Somehow, the necklace seemed to react to the girl, whom everyone was staring at. She turned to the man who had been hooded, glaring at him expectantly.

“Dad, can we go find mom now?”

Her father approached and hugged her, tears welling in his eyes.

“Not yet. But maybe we can go soon. Why don’t you go to grandma and show her and the other children the necklace?”

“Okay!” she exclaimed.

She released herself from the hug and ran towards an elderly woman, calling the children at the same time. They all ran after her, and the woman took them away with kind words, and with the intention of taking them to sleep. It was late for them, and the issues to be dealt with weren’t for children, however much these children were over a hundred years old.

As soon as they were gone, he knelt down again, this time before Eldi, and while the elves present were walking away. This was a matter they shouldn’t meddle with. They knew very well who the beings they had been living with for decades were, as well as their importance.

“I, Menxolor, want to apologize for my behavior. And I want to thank you for what you have done for my people. For giving us hope.”

The high human looked at him, not quite understanding what was happening, but aware that there was something very important in that necklace. He bent down and gently grasped the man’s forearms. Kneeling before him was too disturbing a scene for someone who had lived in a world with a much different culture and traditions.

“Please, Menxolor, get up. Get up everyone.”

They hesitated for a moment, but they all did. Although, not for that reason, they did stop looking with reverence at that stranger, who had come out of the blue, who had worked a miracle.

“Can I… Can I ask you how you were able to do it?”

Eldi looked up at the sky for a moment, glimpsing the stars that the treetops hadn’t yet hidden. He had been trying to remember the events around that strange recipe for a while. Then, he looked him in the eyes again.

“It was seventy or eighty years ago, when I still didn’t know that this world was real. I am what you call a visitor,” he started.

Many opened their eyes wide, to their limit, as this had many implications. They weren’t even sure how many. Until then, the identity of the visitor hadn’t been revealed.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“It was a somewhat peculiar mission, one I carried out with two companions. At the end, we met a strange woman whose name claimed to be the Soul of the Flame.”

He paused for a moment at the gasps. Many were trembling, and their eyes were asking him to continue. There was no doubt that this woman was important to them.

“She gave me the recipe to create the necklace, something that at that time was useless to me. She also gave my companions something that I remember they didn’t need, but I’ve forgotten what. What I haven’t forgotten is what she asked us later. She told us: ‘My people will need your help in the future. Please, assist them.’ Did she mean make the necklace?”

At that time, the man was back on the ground, although not kneeling. His legs were shaking, so he was unable to stand. That same scene was being repeated around, few were those who remained standing.

“How… How have I been able to be… so disrespectful… to the… Chosen one? I beg you to forgive me, to help us. Take my life as compensation, but don’t abandon us. I beg you,” Menxolor sobbed.

He totally sunk, crying, his face contorted by the calamity that he could have brought to his people. But Eldi couldn’t blame him. Admittedly, his behavior had bothered him a little, but it had only been a little unfriendly. Nor was it that he had lied, cheated, insulted, or attacked. In fact, to him, it was now completely irrelevant.

“There is no reason to want your life. Tell me how I can help you. I don’t know if it’s in my hand, but I’ll do what I can,” he assured in a friendly tone.

The lack of arrogance surprised them. In their tales, heroes used to be proud and arrogant, capable of exploding with fury at the slightest offense. But that man looked just like an ordinary person, one with a big heart.

“My… We… belong to the Guardians of the North. We are a people of great power, or we were. Our duty was to protect the northern area of the forest from the dangers lurking beyond. Our duty was our reason for living, our destiny, our pride, our honor. It would have been no more than a small annoyance to avoid the plague that now infests the north, the place that was our home.

Eldi was listening intently, when the man fell silent and a woman, who looked to be in her sixties, approached. Of course, she actually had many more, hundreds. Maybe thousands. Without delay, she continued the story.

“There was a traitor among us, one who yearned for power, one we trusted. Too late, we realized his greed. That it wasn’t in his heart to defend the world, but to make it his.

“He didn’t hesitate to kill those who stood in his way, to sow the seed of greed in the hearts of others, to be willing to sacrifice all our people to gain power. When we discovered it, it was too late to face him, but it wasn’t to prevent him from growing stronger, from destroying all hope.

“We sealed our home, our family, our friends. Everything but those who are here. Our mission is to find the key that allows us to return, and to find the three heroes that the prophecy announced. Only then, will we have the chance of crossing the Corrupted Forest, and recover our home and our people. You’re one of them. Will you… help us?”

There was hope and beg in the woman’s ragged voice, whom Eldi looked with a very serious, solemn face. It was like one of the game’s missions, but now his life would be at stake. However, he couldn’t simply ignore them.

“I still have to regain my strength, and I have unfinished business to attend to. But when I’m done, I’ll be back.”

It took a lot of effort for Eldi that they got up again, that they stopped kneeling down and thanking him. It is true that there was still much to do, that there were many dangers and uncertainties in their path, but, for the first time, there was a path. As dangerous as it was, there was one.