The rustling of the waters, moved in circles by a strange wind, left deep imprints on the water's surface, as blue-gray traces, reminding somehow about an unequal fight for supremacy and survival in the heart of the forest.

  Above the trees, the purple sky was acting up again, moved by the hatred born in Sephir’s soul, who tried to stand up to the continuum attack of the Water's Spirit, who was chasing her everywhere, having a single purpose in his mind: to subdue her.

  But the girl didn't intend to be submissive at all. Raised and taught to be free, Sephir always followed this pattern in life, being supported by all her family and especially by Boor, who saw himself, in his elder daughter, like a reflection of his stormy youth, as if it happened yesterday only.

  „Huh!” The girl loudly yelled, throwing a wave of water above Ian Gyar, at that moment he threw himself over her, in all the splendor of his being, as a Water Spirit.

  But, hitting the wave thrown over him made him slow down his motion and, for a few seconds, he stopped in place, unpleasantly surprised by Sephir’s dare, who instead of being easy prey was a strong opponent, and this was something Ian Gyar disliked in her.

  Standing face to face, both in an attack position, they spied on each other in silence, waiting for the surprise because none of them knew what the other one was capable of and, without rushing to start the fight again, they tried to regain some strength and learn the enemy’s tactic of fighting while breathing to keep the power of life inside them.

  Sephir slowly shuddered when she finally managed to catch his glance: „This Spirit has the same blink in the eyes as the one who is spying on me for so long time from the thicket of the forest,” she thought and the top of her foot slowly moved in place, leaving a semicircle on the slippery soil on which her footstep was placed and this movement made a sound similar to a slow rustle of waters while the lake surface bundled by the wind because Sephir had not only the awakening of the sky's hatred in her power but also to make the waters boiling around her move that was fed by the energy and pulsations of life, deeply hidden in her being.

  That's why Ian Gyar focused his glance on the rustling of the waters and, in the corner of his eye, a black tear showed up, round like a bead, but with a devilish blink in it and this weird and mystic sparkle, as if taken from deep underground, made the water surface shudder and, around them, the air-water snakes slowly raised in the air.

  Sephir muffled a shout - the snakes were her deadly enemies, even if Zeal, her middle sister, had the Magic of chanting the cobras in her power and Sephir saw this spell so many times before, especially the alluringly sparkle seen in their eyes while listening to Zeal’s melodious voice, who was calling them under her protective wing and spell.

  But this movement of the water's snakes made Sephir shudder till deep in her bones because she fell prey to their hug before, but she never understood who was controlling those snakes.

  Till that moment when she saw Ian Gyar for the first time, standing in front of her and demanding the snakes attack her again.

  Ian Gyar had always been behind the girl because when he finally escaped from the captivity of Noea, when the People of Noear had been destroyed, he felt free to decide his own fate, and the first alive being he saw then had been Sephir, who was washing her body in the transparent waters of a sweet stream, under the soft and enigmatic kiss of a dusk sun.

  That had been the moment of an inmost calling for him, who saw himself driven crazy by that splendid being of a virgin's body and the madness had awakened in him.

  He wanted her near him: as a wife, as a partner, and as a beloved person, but when Sephir felt someone spying on her and she looked toward the bushes from where the evil energy was felt, Ian Gyar saw hatred in her eyes and he understood that she won’t come alone to him and that he must subdue her.

  Using his inner magic, as an air blow of energy, moved from inside him, he managed to send this current the outside of his body while the green of nature was also moving with him, and, from those air currents, unseen, transparent spirits have been formed, which had been sent snaking toward Sephir.

  Thus, their transparent bodies won a blue shade when they entered the water and when Sephir felt their presence near her, she looked around and saw herself surrounded from everywhere while they were moving into a circle, apparently chaotic, but with precise movements, by blue snakes, and their movement was closing the circle of moving waters around her.

  Sephir clenched her fists, trying to use the power of the wind to disperse their bodies, but her trials had been baren because the power of the snakes was bigger than hers inside the stream because she never took into consideration the fact that she was powerless surrounded by waters and this way she was vulnerable in front of any attack.

  But this helplessness Ian Gyar noticed in her and, because of this, he decided to attack her while she was swimming. And, stepping out of the bushes, he completely transformed himself into a black spirit and, moving in circles, like a spinning top on one foot, he transformed himself into a snake and, with quick movements, he entered the water, approached the girl, and curled up around her body, trying to suck in all the energy of her being.

