„Where are we, great-grandpa Accam Kuṉṟu?” Zeal asked in half a voice.
„In the heart of the Mount of Fear,” replied Accam Kuṉṟu in a whisper while the music of those places accompanied the two wanders in their journey through the tunnels of the mountain. Somewhere there, in the distance, the music of the water that dripped, bit by bit, was heard. Then, up there, the hissing of the wind was heard while it got inside through secret tunnels and holes, sneaking inside to make sure that they wouldn't be seen by the eyes of the curious ones and wandering through those sinuous tunnels after that, the same tunnels through which Zeal and the black panther were passing through at that moment. They chose those tunnels while heading toward a secret place in the depths of the mountain, a place full of traps for many souls that would have ventured there. Yet, that one was still the place Accam Kuṉṟu loved the most because he knew it so well, as he knew the whispers of the mountain, its secrets, and its longings. At the same time, Accam Kuṉṟu knew that the Mount of Fear wanted to love and be loved because it had so little love in those few millennia of existence and it was starving for that feeling.
„In the heart of the Mount of Fear? But this is…?”
„That’s right, Zeal! The heart of the Mount of Fear is the place where the Holy Stream is hidden.” Saying this, Accam Kuṉṟu stopped and looked behind him, at Zeal, who was also stopped a few steps from the panther. „And not only can the Holy Stream be found here. Also… a heart that beats.”
„Whose heart?” The girl asked, frowning.
„The heart of the mountain, because it cannot be different from other places. Why? Because… only there, where the heart of the mountain beats, of this mountain that had been so dear to me, the Universe could create a Holy Stream of Power.”
„Hm! I thought Father Chaos created Earth and the rest.”
Accam Kuṉṟu smiled. „Actually, that legend has its own truth. Yet, it also keeps the lie inside it.”
„The lie? I think you exaggerate now because… there cannot be a lie when we talk about Father Chaos.”
„Do you think so?”
„Absolutely. Otherwise… there wouldn’t have existed this world because… only Father Chaos can keep the Balance.”
„I agree with you this time.”
„Yet?”
„Yet… you forget an extremely important thing, Zeal: that the Universe has existed a long time before Father Chaos. The Universe existed even before the Big War between Genea and the Black Hole of the world.”
„The Black Hole that was about to swallow Paradise.”
„I see you know the story of the Cosmos. This means Inlan Diar told you about this.”
„No, it wasn’t my great-grandma who told me this story, but my grandfather, Island. He told me this story once, a long time ago. I was only a child when he told me this story,” Zeal stuttered while answering what seemed to be a question. Then, taking a few steps in front, she passed by the panther, who didn’t lose sight of her, waiting for her to continue her thought. However, Zeal kept silent for a long while, walking side by side with Accam Kuṉṟu, at a slow step, toward the Heart of the Mountain.
Eventually, feeling that silence too overwhelming, Accam Kuṉṟu said, „You know, Zeal: nobody actually knows when this world appeared. At the same time, nobody knows who created it. Even so, it’s said that everything appeared because of the energy, which split into Black and White Magic after this.”
„Something you don’t believe, right?” The girl asked, without looking behind them. Thus, she didn’t see the moment when Accam Kuṉṟu closed his eyes for a few moments when he felt sadness overwhelming him. At the same time, by closing his eyes, Accam Kuṉṟu tried to hide his pain, which was pressing so much over his soul. He felt it like a huge rock that pressed his heart, one that he felt for the first time the day Tikil stubbed his dagger into the heart of his own father. „Accam Kuṉṟu?”
Zeal’s voice, when she called his name, made Accam Kuṉṟu wince. After that, he opened his eyes and looked in front, at Zeal, who was standing only a few steps from him, staring at him, and having a lit torch in her right hand. In the light of that torch, Accam Kuṉṟu found his great-great-granddaughter so beautiful. He knew that she had equal powers with him because not many knew another secret of the Mountain, which was still known by Accam Kuṉṟu: that the exchange of powers happened once in a thousand years. That exchange happened already and this meant that one of them had to die because two creatures with the same power couldn’t exist on Earth.
