Samaya was sleeping for three days already. And, because she wasn't giving any sign that she would awake soon, Dike started to be worried about what would have happened to her if she had remained in that state, and the feeling of angst, that was so powerful felt in his chest, made him shudder and blame himself for every single evil thing that happened to Samaya.
And Fenrir felt the same, for he was who denied Samaya the right of being accompanied. But even so, with that remorse that was killing him inside, the boy still had faith that everything will end well.
That's why, while everybody was so focused on helping Samaya to wake up, Fenrir decided to go somewhere to clear his mind.
Thus, even if it was early morning, the sun wasn't yet in the sky, and even the birds were still asleep, Fenrir woke up, hit the deck, and evanesced in the forest, trying not to be seen leaving just not to be forced to stay there, where he felt that he lacked power and that the stuffy atmosphere was strangling him.
„I must find the other Samaya," the boy thought, all night long, for he couldn't sleep at all, and the flames of Hestia's fire had been so noisy as if scolding him, and this made him so upset. That's why he took the decision to find the other Samaya and finally understand what was going on.
However, even if he thought that leaving the camp so early will be scary for him, he found it very interesting, for even if the forest was sunken into darkness and no light was piercing the green vault painted by the trees'branches, that seemed to be hugged, Fenrir wasn't scared, for he knew those paths well, he walked on to those paths for so many times before that he could distinguish any melody or chirp, and he even managed to recognize the breath of the trees from around him or their voice, for the boy found out and since long ago already that even the trees could talk, exchanging thoughts and ideas that they had in their wooden heads.
His calm walk instead made the trees poke and pry, and their curiosity was felt in the way they were moving their branches, and how they were slowly bending their crowns, a little bit in front, to see better who was coming while they were weirdly whispering something with the shake of their leaves. Then, something magical happened, and Fenrir could see it from the corner of his eyes, for the asleep nature had something unusual and unknown till then by the boy. Yet, he didn't feel anything evil at those trees.
„It's probably Baradar,” the boy thought and stopped, closing his eyes and… waited. „The leaves," Fenrir whispered in his head. „They are singing, but their song is so unknown to me, even if it seems to me that this is the song of my life."
O.S.
„Baradar is your music, Baradar is your soul,
It's the heart of your kingdom, the breath of your home,
A brotherhood that lasted for thousands of years,
Guarding your steps, reminding you about forgotten dreams.
And you are his heir, part of his soul,
His future that's lacking hope and sweet love,
And, no matter what decision you'll make in this life,
Baradar will be with you, supporting your try."
„And… who am I for Baradar?” Fenrir asked, still having his eyes closed. So, he could hear the voice of the woods:
„You are the Magic sent by Aeon here, on Earth, to save our souls, boy, and you are also the Power. This life you're living now isn't your first life, as it isn't our first life too: of the trees, of the birds, of the herbs, and of any other living creature or object that exists on this planet."
And, opening his eyes, Fenrir could finally see the minikin heading toward him.
But that minikin wasn't similar to any other small creature and he also hadn't any physical trait borrowed from the dwarves or gnomes or any other human being that could be considered a short person.
He had the size of a 7-year-old boy, with dark blue eyes, and blond long hair up to the shoulders. His nose was sharp, about 8-10 centimeters in length, and his ears were somehow reminding others about the deer's ears. His vestment wasn't expensive, but it wasn't also cheap: it was something mixed, something taken from the peasant's garments and the dolls'garment, dolls used in the theaters of our times.
And if he hadn't walked and talked, someone could have believed that he wasn't a real creature or he could have been mistaken for Pinocchio, who ran from the fairy tales and hid in the woods. However, he was real, made from flesh and bones, and Fenrir knew this so well. That's why, when Baradar talked to him, the boy has been so happy.
„I am Baradar,” the minikin told Fenrir while being only a few meters from him, floating in the air, about 1 meter above the ground.
