On that following morning, full of enthusiasm, Kohaku heads to Kal's tent with the intention of inviting him to another training session, hopeful to repeat the gratifying experience of the previous day. However, upon invading the space with contagious joy, she comes across not Kal, but a letter left by him. The brief and to-the-point note expressed Kal's urgent need to resolve pending matters, asking Kohaku to inform the others about his brief absence, leaving a mix of concern and expectation in the air.
Kal and Arphaxad depart in the direction of the Duchy of Saladon, facing a long journey to reach the country. Kal, armed with determination to meet himself before making a decision about what to do in the future, faces the journey as a crucial step to uncover his past and decide his future. The trip, although challenging, is seen as necessary for the answers that Kal so eagerly seeks. He did not know what to expect, but yearned to unravel this puzzle.
In Alnuum, Suzannah studied a way to recover the land devastated by Morfrey's corruption. They realized some time ago that a large part of the land around the capital was desecrated by dark magics and evil rituals that ended up impregnating the land preventing anything from growing there. King Relon had asked Suzanna to find a way to recover the land, since Alnuum was the ancestral home of his family, and he did not want to be the first king to lose it.
At the king's request, Suzannah summoned everyone in the capital who were intelligent in geological and magical studies to help her, Clara and a new boy named Sillard, a recently 14-year-old commoner with fair skin and brown hair who wore large goggles, only they appeared to help her. With the two, Suzannah formed a group that would focus on recovering the ancient land of Alnuum. On the morning that Kohaku read Kal's letter, Suzannah and the boys were studying the land near the Heart of Nannu. Since Suzannah saw what happened to Inala in the heart, she has expanded her studies and realized that from that day onwards, the vegetation around the heart was growing, slowly but growing.
"Come on you eight eyes, give me something!" asked Suzannah scratching her head.
"Who does this midget think she is..." commented Sillard to Clara.
"Shhh, she is Suzannah the Red Queen, she is much older than us despite her appearance, how many times do I have to tell you that?" said Clara.
"Anyway, you seem tired today, did you party late with your white-haired boyfriend?" asked Sillard.
"I think I've also told you that Kal and I are not boyfriends, right? We're just good friends!" replied Clara with disdain.
"But you're always talking about him... 'Oh Kal this, Oh Kal that,' I thought you were dating!" teased Sillard.
"Ahh, just get back to your study before I call the 'short red one', ops, the 'Red Queen' for you." Clara finished.
Suzannah was at the cave entrance when she had a great idea, she ran back to the city shouting "Continue the research, eight eyes!". She ran to Kal's brothers' tent calling for Inala, who quickly attended to her. She took Inala to her own tent and asking the girl to sit down, explained her plan: "You probably don't know, but for a long time I have developed a magic that allows me to access a person's spirit and obtain crucial information about their own spirit. Ever since you went to the Heart of Nannu that day, it seems that even slowly it has been recovering, and I still haven't found the reason, but it seems that the pure mana that flowed through the bowels of this land rose with the touch of your mana, so I need to see what's in there, that's the only way I can get answers."
Inala did not understand anything, Suzannah's quick explanation did not leave time for her to be able to assimilate so much information. At that moment also, Sin and Katara enter Suzannah's tent, Inala's brother was quickly looking for Kal, as he did not find him, he called Katara for help, as he thought Suzannah was kidnapping Inala. In fact, they all respected Suzannah there, but saw her as a crazy woman, because of her spontaneous and flashy way. "What happened, ma'am, why did you take Inala?" asked Katara. Suzannah quickly explained the whole situation to Katara and said that it seemed that the only way was to access Inala's spirit.
"Could this cause any side effects?" asked Katara.
"Hmmm, huhhh, maybe something or other, but nothing that will kill her," replied Suzannah.
"So I can't let you do that, she's still a child, and with Kal not here, I will be responsible for them!" concluded Katara.
Despite being impulsive, Suzannah was still responsible and her impulsiveness became prudence when alerted by her own thoughts, making her give up using that magic on a little girl. "It's okay, you all can go, I need to think of some other way out..." said the Red Queen. For the rest of that day Suzannah studied a way to access Inala's young power without any potential side effects.