  Caught in his clutches and feeling helpless, Sephir called her sister in a whisper, and those waters were her friends, which moved away from her voice till they got to Zeal, who was sleeping as always on a big, lotus leaf and, hearing the frightened voice of her sister, she hurried up to help her, despite the rivalry that was between them.

  Certainly, the cobras'attack, moved by Zeal’s hatred, had been what weakened Ian Gyar’s strength and he saw himself forced to step back and vanish into the waters, setting free his prey.

  But he took the mad desire to have her with him and he went away, but with the intention to turn back one day.

  Thusly, for many centuries, he just lurked at her in silence, waiting for the right moment, but from the moment he attacked her, Sephir wasn’t swimming while being alone.

  She was always accompanied by Zeal because the call of blood was stronger than the rivalry between them and, feeling a danger spying on her sister, Zeal never left Sephir alone again because she loved her and she didn't want to lose her like she lost her mother.

  And, because she was worried, she warned Sephir to be careful and count on her protection because when Sephir was losing power, being inside the waters, Zeal was gaining them, and, this way, they were completing each other.

  But Zeal’s warnings had been useless in front of Ian Gyar’s cunning, who used Himera’s image, Sephir’s mother, who disappeared a long time ago, to attract her to his den.

  And Sephir fell into the trap and entered the Forest of Mortor, without telling anyone about this, as her mother told her in her dreams.

  But that face, which Sephir saw in her dreams, was just an illusion. A fake creation of Ian Gyar’s Black Magic and the girl followed that image as if hypnotized and she approached the danger, entering its plenary.

  „You… you, who are you?” Sephir whispered, carefully looking at the waters around her, which were slowly transforming their being into her worst nightmare - blue water snakes.

  But her innocent question, born because of fear, made Ian Gyar step with confidence toward her, and the image of his eyes, mirroring in the blackness of her retina, enchanted her like a cobra under the spell of Zeal’s words, and Sephir hardened.

  A beautiful, black statue in the mirage of the water world: it was Sephir at that moment while Ian Gyar was approaching his body of hers and his arms slowly moved on her body, as if in an imaginary hug, while the sky, moved by the alive hatred of Sephir’s soul, was shuddering under the heaving rain and the fire stab of the thunder lights, which were passing through the burly body of the clouds, was splitting up the sky into two, illuminating the surroundings.

  „Splendor in my hands and pure love,” whispered Ian Gyar in the girl’s ear, and, around them, the water and the blue snakes were dancing, as if they were endorsing this union between a Water Spirit and the Spirit of Heavy Rains and Strong Winds, regardless of that the souls of the two had different wishes, totally opposed, but Ian Gyar’s madness was limitless, for him his desire was the only thing that mattered and that is why he continued the series of his delusions, prolonging the act of rapprochement and leaving for later the act of union itself.

  „Fate is calling us, dancing in the waves of its energetic magma because the love that is born today between us will last forever. I am the one Parca predicted as your soul mate and I will also be the one who will help you to reach eternity by my side, Sephir. My eyes saw only you, mirroring in the waters of my soul, and it wished you: as my wife, like my mother, as my beloved woman because my own life pulsates in you and I wish to be with you till this Earth will sigh its last breath and then we will be again together in the void that will last after that.”

  But he had been awakened from his daydream by Sephir’s fingers, who grabbed him by his throat and was squeezing it more and more while her eyes, colored in the shade of ink, threw madness and despair around under the form of heavy rain, thunderbolts, and thunder lights, which were splitting the sky into two and were falling over the Forest of Mortor, transforming it into the world of black monsters, and of water monsters.

  „You messed with the wrong person, water dog,” Sephir whizzed through her teeth and, pressing with all her strength on the point which pulsates life on Ian Gyar’s neck, she threw him hard against the rocks, and when his body touched the sharp belly of the earth, Ian Gyar liquified and he poured into the water, as a dark-blue liquid.

  But this movement was only one of his tricks because he right away showed up behind the girl and, feeling his presence, Sephir raised in the air, intending to escape from the hug of his arms because it was what Ian Gyar intended to do.

