Argol’s deafening scream has been heard all around below the world’s sky, which was painted with pitch clouds by Maranam’s power. And the eagle’s white feathers, in the weak light of the world, were still shining and this was possible because of his good heart, which was madly beating in his magic bird’s chest, for even though Argol had been human at the beginning, in time, he allowed the madness of the world to take him into its power, filling him with magic to the brim, to later worship in front of it like in front of a Queen or Titanide.
„It’s Argol!” Murmured Ahi, looking at the sky, where the eagle’s shout was heard from. Yet, he has been able to see only a white point on the horizon.
„Interesting, what he’s looking for!” Said Inmar, who was to Ahi’s right, also wearing a long cloak and was hooded. But unlike Ahi, whose cloak was black, hers and of the other foxes were red, having also a black shade, and only the ribbon that was wrapped around their girdles was dark blue.
„He’s probably keeping an eye on the enemies!” Said Anaya, suddenly showing to Ahi’s left. „I’ve seen Kaṇkaḷ, the leader of the Yātrīkars, just what. And, with her, I’ve also seen Colte, from the Vanamars'tribe. They were inside our old grotto. Looking for something, but I couldn’t figure out what they were looking for there.”
„Us! Who else?!” Snarled Inmar, showing her teeth as if being a fox that saw a prey.
„No, Inmar! I’m more tempted to think that they are after Mayar!” Replied Ahi, thoughtful.
„After Mayar? But, brother, how is this possible? Everybody knows that she’s with Parca now. Aren’t they working together: Parca and the Yātrīkars?”
„To be honest, Inmar, I’m not sure of anything lately!” Said Ahi thoughtfully. „Yet, something bothers me!”
„Something like?”
„Like the fact that they decided to attack us even if I knew them as my beloved mother’s allies. Yet: both the Vanamar wolves and the Yātrīkars came namely here. Why? What are they looking for?”
„I don’t know what exactly are they looking for, but I saw them visiting the Grotto Kaṟkaḷ Pēy first,” said Anaya in a low voice. Later she looked west where that weird grotto was and stared over there for a long time.
Hearing her talking like that, Ahi turned toward her and stared at her. She instead kept staring in front as if she didn’t notice that Ahi was looking at her. Then he asked: „The Kaṟkaḷ Pēy Grotto? This means that they visited Tetapas.”
„No, Ahi! I’m more tempted to think that they are trying to ally with the Titan of Dread,” said Anaya confidently, and, in her voice, the hatred has been felt.
„An alliance with Tikil? For…?” Asked Ahi, confused. Then, as if he finally understood the reason why the Black Virgins came there, he suddenly looked East, toward the Icy Palace of Inlan Diar. „They are after the People of Ice then.”
„It seems so! But… what’s more interesting than this is why they decided to attack now,” murmured Anaya.
„It’s because Inlan Diar is alone. Well, her great-granddaughter, Zeal, is with her. Also, she has her soldiers. But... a big part of their army is with Island and Boor now, moving toward Rophion Forest,” said Alena, who approached them. She was coming from the depths of Kiago Forest, from East, where Ahi and Inmar had sent her to spy on the area along with other two foxes. „And the most interesting here is that the Yātrīkars and the Vanamars are here, I think, with bells on .”
„What do you want to say with this, Alena? Don’t tell me that…,” murmured Inmar feverishly, taking a few steps toward her fighter.
„Yes, it’s exactly what I want to say, Inmar. If you don’t believe me, look over here!” And, taking a small sphere from her pocket, a dark red one, Anaya squeezed it in her hand and, after that, the sphere showed them the camp of the Vanamars and of the Yātrīkars at the foot of the mountain.
„Great Lord!” Murmured Keṉṉal, frightened. „They are probably more than ten thousand. And… are they all here to kill us?”
„It seems so!” Hissed Ahi through his teeth. „But until they get to kill us, they must find us first. Let’s go!”
„Where?” Asked him Inmar, in amazement. And, seeing that he didn’t continue to descend the mountain as they intended, but moved west, toward Coallar’s den, Inmar slapped her forehead. „Great! Now we’ll se the devil’s place too!” And she had her reasons to say this because there was a place so beloved by evil.
Ahi smiled instead, hearing his sister comparing Coallar with the devil. Then he said: „compare him better with an old friend, Inmar, for, if we have luck, he’ll fight by our side later! Even if I doubt this!” And, covering his head with the hood, Ahi entered more profoundly into the forest, followed only by Inmar, Anaya, and Alena.