„Yet, not her,” Accam Kuṉṟu whispered, making Zeal wince.
„Not her? Who exactly?”
„Nobody,” Accam Kuṉṟu rushed to answer. Then, with sure steps, he walked toward Zeal, asking her in a cheerful voice this time, „What were we talking about? A few moments ago!”
„About Black and White Magic. I think.”
Accam Kuṉṟu burst into laughter. „You think? Aren't you sure of this?”
„I am. I’m sure we were talking about this, but I’m not sure if I clearly understood the message. The one you tried to send to me.”
„And? What makes you think so?”
„Your words?! Well, honestly, when Grandpa Island started to tell me stories, I understood that there was a hidden message behind each of his stories. They seemed like a holy parable. And, once you taught great-grandma Inlan Diar all that you know, and she taught grandpa Island…”
„…he decided to teach you too.”
„Something like that. Even so, we have a dilemma.”
„Which one?”
„The hidden message behind your words because… even if it’s easy for me to understand my grandfather’s parables, it’s quite hard for me to understand the message behind your words. This is what I can’t understand.”
„You feel this because I mostly lived in the Heart of the Mountain, Zeal. I’ve been living here for millennia. This makes my words and the way I’m talking to someone hard to understand.”
„Even so, I don’t understand why it should be so.”
„Because… I’ve learned not to trust the world. That was the only way I could defend myself from evil and this mountain. I started to do this after I’ve been betrayed.”
„Do you speak about Tikil?”
„That’s right, Zeal. Tikil stubbed his dagger into my heart, turning me into what I am today.”
„A beautiful panther, wise and strong. I can even see that you seem to be a creature that doesn’t have regrets. Yes, you look better now than in the past because, as a panther, you could enjoy life more.”
Accam Kuṉṟu smiled. „Do you think there is life after death, Zeal?”
„I’m not sure if there is life when a simple creature dies. Yet, for those like us, I think there is. You are a vivid example.”
„It’s nothing like that, Zeal. Once you’ve lost something, it’s lost forever. This made me incomplete forever.”
Zeal winced. „Are we talking about you or about others?” She suddenly asked, squinting at the panther because, for an unknown reason, she felt that the panther was talking about her. Why exactly about her? Because… Zeal had never felt complete after Zayleea disappeared, and this had always impeded her from using the huge energy she felt inside her. She only knew that she had that great power, but she couldn’t control it, and this always made her feel weak. She felt all this until she met Accam Kuṉṟu and received Argol in her service. From that moment, she deeply felt the alive energy flowing through her veins. Nevertheless…
„…you are wrong in thinking this, Zeal,” the panther told her after he got beside her. Accam Kuṉṟu stopped when he was only a step from the girl. And, raising his head, he deeply looked into the girl’s soul. He saw a strange storm in Zeal’s soul, a storm made by her thoughts, which Zeal couldn’t control since long ago. Those thoughts were related to everything that happened to her in life, about dilemmas and failures, something that marked her more than she had ever expected. Because of this, her heart was madly beating in her chest even at that moment, as fast as the blood was flowing through her veins, mixed with energy, a mad flow also seen by Accam Kuṉṟu. He saw it in the girl’s eyes, like a fire that rose to the sky, burning everything around if Zeal had released it in a fit of anger. And, seeing all this, Accam Kuṉṟu told Zeal, „Never let anger control your mind and soul, Zeal. Not here, in the heart of the mountain, or on the mountain. If you do this, you fall into its trap, one that you won’t ever be capable of escaping.”
„Trap? What are you talking about, Accam Kuṉṟu?”
„About your hatred for the world, Zeal. About your desire to get revenge and about your dream to see those who have hurt your heart falling.”
„But… I feel nothing like that,” Zeal stuttered, hiding her glance from the panther when she felt empty inside.
„I think you know what I'm talking about,” whispered Accam Kuṉṟu, making the girl attentive again. „You feel all this even if you don’t want to accept it.”
