Beginning Beyond The Horizon

The five men sitting on the white coracle boat understood that the white dragon scales were given to Hajime by Baishui. If Hajime dies, his magic will no longer be affected. Yet for some reason, the white coracle boat continued to sail across the river, heading to the other side of the river, as if her last mission was to send them across the River of Sorrow. None of the five looked at each other, as they had yet to get over the sadness of Hajime's death. They sat quietly in the boat, without speaking, as the boat drifted with the current.

After finishing his final pray for Hajime, Michio opened his eyes and looked up to where they were, but to his surprise, they were approaching the riverbank on the shore of the palace, the exact spot where they had first left the city. He looked at the other four, who were still very sad about losing Hajime.

"We are approaching the palace's shores," Michio said sadly.

Abrafo and U-ri looked up to see people on the street helping each other clean up the damage Eldrys had left behind. Witnessing the spirits leaving the River of Sorrow and the black hole being destroyed, U-ri wanted to test whether the River of Sorrow was still a cursed river, so he reached out to the river and picked up a handful of water. He found that the water in his palm was clear. He looked at the men sitting in the coracle boat.

"Hey guy, the water is clear," U-ri said. "That means the curse has been lifted."

Abrafo said, "The black hole has been destroyed, the land has been purified by the white dragon tail, and of course, the River of Sorrow was no longer a curse, as the angry souls of the Kukungga people had been released." He sighed and smiled. "Hajime...he did a great job...he saved us all." His lips trembled as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He chuckled. "He kept his promise to Lixin. He killed Eldrys."

U-ri uttered, "Indeed, he did a good job..." He reached out and patted Yul's shoulder gently. He sighed. "Honestly, if I really think about it, I finally understand why Hajime always mentions not having enough time to do what he wants to do, and I think he already knows..." U-ri tears flowed. "He always knew this was his destiny."

One of the soldiers guarding the palace looked up and saw a white, shiny object approaching them. "What's that approaching us?" he shouted, pointing to the white boat floating towards them, carrying the five Tanzanies and Bong.

"General Kazan! General Kazan!" Shouted some soldiers.

Jawara and his ministers looked where the soldier was pointing.

After what had happened, Kazan was not going to take any more chances, so Kazan quickly ran down the stairs towards his soldiers. He quickly ordered, "Archers! Get Ready!" His voice sounded, and the archers drew their bows and stepped forward.

Kazan stood beside the soldiers, and the archers quickly formed a line by the river, aiming their arrows at the approaching white object.

Michio, facing the riverbank, wondered why soldiers were suddenly lining up around the palace's riverbank. "What are those soldiers doing? Why are they lined up like this?" he said, pointing to the riverbank less than three hundred yards away from them.

Yul finally looked up, and when he saw the rows of palace arches standing around the palace bank, he said, "They're ready to shoot us."

Abrafo knew they were sitting in the middle of the river without any protection and could be shot to death by arrows. He quickly stood up, waved his arms in the air and shouted, "Hey! It's us! Don't shoot! It's me!" 

A soldier who had served under Abrafo for many years suddenly said, "General Bayarmaa... I believe I heard captain Chuma's voice." He turned to look at Kazan. "Could it be captain Chuma and palace guard Bayarmaa? Could it be that they've return?"

Another soldier said, "Could the people in that white object be palace guard Bayarmaa and the others who are coming ashore?"

Kazan asked hesitantly, "Are you sure you heard Captain Chuma's voice?"

The soldier replied confidently, "I'm sure that was Captain Chuma's voice that I heard. I served under him for many years, and I not mistaken."

One soldier asked, "General, what do you want us to do?"

Kazan now faced a very difficult decision; he wondered whether he should continue to order his soldiers to shoot the oncoming white objects or wait. He raised his hands and said, "Don't fire yet." He wanted to wait until they were at least fifty yards away before making a final decision.

U-ri said worriedly, "If we don't do anything to let them know it's us, they'll shoot us once we get to the hundred yards marker."

Yul quickly searched Hajime's cross bag to see if there was anything that could help them out, and he saw the red brass bell bracelet. With trembling hands, he grasped the red brass bell bracelet and stared at it for a moment.

"Here, use this to send a signal," Yul said, handing Abrafo the red brass bell bracelet. 

Abrafo took the red brass bell bracelet from Yul and said, "Brilliant idea." Abrafo rang the bell three times in a row, paused and counted to five, then rang the bell twice, and then rang seven times in a row. After he finished, he repeated the military code again.