***
Even if Ahi intended to visit Coallar at first, he changed his mind half way. That’s why they got closer to the foot of the mountain eventually, not so far from the camp of the Vanamars and of the Yātrīkars. And, even if they were four who headed toward there, they got only three of them to that place and this was so because Anaya turned back to announce Keṉṉal and the others to move west and wait for them there. Then… she had one more place to stop at before following Ahi and the others.
Actually, Anaya didn’t tell others about her visit to the eastern territories and this was because she knew that neither Ahi nor Inmar would agree with her plan. So, secretly, after seeing Keṉṉal and the other foxes moving west, she took the eastern path, the one that was used to get to the Icy Palace. And she decided to go to Inlan Diar’s kingdom just to see how the Queen was planning to protect her territory from enemies. Also, doing this, she was sure that nobody will see her because no living creature from Paṉi Makkaḷ could see her. Thus, she could go there, check how things were going, and turn back as soon as possible to hers, also not seen by enemies.
Thus, not knowing of Anaya’s plan, Ahi, Inmar, and Alena focused their energy on seeing what the Vanamars and the Black Virgins were planning to do by coming there. That’s why, when they were very close to that place, Ahi put his finger to his lips, whispering „shh,” and this was because he didn’t want to be seen spying there. Thus, the three of them moved closer to the first row of trees to see better the vastity of the Fields of the Braves Ones or the Fields of Illāmal. „Be as quiet as the mouse!” Ahi told the two foxes. And, squatting, he sneaked toward the first row of trees, being well protected by the bushes that had appeared there thanks to his power.
Inmar and Alena instead stood a few steps behind him for a short while. Then, moved by a strange curiosity, they approached Ahi and looked in the same direction.
„Big…,” wanted Alena to say. But she suddenly covered her mouth with her palm when she saw Ahi’s furious glance. Yet, she did that not because she was afraid of that Evil Mago, but because she was completely amazed to see so many enemies on the Illāmal Fields: on the left side, closer to the forest, were the Vanamars. They were sitting with their faces toward the top of the mountain and silently waiting, and their alignment was similar to the soldiers preparing for the fight, in the past. On the other side, on the right, were the Virgins Yātrīkar. But, unlike the Vanamars who were sitting, the Yātrīkars were standing, looking like lifeless statues and aligned as the soldiers in the Ancient Roman Empire, just like Dike, Baradar, and the others had seen them in the depths of Tenebre Forest when they saved Sephir from Ian Gyar's claws.
But this time they only looked like statues when, that time, when Dike and the others had seen them, they were really statues. And that illusion was the perfect mask to be unnoticed. Yet, if someone had carefully looked at them, it would have been possible to see that they were alive because their chests were slowly moving up and down while breathing, because even if the Yātrīkars didn’t have a soul they were still alive because they had the bodies of alive creatures and only breathing they could live forever.
„Māyai!” (illusion) Whispered Ahi with the voice of his mind when he finally understood what he was looking at. Yet, Inmar could hear that voice. „The Yātrīkars are trying to camouflage. But… of whom?” But he silenced his mind when Alena slowly touched his shoulder and showed him to look to the left, from the top of the mountain. Thus he and the other two foxes could see Colte and Kaṇkaḷ slowly approaching their armies.
„Interesting!” Said Inmar using the voice of her mind. „These two… seem too close to each other to my taste. And… I was more than sure that they hated each other. Now they simply love each other. It should be Tenebre’s magic. Otherwise… I can’t explain their alliance.”
„No, you’re wrong, sister, because both turned their backs to Tenebre,” Ahi telepathically replied to her. „That’s why are they here, together. Yet… even though both are under Parca’s command, something much darker than this is behind them.”
„Much darker than this? What do you mean, brother?” Asked Inmar, and she was really scared while looking at Ahi.
And Ahi looked at her this time. But he looked at her with kindness, something that Inmar had never seen in the eyes of an evil Mago as her brother was. Yet, she didn’t dare to ask Ahi why he was looking at her this way. She only focused her mind to understand the message he was trying to telepathically send to her. Thus she could hear, in her head: „use the power of the eye of your mind, Inmar! Do what you’ve learned to do while watching me teaching Mayar. And… even if I know that the link between you and the eye of your mind isn’t as stronger as Mayar’s link with her inner eye, I still know how stronger you can be if you want this. And, with a bit of luck, you can see the same as I can see.”