„I don’t deny it, Accam Kuṉṟu. I just… don’t feel what you say.”
„Not accepting the truth won’t make you feel better and you know this. At the same time, it won’t give you back what you’ve lost. Do you know why?”
„Is it because of the Traps of Mount of Fear? Those traps great-grandma told me about, which can help the one who controls the energy of the Stream of Power, but into which he also can fall eventually if he’s not attentive?”
„Yes, it’s so. Those traps are the weapons that the mountain uses to protect itself. It’s a double-edged weapon because… it can help you or destroy you.”
„Me? But… What do I have to do with that power? I don’t have it.”
„You just haven’t been aware of this, Zeal. Yet, you have always been the New Master of the Power of this Mountain, the one who has to take my place someday.”
„To take your place? Here? In the Heart of the Mountain?” The girl asked, terrified. „Not in a million years because… I can’t live here. It's too dark, too cold, and too savage. I like to live among humans more. There… is warm there.”
Accam Kuṉṟu burst into laughter again. „You know: you can make someone laugh with all his heart if you want.”
„Honestly, I don’t understand what makes you think so.”
„It’s because nobody ever said that the one who owns the power of the Mount of Fear and of the Holy Stream should live here, in the depths of this mountain.”
„You lived here, right?”
„Yes, I’ve been living here for millennia, but this happened because I was born here, Zeal. I saw the light of the day for the first time here, in the Heart of the Mount of Fear. However, you are different because… you are born from the womb of a beautiful Titanide, one who has owned the limitless blue of the sky, where it is always warm. Because of this, you aren’t meant to live where it is dark, but under the sun, seeing the blue sky in front of your eyes all the time and smiling when the sun is up.”
„A sky that’s black today, covered by hatred.”
„But it’s still a sky that can be blue again if we see the day of tomorrow.”
„A huge enigma, great-grandpa Accam Kuṉṟu because… nobody knows when or how to defeat evil.”
„The same happens to evil: it also doesn’t know how to defeat Good. For this, the army of evil started this war. Nobody knows that not we lead the world, but this world leads us in fact.”
Accam Kuṉṟu sighed after such words. Then, with his head bowed, he moved forward, stepping through water and on the stones shaped by that water, without being afraid that he wet his feet and that it was cold in his soul. The only thing he cared about was that the world suffered, that his dear mountain was in pain, squirming inside while trying to defend itself and those who were born from it and who were meant to suffer for a long time once that war was started.
Seeing all this, seeing the suffering from the panther’s heart, Zeal sadly smiled. She felt sorrow for that old hunched man, who walked in front of her, an old man with a beast body, who lived most of his life in the depths of the mountain and who had believed too much in his love for his son. Eventually, he’d been betrayed: by his love for the son and by Tikil, who stabbed his dagger into the heart of his beloved father. Thus, robbed by his power and heart, betrayed, Accam Kuṉṟu stopped feeling the solar warmth or the pleasant caressing of the wind, something he loved till madness in his youth and while he’d been able to wander the lands of the Mount of Fear. All this… he lost eventually the day his human body died. Even so, Accam Kuṉṟu never stopped dreaming about feeling all this at least once in his life, even though he knew that it was something forbidden for him already.
„You know, there is still love for you, Accam Kuṉṟu!” Zeal told the panther in a shout. This made Accam Kuṉṟu stop and look in amazement at her.
„Hope? For me? What makes you think so?”
„The truth, old man because… maybe we won’t be able to win this war, but you’ll still see the sun and feel its warmth caressing your fur.”
Accam Kuṉṟu smiled again. „She didn’t understand the truth,” he thought, still smiling. „Good for her because… I really don’t want her to know what pain means. Not yet. Not while there is still hope for her, a hope that died for others… a long time ago.”
***
Tikil’s anger knew no borders. He turned completely mad in time and got to turn into his victim every single living creature he met in his way. That day, he was determined to turn the nymphs into his prey. He was actually determined to catch up with them at any cost and slaughter them up to the last one because… he was sure that he wouldn’t ever be able to make them fight by his side. „Something I would have liked to happen, but… it’s still something I won’t ever have,” Tikil hissed through his teeth, understanding for the umpteenth time that Melia wasn’t a submissive creature, at least he was sure that she wouldn’t ever worship in front of evil. Because of this, Tikil decided to get rid of her.
