The Selkies would not stand for the Lilties taking their pride. Yet, that's what they did, they took all the dignity they had. Everything was lost. Their people, their home, their freedom. They were enslaved by the Lilties. That was the life they had to lead now.
Uday's eyes opened to a dimly lit room. "You have awakened," an old man said in the Selkie tongue. "I thought you were dead. That Lilty had struck you pretty hard."
"I need to go." Uday sat up. "I need to find my sister!"
"That girl who was carried off?" The old man was silent for a long while.
"You saw her? Where is she? What happened?"
"She lost a lot of blood, dear boy. And she had grown limp long before you were struck down. I am sorry."
Uday broke down, his head in his hands, and cried. "No, no, no, no, no…" he wailed. "No, no, no, no, no…" He repeated his cries, endlessly.
"Shut up, boy!" a voice spoke harshly outside and struck the door. It was a Lilty, for his voice was small, and he spoke the other language.
"You terrible, terrible man!" Uday spoke in the language he learned. "You have destroyed our race! You—"
The Lilty swung open the door. "You can speak in our tongue? How can that be?"
Uday only glared at him, his face puffy and pink from his tears.
"Come with me, now!"
Uday looked back at the old man, who looked at him, both puzzled and startled.
"Heo!" Uday cried out. (Help!) But the man did not move. He just stared. He had lost the help of even his own race.
.
Miach looked uneasily at her father. "With the war over, and us ruling, what's going to happen to this world?" She asked.
"Whatever we want. That's the beauty of it!" he was joyful as he chuckled to himself.
Miach knew that this wasn't the end. The Great War would continue so long as the Selkies resisted. The Selkies. How were those guys now? Were they alright? Were they even alive? She shuddered.
"The Clavats have agreed to submit without struggle. The Yukes really don't care. And the Selkies are now enslaved! Our leader is having his way with the world! And we are tasting the fruits of our labor! Delicious, delicious fruits!"
.
Uday had never seen such filth, such gloom. The Lilty mines could not have been as bad! Yet here, in a wasteland of dirt and horror, he was placed. "You, boy, will be the mediator. You will tell these workers what I command! Do you understand?"
"Yes sir. But I won't do it." Uday did not hesitate in his rebuke. "We are not slaves to your Lilty will!" He stood strong and tall above this Lilty soldier. "We are free, and we will not—" His speech was interrupted by a snap. It was the crack of a whip on his bare back and he cried out in great pain.
"You will obey, boy!" Another Lilty stood over the now kneeling Selkie. Uday turned with his fist, but the whip cam down again, this time, across his chest. He fell on his back. The other Selkies turned and gasped. "We need a translator!"
The other soldier kicked him. "My order is this: Load the caravans with the bricks and drive them to the Selkie home. There, build a wall that no one can penetrate or pass through. Home will no longer be open to you!" He turned on his heel and left, the other Lilty following.
The Selkies helped Uday up. "Home." The word rang through his head. What had happened to that happy place? The crystal seemed so distant now.
.
And that shining hope seemed to fade further and further away…