  Yet, the lap of her coat had been grabbed by the sharp teeth of the black snake in which the Spirit once again transformed his body and he was dragging her down, toward him, while Sephir was pulling her body to the sky, struggling with him.

  „It’s useless,” said Sephir and, clenching her fists, she called Navarro there - the horse of Hurricanes.

  Furiously beating from his huge, black wings, while he was flying above the woods, the horse made the trees bend to the ground, the waters moved in circles, furiously spinning around and it formed the hurricane, but Ian Gyar resisted this attack.

  Caught inside the air trap, he forced himself to jump up and, catching Sephir into his arms, from behind, he hugged her with all his strength, leaving only the Magic of his inner voice floating around while their bodies were spinning around, moved by the force of the hurricane as if they were into a huge, bottomless throat, and their eyes were seeing only Navarro in front of them, whose harsh breath was feeding the power of the hurricane and it was waiting for the right moment so that the girl to jump on its body and take her away of there, on wind wings.

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  „Mountain waters, sweet waters, soul waters, and waters of longing,

  Listen to my calling and hear my command:

  Transform the forgetfulness in whispers of longing,

  And leave around us only the silence of peace,

  Washed by the sun of love and transformed in Paradise.

  Do so that our souls, unified by fate,

  Feel this bond deep inside our beings,

  And what Parca made one, not to be separated by men,

  Or by hatred, or by force and neither the Death nor the Desire,

  To have a word to say about this, because…”

  And Sephir fell prey to the spell because the words spoken by Ian Gyar took her power away, and her mind chaotically floating around, like in a world washed by waters, in which she was a prisoner, possessed and disarmed by her own wishes, felt desperate because she had no strength to fight against that evil, to resist or call for help.

  Then was when Ian Gyar saw his chance… he bent on his back, still hugging the girl’s body, and he also closed his eyes, entering the same world as her.

  But Sephir didn’t resist his kiss, full of poison, because her body couldn’t move at all and the hardening of her being also brought oblivion there.

  Slowly, slowly, she immersed herself deep-deep into the waters. She left herself sink in its dark depths, as her body fell deeper and deeper, unwillingly, lifeless, waiting for the end of that madness because she was meant to die once her union with Ian Gyar would be finished because their union was against the law of nature because water spirits had, in their power, the soullessness of the submissive one, as happened to Zeal's mother, who had been swallowed by waters, after a deadly bit of a Vanamar wolf, sent there by Ahi, who wished her, but he couldn’t possess her, for, just as he had wished, in the past, everything his brother Island had, in time, he started to want everything of Boor's and, step by step, he succeeded a lot in this because first Himera disappeared, after being chased by his mad desire, then Zayleea - the Titanide of the Limitless Sky, fell prey to his madness while she was swimming in the river, and, in the end, Bestla transformed her mother into a stream when she tried to kill her own child, being possessed by Ahi’s demons.

  The same fate will befall Sephir. She knew it and she preferred to destroy herself than to attack her family or live her life next to the one who attacked her and slowly, she formed an imaginary Gate in front of her and, swimming toward there, she entered the World of Shadows, where nobody ever returned from.

***

  The world in which Sephir has immersed was weird and magic at the same time, even if the Magic was moved by the Dark Power there, subduing the surroundings.

  All over, the darkness was swallowing the light because those sparkles of life weren’t anything else that pure souls, accidentally called there from Purgatory or they were souls, as Sephir, which chose to walk on this path of perdition just to forget or run off somebody.

  Yet, their life was sinking into the pitch of oblivion, when the darkness was taking over them, destroying their existence and strengthening the ranks of the memoryless, that would later revolt against this world on the side of evil.

  And this arrangement of things, as that world of shadows, had been created by Eris, helped by Tenebre, for the two had a strong connection, regardless of the fact that they existed in two different worlds.

  But the unique energy that flowed through them made them wish the same: to rule this world and that Galaxy of Shadows was something that was serving them both because only there they could freely act and their evil mind could give birth to so many monsters, under the influence of their sick soul because of the hatred, zealous, and power-loving.

  Slowly advancing on that path, submerged 3 quarters in darkness, Sephir looked around, but that dead forest was talking to her neither by image nor by breath and the girl felt that world as being a void that lacked everything, besides the hardening of souls because it was seen everywhere, washed by shadows.