Even if he decided this, the run through the Forest Kiago was an extremely difficult one. Why? Because the entire forest seemed to be against him: lianas suddenly appeared in front of him, forcing Tikil to fight with them if he didn’t want to fall prey to them, dried stumps of herbs also appeared in his way when Tikil less expected this, and even the green moss and the small herbs turned into his enemies that day. Even the air became irritatingly poisonous, something that Tikil didn’t feel before. „As though they decided to chase me away from these lands at any cost. Yet, Melia, you have wrongly planned all this because neither the poisonous air nor the lianas or the forest will make me give up, but your death,” Tikil suddenly shouted, making the entire forest shudder.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Stopped, at the shelter of a thicket, to catch their breath, moreover because of Issaṉdrā, who was barely hanging on her liana, the nymphs looked terrified around, trying to see Tikil in case he had shown up there. Even their breath stopped for a few moments because of the fear of the evil that was approaching them. Also because of this, their fingers, which were tightly squeezing the handle of their daggers, got to injure the skin of their palms because of the nails that deeply entered their flesh. Even so, none of the nymphs made a sound or moaned. They kept silent, aware that the evil they made to themselves was easier to bear than the pain they would have suffered if Tikil had caught them. Yes, if they had fallen prey to the Titan of Terror, it was sure death for them because Tikil was known for his cruelty in killing a victim and that he never gave up on catching his prey.
„Something he will be forced to do eventually,” Nikkari suddenly said, making Melia wince.
„To do what?” The nymph asked, confused.
„To give up on hunting. For this, we have to get to the Mountaintop Mēl as soon as possible. If not… we lose our soul for sure because I know that Tikil is full of hatred. This increases his power a lot, a power I haven’t expected he has.”
„His power increases because of the mountain. It lures Tikil toward that top,” Issaṉdrā whispered. „The Traps of the Mountain do that!”
Nikkari looked at her, stunned. „Do you mean the Rings of Power that are on this mountain?”
„That’s right. Tikil, not knowing this, activated them the moment he stubbed his dagger into his father’s heart. At that moment… he also signed his death sentence.”
„Maybe you are right, Issaṉdrā,” said Melia thoughtfully. „Maybe the mountain tries to lure Tikil toward the Top Mēl because it has been written that way for him: to atone for his sins there or… the mountain does this because it looks for a new master.”
„The exchange of powers,” Nikkari hissed through her teeth, making all the nymphs wince. She, not paying attention to them, looked into Issaṉdrā’s eyes, asking her, „How many Rings of Power are on this Mountain?”
„Seven, as far as I know. Others say that there are nine.”
„There are three at the foot of the mountain,” said Melia. „Three must be at the center, where Tenebre and Kiago forest are, and, as it would be logical, another three must be on the top.”
„Or only one if there are only Seven Rings of Power,” said Nikkari confidently. „It doesn’t matter how many rings there are, honestly. What matters is to make them work against the demon over there.” Saying this, she pointed with her head toward the clearing that was about 1 km from them. Looking over there, the nymphs saw Tikil stopped in that clearing. „Let’s go now!” Nikkari gave the command. „We’ve been stopped here for too long!”
„I think it’ll be a good idea to split up!” Issaṉdrā whispered, gnashing her teeth because of pain. „In case he catches up with us, we’ll have a chance to surround him and make him give up!”
„No way!” Melia said. „We’ll stay together! It’s the only way to survive.”
„Issaṉdrā is right, Melia,” whispered Nikkari. „We must split up because… we can't turn all into his victims.”
Melia gnashed her teeth again. „I know! I know that you think about us and you want us safe! Yet, Issaṉdrā is one of us! We can’t leave her behind!”
„She won’t be alone! I’m with her!”
