Arriving at the edge of the forest, Dike raised his left hand, squeezing his fist and giving the signal to the others that it was time to stop and be as cautious as possible. Then, he carefully looked around. Not seeing anybody there, even though his heart told him that they weren’t alone there, Dike frowned. „Too quiet,” he suddenly said. „I don’t like it.”

„What exactly?” Inquired Boor, who was with Bestla only a step behind Dike.

„The field, Boor! The field in front of the Barrier of protection seems weird.”

„Weird?” Bestla frowned, as though letting the others know that she didn’t believe those words. „Actually, it seems pretty usual to me,” she said eventually. After that, not paying attention to the others, who were still stopped, she took a few steps in front, intending to leave the hideout.

Suddenly, she’d been forced to bend back when an arrow, shot from nowhere, passed by her. This made her frown again. Then, still bending back, she tried to understand where exactly that arrow had been shot. Yet, no matter how hard she tried to at least understand who shot, she couldn’t. The only thing she knew for sure was that the arrow wasn’t shot from the camp, but from close to them. This made her squeeze her fists because it was something she disliked - that an enemy was around. A hidden enemy in fact because it was the only way she could explain to herself that miracle of being attacked from „the shadow.”

„You are actually right,” Anaya told the girl, suddenly appearing in front of Bestla as though she was trying to protect her with her own body. This allowed Bestla to stand normally again. Then, both of them carefully looked around, but only Anaya spoke again, „That enemy is really! Even if he’s still hidden.”

„And you know this because?” Bestla asked and a certain mistrust was felt in her voice.

Ahi and not Anaya answered that question. „It’s because a single enemy is capable of spying on us from the shadows without fearing that he’ll be discovered before he decides that it's the right time,” the Mago said.

Bestla looked at Ahi past her shoulder. She saw him having his eyes closed and his arms folded over his chest while his nose was sniffing the horizon. Seeing the Mago doing this, to tease him a little, Bestla told him in mockery, „I think the hidden enemy is actually you. Why? Because… you are who said that your body is split into three thanks to Maranam. Thus, your power can be hidden somewhere around.”

„Something impossible though,” replied Gaea, suddenly appearing behind Bestla and Anaya. Not alone, but with Lodur, who appeared to their left while Gaea stopped to their right. The others, led by Dike, pulled a few steps back, to the shelter of the trees, afraid that Samaya, who was still unconscious and carried by Tayakkam in his arms, could have been in danger if they had been exposed.

„What makes you think that my idea is impossible, Mother Earth?” Asked Bestla.

„Because neither Ahi’s body nor his power are on this field. If it had been so, we would have felt it because Lodur and I are the only ones from whom Ahi couldn’t ever hide his real nature.”

„Something I hope to change someday,” Ahi ironically said, still eyes closed.

Ahi’s words made Boor growl, staring at him. „What about keeping your mouth shut and your devilish temper controlled, at least while we get to the camp, huh? Not the other, but… if you aren’t on this field, lurking on us, then another fierce enemy can be here. Like your mother.”

„I doubt this,” said Ahi confidently. After that, without paying attention to the others, who squinted at him, he moved toward the center of the field. Getting there, he stopped and, looking around, he carefully analyzed the surroundings. Eventually, grinning, Ahi said, „She’s here,” looking at Dike this time. „The one you have always feared, but whom a single soul from the Camp of Rophions has been able to control, no one other than the Oracle, is here.”

„The Oracle of the Rophions? Who is this? And… why does he attack us now if he’s a Rophion?”

„Ahi wasn’t talking about the Oracle, Bestla,” whispered Dike, sad. „He’s not the one attacking us, but the one who he has been controlling for centuries: Mōrgaṉā!”

Anaya shuddered. „The Virgin of the Water of the Dead Ones fights against the living creatures?” Ahi nodded. „Why?”

„Because she hopes to take some advantages from this fight,” Lodur told them. „What exactly she hopes to get, I haven’t figured out yet.”

„I think she tries to get control over the Rings of Fate,” Tayakkam’s voice had been suddenly heard behind them, making everybody wince. The Titan of Doubt didn’t look at any of them, even though all of them looked at him. Tayakkam kept looking up instead, with the three pairs of eyes he had, at the Perfect Ring of Fate that was slowly floating above the Camp of Rophions, a ring that had a light blue color, almost transparent at that moment. „And I think that this ring has something to do with you, Master Dike.”