  Then followed the movement: a light waving of the air, as if the canvas of a painting had been slightly shaken by the people, and the view completely changed in front of her eyes and, instead of the forest, Sephir saw the Ocean: limitless, blue, calm.

  But its calmness awakened in the girl’s soul the anxiety, making her stop in place and look in the distance, at a strange movement of clouds above waters, which weren’t flowing as always, but which were crawling, just like the snakes do, piercing the transparent body of the sky.

  „The snakes!” whispered Sephir, shuddering, and, turning her back to the Ocean, she started to run in the opposite direction.

  But no matter how much she was running, she felt that she was standing in place, seeing the same view around and, soon, she felt the noise of the Ocean waters behind her, dizzyingly coming over her and, hardly hitting her body, it swallowed her, sinking her in its depth while big snakes, water snakes were moving around her, confusing and scaring her, making her struggle, ask for help, but her open mouth made no sound, she didn’t inhale any breath of air and also she didn’t feel how the water was entering her body, and that avalanche of emotions took completely over her, making her feel powerless in front of fate.

  „The Eternal Punishment!” a thought sneaked into the girl’s brain and „stuck” there while Sephir understood her mistake: she entered that world running because of water snakes, but, because of her biggest fear, they found her there because the Purgatorium was nothing else than a complete void of fears that were swallowing her soul, punishing it.

  And, soon, she saw another truth: a soul in the Purgatorium had a life circle, which was always the same - at first it was dust, then a hardened stone, to be reborn from nothingness later, and return it to dust again.

  „I’ll live the same forever,” she whispered again. „Surrounded by snakes and feeling their sticking and cold body next to me while shuddering because of the thought that I’ll never get rid of them, and I’ll live here, with them, this eternity.”

  But soon, she saw a sparkle of life in the tar void. However, she wasn’t happy, but upset, because she thought that the sparkle of light was just another innocent soul which was paying there its little sins like she was doing, but the light was approaching her more and more, till her eyes saw Fenrir’s face and he was stretching his arms toward her.

  Sephir shuddered because she couldn’t understand what devilish thought was that and, starting to move her body, she approached him and then she felt something small following her and pushing her body toward Fenrir.

  But she could see who that little creature was only when the light, produced by Fenrir’s body, illuminated the void and when she looked back again, she saw Baradar, smiling at her.

  Unwillingly, she smiled too, but the calmness of her soul shacked, when she saw Ian Gyar in the distance, behind Baradar, swimming toward them, as a big black snake.

  Frightened, Sephir turned her body toward Fenrir, and, in a desperate move, she grabbed his hands and he hugged her. Then, suddenly, Fenrir spun, and, in a blink of an eye, they had been thrown again into the same forest Sephir saw the first time she entered that world.

  „You, here, are messing with my plans, wolf. You won’t ever take my wife away from me, only if you kill me first!” Ian Gyar’s thundering voice had been heard all over, like a stormy falling of waters, and the forest started to chaotically rustle, bringing the heavy smell of waters closer to them.

  „Fenrir, bring the fire!” yelled Baradar, showing them the dried forest around, which had been uncovered by the greening of their leaves, and Sephir saw all this still being hugged by Fenrir’s arms.

  „Do you think you can help me with this?” He whispered while looking deep inside her soul through her dark eyes.

  But Sephir was too scared to understand the hidden message of his words and she whispered like a dump: „With what?”

  „Bring Navarro here! I’ll take care of the rest!”

  Sephir slowly nodded and, helped by Fenrir, she stood up. He released her hands and, taking a few steps back, he turned into a wolf while his voice was heard as if coming out of the void itself.

  „Now, Sephir! Now!” And Sephir listened to him - she stretched her arms on both sides, with closed eyes, and the wind around intensified its blow while her lips were feverishly whispering the words a long time ago forgotten, words barely heard by others.

  But that forest was opposing to her spell with all its being and no matter how hard she tried to bring the heavy clouds over them, the devilish breath of that forest was chasing the rain away.

  „I can’t! I can’t call him here!” She yelled at the young man and, opening her eyes, she saw the forest burning and the fire was fed by Fenrir’s fur, who was staring into the eyes of the black snake, raised on his thick and gnarly tail till the sky and Fenrir’s hatred brought the heat of the fire even closer, forcing the snake to intensify the pulsations of its magic, under the form of black waves of water, that were rotating around his body.