„Two against Tikil is suicide! More than that, Issaṉdrā is hurt and she can’t fight! That’s why I won’t accept to leave you behind. We’ll go with you!”
„No, Melia! You should head to the foot of the Mountain and try to control the three Rings of Power that are there. Inlan Diar will control the three Rings that are in the middle while Zeal and Accam Kuṉṟu will control the three or the one that is on the top. Meanwhile, we’ll be the bait! More than that, if on the mountaintop are three Rings and not only one, we’ll be able to join three powers and defeat Tikil: once and for all, as I hope.”
„But, Nikkari…!”
„Listen to her advice, Melia. At least once in your life!” Whispered Issaṉdrā almost powerless. „We are here to win and not to protect others’back.”
„What about you? Do you really want us to give up on you?” Melia almost shouted, with her eyes bathed by tears.
Issaṉdrā smiled. „Who told you to give up on me? At the same time, I won’t be an offering, Melia. I just understand that sometimes it’s better to do this and save the rest than only one.” Hearing Tikil’s scream to their right, who was still in that clearing where it seemed that he lost their track, Issaṉdrā said, terrified, „Now or never, Melia!”
„But… I can’t go!”
„You have to because… you should take care of the rest! If you do that, I promise I’ll be alright, Melia! And, after we defeat Tikil and we’ll be safe again, I promise I’ll hold you in my arms and I won’t ever move away from you! I promise!” Saying this, Issaṉdrā made her liana approach Melia’s and, touching her arm, she whispered into Melia’s right ear, „Kavaṉittukkoḷ, Meliyā! Iṉṟu nāṉ pūmiyai viṭṭup pirintāl ulakiṉ maṟupakkattil uṉṉaip pārppōm!” (Take care of you, Melia! We’ll see each other again, even if it is in the underworld, where I’ll get if I don’t survive today!) Then, touching Melia's forehead with her forehead, she sent another thought to her, „If you have to, kill, Melia! It’s the only way we can save this world!” After that, using the power she still had inside, she made the liana, on which she and Nikkari were still hanging, move away from that place, as quickly as possible. She didn’t look behind even for a second even if she felt that the other nymphs were looking behind her with their eyes bathed by tears.
Tears also bathed Melia’s eyes. Her lower lip was strangely shaking because of the anger she felt after she was forced to give up on one of the nymphs she cared about. Because of this, her heart was madly beating in her chest and, in her ears, a strange buzzing was also heard. She felt all this because of that savage bird with the name Fear, which made her look at Tikil eventually. She saw him squatting in the middle of that clearing, touching the herbs with his palm and having his eyes closed while trying to feel the nymphs’energy and understand where they had headed and follow them.
Seeing him there, too quiet to her taste, Melia told the other nymphs without watching them, „Pōkalām! Aṅkuḷḷa nāy eṅkaḷ pātaiyai maṇakkap pōkiṟatu” (Let’s go! That dog is about to smell our tracks!) After that, squeezing the liana in her hand, Melia made it move through the forest, which suddenly hid them from the evil’s glance because that forest, even if fell prey to evil, still had the power to be by their side too.
***
Smelling the tracks, like a real hunting dog, Tikil finally got to the place where Melia and the other nymphs had stood while lurking on him. There, squatting again and with his eyes closed, Tikil smiled. „They split up! I feel two weird smells here! At the same time, I feel two energies: one heading North, to the top of the mountain, and the second one heading toward the foot of the mountain. Nothing strange actually: they did that to save themselves after they sacrificed the injured one. Yet, why did they split up here? What made them do this and what’s the trick behind all this?” Asking these questions, Tikil suddenly stood up.
Looking around, Tikil saw nothing strange. Only the „sleeping” forest was lurking on him with eyes that had suddenly appeared on the trees’trunks and through the pores of the leaves that stopped to breathe. At the same time, no current of air was felt around and no sound was heard in the heights, as though the entire mountain and nature had allied, conspiring against Tikil.