„With me?” Dike asked, confused. „What makes you think so?” Hearing the question, Tayakkam smiled. Then, he pointed with his head toward Dike’s waist, where Dike saw blue rays getting from the scabbard. „Ionas!”

„That’s right,” replied Tayakkam, smiling. „The sword is somehow tied by the power of the Rings. Because of this, we can head toward the camp with no fear that the Virgin, Mōrgaṉā as you called her before, has some power over us. She can’t do anything to any of us as long as the Power of the Ring and the Power of Ionas are tied.”

„Tayakkam is actually right,” said Ahi confidently. „And the one over there knows this as well as we know it. That’s why she didn’t do any risky movement, right, Mōrgaṉā?”

Looking in front, in the same direction as Ahi looked, everybody saw Mōrgaṉā at the edge of the forest, on the other side of the field. She was quietly staying in that place, a few steps away from the first row of trees, staring at the enemy in front of her. She was alone, something that amazed Gaea a lot, who eventually said, „That’s strange! She is alone! I thought that once she had decided to attack us, she would at least call some friends to help her. Yet, there’s only her shadow with her.”

Mōrgaṉā smiled. „I see you know me well, Mother Earth!”

„Well, let’s just say I’ve learned something about you in time.”

„Even so, you seem scared, Gaea. Is it because you don’t trust Fate?” Mōrgaṉā asked in a cunning tone.

It’s been Gaea’s turn to sketch a weird smile. „Nea,” Mother Earth suddenly said. „It is not true that I don’t trust Fate, which I know that’s changeable, but those who live on this earth. Those who’ll always do the impossible to get to the Throne of the World, without being aware of the fact that they are actually destroying this planet through everything they do.”

„I won’t be that sure of this,” said Mōrgaṉā calmly. „Eventually… It’s not our fault that this war has started. At least this isn’t my fault, just as it isn’t yours or theirs.” Saying this, Mōrgaṉā looked to her right, to the Barrier of the Rophions.

Looking over there, Dike and the rest saw Fenrir, Sephir, Arion, and Yamu passing through the gate open in the Barrier and heading toward them eventually. While heading toward them, Dike didn’t spot any sign of fear at them. More than that, it seemed strange to him that Mōrgaṉā didn’t attack. Yet, even though he had a lot of questions in his head, the Titan preferred to keep quiet, for the moment.

Finally arriving beside Dike and the rest, Fenrir slowly bowed in front of his father, to whom he confidently said, „I’m glad you are back and safe.”

„We are glad too, son! Trust me, we are also happy that we could return safely!”

„Not everybody!” Whispered Arion while looking at Samaya. „Is Princess-wolf fine?”

„Yes, she’s fine! Let’s say that she has used more power than it has been necessary, and she recovers it now!” Bestla replied, passing by Arion and forcing a smile. She seemed cold and at all interested in the one in front of her, even though her heart was yelling at her to jump to Arion and be tightly held to his chest by his strong arms. Yet, proud, she preferred not to let him know about what she felt, and she only approached Sephir in the end.

Arion, feeling that indifference at Bestla, fought with himself not to let that sigh, which took a form in his chest, come out of his throat. He only approached Tayakkam when he could control himself, took Samaya in his arms, and returned to his place after that. Yet, finally seeing Ahi there, Arion frowned and looked at Boor.

„We are fine, for the moment,” said Boor, slowly tapping on Arion’s left shoulder. „Even though I hate this too.”

„Whom I hate is the one over there,” Bestla hissed through her teeth, staring at Mōrgaṉā eventually. „I dislike the fact that she’s only lurking on us, making us seem like scared mice, watched by the eagle from above. And this is strange! That she doesn’t attack us, I mean.”

„She doesn’t attack because she can’t do that,” replied Sephir, calm. „The power of the Oracle, which is connected to the power of the Ring above us, keeps her away from the Barrier and this field, even though she didn’t believe that this could be possible.”

„Do you want to say that she has attacked before?” Asked Boor.

„Yes, father! She attacked, after the attack of the crows Kākkai, Mōrgaṉā and her army of shadows, those whom she probably took from her kingdom, tried to enter the camp when the Barrier cracked. Yet, when the Ring appeared above the camp, its power forced her to hide in the forest, where she stood hidden until you came.”

„And I hope she’ll stay there for a very long time starting now,” Fenrir growled. „Not the other, but… I badly want to stub my fangs into her throat, even though I know that it’s not the right moment.”