  „Call him here, now!” whispered Baradar to her, and, while she was watching him, Sephir saw how the minikin slowly bowed in front of the forest in fire, and those trees, moved by the devil’s breath, also bowed in front of the minikin because not for nothing Baradar had been named the Spirit of the Woods: he was capable to anoint their souls, so tired of being submissive and, hearing his call, the trees had made a loud yell, which rolled all over the nature, like a call of hatred, fed by the winds produced by Sephir’s hatred, who brought the heavy clouds on the sky again and Navarro came with them too.

  The horse stopped near Sephir, descending from the sky, and, fiercely puffing from its nostrils, it waited for the girl’s command.

  Then, Sephir approached him and, caressing its ridge, she whispered in its ear: „bring here the anger of nature, Navarro. The breath of your life should descend on these lands and save the woods,” and the horse hardly hit from his wings and the blow of winds became even more intense, powerfully moving the water around the snake and when the winds became so furious, moved by the beating of Navarro’s wings, it broke into pieces, like if it was a mirror, and the heavy drops of water extinguished the fire of the trees closer them.

  Then, it was Fenrir’s turn, who jumped over the snake and stuck his fangs into his throat.

  But the water body of the snake was injuring his skin. Even so, Fenrir didn’t give up. He didn’t want it and a roar of the two rolled all over to the horizon, but none of them stepped back, setting free his prey.

  Seeing the dense fog made by the water, while touching the wolf’s fur in fire, Sephir became alert because she saw how Fenrir was transforming his body from wolf to human and back too soon than it had to be, and, lacking power, he heard her commanding him to stop, but he couldn’t.

  Then she told the minikin „Help me!”

  „With what?”

  „In Navarro’s ridge, you will find a small chain, similar to the reins. Bring it here!”

  The minikin ran toward the black horse while Sephir made the heavy rain pour even harder because the fire wasn’t extinguished, even if Fenrir was losing power. But his hatred remained the same and his soul, which was furious with the water spirit, was igniting, even more, the woods, burning the water scales of the snake when the water on them was boiled and evaporated in the air.

  Baradar, took, from in the horse’s ridge, the small piece of chain and, running toward Sephir, he threw one top to her - she grabbed it and, without realizing it, she threw it back toward Navarro and the second top stuck on the horse’s reins, which showed up on him, from nowhere, and she could form a chains trap between them.

  When the trap was ready, Baradar threw himself over Fenrir and, tightly hugging him, he took his power and forced the young man to give up on his stubbornness and release the snake's throat, and, in a blink of an eye, the two fell behind Sephir, who threw the chains trap over the snake, helped by Navarro, which raised in the air.

  Feeling himself a captive, the snake started to desperately move. But the chains, which were tightening around his body, even more, were deeply biting from his skin, and then it started to burn. Looking back, Sephir saw a line of fire coming out from Fenrir’s hand and, unifying with the trap, it set it on fire, hurting Ian Gyar’s body.

  „Cursed! Be cursed!” the snake’s roar was heard while his body was moving in pain, surrounded by flames and transforming his being into burning ashes, and the nature all around started to extinguish because Fenrir reached the limit of his power and it allowed the trees to breathe and their breath, blessed by Baradar’s power, cooled their souls and vanished the flames that were injuring their trunks.

  With the last power he still had, Ian Gyar returned to the real world, but he also took the trap of chains with him because it was cursed and he couldn’t break it. And at the moment he vanished, Fenrir lost consciousness, falling into Baradar’s arms, who had supported him since Fenrir released the snake.

  „It’s time to turn back to the real world,” he told Sephir. „If we stay here for more, in this Purgatory, the ghosts will take over him, and then his soul will be lost forever.”

  „The only ones who know the path toward the exit from the Purgatorium are Fenrir and Navarro,” answered the girl. „As we can’t count on Fenrir, we should trust Navarro then. It will save us.”

  Baradar slowly nodded approvingly and, helped by Sephir, he dragged Fenrir toward the horse.

  Feeling Navarro’s ridge touching his palm and hearing the puffing of his nostrils, Fenrir opened his eyes and, grabbing the ridge, he was pushed on the horse’s back by an unseen force and, at a slow step, they moved toward the horizon, followed from close by Baradar and Sephir, who felt the power of life blowing over them.