Even if she wasn’t totally convinced that she would manage to do what Ahi said, she still decided to try. That’s why she closed her eyes and waited, forcing her mind to move her to that twilling world where she knew her inner eye was. Yet, she couldn’t get there not even after the 3d attempt. And, when she was about to give up and sighed, understanding that she had failed, she heard Ahi’s voice in her head, reproachfully telling her: „you are as stubborn as Mayar is and you also do only what you want to do, Inmar! Since when you can enter someone else’s territory kindly asking him to allow you to do this?”
„But I…?” mumbled Inmar in her head.
„Shh, silence!” Ahi shouted. „And send your energy toward that sleepy eye and don’t ask for its mercy or to let you in. Only force it to allow you to do that and you’ll make it in the end.”
Namely, Ahi’s strong voice made Inmar focus on what was around her: part due to her fear for her brother, for she knew well what he could do when someone wasn’t listening to him, and part for being stubborn, for she was that kind of person that was finishing something if she started this. Thus, squeezing her fists while focusing her mind on that black void that was surrounding her, Inmar sent, all over around her, a kind of red light, similar to the fire, a light that was exiting through her skin, piercing the darkness thus. But she needed time to can see through that void and more to notice the light she was sending all over. Yet, eventually, when she turned her head to the right, carefully analyzing that void, she saw a black line, thin like a thread, in that curtain of red light created by her power. Thus she understood that that black thread was nothing else than a crack in a kind of wall, which she eventually approached.
After taking a few steps, when between her and that crack were only about 1 meter left, Inmar stretched her right hand in front and touched the place where that black crack was. But even if she hardly pushed it, she couldn’t make it move, even if she felt that something was pulsating behind that invisible wall. That’s why, moved by a strange inner call, Inmar touched that wall with both hands and, closing her eyes again, she sent all her energy toward that place till she could make it move to the left. Thus, a huge gate has been opened by her power, a gate that was protecting a twilling world, a red one like that power that had exited her body before opening it.
And, right in the center of that place, she saw a blue sphere, with red lines on it, as if they had been the thin veins seen on the eyeball when someone had cried. And that sphere had the size of a geographic globe used by the students to learn about the real world. And, even if that eye was similar to Mayar’s inner eye, this one had something different too: it didn’t have a black retina and neither it had the same form. And… it seemed blind.
Yet, as closer Inmar got to that sphere as opaque its seemed to be as if that eye was also stubborn and wasn’t ready to show her what she wanted to see. But Inmar was as stubborn as that eye was or even more. That’s why, when she got next to that eye-sphere, Inmar touched it with her left hand and waited while its inner space, which was black at first, started to boil later as if it had been water on a cauldron above the fire. But, after a few moments of fighting against Inmar’s power and Inmar against its power, the eye suddenly showed a clear image. Thus, Inmar could see, behind Colte and Kaṇkaḷ, who were standing in front of their armies, a kind of smoky shadow, like a big snake.
„Tetapas!” Inmar murmured in amazement and returned to the real world. But she has been even more amazed to see Ahi shaking his head in denial. That’s why she closed her eyes again and returned to her inner world where she was still touching the sphere. But she needed a few moments more to understand what she was actually seeing. And she finally saw it: Ian Gyar’s face and so clear. That’s why she shouted, still being in her inner world: „The snake-king!” Only after that, she returned to the real world.
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„That’s right!” Ahi told her telepathically. „This demon is still on earth. Even if Anaya said that he had joined his body and power with Maranam to release him from his dungeon.”
„Then? How is this possible that he’s still on earth?”
„It’s because he still wants to live!” Said Alena, who even if was young was well known for her extraordinary power to read the desires of someone, even if those were only Spirits, and which was their mission on earth.
„Correct!” Replied Ahi. „Even if he gave his face and body to Maranam, Ian Gyar didn’t listen to his heart and to the flow of energy that was inside him. Thus, ignoring his desire to live, he only sentenced himself to sufferance, for… having no face, he can only wander the world like a shadow. Or a ghost if you like this word more.”
„Those he has always been afraid of!”
„No, Inmar!” Said Alena. „Ian Gyar hasn’t been afraid of ghosts, ever. He has been more afraid to be forgotten by the world. That’s why he’s still clinging to his desire to live.”
„Then, what to do? How can we find out how is he influenced by these Devilish Virgins and by the Vanamars?” Asked Inmar.
