The male suddenly swung his head towards me, his face a confluence of fear and anger.

“Erm, sorry,” I apologized, and immediately turned away to give privacy to the two lovers.

“Shit, Orka,” the female said, “Get off me! It’s him--Vicky.”

Apparently, I was famous enough that the girl knew me.

“Vicky?” the male, Orka, questioned, “But he is a human, a player. What is he doing in the Skhite village, Lori?”

Apparently, I was not so famous that every Skhite knew about me.

“He’s not a player,” Lori said, “He’s a friend of the Skhites. Now, come on, get off me!”

The two stood up and put on their scanty clothes, which just about hid their privates. I finally dared to turn my head towards them.

“Um,” I said, rubbing my neck, feeling awkward at having run into them while they were intimate, “I… I got lost in the tunnels. Can you please help me get to the part of the village with the Skhite families? I will be able to make my way from there.”

Orka had a permanent scowl etched on his face, not at all impressed by me, undoubtedly pissed off because I disturbed them. But Lori nodded earnestly.

“We will guide you there,” she said and then she glanced at Orka, “well… I will anyway.”

“That will be great,” I said with gratitude.

“Come with me,” Lori said as she took the lead. I marched behind her

“Aren’t you coming?” I asked Orka, who remained still. Lori stopped walking and for a moment all of us were silent. I could sense the air was tense.

“Can you do us a favor?” Lori said.

“Sure,” I replied.

“Can you please not tell anybody that you saw the two of us together?” Lori asked.

“Sure,” I said, “I wouldn’t tell anybody… but, sorry, I don’t understand, I thought Skhites were free to choose their own mates.” That was something that Nora and Nadir had told me.

“That’s a lie,” Orka barked. His eyes spoke of injustice. I glanced at Lori seeking an explanation.

“We are allowed to choose our own mates,” Lori said gloomily, “but we should have parents. And if we are orphans, our bloodline can be traced through magic for the previous three generations. Orka’s bloodline cannot be traced at all for some reason. My parents would not accept him.”

“They call me a weirdo,” Orka said, looking down glumly. “Everyone calls me a weirdo. So, I live here in the Forbidden Tunnels.”

“Forbidden Tunnels?” I asked.

“Yes, the tunnels we are in are forbidden, because they are very confusing,” Lori explained. “How did you get here?”

“I found a concealed passage and I got curious,” I said. “And then I lost my way.”

“Orka has been living in the Forbidden Tunnels for so long that he knows every nook and corner here,” Lori said, “he has even made me memorize certain passages so that I don’t get lost when I bring him food.”

“So you live here all alone?” I asked Orka, understanding why he was bitter.

Orka nodded.

“I spend my time wandering these tunnels,” he replied, “Lori only visits twice a week. Her parents will probably marry her off soon, and then it will be only these tunnels and me.”

“Orka! Don’t say that!” Lori said, her eyes swimming, “I will come and live with you if my parents force me to marry someone else.”

“And then?” Orka said, “You will spend your days wandering these tunnels like me, cut off from the rest of the village?”

“Is there no way for you to find out your bloodline?” I asked Orka.

He shrugged. He fidgeted as if he was thinking something, but then he shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he said, “maybe these tunnels are my parents. My first memories of childhood were of crawling in these tunnels, until someone found me and put me in the children’s quarters. But I was bullied there, and it has only intensified over the years. I am the butt of everyone’s jokes. Inferior, because I am of unknown parentage. Lori is the only one who treats me as an equal.”

I felt bad for Orka. He only had Lori's company once or twice a week and I had ruined that by showing up.

“If there is anything that I can do for you, do let me know.” It was a weak attempt at consoling Orka. My words sounded hollow to myself.

"Let's get you out of here," Lori said to me.

So, it happened that Lori guided me to the residential tunnels of the Skhites while Orka was left behind to brood in his isolation. But that was not the last I saw of Orka. In fact, only two days later, I met him again, and this time he had a request for me. He had taken my offer to help more seriously than I had thought he would.

It was night. I was lying on my leaf bed, listening to Nora and Nadir snoring in unison in the adjoining chamber. How they managed to sleep like that was a mystery to me. I was glad to be human, without a second head on my shoulder braying into my ear. A worry clung at the back of my mind. I was almost completely recovered and maybe it was time I left the village and returned to the town of players. I had been missing for long and Sam must be anxiously searching for me. After I fled, he must have logged back in the morning, only to discover his room in a mess with traces of blood on the floor, no signs of me anywhere.

But I was afraid of returning. What if the four players came for me again? The village of the Skhites, despite being home to monsters, was the safest haven for me, though I knew that eventually I was going to be fed up with living in the shadowy tunnels.

I heard a sound from the corridor, drawing my attention to the door. Moments later a head peeked into my room. It was Orka. He quickly came inside on tiptoe.

“Please don’t make any noise,” Orka said in an undertone, scared that someone might catch him sneaking around in the night. I rose from my bed of leaves attentively.

Orka knelt down next to me.

“The other day you said to tell you if there was anything you could do to help me,” Orka said, “I thought about it. I think there is a way to prove my heritage and maybe I can use your help. But it’s risky, very risky. That's why I have not sought Lori’s help. I cannot think of losing her, even if I lose my own life.”

And I was expendable?

I resisted the urge to point out that anything risky for Lori would be risky for me as well. I was certainly in a precarious situation now, for I did not want to say ‘yes’ to Orka and at the same time I did not want to send him away, having given my word previously. I made a mental note not to make empty promises in the future.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“You see, I think I know who my parents are,” Orka said, “but it’s a crazy theory and if I told this to anybody they would call me mad.” Orka's green demonic face was flushed and oozing sweat and there was a jittery vibe to his tone. From his appearance there was a good probability that he was slightly deranged. Lori might do well to heed her parents and leave Orka.

“It’s okay, you can tell me,” I said, even though my stomach twitched uneasily in anticipation of whatever the Skhite was going to say.

“You see, sometimes I get these dreams,” Orka explained, “and I think they are not dreams, but memories from my distant childhood that the years have blurred. In these dreams I can see a Skhite couple taking care of me. And I can see myself calling them ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’ and spending good time with them. But these cheerful dreams would always give way to a nightmare in which I am surrounded by extreme cold, unable to breathe or move. So… so, I am beginning to think that there is a slight possibility that I do not belong to the current dynasty of the Skhites, but the one preceding it. The original dynasty that founded the village and which had to leave during an interval of bitter cold—”

“There was a different dynasty of the Skhites living here before?” I asked.

“Yes,” Orka said, “They had to leave because food was getting scarce because of the cold. Anything edible was frozen. Eventually they returned, but by then had mixed with Skhites from other parts of the world. This event is well recorded in the recited history of the Skhites. Now, the other day I was exploring a new section of the Forbidden Tunnels that I had not known existed before when I came across this massive door. Two swords hung on it. There is an inscription carved on the wood that says perils must be overcome to awaken the founder of the village. I tried to open the door, but failed. One of the swords began to glow, while the other didn't. I suspect that two people are required as there are two swords. And I believe that if I am able to awaken this founder, he will tell me about my heritage.”