Synopsis: Chagum heads to Sahnan, the Place of Celebration, but the La Lunga are also on their way.

Chagum, led by the egg, hurries to Sahnan, the Place of Celebration. As he continues to walk, he sees fishes swimming in the air. He realizes that he is between Nayug and Sagu.

Tanda tells Balsa that the sig salua flowers are their last hope in protecting Chagum. Mon asks Tanda if the flowers would work for them too. Tanda replies that it well. If he casts some spells on it, anyone who eats one should be able to see into Nayug. The warriors request for the flowers. Zen says that they will save Chagum even if it costs them their lives. Balsa picks a flower from Tanda’s bag. The warriors do too. Tanda instructs them that all they need to do is to eat the flower. Balsa tells the warriors that they should get moving, to Nayug. They eat the blossoms.

Meanwhile, Torogai and Shuga are on their way to the Place of Celebration.

Balsa and the the others continue to search for Chagum. Balsa says there’s no longer a sign of the Egg-eater that escaped earlier. One of the warriors says he can’t see anything into Nayug. Jin tells him that perhaps it takes a while for the flower to take effect. For the meantime, their priority is finding the Prince.

Balsa asks Mon what orders the master star diviner gave them. Mon replies that Shuga ordered them to give the Prince’s life higher priority, even if it meant forsaking the spirit’s egg. Balsa says that, in a sense, it is a logical course. She says they will gamble on that decision. Even if the egg hatches, if Chagum dies, it would be meaningless. They resume their search.

Tanda, due to the injury he got after fighting the La Lunga, is left behind. He examines the La Lunga’s corpse. Torogai and Shuga come. Tanda tells them Balsa and the other warriors went ahead to Sahnan. Shuga comments that Tanda did well. Torogai asks Tanda how he defeated the monster. He replies that he tried to eat the sig salua blossoms. He discovered that the nectar acts as a medium that enables them to affect Nayug. Torogai praises him.

The shaman asks if there are any blossoms left. Tanda answers that he gave everything to Balsa and the others. Torogai is somehow disappointed. She says because of Tanda’s age, he may be able to see the spirit’s rebirth again. She examines the corpse. Tanda tells her it’s his only chance too.

Shuga tells Torogai that they should hurry. Torogai tells him to take it easy as the Prince is in no danger from being eaten until dawn. The three see a bear. It seems the bear also has the water spirit’s egg. A La Lunga comes after the bear. The bear runs but the monster catches it and rips it apart. The La Lunga spits the egg. It falls to the ground and breaks.

Torogai says that it was probably an egg from the Nyunga Ro Im. She says she thought there might be others like Chagum but they get taken by the La Lunga. It must be the law of nature. Torogai then says maybe Chagum isn’t safe until dawn, after all. Tanda asks to come with them. Torogai tells him to go on horseback. They hurry to Sahnan.

Chagum swims towards an opening in a sheet of ice covering a lake. He finds himself in a cold, frozen place. A La Lunga appears from the ice. Just in time, Balsa and the warriors arrive. Balsa sees Chagum. She tells him to say where he is. Mon tells Balsa to go ahead, they will try to stop the Egg-eater.

Balsa goes and the warriors approach the monster, shooting it with fire. The monster falls back to the lake but re-emerges to attack two of the warriors from the ice.

Chagum tells Balsa that he knew she would come. He says he had faith in her. Balsa embraces Chagum.

The other warriors line the tip of the cliff with oil. If the monster climbs up, they will light the oil, making it difficult for the La Lunga to climb. Jin hurls a flask of oil to the La Lunga. Sun shoots at the flask with a flaming arrow. The flask explodes at the La Lunga. It falls.

Tanda notices fish floating in the air. He sees a La Lunga falling. He realizes that where they are is underwater in Nayug. He tells it to Torogai. He says they should go higher up, on top of the cliffs.

The warriors climb up but another Egg-eater comes out from the ice. It climbs up. The warriors attack it.

Tanda, Torogai and Shuga arrive at Sahnan. Tanda sees the Prince and the others but Torogai and Shuga couldn’t. Shuga comments that he is only able to observe and understand half of the existing world, perhaps even only a millionth of it. Tanda says they must hurry.

