on like this."

U-ri said, "I don't know how to kill a Kylista, the book didn't say. I guess those who came across a Kylista end up dead."

Yul said, "Tell us what you know."

U-ri said, "According to what I've learned from the ancient book, it says that Kylista are cursed individual who was punished by heaven to guard their territory. They cannot move from their guarding territory or kill anything that did not enter their territory. I don't know for sure how trueful is this, but I do know for certain that a Kylista cannot wander off from its territory, so I believe if he could hold on until we get out of this river, he will be safe and the spell the Kylista casted on him will also disappear."

Hajime asked, "But aren't we in her territory now? Doesn't this mean she can hurt us?"

U-ri said, "She is a water Kylista, therefore, if if we are not in the river, she can't hurt us."

Abrafo asked, "So in order for her to attack us, we must enter the river."

U-ri said, "Yes." 

Bong said, "You don't sound too convincing."

U-ri chuckled and said, "It's because I don't know for sure. Let's hope that the Kylista doesn't try to kill us."

Abrafo said, "Do you think those people we met in Skeleton Forest are also Kylista."

U-ri said, "I'm not sure, but it says that Kylista is beautiful. It also says that Kylista is a genderless creature. If they face a man, they turn into a woman, and if they face a woman, they turn into a man."

Bong asked, "So, you're saying that no one knows what they really look like?"

U-ri nodded to Bong. U-ri said, "I don't think the Kylista will harm us as long as we stay out of the water."

Yul said, "While she is prohibited from killing us if we don't touch her water, she can kill us if our boat capsizes."

Hajime asked, "Do you think she will try to capsize our boat?"

As the coracle boat got closer to the Kylista, the river grew stronger. The small boat rocked violently back and forth.

"We probably spoke too soon," said Abrafo, who clung to the side of the boat. "Whatever we do, don't fall into the river."

Seeing that the people going down the river were about to escape, no matter what spells she used, she could not seduce the motionless monk sitting in the coracle boat. She knew that if she didn't take action, the people on the boat would leave. She flicked her long tail, raised it into the air, and slammed her heavy tail on the river surface causing a wave pushing the coracle boat backward.

"Hold tight!" Yul shouted.

The small round boat circled in the middle of the river, pitched from side to side on the riverbank, and was pushed away from the Kylista. 

The five Tanzanies and Bog clung to the edge of the boat and moved along the boat without resistance, fearing that the boat would capsize if they resisted. After several turns, the boat finally stopped in the middle of the river again. The four Tanzanies and Bong saw that the Kylista had swam closer and her tail had been raised, ready to attack them again.

Abrafo said, "We needed to do something soon; she refused to let us leave."

Yul reached out, touched Michio's hand, and said, "Give me all your talismans."

Michio quickly reached inside his robe and took out a handful of talismans. He placed the talismans in Yul's hand. He asked, "What are you going to do?"

Yul took a deep breath and said, "Since it won't let us leave peacefully, we will try to kill it."

Abrafo looked at Yul and said, "If this is what we have to do. Let's kill it before it kills us."

Yul grabbed the six talismans and shot the talismans directly at the tail of the Kylista, who was charging towards them. The spell quickly turned into six arrows and shot at the Kylista's long snake-shape tail. The Kylista screamed in pain, and her screams caused the black crows and black lyrebirds that were sitting on the branches to fly away. As the crows and the black lyrebirds cries, the sounds of animals' activities intensify.

Looking towards both sides of the river, the five Tanzanies and Bong saw similar creatures gathering on the riverbanks, roaring at the five Tanzanies and the Kylista. The six people in the boat already knew that these creatures gathered together to see who would win and who would lose.

The Kylista's long black tail dived to the bottom of the river. She swung her long black tail side to side, trying to create a current that would capsize the coracle boat. She knew she could only kill and eat those who fell into her river.

Hajime noticed they were pushed halfway and turned to U-ri and yelled, "She only kills those who enter the water, right?"

U-ri yelled, "Based on what I read, but I don't know how true it is."

Hajime took a deep breath and said, "Then let's see how true the theory written in the book is."

Hajime grabbed the side of the boat and jumped into the river.​

"Hajime!" U-ri yelled, trying to grab Hajime with his right hand, but failed.

Seeing Hajime jump into the river, the Kylista let out a roar and dived into the river. Yul turned around and found that Hajime was gone, so he took two steps towards U-ri and was about to jump into the river when Abrafo grabbed his hands.

"Hajime must have a plan," Abrafo said.

"And how do you know that?" Yul said worriedly.

"I think if it were me, I would do the same thing," Abrafo said.

Bong said, "Let's think of a good plan before jumping in blind."

By this time, Michio had opened his eyes, and he no longer had the temptation to jump into the river.

U-ri looked at Michio and asked irritably, "What are you doing with your eyes open?"

"I no longer feel like jumping into the river," Michio said.

U-ri thought for a moment and said, "So, since Hajime jumped into the river, the Kylista gave up on tempting Michio."

Michio asked dumbfoundingly, "So, what does this mean?"

Yul said, "This means that her attention is focused on Hajime."

Although the river is small, its bottom is very deep. The river was pitch black, and Hajime could not see anything that is further than an arm length in front of him. It was as if he was the only light in this abyss. He turned around and found that it was pitch black under the water and he couldn't see anything. Just as Hajime was thinking about which direction the Kylista would attack from. He suddenly felt a warm feeling surround him. He felt something lightly touch the soles of his shoes, and when he looked down, he saw the Kylista's shiny black tail slowly crawling up from his feet to his body.