When Kazan heard the bell, he was sure that the person the soldier had claimed to be Abrafo was indeed Abrafo. "Did anyone else hear the military signal?" He turned to his soldiers and asked.

The soldiers standing with Kazan said in unison, "Yes, general."

Kazan said, "Don't fire until we have a positive vision."

The soldiers lowered their bow and arrow and waited for the incoming object to approach.

Kazan watched the white shiny object get closer and saw that it was a white boat with five men and a child on board. He spotted Abrafo. "Captain Chuma! Captain Chuma! Is that you on board?" He shouted twice.

Abrafo shouted, "General, it's me!"

Hearing Abrafo's voice, Kazan was now convinced that the people in the white boat were none other than their own. He said, "Everyone put down your weapons. The people on board are Captain Chuma, Palace Guard Bayarmaa and the others." Kazan turned to one of his soldiers. "Send a message to His Highness that Palace guard Bayarmaa and the others has returned."

"Yes, General." The soldiers quickly rushed towards the backyard of the palace.

Inside the coracle boat, Abrafo handed the red brass bell bracelet back to Yul and when the coracle boat came to a stop, he was the first person to jump out of the boat. He reached to help Bong get off the boat. Abrafo and Bong held on to the coracle boat, keeping it from moving. 

Michio jumped out of the boat, and he reached his hand to help U-ri. Yul grabbed Hajime's bag and held Meiji in his left arm. He was the last person to get off the boat. As soon as everyone got off the boat, the boat suddenly retracted into a white scale, the size of a child palm. Yul picked up the white scale from the riverbank and placed the white scales into Hajime's cross bag.

Kazan shouted from afar, "Yul!" He rushed towards Yul and others. He smiled at Yul and patted Yul's left shoulder twice. "Welcome back son." He looked at Abrafo. "Welcome back Captain Chuma." He couldn't take his eyes away from the child because the child in Yul's arms looked just like Yul when he was that age. "This... this child?"

Yul said, "This is Hajime and my son. His name is Meiji. Your grandson."

Kazan was shocked for a moment because he couldn't believe how an old woman like Hajime could give birth to Yul's child, but despite this, he didn't care. "Meiji, right... come to grandfather," Kazan said, stretching out his arm and taking Meiji from Yul. After holding Meiji in his arms, he chuckled. "You and your father looked exactly the same when he was your age, haha... Your grandmother will be very surprised when she sees you." He looked at Bong up and down. "Who is this?"

Abrafo chuckled and said, "He... um...he is my sworn brother."

Bong grabbed onto Abrafo's right ear and twisted it hard. "Sworn brother? How dare you call me your sworn brother?" Bong said angrily.

Kazan chuckled and said, "Hahaha...Captain Chuma, it seems you have found your match." He looked at Abrafo. "By the way, you haven't explained the term to him, have you?"

The soldiers standing by the river began to hold back their laughter.

Abrafo pulled Bong's hand away and said, "Hey, show me some respect. Don't pull my ears in front of my soldiers." He looked at Kazan. "It seems I haven't explained it to him yet."

"You and your brother, hahahaha," Kazan laughed. "Let's go see his Highness."

When Jawara heard the news that his soldiers had returned to Tanzang, he rushed to the palace shore to greet his soldiers. When he saw U-ri and Michio, he felt extremely happy. "Sir U-ri. Monk Michio," he yelled. U-ri and Michio quickly walked to Jawara. U-ri was about to bow, but Jawara stopped him. "My dear sir, you don't need to do this now. Let's leave that bow for another time." Jawara smiled at U-ri. "I'm so happy to see everyone again."

U-ri said, "We encountered some difficulties, but thanks to our mage we were able to get through them."

Jawara looked around and asked, "Where is mage Hajime?"

Yul said, "Your Highness, mage Hajime sacrificed himself to destroy the black hole."

Jawara said sadly, "The eagle we saw leading the two-winged dragon flying towards the black hole is mage Hajime?"

The four Tanzanies and Bong nodded.

Jawara sighed and said sadly, "Tonight, lets hold a prayer ceremony to send our mage's soul to heaven." He looked at Yul and the others. "We are very sorry for your loss. Once everything is sorted out, we will build a statue of mage Hajime to commemorate her greatness and sacrifice. Now go home to your family. I will host a welcome party for the four of you tomorrow night."