„And you are right, son,” said Dike, suddenly holding his son to his chest. While they had fought in the forest and he had thought that death was so close to them, Dike regretted the same thing as Boor: that he didn’t hug his son when they left the camp and didn’t also tell him good words to encourage him. Thus, Dike swore that if they returned to the camp one day, he’d do that: he would hold Fenrir to his chest, telling him that he was proud of his son and that he loved him. Something he did right after turning back. After that, when Dike decided that it was the right time, he looked at the others and said, „Let’s go to the camp! There, we’ll have more time and space to think about what we can do after this.”

„What about the one over there?” Bestla hissed through her teeth.

„Just… leave her breath!” Said Sephir, smiling. Then, slowly pushing her sister from behind, she forced Bestla to follow the others who were already heading toward the Barrier, where Nathaniel and the rest were waiting for them. Next to the Barrier, Nathaniel and the rest were still armed and ready to fight because, just like Gaea, they didn’t trust Fate, which could have shown them its fangs and allowed an attack from their enemy’s part.

***

„You allowed them to leave this field so easily,” Mōrgaṉā suddenly heard Ian Gyar’s voice behind her. Because of this, she winced and looked at him, scared.

„You… here?” She asked, confused and surprised at the same time, seeing the former king of the Noears looking like a shadow and no trace of his old glory. „I thought… you vanished once you helped Maranam escape from his den.”

„It’s what everybody thought,” the king-snake replied, taking a few steps toward her. Then, he stopped to her right, still staring behind Dike and the rest, who got to the Barrier, crossing through the open gate already. This made the snake cook his nose. „I would have liked to do things differently at that time.”

„Differently? How?” The Virgin of the Water of the Dead Ones asked.

„I wouldn’t sacrifice my body, for example, but I would sacrifice another one. Maybe, I would have used one of the shape-twins for this. Thus, I would have had the chance to fight for the Supreme Power, which everybody wants to have nowadays.”

„Themis!”

„Yes. The same power that „convinced” you eventually to leave everything in what you believed by now behind you, Mōrgaṉā. A power that determined you to stop living in the shadow.” Then, looking with irony around, Ian Gyar grinned, seeing an army of white-gray shadows there. „Well, at least you got some „friends” to help you with this.”

Mōrgaṉā sighed. „You don’t even know what you are talking about, Ian Gyar. I didn’t ally with them for Themis’s power.”

„Then? Why do you need them? To turn the Kingdom of the Water of the Dead Ones into the Capital City of Earth?”

The mockery felt in Ian Gyar’s voice made Mōrgaṉā nervously move. Then, with her eyes sparkling because of the anger, she took a step toward him, hissing through her teeth, „If you have no idea what you are talking about, I suggest you keep your mouth shut, snake!”

„Or?” Ian Gyar calmly asked.

„Or… you can have bigger problems than a simple ghost body.”

„And you hope to do this on your own.”

„No, snake: it won’t be because of me. It would be because of Fate, which controls all of us and which brought us here eventually, on this damn field in front of the Camp of Rophions. Not to be their enemy, but watching dogs for HER, just to make sure none of them will escape or thwart others’plans.”

„The others’plans? Whose plan in particular?” He inquired, staring into her eyes.

„You’ll see,” Mōrgaṉā replied, smiling. „At the right moment. Now it isn’t the moment for revealing secrets, but to do our job well. At least, I intend to do it well. Thus, if you don’t intend to help me, don’t stay in my way!” After that, turning her back to him, Mōrgaṉā returned to her ghost soldiers, to whom she said, „Don’t let any soul cross that Barrier and come outside the camp! Not until we get the soul we need!” Then, without waiting for their answer, Mōrgaṉā sunk into the forest.

Ian Gyar frowned. „What is she planning this time?” He wondered, slowly rotating on his heels to look behind Mōrgaṉā. „More than that, who is watching her back to make her feel so confident? Moirae? Parca? Or maybe…? No, it can’t be Maranam because Mōrgaṉā won’t ever worship in front of him. At least not directly or without having a perfect plan for this. Then? If I’m right and Mōrgaṉā really has a plan, what is she trying to do? I don’t think she’s doing something without a purpose!” Then, sketching a weird smile, Ian Gyar vanished. He didn’t run from that place as Mōrgaṉā asked him to do but followed her like a shadow, which would have allowed him not to be felt spying on her.