Later, Kal and Arphaxad had traveled a long way and the horses were tired. The young warrior indicated a place for the horses to drink water and there they would spend that night. However, before they could arrange the campfire, a fog permeated that place, Arphaxad suddenly fell into a deep sleep while Kal already knowing that power, drew his sword.
"I still don't understand why you are not affected by my ability..." says a voice that came from among the trees.
"I knew you would return for a new duel, I was waiting for you Sorrow!" says Kal.
Sorrow comes out from behind a tree, as was characteristic of him, his legs and arms were longer than a normal human's, he already held his adorned dagger and walked towards Kal, gangly and staggering.
"You know, I have orders to kill you, but I found you very interesting, I think I can play with you before finally killing you!" says Sorrow advancing towards Kal.
Sorrow attacks Kal again, who evades the attack and counters Sorrow cutting him in the stomach, throwing him far but he quickly stands up unharmed. Sorrow attacks Kal again, who dodges again and this time cuts him near the neck, making Sorrow fall to the ground but quickly stand up unharmed. This sequence repeated several times until Kal tires and Sorrow hits him, cutting his arm. Kal distances himself in pain.
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"Finally hit you, it took awhile, you're powerful but still no match for me." exclaims Sorrow.
Kal realized his vision was becoming blurry and understood that Sorrow had probably poisoned his dagger.
"You are a coward, using poison!" says Kal.
"No, no, no... I'm not a coward, I'm Sorrow, there can be no Sorrow without poison, hahahahahaha!" completes Sorrow.
Kal then concentrates his divine mana in his body making it explode strongly in all directions. With his eyes glowing golden, Kal charges Sorrow once more, but this time using all his power in one blow. Kal makes a powerful movement with his sword Dawn that pulses with his mana and destroys a large surrounding area where they were, throwing Sorrow far cut in half. Feeling the strength of Sorrow's poison, Kal grows weaker and weaker, losing consciousness and falling in the middle of the large clearing he had made.
On the following morning, Kal wakes with a start grabbing his sword and getting into a combat position.
"What is it?" asked Arphaxad.
"Nothing, just a ghost that insists on giving me nightmares," replied Kal.
The two get ready and continue their journey. From the capital of Alnuum to the border of the great Duchy with Karastea it would be 4 days by horse, and they still had 3 more days to go to reach their goal. Kal did not understand what was happening, he could not explain if Sorrow was real or some kind of nightmare that haunted him. No matter how much he injured that enemy, he would stand up as if nothing had happened, leaving Kal even more confused. But they continued riding to their destination.
"Look Kal, we've crossed the border between Nannu and Volkaron, we're in enemy territory," said Arphaxad.
Kal just continued without much conversation. However, not far from there, in the capital of Volkaron, Alexandria had not yet finished with her plan for revenge against the Aquarions. With the help of some corrupt nobles, she realized that for all of them, the best thing was for King Vermilion not to return to the throne. So she bought poison from red cactus, a plant that grew on the volcanic mountain of Volkaron.
This poison kept the person trapped within their own mind, subjecting them to a torment greater than death itself. Alexandria frequently gave this poison hidden to her husband King Vermilion, making him a puppet without will. This gave her more freedom and power to act in her machinations against the Aquarions. If Vermilion died, his son Flamarion would automatically ascend the throne and probably make Alexandria lose power at Volkaron's court. And if the king returned, he would likely take different stances regarding his revenge, since he himself had fought these endless wars, torn between his wife's desires and honor. Therefore, the best option was to keep Vermilion alive but unable to make decisions so that she could rule in his place.
After the war against Morfrey, Elanor returned home with what was left of the men who went with her, and was condemned for treason by her own mother, who locked her in her room indefinitely. Alexandria's next step was to deal with some dissatisfied nobles, and using Morfrey as a pretext, she asked for the help of these nobles to keep Vermilion under care and add more nobles so that they could definitely overthrow the Aquarions from Nannu.