Even if he tried, Fenrir couldn't hide his amazement when he asked: „Baradar? Are you real? I've thought that Baradar is just a story, invented thousands of years ago by humans. How can be Baradar a real creature?"
Hearing that innocent question, Baradar sweetly laughed. Then, he approached the boy more, floating in the air, and the sound of his movement was similar to the echo produced by a stream that falls from off not a too high border of a land, to rush later on white stones and run down the river bed. And it could also be compared with the sound of the small waves of a waterfall in which mystical creatures, of amazing beauty, were swimming.
„Those stories are more than real,” said Baradar, „for I've been who invented them and put them on the humans'tongues to be sent from mouth to mouth. And I told them those stories in their sleep, for only this way I could teach them to love nature more, to respect the trees'soul and pray to the Holy Spirit for the protection of their home, of their family, and of the lands, they are living on to."
„And you? Who are you and why are you calling yourself Baradar?" Fenrir insisted as if he didn't believe any word told by the minikin.
Baradar smiled again and descended on the earth, carefully arranging the skirts of his long coat. „Because I've been saved once by the Holy Spirit and he has been who gave me this name."
Turning his back on the boy, Baradar advanced through the woods, continuing his story, and Fenrir followed him with no fear, for he felt no danger while being next to that creature, who pleasantly smelled like nature and who was floating around like the Fairy of Kindness.
„Many hundreds of years ago, I've been a soldier," Baradar began his story. „I've lived on a land known as Mortor: the lands of those braves, and those lands were known by many, not only because the brave soldiers were living there, protecting those realms with their skillfulness and fearlessness, but also because our people was known like the People of Noear. We were led by the Fairy Queen Noea," and, when Baradar whispered that name, he stopped for a few seconds, and touched the thick trunk of a tree, supporting his forehead on its bark as if he had touched the forehead of a beloved lady.
„I fell in love with her… from the first moment I've seen her… in that marble balcony… touching the Meagar (a musical instrument similar to the violin). And she was so beautiful that day… bathed by the light of a loving sun, that was slowly touching her face, kissing her soft skin and her head, caressing her long, golden hair, scattered on her back up to heels, and this made her so similar to an unearthly creature."
But the minikin suddenly kept silent and looked in the distance… at a Portal made from Magic Waves. But he has been the only one who saw it and, on that Portal, his memories have been reflected as if he was reflecting his face on the water's surface: a long time ago forgotten memories, times he was longing for, and, in the same memories, he saw his beloved queen, Noea, the Goddess of Mortor… she was combing her long golden hair in front of the open window, smiling while watching the multicolored flowers seen under her balcony, flowers that were filling, with a pleasant scent, the air around, with beautiful butterflies that were gently dancing above those flowers, kissing their rounded, multicolored heads.
And, in the same memories, Baradar saw himself, climbing into a high tree, with thick branches, that was towering toward the sky right in the middle of the Garden of that Marble Palace. But he hid his glance when Noea looked at the tree and smiled at him, making be seen, on his cheeks, red poppy flowers.
„And… what happened next?” Fenrir curiously asked, forcing Baradar to watch him and smile, with that beautiful smile that was charming the nature's heart around.
„She never knew about my love… and she never knew about this for I've been shy and a quitter and I've always run of her. But I regret this now, for if I had told her about my love, maybe things would have been different, I could have seen her now and this wouldn't have broken my heart while being so alone."
„But if you had told her about your love then, you wouldn't have been here now. And... anyway, you wouldn't have seen her after that, for Queens are never with the soldiers, but with the princes, in the end," Fenrir innocently said.
„Maybe,” said Baradar. „Maybe it is how you said or maybe she can see me now, but I am not aware of this."
„But, I'm still confused. You said you loved her and, from what you've just said, you still love her. That's why I don't get it: how can a person not feel the one he loves so much? If you don't see her, I think that isn't worthy… that love… I think."
