Xhemin was in an empty dark room. It was so dark that she saw nothing, not even herself. Then suddenly she heard some screams from nearby and right then she knew she was not alone. She saw Guntas running, carrying fire torches and weapons, they were chasing something in a cold night, or rather someone. Right then Xhemin saw another Gunta running with a baby wrapped in a fine linen—he was the one the other Guntas were chasing but after few minutes of running he was trapped near the river with hundreds of other Gunta ready to attack him.

"No!" Xhemin screamed when the Guntas attacked the one holding the baby, and everyone halted when they heard her. They all turned to her side with blank eyes as if they had been paralyzed with her voice before they all faded away in the wind leaving the baby alone in the river, crying hard. Xhemin felt confused as to what was happening, yet she picked the baby in the river bank to comfort it. However, when she looked at the baby's face, it turned into a monster with red eyes and sharp claw. Attracted with her flesh, the monster-like baby nit her neck hard.

​​

"Ahhhhhhhh!" She screamed in pain.

"Princess! Princess!" A voice pulled Xhemin back to her chambers. Right then she woke up in her bed, sweating hard and breathing heavily.

"Are you okay? You had a nightmare," A handmaid consoled her. It was Handmaid Si, her own personal handmaid in the Chieftain's household. It had been days since she had lived in there and nested in the First Princess chambers.

Xhemin looked around and saw the lights gleaming from the outside. It was already morning and judging from how up the sun was outside, she knew she overslept. Xhemin held her head as if she had a headache. She had been having nightmares ever since she started sleeping in the first princess chambers and she had been restless ever since.

"I think there is something wrong with me," She said exhaustedly.

"There's nothing wrong with you," Handmaid Si answered. "We all had nightmares when the red moon approaches. It's normal."

"Red moon?" She turned her head immediately to the handmaid who started preparing her clothes for the day.

"Three days from now, the red moon appears" Handmaid Si explained further.

"What happens when the red moon appears?" Xhemin asked again.

"Terrible things happen. To make sure everyone is safe, no one goes out when the red moon appears in the sky" The Handmaid told Xhemin. "As for the Chieftain's household, we make an offering to the Devil's child. Tomorrow before the sun rises, everyone will gather at river to make a ritual and send some offerings to the Devil's lure."

***

"My dear husband, come and have a taste, I cook personally cook this sweet for you," Maru told Baruk Tam as the boy was busy in his letters. They were in the Baruk chambers and Maru had come early to bring the boy some food.

"Maru can you please stop?" He was trying to dismiss the girl since earlier, but she just won't. "Are there no other important things you can do rather than disturbing me?"

"Baruk Tam, you are wrong. I think the most important thing for a girl to do is make sure her husband is well tended" She said beaming with her most beautiful smile. Although Baruk Tam had always been refusing her visits, the girl never gets tired of insisting to be with him until Baruk Tam could do nothing but just allow her to do whatever she pleases. "Come now and eat this"

Baruk Tam was about to shove away the food that Maru had for him, however his attention was turned into the chaos that suddenly erupted from his door's chambers. Three Guntas came and bow at him as respect. Knowing that he had to give them audience, Baruk Tam seated upright, and Maru followed his example. She too seated like an adult royal blooded beside the boy.

"What is your business," he asked right away. He was aware that the Guntas who came where the Guntas assigned to watch the par line and so he knew they came to report to him something about the thing that appeared on the ocean.

"They had reached the line Baruk" One of the three answered.

"Did they cross the line?" He inquired.

"They didn't Baruk, they stayed on the thing that they built but I'm afraid they will cross over soon" The Gunta replied.

Baruk Tam sighed with relief when he learned that the thing did not cross the line. Curios to what it was, he asked the Guntas opinion. "Since they reached the par line, did you go and check what it is?"

"Yes Baruk,"

"What is it?"

"I'm not certain but the most of the Guntas say it's a bridge," He revealed.

"A bridge?" Astonished, Baruk Tam rose from his seat worriedly "Who dared to make a bridge towards us! Are the people from the other side trying to invade us?"

"That is possible Baruk," The Gunta said, "They were so many in the bridge, they even wore a shield on their head ready for an attack!"

"Invaders!" Baruk Tam exclaimed "We must prepare for a fight!"

"The Guntas had already positioned themselves Baruk, ready for war" He informed him "However, this morning, when we were expecting for an invasion, something else happened"

"What happened then?" A frowned tainted the boy's young face. "Tell me,"

"Instead of starting an attack Baruk, they sent this, hundreds of this" The Gunta then showed to the Baruk the thing that the people from the bridge sent them.

"What is that?" Maru asked curiously when she saw how his betrothed quieted when he received the thing that the Guntas brought.

"It's a boat. A small boat made from something shiny. But it's harmless Baruk. At first, we thought these were weapons, but it seemed they are not," The Guntas tried to recall how the thing had alarmed them but when they realized they were merely small boats, they were confused so they thought of bringing it to the Baruk.

"But why would they send us something like that?" Maru wondered, also confused. "But it looks cute anyway. Darling can I have it?"

Ignoring Maru's request, Baruk Tam hollered, "I know what this is. Continue to watch the par line until I come back"

"Where are you going my husband?" Maru asked worriedly "Can I come with you?"

"You can't" Baruk Tam refused her before he left his chambers. He immediately went to their household's stable and asked the stable master to prepare his horse.

He knew by then why a bridge appeared in the line. He had remembered the day when Enoch dragged the council to the par line to give the roux blooded an audience. The Chieftain's heir went home that day with a paper boat with him that the roux blooded gave and so he knew it was him who made the bridge. He needed to tell the Chieftana about this so that he can shoo the roux blood away. No roux blooded should be given an entrance to their island ever again.