Suddenly, the moment he heard Argol’s shout above him, Tikil smiled again. „I wasn’t wrong,” he murmured, happy. „If Argol is here, it means only one thing: an important soul from Paṉi Makkal has left his protective cage. The question is now… who did that? Has my beloved sister Inlan Diar left her kingdom? Or maybe her insufferable great-granddaughter, the snake? Or… no, I don’t think that is him. Island isn’t on this mountain. Or… is he here and I haven’t had any idea about this?”
A noise, heard behind him, made Tikil attentive. Looking over there, he saw nothing instead. Yet, he felt that he hadn’t imagined that noise. He felt someone’s energy coming from over there, even though he hadn't seen anybody in that place even after minutes of staring there. Because of this, Tikil decided to check who was spying on them, hoping to get the injured nymph, whom he intended to rip her skin off if he had to just to make her tell him where the other nymphs went.
Halfway through that place, Tikil stopped. He did that when he heard a deaf noise to his left. Then he heard another one to his right, behind him, and another one to his left, to hear another noise coming from in front shortly after this, where he had heard the first noise coming from at first. „This is a devilish thing for sure,” Tikil hissed through his teeth in the end. „Do I hear all this because nature sent its soldiers to fight?” He thought. „No, it can’t be because the only faithful dogs of this forest are the nymphs, who are gone. So: who is hiding there?”
Argol’s shout, which he heard above him for the second time, awoke Tikil from that strange daydreaming and made him look at the sky in the end. There, he saw a white point floating at the horizon, a point that was similar to a fish bone stuck into his throat because he wanted that eagle dead at any cost. Why? Because Argol was one of the few preys who escaped death when he wanted them victims. Yes, a long time ago, when the man Alton ventured on the mountain when he shouldn’t have done this, Tikil had been about to kill him. Yet, because he failed that day, Tikil hunted that soul for many millennia after this, failing each time and this happened because of Accam Kuṉṟu, who protected the eagle first and gave it to Cronus after that just to make sure Tikil wouldn’t ever turn that soul into his victim again.
„A prey I’ll have eventually,” Tikil suddenly screamed, staring at the white point that was flying above him, drawing strange circles in the air. „Don’t think you are safe because others always helped you, Argol! You are mine and you’ll be mine forever, serving and bowing in front of me as in front of your only master, not running from me like the coward you are!”
„If you dream about this, make me your servant then!” Tikil heard Argol’s voice above him. „Something I doubt eventually: that you’ll be King! Not mine and not of this world, Tikil because the one who is predestined to die, cannot hide from Death, not even in the snake’s hole.”
„Are you insulting me right now?”
„I only tell you the truth because… this is what you’ve done, right? You stood hidden in Tetapas’s den, whom you convinced somehow to be your watching dog. For a while only because, soon after this, you stubbed your dagger in his back too. And you not only injured that snake, but you also twisted the knife in that wound. How exactly? Taking from him his last chance to be free.”
Tikil cunningly smiled. „This is what you think I’ve done? That I forced Tetapas to stay hidden in that stinky den forever?”
„At least this is what he has told me.”
„You are lying! Tetapas couldn’t have told you this ever. Do you know why?”
„Surprise me!”
„Because, thanks to me, he’d been able to leave that grotto, one whose threshold he wasn’t able to cross because he had forbidden even this. Because of this, I used my huge power and I broke that Barrier of Protection just to give him the chance to see the sun once again, even though it was only from time to time.”
„What you’ve done looks like a kind of bread thrown to a dog to feed him when he’s starving.”
„And you are right! I threw that bread to a faithful dog, one you also seem to be, Argol. That’s why I want you by my side. Together, we can share the power!”
„This is what you think I want? Power?”
„Everybody wants this. You can’t be an exception, I think.”
„Then… you are so wrong, Tikil! I don’t starve for power but for your head. Something I’ll have the moment you fall in the same chasm the man Alton fell thousands of years ago.”
„You have been reborn as a magic bird from that chasm, having eternal life. I don’t see why you hate me and you want to make me pay for this. Everybody dreams of what you have, Argol: eternity at your feet and freedom in the heights!”