As if by magic… after Fenrir's words, right in the middle of that forest, the splendor of the realms of Mortor showed up: it was a place next to a small waterfall, whose waters were brightly blinking in the light of the sun, making that realm seem as if brought there from the fairy tales.
The water of the waterfall was falling into a small brook that was running down the valley, washing the sharp edge of the stones from its bottom to the white, making them seem like snowballs. After that, the river was losing its winding shape somewhere on the horizon, among the trees of that silver birch woods.
Nature around the waterfall instead was bright green, with thick and dangerous bushes at first glance. But the breath of the woods, heard in the distance, was calm and melodious instead, and that breath built trust in everybody who was listening to it, more if that person dared to look for a long time at that beautiful green of the trees.
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But that forest had also something weird at the same time: no trace of life was felt there - no chirp was heard, no kind of flapping was felt, no howl of the wolves was heard too, as no cunning glance of the foxes, lurking from the bushes, wasn't seen.
„But…,” said Fenrir, narrowing his eyes and looking into the depths of that forest. „This place is dead, isn't it?" And, the boy's answer, amazed Baradar so much, for the first time when that splendid place appeared in front of the boy, Fenrir looked so amazed. And, Baradar preferred to deeply look into the boy's soul through his eyes, to find out the answer to why he asked that question.
„Who are you?” Baradar asked, after a few instants of staring into the boy's eyes. Then, without waiting for the boy's answer, he touched the middle of his forehead, with his index finger.
The moment Baradar's finger touched Fenrir's forehead, the minikin closed his eyes, but… even if he was looking for answers, he didn't know what to expect from entering the boy's world. Something in his soul instead told him that the boy wasn't a living creature like any other creature and that the boy had a big destiny to fulfill in his future.
And the answer he looked for came so suddenly into Baradar's mind: a huge oak forest… the deep darkness of a divine forest that became thicker and thicker with each centimeter taken in front… eyes spying on the minikin while he was walking through that forest… evil eyes… the eyes of the demons… then, he also saw the wolves'eyes, hungry wolves waiting for their prey.
And, in the middle of a glade surrounded by flames, Baradar saw a big, black wolf, which slowly turned toward him when he felt the minikin, and Baradar could see the sadness in the wolf's eyes, that he was hurt, and not only his body was injured, but also his soul, for he has been betrayed by those who he trusted, and that he had nobody else by his side to give him comfort and support him.
Then, after instants of looking into the wolf's eyes, a deep sigh has been heard coming out from Baradar's chest while he was slowly advancing in front, barely crawling his legs and fighting against his own weakness not to fall.
„Ōnāykaḷiṉ paricutta āvi (Tamil),” Baradar whispered, and his words meant that he finally saw the Holy Spirit of the Woods of the Dead Ones, a forest known as Iṟanta Varkaḷiṉ, and the minikin stopped, then started to crawl back, till his heels touched the water of a brook into which he later fell.
Underwater, Baradar saw the truth of Fenrir's fate: he has been born at first like a simple wolf cub. But this was only what others were seeing, for Fenrir had written in his destiny a great future and his fate was something predestined by Yggdrasil. That meant that the boy's fate was in Chaos's hands too, that he had his fate intertwined with Chaos's Fate, and that their fates could be exchanged at their will, that they had a single path to walk onto.
Yet, none of them knew that secret, hidden by Alabar itself in its essence, for the Gate of Galaxies has existed long before being drawn by Chaos on the Sphere of World, but it was something hidden from him, for he was weak sometimes in front Eris, who could read the future thus and fulfill her evil thoughts later.
Then, Baradar saw the boy growing up, learning to fight like a skillful soldier, and that he'll be a great king of his people. But the minikin also saw that the wolf will be betrayed by the same people he fought to protect, hunted by them, and chased away like a vagabond dog.