Chagum tells the warriors not to kill the La Lunga. He explains the egg cannot be born unless its bearer is torn apart by La Lunga. Balsa says she can’t help with that. More La Lunga come.

Tanda tells Torogai he’s going ahead.

The La Lunga shoot tendrils, binding the warriors, Balsa and the Prince. Mon cuts the tendrils with his sword. Still, more La Lunga come. Sun says he’s out of arrows. Another warrior says there isn’t much oil left either. Mon says that in the legend, the Eight Warriors managed to fight for three days and three nights. He says that even if they run out of oil, they can still fight beings from Nayug thanks to Tanda. He rallies his men to fight to death even if the only weapons they have are their swords.

Mon tells Balsa to take Chagum away. Helping him escape would be their priority. Balsa tells Chagum that they’re getting out of the place but he says they can’t. Chagum says the egg wants to stay. If it doesn’t get born that day, it will die inside of him.

Jin tells Balsa to go and hurry. The La Lunga are now climbing up the cliff. Chagum watches as the warriors fight the Egg-eaters. He tells Balsa that he wants to stay alive but he is going to entrust himself to fate. Chagum says he can’t live with everyone’s sacrifice, not if it means the lives of millions of Yogo’s people. Chagum then tells the warriors to stop fighting as he’s going to do what must be done. Mon tells Chagum not to concern himself with them.

Tanda arrives. He limps his way to Balsa and Chagum. He says that since his master has explained everything to him, he can extract the egg from Chagum. They have to move to a safe place first. Tanda then explains that according to the star diviner, there is a record of a similar attempt made 200 years ago that almost succeeded. Balsa entrusts Chagum to Tanda. She goes and joins the warriors in fighting the La Lunga.

Shuga asks Torogai if there is something they can do. The shaman says there is nothing except to pray the dawn will arrive.

There doesn’t seem to be an end to the horde of La Lunga that come for Chagum. Balsa finds a weakness and the warriors copy her.

The sun slowly rises and suddenly, the La Lunga are still, as if time has stopped. Balsa realizes that the day has dawned in Sagu. Slowly, everything gets brighter and the Egg-eaters fade.

Balsa rushes to Chagum. Torogai and Shuga arrive. Torogai says that if they don’t hurry, Nayug and Sagu will separate completely. Tanda asks Balsa to help him. He takes Balsa’s hand and they push it gently into Chagum’s chest. It sinks. Chagum says it hurts. Tanda, guiding Balsa’s hand, instructs her to gently touch the egg. They sink their hands deeper into Chagum’s chest. They find the egg and then slowly, carefully, lift it out, a small shining orb. Chagum feels exhausted yet relieved, like one who gave physical birth.

Chagum touches the egg. He says it’s warm. Torogai says that all that is left is the nahji. If no nahji comes, the exposed egg will die soon. They gaze at the sky, in search of the bird.

Torogai sees a flock of birds from a distance. Shuga says it really is the nahji. Jin comments that the birds might fly away without noticing. Chagum says it’s alright, the nahji will notice. One of the birds separate from the flock and heads towards them. Balsa asks Chagum what they should do. Chagum tells her that if she throws the egg up high, the nahji will catch it with its beak. Balsa hurls the egg to the sky. The nahji picks it up and rejoins its flock.

The army arrives. The future Emperor can now be welcomed back to the court with proper flair. Chagum says it’s all over. His struggle with fate is all over.

Anyway, what can I say, this was an overwhelming and cathartic episode. The episode “Flower Wine For Tanda”, wherein Saya found her soul escaping to Nayug after drinking flower wine, served as a foreshadowing of the sig salua’s use in seeing into Nayug. The wine that Saya drank was made from sig salua blossoms.

I thought before that there is only one egg, in the same way that I thought there is only one Egg-eater. It seems though that the water spirit lays many eggs on different “hosts”. Having many eggs would ensure that at least one of them would survive and hatch. It’s the law of nature, as Torogai said.

Popularity: 2% [?]

No related posts.