„I hate you for something else, Tikil: for taking the priceless gift I had then - my soul! For this, I want you dead, losing your soul, just as I’ve lost it that day!”
„Then, come here! Touch the earth and confront me!” Said Tikil in a cunning voice.
„Something I’ll do eventually! Not here, but on the mountain ridge! In the same place where the man Alton died, being reborn as the eagle Argol after that!”
Tikil cooked his nose. He finally understood where Argol tried to lure him: to the Mountaintop Mēl, where Accam Kuṉṟu had told him one day that he’d die. „It can’t be,” Tikil hissed through his teeth, understanding this. „Was this your plan right from the beginning?”
„Plan? Honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about!”
„Of course, you know what I’m talking about, Argol! Don’t play the fool: you and the nymphs have decided to lure me there, into the Traps of Power. Something you won’t have ever because… I will better give up on my hunting than give you or anybody else the chance to kill me. Yet, this doesn’t mean I give up on my plan to leave you featherless, Argol. Did you hear me?”
Argol’s laughter, heard everywhere, like an echo, confused Tikil. At one point, Tikil even imagined that he was seeing the man Alton everywhere in that clearing. He saw that man so clearly at that moment: his terrified glance while heading with his back toward that chasm that was threateningly opening its mouth behind him. Yes, Tikil started to see that poor soul at that moment. He was seeing the same man whom he doomed that day only to have fun. Yet, seeing that image at that moment, Tikil felt no satisfaction again. On the contrary: he felt his heart strangely beating in his chest, and, so suddenly, Tikil felt fear sneaking inside him.
„It can’t be,” Tikil murmured, touching his chest with his wide-open palm. „Fear? Do I feel fear? Never!”
„Yet, you feel it, Tikil! You clearly feel it in your heart: like a thorn that has stubbed into your soul and you cannot take it out no matter what you do.”
„A thorn? Are you speaking about yourself?” Tikil asked, in a mischievous tone.
„You are actually right: I’m that thorn that stubs you and doesn’t let you breathe. A thorn you’ll get rid of only if you climb the mountain, Tikil. Only there, you still have a chance to escape and return to the camp of the Coal Burners.”
After such words, the shout of the eagle from above was clearly heard again. That shout had been practically heard all over the forest, making Tikil shudder, even though he couldn’t understand why. At the same time, the message Argol tried to send to him by saying those last words started to bother Tikil because he couldn’t understand what the eagle meant by „there’s no return for him to the camp of the Coal Burners.” Yes, Tikil couldn’t understand why exactly he couldn’t return there. Something he understood very soon when he finally saw Poṟi Ivar when the wild boar left his hideout and, at a slow step, started to head toward Tikil.
Not only Poṟi Ivar was heading toward Tikil at that moment, but the rest of the wild boars Paṉṟi too. They also left their hideouts, tightening the circle around the Titan of Dread. Tikil, staring at them from the corner of his eyes, frowned eventually. Then, suddenly, the moment he looked into Poṟi Ivar’s eyes, he shuddered. „It can’t be!” He murmured, frightened. „Coallar?”
Nobody answered his question, however. Actually, there was nobody to answer that question there because Poṟi Ivar was only a magic wild boar, which didn't have human intelligence. Only his eyes reminded others about Coallar, the King of Coal, who, at that moment, had only one target in his mind: Tikil, the one who, at the last possible moment, used his power and teleported himself from that place. He did that the moment a circle of blue energy passed above that place, a circle Tikil summoned there while trying to save himself.
***
„No, no, no!” Shouted Tikil, crazy when he realized that he hadn’t teleported himself in front of the Barrier of the Kingdom of Ice, in the Camp of the Coal Burners as he had wanted, but to the top of the mountain. Yes, Tikil got on that snowy top he tried to avoid, Mēl. There, he felt the magic so powerfully, a magic that was fully headed against him.