„We can’t, sister! That’s why… let’s turn back now, for… it’s time to see my father and find out what he’s planning right now. More… I’m damn curious to find out if he still wants to control the world or if he has given up on this idea already.” After that Ahi turned his back to that place and entered the forest, closely followed by Alena and Inmar.
***
Slowly advancing through the forest, Anaya was carefully watching around. Thus she noticed the leaves on the trees whispering to each other when she passed by them as if they were sending a message to someone. That’s why she looked at the trunks and she could see eyes appearing and disappearing on them this way. But those eyes weren’t the eyes of the ghosts seen by Mayar when she visited Coallar, but those were nature’s eyes.
After that, after those eyes disappeared, Anaya noticed the lianas slowly moving on the ground, almost unnoticed, hiding under the moss or through the bushes. Yet, she was sure that those lianas were following her and she also had that feeling that she was seen by nature and not hidden from their eyes as it happened before.
„What’s going on?” Wondered Anaya. „How is this possible to be seen by them?” And her eyes followed those „spies.” Yet… she didn’t receive any answer because there wasn’t anybody to give it to her. That’s why she decided to continue to move toward the place where she wanted to get at.
At a moment she even heard a strong flap from above. That’s why she looked up, but there wasn’t anybody there and this seemed weird to her. Then she heard that flap on another tree, then on another one as if something was strutting the birds, making them leave their places to allow the one that bothered them to pass.
But… no matter how hard Anaya didn’t try to see through that branches she couldn’t. Only after minutes of moving further, but looking at the trees, she noticed a branch slowly moving to the side as if a snake was crawling next to it. „Oh, and… this devilish thing?” Thought Anaya. „How can the branches…? But she remembered Tenebre’s power to charm the snakes and the cobras. That's why she thought that the Titanide had sent her spies to that forest to see what was happening there. Even so, Anaya found this strange, more when she could notice those cobras, and this was because they had the color of the branches, dark brown, and not green as Tenebre’s spies, and this was a power never seen on Tenebre.
„Is this because of…? No, I don’t think so. That child isn’t that powerful.” Murmured Anaya. Then she decided to leave those thoughts for later and those snakes to follow her because she didn’t come there with mean thoughts and neither she intended to attack someone. So, even if those spies had told someone that she was there, it wouldn’t have been a problem because she was a ghost and the human beings couldn’t harm her.
Namely, this way she got to the edge of the forest: followed by numerous and various spies, for besides the leaves, the trees, the bushes, and the snakes, she got to be followed even by rabbits, badgers, and other small creatures that were living in the forest. Yet… once out of the forest, none of them followed her. Even so, Anaya wasn’t sure that they didn’t send the message yet. And this was weird because not even after a few hundred meters of advancing toward the borders of Inlan Diar’s kingdom she didn’t meet anyone to stop her.
It has been this way how she got to the borders of Paṉi Makkaḷ: alone and with curiosity in her glance. And, once next to the border, she saw a few soldiers hidden behind their observation posts. But none of them moved and this was because none of them could see her crossing the border and advancing on their territory. Even so, Anaya decided to be careful and focused her glance over them. Yet, nothing betrayed them as if being aware that she was there.
„A mirror maybe?” Wondered Anaya. Soon after this, she chased that thought from her mind when she remembered that Bestla, the one who could create mirrors, was far away from those places, and Inlan Diar didn’t have such power, even if she also had the power of ice and fire.
At a moment, however, Anaya stopped and looked around, scared. And this happened when, so suddenly, she had been surrounded by the famous icy spears Īṭṭikaḷ, the same spears used also by Island when he was forced to fight. After that, she heard Inlan Diar’s voice: „Did you think that you would be able to pass unnoticed over here, fox Anaya?” And, when she looked to the right, Anaya could see Inlan Diar exiting a portal to approach her. „If so, you’d been wrong, for these places listen only to my command.”
Anaya smiled. „Yet, I’m not that convinced because I know that you don’t have the power to control the cobras. Those, who I’m sure that followed me while crossing Tenebre’s forest.”
„Maybe she doesn’t have it, but I do have that power,” Anaya heard Zeal’s voice behind her. And, looking over there, she didn’t see the girl, but a huge brown cobra, which lay on the ground at first, to wrap on her own thick body later. And, after that cobra wrapped in about ten thick rings, she started to dance her head from one side to the other while deeply looking into Anaya’s eyes. But, after a few minutes, she murmured, confused: „a ghost?”