And, at the end of his vision, the minikin saw two girls, looking the same, whose unified power seemed to try to kill the wolf, hunting him with magic balls of fire, scorching the nature around and his fur, hurting his body and his soul.
The minikin also saw a white beautiful city completely set on fire, and he saw Fenrir, the wolf, standing on a white stone balcony and looking in the distance as he was staying and waiting for someone, who was late to come, and this hurt his soul so much, completely destroying him inside.
Then, when all the trees, that had towered around that balcony once, had been burnt to the ground, the wolf turned his head and looked at the horizon to his right, as if he saw Baradar just in front of his eyes, and the words he whispered had been definitely spoken to reach the minikin's ears:
„Harsh times will come over those lands, Baradar, and those times will burn your woods and will slaughter the souls of those who you love and protect so much. I'm with you right now, in the shape of that 9 years old boy, but my soul is much older than this world is, for I wandered voids and far away realms in the Cosmos for so long and I'm still wandering them till I'll finally fulfill the fate that has been predestined for me, having a human body. But I'm also aware that I can't protect that body even from myself. That's why I tell you all this: to survive, nature should be by his side or everything around will be surrounded by pain and havoc very soon, looking deplorable and smelling like death," and, after these words had been spoken, behind the wolf, Eris's eyes showed up, and her hatred, in the form of a big arson, also burnt to wolf's body, turning him to ashes.
Suddenly, Baradar turned to the real world and the moment of his falling into the water happened in reverse, and, when he opened his eyes, he has been so amazed to see that his hair and his garments were completely dried and that he was still touching the boy's forehead.
Withdrawing his hand, Baradar looked into the boy's eyes and he recognized in that innocent glance the wolf's one, so concerned about that world, but which didn't lose the blinks of innocence.
Even so, the minikin understood the pain that the Spirit of the Woods felt at the moment he talked to him. That's why he decided not to tell the boy about his vision, for it wasn't the time to tell him about this yet or scare him.
„Let's take a sit,” Baradar told the boy when he felt that he calmed down. Then, they sat down on a big, white rock that was right by the brook, and, from off that rock, they could see multicolored fish swimming in that crystalline water.
„You saw something there, don't you?" The boy eventually asked the minikin.
„I saw,” simply said Baradar, without watching him.
„And… what did you see? Something bad?” Insisted Fenrir, but the minikin kept silent for a long time, and it was already dusk when he finally said something.
But for an unknown reason, the boy didn't feel the passing of time, for, next to that magic creature, hours had flown like minutes, seasons changed in seconds, and those changes were closely related to the minikin's changing feelings.
„Sometimes is better not to know your future,” the minikin said, watching the sunset. „For if you know it, you'll try to change it. Fate instead can't be changed and, eventually, you understand that you fought for nothing. That's why, just live your life, Fenrir, and the future will reveal itself in front of you when its time will come, for either the future can't hide its body from you, as the passing of time can't be stopped."
„But, what about our destiny?" The boy said, and Baradar understood that not the boy was talking to him, but the wolf from his vision.
„The destiny? I can't answer this question, for I have no right to reveal this to you, you - the one made from flesh and blood. I can only control nature and the life-giving serum that flows through the branches of the trees, through their leaves, trunks, and roots. But I have no power in front of humans'fate or control their time."
„Then... you should look inside you and when you'll finally be able to chase the darkness from your soul away, you'll also be able to see the truth."
Suddenly, the boy disappeared, as if he would have never sat down next to Baradar. But his disappearance didn't preoccupy the minikin, for he knew that it has been just a product of his imagination and that the boy was on his own way, looking to fulfill his destiny.
***
After the moment of his disappearance from Baradar's imaginary world, Fenrir kept walking through the forest. But despite that Baradar thought that the boy wasn't aware of seeing him or of what happened in that twilling world, Fenrir remembered everything. Even if he wasn't aware of all that, he knew everything, as he also knew that inside of him was another soul hiding there, waiting for the future to fulfill it together.