In Alnuum, Suzannah was still looking for a way to look inside Inala's spirit when she had a great insight: "Why not try using this magic directly in the Heart of Nannu?". She knew that the mana of the whole land ran through that vein and that could be too much for her to bear. But the heart resonated with Inala's touch and clearly some of the girl's mana was transmitted inside. She imagined that if she could separate the primordial mana of the land from Inala's mana, she could better understand what the heart needs to return to being an eternal source of mana for all that land.
Suzannah quickly summoned her assistants, Clara and Sillard, directly to the Heart of Nannu. There she asked her assistants to be attentive to any emanation different from normal, and asked them to pull her back if anything bad happened. Suzannah tied a rope around her body and descended into the heart's cave, while her assistants remained outside. Inside the heart, Suzannah sat in the middle of the cave and concentrated her mana.
"Arcane unique magic - Spiritual Vision."
Suzannah opens her eyes and suddenly she was in a place full of plants but dark, illuminated only by the dim blue glow emitted by the plants that ran in all directions. The Red Queen was admiring this vision when she heard a child's smile. She ran to the source of the smile and saw a child made completely of blue mana with some golden veins emanating from his body playing with a large blue servant, in a place with a light like a late afternoon sun that caressed Suzannah's skin bringing a feeling of peace and tranquility.
Then the child made of mana ran and hugged the servant and a kind and tranquil voice was heard:
"Mommy!"
Suzannah was perplexed to see the child calling the servant mother, and suddenly the memories of her pregnancy many years ago came to her mind and like a great wave that swept her emotions Suzannah began to think that she would exchange all her years of life and all her knowledge and strength, just for an instant to have heard her baby calling her mommy. And suddenly Suzannah felt tears running down her eyes uninterruptedly, and placing her hand on her face she felt the tears and said:
"I didn't even realize I was crying!"
While the girl hugged the servant, the animal lifted its face and turning to Suzannah's side spoke with a powerful but gentle voice:
"Aurora..."
Suzannah was startled since she had abandoned the name Aurora more than 130 years ago and all those who knew that name had already died.
"Aurora, see this child Aurora? Look well at her Aurora!".
Suzannah focused on that manifestation of mana in the shape of a child and putting all her knowledge together realized that that concentration of mana was the manifestation of Inala's mana that was transported inside the heart. Then the voice continued:
"For a long time you abandoned your purpose, for a long time you turned your back on your destiny!".
Suzannah still not understanding asks.
"What was my destiny, what did I turn my back on?"
Then the Servant said:
"I am Yarveloth, the mother nature, I am the one who brings balance to all nature in this world"
"I am the center of everything and the spirit that rules everything, but I am a MOTHER!"
"You called out to me when you lost your world, and I went to you, I gave you a purpose and you strayed from it!"
"I placed you as mother to many, but you became servant of shadows, you must return to your path!"
Suzannah places both hands on her belly and still crying shouts.
"How can I be a mother if what made me a mother was taken from me!"
Yarveloth then says:
"They don't need to be born of you to be called children!"
"See this light?" asks Yarveloth, pointing to Inala's mana.
"This light is pure and sublime, it came from me and one day will return to me."
"Your purpose is not over yet, I will remain sleeping for now, until my daughter can return to me!"
"Until then, your heart yearns for a mother, fulfill your calling, restore all the land!"
When Yarveloth finishes speaking, Inala's mana runs to Suzannah and gives her a big hug. Suzannah feels a deep connection with Inala's mana, greatly amplifying her feelings for the young girl. Suddenly she opens her eyes inside the heart's cave and that small concentration of mana that had rested there before with Inala's touch has now disappeared, plunging everything back into darkness. Suzannah then leaves the cave with her eyes still filled with tears.
"What happened in there?" asked Sillard.
Suzannah just passed by quickly and left without them understanding what had happened. The Red Queen ran to where Katara was with Sin and Inala and when she saw the little girl she ran to her and suddenly hugged her while crying uncontrollably, saying only:
"Sorry it took me so long!"
Inala felt a great love in that hug and also started crying desperately as if she had found her own mother Ella. That moment was so profound and meaningful that Katara and Sin could only stand there contemplating what seemed like a reunion.