Who answered her has been her great-grandmother: „that’s right, Zeal! This old fox is nothing more than a shadow on this earth, paying for old sins.”
Hearing the word „sins,” Zeal suddenly transformed into a human and stared at Inlan Diar, just as Anaya was doing. But the only one who dared to ask „sins? Do you know my story?” has been Anaya.
„That’s true. But… I don’t have this right, to tell you about what I know.”
„Then? Who has this right?” Anaya asked her, confused, feeling a weird pulsation in her chest, that pulsation known as „anxiety" because she was so eager to find out about her past. „Tell me, Inlan Diar, who can tell me about my past?”
„Fate, old Anaya. But… I don’t know if it’s soon, for… you know, as I do, that nothing rushes on this earth, just as nothing is random here.” After that, with a sudden movement of her hand, the Queen made the spears vanish. Thus Anaya could be seen by everyone. Then she turned her back to Anaya, heading toward her commander who was waiting for her not that far from them, along with twenty of his soldiers. „And it isn’t also random the fact that you are here. So, tell me, Anaya, what are you doing here, on the top of the mountain?” And Inlan Diar suddenly stopped and looked at the old fox.
„The necessity!” Replied Anaya in a severe voice. „The Vanamars and the Devilish Virgins Yātrīkar are already at the foot of this mountain. And they are more than ten thousand there. Also, it seems that they changed their target, even if they came here to attack Ahi and our village.”
Hearing the name of the wolves Vanamar, Zeal shuddered. After that, she squeezed her fists and, in a blink of an eye, her robe transformed into a large cobra neck. She calmed, however, when she felt Inlan Diar’s glance focused on her. Then, looking at her great-grandmother, Zeal heard her voice in her mind: „not now, Zeal! Keep your energy and anger for later.”
„If you say so!” Zeal snarled, unsatisfied. After that, she moved toward the place where Anaya had come from, for Zeal had an obsession with checking the borders lately.
At his queen’s command, Eṉōl followed the girl. Then, Inlan Diar looked at Anaya again, who was approaching her. And… when there were only a few steps between them, the soldiers took the swords out of their scabbards to protect their queen if necessary. Inlan Diar instead raised her left hand and told them: „you are free to go now! Anyway, your weapons can’t kill her. And, if something, I can handle this. So, leave us alone!”
„But… my queen,” one of the soldiers tried to oppose her idea.
„Do as I said!” Inlan Diar told them in a severe voice, and the soldiers withdrew. Only after they were alone, the queen looked into the old fox’s eyes again and waited for her to say what she wanted to say.
Anaya, however, took a few steps more, and when she was only one step from Inlan Diar, she said: „I know that might sound strange my proposal, but I think we should make an alliance.”
„To make an alliance? We and… the red foxes?”
„Not only. It should be an alliance of the entire world, those who want to fight against Maranam.”
„But… I don’t get the point. As far as I know, you and Maranam are part of the same class of evil. And… as every single evil thing helps the other, I don’t see the reason why you want to be part of the army of good.”
„To survive,” said Anaya calmly and very sure about her words. „Or what, do you really think that if Maranam gets to control this earth, he’ll leave someone alive?”
„I don’t know about us. But I’m sure you have a chance: the allies always help each other.”
„Not in this war, Queen of Ice. In this war, everybody is for himself, let’s say it this way, for... even if we fight by his side, Maranam isn’t the kind of being to leave enemies alive or someone who can claim to his throne later. That’s why, he’ll kill all those powerful enough to stand against him one day. Yet, it seems that he’s afraid of something.”
„Afraid? Of whom? Don’t tell me that he's afraid of the red foxes or of Mayar,” Inlan Diar said ironically.
„Well… you’re right only half,” and Anaya’s words made the queen confused. „I know what I say, queen Inlan Diar, because I’ve seen that world. That’s why I know Maranam’s fear.”
„Have you seen it? Do you want to say that you’ve seen Maranam’s world?”
„That’s right! I saw what Maṇṭalam looks like, the place that’s seen in front of the Gates of Maranam’s world or of the Kingdom of Death, as others know that place. And there is where I’ve seen the fears of that monster and his fear has a single face with opposite parts of a coin.”
„The shape-twins!”
„That’s right, queen. Maranam is afraid of Samaya and Mayar’s power, for… if they get to join their power, not even a huge evil as the master of death seems to be will be able to defeat them.”