***

„Something happened?” Ahi asked Anaya when he saw her looking at that place where they had seen Mōrgaṉā before. Actually, the old fox looked at that place, only half turned toward the Barrier, since they had been left to cross through the open gate by the magic wolves. And Anaya not only looked over there but continuously frowned, concerned.

„There is something I don’t like there,” replied Anaya, answering another question, „Why do you seem so worried?” which Ahi could have had in mind but didn’t ask loudly. „There is a shadow in that place.”

Ahi winced. „Whose shadow?”

„I’m not sure, Mago Ahi. I only have the feeling that it can be Ian Gyar. At the same time, I think that if he’s here, it’s not only to visit this place but for something in particular. Or… after someone.” After that, slowly turning to her right, Anaya stared at Sephir, who was by her husband’s side at that moment, accompanied also by Bestla and Arion, and smiling. Actually, Sephir had a reason to be happy once Arion and Bestla started to play their favorite game of the cat and the mouse again, something comic to watch.

„Do you think he’s after her? After the eldest of my nephew Boor’s daughters?”

„At least I suspect that he can be here for this. Something that I hope that’s not so.”

„Why? Because this would mean an imbalance of powers in case Ian Gyar would have Sephir? If yes, I think you are wrong because if that snake does this, he’ll do us a favor.” Anaya looked furious at Ahi. „Yes, yes, I understood the message! I’m mean again when I shouldn’t have been. Anyway, it was only a joke in case you didn’t understand that!”

„A joke that can be misunderstood. And, in case you have forgotten this, Mago Ahi, not long ago, you’ve been the enemy of this place,” Anaya told him in a harsh voice. „An enemy who became their ally overnight. Even so, you aren’t welcome here. In case you don’t believe me, look around!”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Even if he disliked the idea of socializing with the locals, Ahi still listened to Anaya’s advice and looked around. Thus, he saw the glances of the magic wolves focused on him, many of them squinting at him and at all happy to see him there. The Rophions weren’t the only ones unhappy to know Ahi there: the same happened to the Siars, who didn’t lose sight of the Mago while squeezing the weapons in their hands. The angriest to know him there were Nathaniel, Mago, and Malon, who often frowned while looking at Ahi. Then, right behind them, Ahi saw the ghouls, whom he also stepped on their tails in the past. „Enemies that would do everything to break my neck when this chance appears,” whispered Ahi jokingly, bitterly smiling because he finally understood that he had a lot of enemies, but so few friends.

„You don’t even know how right you are in thinking so, great Ahi,” the old fox told him, approaching him eventually. „Just as you aren’t wrong in thinking about that chance. One that they can have any moment once your power is split into three.”

„Something I intend to change right now!” Said Ahi confidently. He was definitely determined to recover the other two parts of his power because it was time to go and find Mayar. He knew that he couldn’t delay things more and leave his daughter in the hands of his enemy while so many dangers lurked on them from all over. Because of this, he headed toward the village eventually, where Boor, Dike, Yamu, Island, and Gaea headed not long ago, right after they got to the camp.

Actually, Ahi would have followed them right away. Yet, spotting the concern in Anaya’s glance, he decided to talk to her first and to go to the village only after this. Instead of receiving only a piece of advice, that talk convinced him that it was time to act. If not… if his enemies had found out that he could be easily killed while his power was divided, the Mago of the Black Stones would have been history for sure.

***

Entering the village of the magic wolves, with Anaya right behind him, Ahi stopped. He did that when they were passing by the Gates of Ārakkiḷ, which were closed at that moment. And, right away he stopped, Ahi closed his eyes for a few moments, sniffing the horizon.

Anaya also stopped when she saw Ahi acting like that. She understood that he felt something there. Yet, carefully looking around, she didn’t see anything strange or feel what Ahi felt. Because of this, the old fox frowned because she really hated not having the power to see things in a place where danger could have lurked on them.

Suddenly, the old fox winced when she heard Ahi saying, „I feel the presence of my mother here!”

„Tenebre?” Inquired Anaya. „But… How is this possible? As far as I know, Tenebre doesn’t have the power to enter the Camp of the Magic Wolves. Not as long as the Barrier is still there.”

„You are actually right. My mother doesn’t have the power to cross the Barrier. Even so, something that belongs to her has been here. Because of this, I feel a black aura around me. What exactly makes me feel this? I don’t know.”