And, with those twisted memories in his mind, Fenrir got to the hidden village of the red foxes. But... there wasn't anybody there - the place had been abandoned the same day Samaya and the fox had their fight. But even if the place hadn't been abandoned that long ago, it looked as if nobody lived there for centuries.
„It's weird," thought the boy, for even if he saw everything abandoned, he felt that there was something more, for his hidden olfactive sense smelled the stinky odor of the foxes from far away. And, even if they had tried to erase all the traces, Fenrir was more than capable to find them if he wanted. But he decided not to do that, for it wasn't the right moment for that.
He stood in that place for minutes, but nothing has been revealed to him. Yet, when he was about to leave that place, Fenrir saw one black hair on the ground, where the pyre of the foxes has been settled before. And, when he bent and touched that hair with the top of his fingers, he felt a weird presence there.
But as a little boy, Fenrir hadn't enough power to see whose presence he felt. So, he changed into a wolf and, getting his nose closer to the hair left on the ground, he deeply inhaled that scent: then, when the current of air entered his nostrils and got to his brain, quickly flowing through his veins, the boy understood that the strand of that hair had actually two smells - a fox stinky one and a human one.
„Mama,” whispered the boy. „This hair smells like mama. But... why?" He wondered and looked around. So, he saw Gaea next to him, who slowly bent and took the hair from below. The boy, however, didn't scare, seeing the Titanide there, for he was used to her sudden showings up.
„Because this hair has been stolen from your mother the day she left this world, and, from its essence, the reflection of the evil has been created, the same evil you feel around," Gaea said.
„Are you talking about the other one who looks exactly like my twin sister?"
„Yes. Her name is also Samaya, or at least she's known by others by this name, and she has the same destiny your sister has. But this one will fight by the evil's side, and not in the army of good," and the Titanide made flames show up in her hand, flames that burnt the hair. „Actually, her real name is Mayar and she has been born from humans, in a village that's not that far from Rophion Forest, the day your mother died. And her change in what you've seen in that Glade of Shadows is due to Eris, who felt her end close. That's why she decided to change that child's fate and she ordered Mannar, her faithful dog, to steal a strand of hair from your mother's head and create a copy of your sister. But... what nobody knew was that their unified power can be more destructible than anybody else's, and that's not a decided fact that the girl's power will be used only by the evil's purposes."
„She changes her form,” whispered Fenrir while taking a few steps to and fro, remembering that he saw Samaya transforming her body into a fox and back while sleeping. „But... how does she do that or why?"
„It's because her thread of life has been knotted with the other girl's destiny, at the moment they touched their palms and unified their powers."
„And, how can we stop this?” The boy insisted.
„It can't be stopped, Fenrir. It can only be destroyed. But to destroy that bond, one of the two Samaya must die," and the Titanide's words made the boy shudder.
„To die? One of them must die? Why?”
„I don't know, boy. I don't know this yet, for it's also hidden from me. And, even if I tried so many times to read their future in water or in stars, nature around keeps silent about what will happen to them, and I think that nobody has the power to see what I couldn't."
„Not even Baradar can tell us this? I met him today and he saw something about my future when he touched my forehead."
„He also can't, Fenrir, for he's tied by the curse of silence. Baradar has been cursed when he killed his queen. So, he can only watch, understand, and think, but he can never reveal to the world what he saw. Not until the Forest of the Dead Ones won't vanish, and your soul won't vanish too, forever."
„I saw that forest, too, Mother Earth. I saw it today. And, I don't know why, but I felt that it was part of me," and the boy looked at Gaea, for a long time, waiting for her to say to him at least something. But Gaea was silent, for she didn't know what was going on while she was wondering why everything happened like that.
Saying no word, Gaea walked away eventually, and, so soon, her body has been hidden by the trees, leaving the boy in the same place, sniffing the horizon while fear was slowly sneaking into his soul.