„But this is impossible, Anaya. Let’s not forget that the shape-twins hate each and, according to their nature, they’ll always be against each other. Also, they have different destinies.”
„Fate is something we can’t see or describe in words. Also, we can’t imagine it or touch it, that’s why, as it isn’t something from a hard material, we think that it can’t be changed. But… even though it had been this way, let’s not forget that even hard stones can be shaped by water or destroyed by time. The same happens to us, those who have a soul: we can at least try to change our lives just as the wind blows even if we think that’s useless its blow.”
„Yet, Anaya, we can’t change our soul. And it won’t ever change.”
„What I think, queen, is that we are the master of our own lives and the only ones who can change them. Or… we'll die eventually, together, trying to defend this earth that maybe will be covered by magma, black clouds, and fear one day. Maybe one day the birds that sing in the sky won’t be heard anymore because they’ll also be ashes spread all over the green grass that will be scorched too. Maybe this earth will be of a devilish grey someday, covered by the remains of those who’d been alive. But even so… are you ready to see everything you love dying only because you are afraid to try to defend it, queen? Are you ready to give up on your people only because you don’t want to bow your head in front of Fate, even for a short while? Will you be able to hold to your chest the lifeless bodies of those who you love only because you can’t accept an evil by your side, fighting together against a bigger evil?”
And, while saying this, Anaya focused her glance on the queen’s face, who suddenly started to shudder, bitterly sighing while touching her chest with her right palm. And her eyes, of an icy purple, were staring in front while tears were washing her cheeks. That’s why Anaya looked for a long time at her. But didn’t approach her even when Inlan Diar kneeled and bowed her head. Only after this, the old fox approached her, squatted in front of her, and, touching her shoulder, said: „cry, my child! Cry as much as you want because you won’t have time to cry and sigh later, just as we won’t have time to ask for mercy even for ourselves.”
Yet, even if the old fox’s words seemed to be said to give Inlan Diar some comfort, she said them with pain in her heart, for what Anaya was seeing at that moment was the same thing as Inlan Diar was seeing: the knelt queen on the Fields Ātmā, which were covered by the lifeless bodies of her soldiers. And those bodies were surrounded by smoke, for a lot of pyres were also seen burning on that field. But the most painful for the queen was to see that she was holding Zeal’s lifeless body to her chest, the one with a long snake tail because she didn’t have time to transform into a human before dying after being killed by a fireball that touched her chest, the one her great-grandmother’s hand was touching with a hand colored red by the blood that left a heart that stopped beating. And the tormented cry of the queen, on that field of pain, made the old Anaya, the one who appeared next to that Inlan Diar from the vision, bow her head and also silently cry, for, somewhere on that field, her heart was also laying: Inmar and the red foxes, who also fell prey to evil’s madness.
„Now you understand the meaning of my words when I say that we must join our forces, queen?” Murmured the real Anaya, and her words managed to disperse the image as if being ashes blown by the wind.
„Yes,” murmured the queen. „Yet, Anaya… it’s so hard to believe that it can be hope for us. So hard.”
„I know. And… trust me, it’s also hard for me to believe in magic and humans again. Yet: I must do it eventually, that thing I hate the most.”
These words made Inlan Diar look into Anaya’s eyes: „to do what you hate? What do you mean, old fox?”
„Black magic, Inlan Diar. And it seems to me that you’ll also be forced to use it someday, even if doing this we’ll curse our souls and we’ll be forced to wander forever the paths of pitch from the underworld. Even so, I better do this than lose those I love because of someone else's madness. And I hope you’ll do the same, Inlan Diar. If not… you’ll cry bitter tears till the end of your life…”
***
…with the image of the red sky as if blood-stained, Inlan Diar kept looking in the distance. And, on both sides of her, were Zeal and Eṉōl, right next to the border of her kingdom.
But even with that mad wind that was sometimes loudly hissing around, Inlan Diar didn’t move from her place. And, while looking in the distance, the queen understood the truth, the one seen by her while being with Anaya. Also, in her ears, Anaya’s words were still heard by her: „it’ll come the time when Good and Evil will be the same thing. And even though this is something we dislike, we must accept it. And, keep it in mind, Inlan Diar: if someday, at the gate of your kingdom, knocks the evil itself, asking for mercy and help, let it in because that one will be the messenger that will bring light in hard times for all of us…”