„It’s because of the Palantir,” they suddenly heard Gaea’s voice behind them. Looking over there, Ahi and Anaya saw Mother Earth coming toward them. She wasn’t alone but with Lodur, Dike, and Island.

Looking at the four Titans, Ahi frowned. He did that not because the presence of the four Titans would have bothered him, but because he couldn’t understand how much they were involved with Tenebre. It’s better to say that he couldn’t understand what they had needed the Palantir for, a thing that worked for the Black Magic and not for the white one, the Magic controlled by the Titans, who wouldn’t have been ever capable of controlling the Palantir.

„Even so, you did that,” Ahi suddenly said, turning toward them. „You brought the Palantir here, to the other side of the Barrier, even if none of you could control it. Why?”

„Because it has been necessary,” replied Dike, calm. He knew already, from Yamu, about Kkuṟai’s wounds and about what happened while they were away from that place. „We did that to save one of ours. And, to do that, the only chance we had was Tenebre’s magic, which is kept inside the Palantir.”

Ahi weirdly smiled, something that made Island attentive. „Does this seem reckless to you?”

„Actually, yeah! Do you know why, brother? Because Black Magic won’t ever worship in front of the White One, even if it seems so at first.”

„I don’t really understand your point,” inquired Gaea. „More than that, why are you so sure that the Power of the Palantir doesn’t work for us if we control it?”

„Because it had always been so and the only one who controlled it was my mother. Not even Coallar, who was stronger than Tenebre, couldn’t have control over Palantir. This makes me wonder how you have managed to do that, as it seems to be, once the youngest of Yamu’s sons is still alive, hidden in the tunnels over there.”

„And you know this because you have had a vision?” Asked Island, slowly growling the words.

Ahi smiled again. „It’s because I feel his energy, Island, and not because I have had a vision. Actually, even if my power is split, I still have the ability to feel someone’s energy. Because of this, I felt the power of the Palantir and that there was something wrong around here. Don’t you think so too?”

Dike frowned. „Something wrong? What do you mean?”

„That this place is surrounded by shadows,” replied Ahi in a hissing tone, making even Anaya wince and look scared at him. The other four Titans only frowned, exchanging glances because none of them understood what the Mago of the Black Stones tried to say. Ahi, at all bothered because he wasn’t believed, at least not totally, suddenly turned his back to the four Titans, telling them, „Let’s approach the gates!” After that, heading over there while the rest followed him, he put his arms behind his back, as he used to walk generally.

Once next to the gates, Ahi didn’t stop as he had intended and as the other Titans thought. The Mago only passed by the Gates, heading toward the western Stone Vāyil. Getting there, he didn’t stop either as Anaya thought, because she had gotten to anticipate his movements since they started to live together on the mountain. Ahi passed by that stone too, walking a little bit further from it, and approaching a hole that was seen in the wall. After that, once next to that hole, Ahi squatted and looked through it, seeing what was behind the fence. „Two souls crossed through it,” he said eventually.

„Two souls? Who exactly?” Asked Dike, approaching Ahi. Then, also squatting, he looked through the same hole, shuddering. „A soul controlled by the fire and… it can’t be, Samaya?”

„I also think so,” responded Ahi, looking at the Titan. „Yet, I have another question related to her: if Samaya is supposed to sleep in your wooden house, how is this possible for her presence to be felt here?”

„The Palantir!” Murmured Gaea, making everybody wince. „I think the Palantir plays a prank on us, making us think what it isn’t.”

„What if it’s true?” Ahi calmly said. „What if they really crossed through this hole and we didn’t know about this?”

„This is impossible!” Lodur shouted. „Samaya wouldn’t have left the camp. Not on the sly and not controlled by the Palantir, which had never controlled my niece before. The only one influenced by the Palantir, and who can control it, is Yellen. She can do that because the Power of the Palantir and her Accu are somehow tied.”

„A bond that has been cut once Yellen has crossed through the Gates of Ārakkiḷ,” murmured Anaya thoughtfully, making the others wince and look at her, terrified. „More than that, I think that once the Palantir was out of young Yellen’s power, it looked for a new master or did everything to turn to its previous one.”

„But… it’s impossible!” Gaea stubbornly denied the truth. „This is not possible for Yellen to lose the Palantir! She probably has it with her, in the tunnels, and we only have visions while being here. Something I wouldn’t doubt once we have such a demon with us!”

