The night was more violent and fierce than the previous ones. The sky was torn open; however much water it was holding back had all descended to the earth. What hit the closed petals of the flowers weren't water drops, but seemingly fist-sized hailstones.
Nafız was in her position in the middle of the lake; despite all the impact, she didn't budge an inch. Unlike her, Alis continued his journey inside the whirlpool throughout the night. He could move as he pleased now; the whirlpool had become his playground.
The two lovers were silent inside their nearly adjoining water lilies. Even though the waves forming on the lake went over their heads, they didn't part. Terror reigned outside, but tranquility prevailed inside the flowers.
When morning came, the cycle was complete; the massive body of water calmed down and went to sleep. The pink, white, blue, and red flowers slowly opened; it was time for the gems they hid inside to see the light of day.
Everyone was just as they were yesterday morning, except for one person. The young girl getting up from where she lay was sitting with her arms crossed over her chest. Lareina, who had been shivering in a fetal position, seemed to be coming to her senses; seeing this, Nafız smiled, while her lover shouted in astonishment.
"Lareina, how are you? Lareina!"
The person he called out to was in no shape to hear him; after trying a few more times, Jashua gave up. Nafız didn't interfere this time either; she played a huge part in the Young Count being in this state.
She had taken too much from the boy to whom she granted great power with a potion from Mora's remains. Even though they lived a captive life in a dungeon-like cave, even though they spent most of their days hungry and thirsty, they were together as a family.
This was the first and most important thing sacrificed in exchange for power. Jashua had to tear himself away from his family; he was left all alone at a child's age. He had neither friends nor time to play games; his childhood was spent doing things others couldn't even imagine.
In the early years of his youth, he was in a war that wasn't his. Whatever he was going through actually had nothing to do with him. Up until he met Lareina, for the first time in his life, he was doing something for himself; he was loving.
Not being able to reach her wasn't just about Lareina; whatever Jashua had lost throughout his life was all ganging up on the young man together. His mother, his father, his childhood, and the loneliness he always felt were coming out of the holes they hid in and attacking.
This was the reason for Jashua's exhausted state, having taken a beating from the ghosts of the past for three days, and Nafız, who set the cycle in motion, had no face to say anything.
By noon, the spin rate of Alis's water lily had increased so much that it was managing to form a tornado on its own. Alis, the speed of whose hands dropped, looked more relaxed; his eyebrows were loose, his lips were curved upward.
Nafız's satisfaction was written all over her face; Alis, the embodied form of the former power animal and human side, seemed to have taken what he needed from the dungeon.
Then, a few hours later Lareina opened her eyes, and the first thing she did was call out to Jashua.
"Jashua my love, wake up!"
The Young Count lifted his head with difficulty and looked at the young girl, but he didn't have the strength to keep doing it.
"Jashua, take off what you have on. Feel the water lily!"
Lareina didn't give up; she called out a second time. Jashua, lending an ear to his lover's voice, threw the clothes he took off with difficulty into the water and started lying down just the way he was in the first moments he was born.
"Be like the lotus, my love. Don't hold onto what accumulates on you, let them wash away with the first drop of water!"
The plants carrying the four people, despite living inside swamps, had gained the feature of being the cleanest plants in the world. How could they stay so clean when their surroundings were filthy?
People believe a smooth life and avoiding hardships will bring comfort, but this thesis doesn't apply to the lotus flower. There are tiny, minuscule bumps on the petals of the lotus. These bumps allow water droplets to collect dirt and slide off.
The hardships, smoothness, and bumps some might consider flaws on their petals, which could be considered their bodies, actually make them the cleanest plant in the world. Jashua too, with all his thorns, wounds, and flaws, is trying to wash away the dirt accumulating on him. The Young Count has everything, he only lacks the water droplets he can mix his dirt into.
"Cry my love. Your tears are not your weakness, you don't have to hide your feelings!"
Before the young girl's words were completed, a sob was heard, followed by crying strong enough to tear his lungs out. This was the wail of someone who hadn't shed a tear for many long years; the burden of years was unloading all at once.
When her lover came to his senses, Lareina closed her eyes again. The petals of the two lovers' water lilies standing a hand's span apart gently reached out and held onto each other. There weren't two plants anymore; the pink and red flowers were hugging with longing.
In the afternoon, the hours flew by as if someone was chasing them, and the twilight welcoming the night began to cover the lake.
The four water lilies, moving on their own, were advancing towards the shore; the dungeon's trial was coming to an end. The first to step ashore was Nafız; her flower was twice as fast as the others. When the Blood God set foot on land, the blue flower started glowing, and a few breaths later, turning into energy of the same color, it wrapped around Nafız's wrists.
The two blue energy rings spun non-stop until they formed a lotus flower tattoo over her Achilles tendons. The two half tattoos, which could form a whole flower when joined, decorated Nafız's ankles. The symbols of the skill she gained from the Reward Dungeon would now decorate her body.
Second in line was Alis. Getting up with his eyes closed, Alis stepped on the soil without opening them again. The snow-white flower spun on its own axis, broke apart, and entered the young man's body through his nape. In the moments a white lotus tattoo appeared on his nape a few breaths later, Alis opened his eyes after three days.
The wind suddenly appearing baptized his body starting from his feet and rose to the sky with the same speed. The young man in white had taken what he needed from the dungeon.
Lareina and Jashua left their water lilies at the same time, hand in hand. Their flowers, slowly fading into nothingness, mixed with each other and danced on the calm surface of the lake for dozens of breaths. When they finally turned into pure energy, they penetrated the bodies of the two lovers without separating.
Over Lareina's heart, on Jashua's abdomen, there was a lotus tattoo each. The tattoos, half red and half pink, had etched the love of the two young people onto their bodies forever.
When Alis and Nafız walked up to them, they got the chance to witness the looks of the lovers holding hands up close. The timid Lareina and Jashua, whose inside was filled with the fear of something happening to his loved ones even though he didn't show it on the outside, were gone now.
They had left, and two completely different people had taken their place. Maybe this saying was wrong; it would be more accurate to say they had taken off the clothes they wore that didn't belong to them.
"Jashua"
When Nafız called out to the Young Count after a dry cough, it had gotten dark, but they could easily see each other from this distance.
"Sir!"
The moment the Young Count bowed respectfully, the words got caught in his throat.
"I think we've seen all we need to see; it wouldn't be a bad idea to put some clothes on now!"
Jashua had also just realized the situation, but Lareina, swimming in a flood of emotions, could only process that her lover was stark naked upon Nafız's words. While the screaming young girl turned her back with her face flushed, Alis was laughing his head off.
While Jashua hastily put on the clothes he took out of his ring, the surroundings suddenly started to change; a jump in time and space was occurring.