Finally understanding this, Tikil started to shudder from top to toe. Not because of fear, but because of hatred. He started to hate everything at that moment because everything and everybody seemed to be against him and worked against him, and made him fall into that trap in the end. What Tikil didn’t want to accept was that he fell into that trap because he was stupid and not because of others. How has this happened? Simple: when he used the power to teleport himself from that clearing, he didn’t check if the energy of the mountain was by his side or against him. Thus, when that blue circle of energy passed above him, its power, in contact with Tikil’s power, teleported the Titan of Dread to the Mountaintop Mēl. There, Tikil saw three Rings of Power even though Issaṉdrā and the rest of the world thought that there was only one Ring of Power.
Yes, on the Mountaintop Mēl were three Rings of Power. One was controlled by the power of the earth, the second one was influenced by the power of the air, and the third one was controlled by the power of the Cosmos, a power that Zayleea had when she was still alive, but which stopped to be hers the moment Tetapas closed her inside Koṭi. Her power was something Tikil had always hoped to have. That’s why he convinced Tetapas to lure Zayleea inside his grotto because Tikil was the one who sent a thought to Rueb’s wife, convincing her that it was safer for her and her children to descend the mountain and not climb it.
Nevertheless, even if he used that trick and deceived Zayleea, Tikil never had that power. This happened not because someone took care for this not to happen, but because Fate took that power from him. Fate that Tikil had never been able to see, even if he wanted this so badly because… he felt that it was because of Fate that he failed so much in his life. Why did he feel all this? Tikil never knew. He could only suspect that it was a kind of punishment for him because he killed his father. Yes, Tikil killed Accam Kuṉṟu’s human body, leaving him lying in the heart of the mountain after stubbing that dagger into his heart. Tikil left Accam Kuṉṟu almost dead that day next to the Stream of Power, a place he saw once thanks to Accam Kuṉṟu’s negligence. It happened the moment Tikil hurt him. Thus, teleporting himself in an attempt to save his life, Accam Kuṉṟu managed to drag Tikil to that place too and this happened because Tikil was still squeezing the handle of the dagger in his hand. Yet, the moment he released the dagger, charmed by the beauty of the stream, the power of that place threw him on the snowy mountaintop. After that, Tikil was closed in the depths of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy as part of Accam Kuṉṟu’s curse.
That jail didn’t scare Tikil. At the same time, it didn’t demoralize him or make him give up on the idea of seeing the Stream of Power again. By getting there, he hoped to have the Energy of that place and control the whole world. Because of the same thought, Tikil lured Zayleea into the snake’s den with Tetapas’s help. Yet, not being able to have her power eventually, something that was a mystery even for him, a mystery that kept luring and attracting him like a magnet, Tikil started to have nightmares. In those dreams, he saw himself lying on the snowy Mountaintop Mēl, with his chest full of blood.
„A nightmare that won’t ever come true,” Tikil hissed through his teeth. „Did you hear me, Accam Kuṉṟu? Never! I won’t ever allow your curse to turn me into his prey!”
„That nightmare has reached you already,” Tikil heard Argol’s voice floating around him. Looking for him with his glance, Tikil saw the eagle nowhere. Yet, he knew that Argol was still there, floating on the large wings of the currents of power, right above him, something he had always dreamt to control, but which he had never had the chance to have.
Thus, outraged, because his worst enemy had control over the power of the mountain while he was the captive of that power, Tikil shouted, „You are a coward, Argol! This is what you are! Speaking to someone from the shadows means cowardice.”
„It’s only the Law of Nature, Tikil! It’s because it’s not the moment to show up in front of you! Not yet!”
„Then? When that moment is, Argol?” Tikil cunningly asked.
„Very soon! It’ll happen the moment the one that’s meant to see you for the last time will come on earth!”
After such words, Argol let a deafening sound come out of his throat, making the horizon resound. The eagle didn’t shout to let Tikil know that he won but to give the signal. To whom? Tikil didn’t know. Even so, he was sure that there was another enemy there, one that he couldn’t see, hidden by the power of the mountain. Because of this, Tikil started to look around, trying to see at least Argol. Yet, he saw nobody there. Only a deafening sound was heard from the heights, piercing the sky and the earth the moment Titan Tī threw himself from above right in front of Tikil.