Mother Earth’s sparkling eyes and the fact that she recklessly spoke those words, a feature that wasn’t common to her, made Dike attentive. Because of this, he carefully looked at her. He also found strange the sparkle seen in Island’s eyes. The only one who seemed calm and looked at the same hole through which Dike and Ahi looked, was Lodur, who said eventually, „I think the Palantir has control over all of us, and this is so because of our foolishness!”

„We crossed it through the Barrier!” Dike confidently said.

Lodur nodded. „I also think that this has happened because someone has planned it to be that way. A plan that worked from the start to the end: from the attack of the Kākkai and ending with Calmac’s run through this hole.”

„Not only Calmac has vanished from the camp,” Yamu shouted, approaching them in a run, followed by Boor, Fenrir, and Nathaniel. „We can’t find Princess Samaya too!”

„How was this possible?” Shouted Dike, suddenly standing up. „How is this possible for Samaya to leave the camp and none of us knows about this?”

„It was undoubtedly because of the Palantir, as I said!” Suddenly everybody turned toward Ahi, who said those words. „Yet, who exactly controls that thing this time, I’m not sure. I know only one thing: my mother didn’t create this hole. Yes, she didn’t do that because Tenebre never had the power to break something created by the Rophions, and this makes me think that…”

„…Fate is against us this time! The one who has always been by Life’s side!” Dike hissed through his teeth, staring at that hole in the fence, the one made by Vāḻkkai, who had always been the only one capable of subduing the power of the Rophions, even though she tried to make them think she was with them in that war.

***

„The Titan Dike won’t ever forgive you this betrayal, Vāḻkkai!” Patavi told Life. She was only a step behind her queen, not that far from the Camp of Rophions.

„I know!” Replied Vāḻkkai sadly. „This betrayal was necessary for us.”

„I’m not that sure this time,” responded Patavi, bowing her head. „If you had told Master Dike about the reason why you need the shape-twins, I don’t think he would have opposed it.”

„I think he wouldn’t have done this,” Vāḻkkai whispered again. „Dike wouldn’t have definitely done this because he wouldn’t have ever allowed destroying the Paradise he and Gaea created. Not for us to reborn what we have lost: Īṭaṉ Ellaiyaṟṟa! Because of this, because we are on our own in this fight with Fate, Patavi, we have to do whatever it’s necessary to turn back time and make things differently.”

„Even though so many souls will die? Vāḻkkai, it seems cruel for me to destroy this Paradise only to save the one we’ve lost already. We could have created another one here, on earth, keeping the memories of those we lost.”

Vāḻkkai’s eyes filled with tears. „Those memories hurt, Patavi! They hurt me so much… the memories of my children, whom I’ve lost then. Because of them, I can’t give up! Not now when my soul, the one of a grieving mother, cries at me and asks me to turn back time and save my children! This soul also tells me that I can save our Planet, Patavi! Yes, our beloved Īṭaṉ Ellaiyaṟṟa, our Paradise can be saved if we do this sacrifice!”

„We aren’t sure we can rebuild that world, my queen!” Patavi also said, eyes bathed by tears. „Nobody guarantees us that we can turn back time and that we can save our Īṭaṉ Ellaiyaṟṟa from destruction. Nobody guarantees us that we won’t suffer the same loss and pain in the end!”

Deeply breathing in, Vāḻkkai turned and looked into the eyes of the Virgin behind her. Then, Life smiled and confidently said, „As long as there is hope for us, we can do everything we’ve planned! We can even fight against Fate, taking back from her what she took that day from us: our heart, Patavi! This is what Viti took from us in that war, punishing us for not being able to honor her name and for neglecting her as the Supreme Power. We lost everything that day because of this… because we dream of a new world! Yes, we lost our Eden because we wanted to be our own masters! We still can be our masters if Īṭaṉ Ellaiyaṟṟa is rebuilt. If my children are alive again, who have the power to change our destiny and assure us eternal life, then… we’ll be happy, Patavi, as we have always wanted!”

„Nobody builds his happiness on someone else’s pain, Vāḻkkai.”

„I know!” Vāḻkkai said, suddenly turning her back to Patavi. „Even so, I won’t give up!”

„Why?” Patavi asked in a shaking voice.

„Because of my heart… the heart of a grieving mother. This is what doesn’t allow me to give up. Yes, this heart tells me to do even the impossible because it is the only chance to see my children’s faces again!”

***

The big lock, from Mannar’s golden cell, fell with a bang to the ground the moment the cupped palms, of the shape-twins, touched it at the same time. Thus, holding hands, the right hand in the left hand, Samaya and Mayar joined their power, releasing the demon they often saw in their dreams as their butcher, the one they feared to death. At that moment, not capable of controlling themselves because both of them fell prey to the spell of those present in the Glade of Mannar, the girls joined their power for the third time in that Magic Forest. Thus, they managed to bring havoc on Earth again, havoc craved by others, by those who had another plan, not to save Earth, once they released Mannar that day.

Who exactly wanted so much for that demon to be free? Undoubtedly Tenebre, who was his mother and who „loved” him. At least this was what she thought when she was listening to Eris’s order, in fact, the one who dreamt of her own freedom if Mannar had conquered Planet Earth. Thus, Eris would have also had the chance to come there. The second one who wanted Mannar’s freedom was Tartos, who controlled Ian Gyar for a long time, even though the king-snake thought that he bowed only in front of Maranam. And the third one, but not the last one who wanted Mannar free just to be able to rewrite history, was undoubtedly Vāḻkkai.

Even if they thought they were the only ones who had a plan once Mannar was released, all of them were wrong because there was another evil on earth, who lurked on everybody from the shadows. An evil, whose name was whispered by everybody because no living creature dared to tell it loudly: Fate. Yes, Fate also wanted, just like Vāḻkkai, to rewrite history because she understood that many creatures went too far with their madness, following their own evil purposes, ideals, supreme powers, and the voice of their heart. To make it eventually, Fate allowed what everybody wanted: Mannar’s freedom, without telling them, in advance, that history would be rewritten not as they wanted, but exactly the opposite of what they had dreamt.

Before this happened, before another history was written on the Papyrus of Time, Fate had to finish the first story, the one predicted millennia ago: the destiny of humankind, one of the sinners, which should have come to an end that day for the rest of the world to start a new chapter in the Carousel of Time. And, as many saw the history over time in the water or in the stars, and others in their dreams, Mannar, once released from his captivity, roared like a mad soul, making even the sky shudder because of his madness. A shriek that brought the night over Rophion Forest and over the entire world, sentencing it to suffering and to an eternity lived in darkness. Then, when he finally changed into that fire demon, which Dike saw once when he touched Tenebre’s Palantir, Mannar used his entire power and set fire to the whole world… literally.

Because of that demon, the sky was crying at that moment. The trees were lamenting their pain, held to the chest of the hungry flames of hell. The birds were yelling in the heights of the sky because they lacked air once that muggy smoke replaced it, just as Dike’s heart was crying at that moment… He was at the edge of the Glade, staring at Mannar, who was riding a black-like pitch horse, having a huge sword in his hand, and galloping like a mad soul toward the shape-twins that were knelt in the middle of the glade, looking at him as though they were in a trance.

Samaya and Mayar did nothing to save themselves at that moment. The same did Dike, who stood frozen at the edge of the glade while the rest looked as though they were made from wax that slowly melted. Yes, there were so many behind Dike at that moment because he didn’t come alone to that place to save his beloved daughter. He took the entire army with him, thinking that it would be enough to bring the enemy to his knees. Yet, once in that glade when the havoc couldn’t be stopped anymore, they also fell prey to the same curse of Fate to which Vāḻkkai fell eventually: she vanished from that world like Baradar - like burning ashes. However, unlike the minikin, Vāḻkkai didn’t vanish with the innocence sparkling in her eyes, but with eyes bathed by tears.

The same tears were seen in Samaya’s eyes after this. She started to cry when she finally understood what she did to that world: she sentenced it to death, even if she fought a lot for this not to happen. And, as she saw so many times before, in dreams, that demon, at whose memory she shook like hell each time she saw it again, was galloping like a mad soul toward them, having a single thought in his mind - to give them to death.

Then… When she finally understood how small they all were in front of Fate, Samaya smiled. She bitterly smiled at that moment because her heart was capable only of this. After that, eyes bathed by tears, Samaya whispered, „Fate, have mercy on us, the sinners, and don’t give us death.”

„As though this will save us in the end!” Mayar, who was to her left, said.

Looking over there, Samaya saw Mayar smiling. Her copy was calm, looking how Samaya had never seen her before… having black hair and wearing a white dress, as Mayar saw herself in Morena’s memories. A face the fox loved right from the beginning because it was the face of her innocence.

This was what made Mayar smile at that moment: because she finally could choose something on her own, and not what others decided for her as it happened when Mannar stole her innocence. After that, with no malice in her glance and looking at her copy as she had never looked at Samaya before, Mayar said, „If there’s a tomorrow after this and we’ll see each other again, she-wolf, let’s be friends and not enemies.”

Samaya frowned, not understanding the message of the fox’s words. Because of this, she asked eventually, „Friends? We?”

„Do you think that I wish for the impossible?” Mayar asked, calm.

„Yes, because we’ve been created to be the opposite faces of a coin. We are two opposite powers Fate created to fight against each other.”

„No, Samaya! Everybody has used us in fact…. They did that trying to reach their own purposes, and they never cared about us. That’s why I say that if we have a new chance to see the sun again and if we see each other again, then… let’s be us who decide their own fate and not allow others to decide in our place.”

„Something impossible, Mayar!” Said Samaya, also smiling. „You know very well that nobody has won against Fate.”

„I’m not talking about this, she-wolf. I was talking about giving a new chance to this world, a chance I think Fate also wants to give to us. At least this is what I feel.”

Samaya said nothing after such words. She only smiled, hearing the noise of the horse’s hooves, which galloped like a mad soul at that moment. And, as calm as she had never been before, she stretched her arms toward Mayar, palms facing the sky, and waited for the young fox to touch them.

Mayar didn’t touch them right away. She only looked at Samaya, confused because she hadn’t ever expected to see kindness in her rival’s glance while the she-wolf looked at her. Then, without understanding what exactly Fate and Samaya wanted from her, Mayar looked at Samaya’s palms, where she saw the reflection of the sky and earth… as she saw them in her childhood.

Eventually, looking at her palms, Mayar saw exactly the opposite: she saw havoc all over that landscape seen on her palms. „Like two opposite faces of a coin,” she whispered in the end, overwhelmed by the burden of her own words. And, the moment Mannar raised his sword to cut the thread of their lives, the thread of the destiny of two young women with opposite souls, Mayar smiled, stretched her arms in front, palms facing Samaya’s palms, which she touched eventually… At that moment, Time stopped and the world turned to ashes…

***

…ashes could be seen everywhere, no matter where one wouldn’t have looked at that moment. Ashes Ūḻal had seen once, in the water of Caktiyiṉ Ātāram. „A world where only the shadows live,” the Titanide of Lie murmured eventually, stopping right in the middle of Mannar’s glade, the one turned to ruins.

Ūḻal was standing at that moment in the same place Mannar’s cell had been once, the one whose skeleton was barely seen at that moment, covered by ashes and blown by the wind. A place that looked like the Apocalypse. A glade where death became the Queen of the World in the end.

Looking at this, Ūḻal sighed. She bowed her head eventually and closed her eyes for a few moments, allowing the edge of her large hood, while a gray cloak could be seen on her shoulders, to cover her face completely. She didn’t stay like this for a long time, only for a few moments. After that, when she got some courage, Ūḻal raised her head, and the edge of the hood, which suddenly moved back, revealed Ūḻal’s real face to the world: a face covered by scars and traces of burning. „As it had been predicted to me by Island that day,” murmured Ūḻal, who continued her path eventually because she still had a long journey in front once she decided to wander the world and see if there was another living soul there or only shadows. At least this seemed at first glance: that Earth was the planet of shadows, one covered by ashes and overwhelmed by pain.

While leaving, Ūḻal left deep traces in the ash of the time. Traces, which the wind suddenly erased, a wind that was felt in Mannar’s Glade from time to time, just to make sure that the world would forget that pain one day… just as Fate had forgotten planet Earth.

Yet… was it as it seemed to be? Did Fate really forget the world or was it only a mask? An illusion of what was left behind as the result of the punishment the sinners received for dreaming about the Throne of the World without being aware that the World was its Master in fact…

Eventually, Ūḻal looked at that master when she turned her head and looked toward the place where the Camp of the Rophions existed once. There, right above the camp, the First Ring of Fate reactivated again. Then… the second one was reactivated too - right above the Kingdom of Paṉi Makkaḷ while the third one appeared above the Forest of the Ghouls, and so on… until seven Rings of Fate weren’t seen all around the world. Thus, the moment the Seven Rings of Fate half colored in the red of the fire and half in the blue of the sky, Themis appeared right in their center - the Balance of the World and the only Master, which suddenly turned into the Wheel of Time that started to move back… slowly-slowly…

TO BE CONTINUED…