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Seeds of Evil: Rophion Forest
CHAPTER 39: THE KINGDOM OF CHAOS

CHAPTER 39: THE KINGDOM OF CHAOS

„Hard years of fighting have been left behind,

As fate was coming again upon us,

And its heavy breath, destinies had kneeled,

Making us frightened, step back to the hotbed.

And Chaos’s eyes, drawn at Horizon,

Are only blind shining, formed from love and woe.

For his heart that’s beating deeply in his chest,

It’s only lightning with no intellect.

And still, our life pulsates deep in us,

Looking intensely for its way to dust.

The road to the house, the path to the home,

For our destiny’s den is called Aeon.”

  In the rhythm of the Cosmos’s whispers and in the shining of the around stars, Hestia’s fire had been ignited right in the middle of the Universe, where immortality could be seen from, where the future was born, and where those who lived an entire life there could see their past in their way back to Aeon.

  That fire, which was burning in the middle of nowhere, seemed, in the beginning, to be a new star that was forming, at which the other stars were looking with fear because even if they didn’t know what that blink of life could be, they were saying to themselves, in their cold and stone soul, that everything else was welcome into the world, except for another Māṉsṭar Kēlaksi because even if they never saw how that dungeon of fear looked like from inside, not infrequently they heard the cry of loneliness coming out from there, for Eris had that power in her soul and she was somehow forcing the Universe to accompany her cry in nights of loneliness, in days when the sun of the Galaxy of Monsters was burning in all the force of its madness, deeply scorching her pitch skin. But what Eris was missing the most was her freedom.

  Namely that freedom Eris was crying for that day too, whose voice was rolling throughout the Universe like an echo and which Hestia could listen to, after the flames of her soul had finished burning the power of nothingness and she showed up from them in all her splendor, as a Virgin.

  Next to her was standing Samaya, but not the same Samaya who the earthlings knew.

  At that moment, she was a kind of mix between her face and Jar’s because the Cosmos was forcing them both to become one, as they had been at the beginning when Moirae just started to weave their destinies, and Jar chose Samaya’s body as his earthling form.

  Then, Hestia took a deep breath from the air of the Cosmos into her chest and looked to her right, where Samaya seemed asleep.

  And the Titanide smiled because even if that new face of the girl seemed so strange to her, a kind of innocence, sent by the girl’s being to Jar, the Warlike Spirit that was living in her, mixed with his beauty was still something unseen before by Hestia, especially watching at Jar, who had a young virgin's body.

  „Will you pretend to be asleep for long, Jar?” Hestia told him, barely heard, but a kind of weird vibration has been felt in her voice, similar to the one that men feel when they think they told a good joke.

  This remark of Hestia sketched a smile on the girl’s lips and she widely opened her eyes and looked around. „I could never fool you, Hestia. Even if I try to be a fairy tale character, you have in your power the gift of chasing all the fun away.”

  „It seems to me that we are too old to believe in fairy tales, Jar. This can also be seen in the white shade of your hair.”

  In a twinkle of stars, in front of Jar, a mirror, surrounded by small flames, showed up. But their blow was cold and this was felt in the wave of the air that was sending the mirror toward the face of the Spirit and this way slowly moving his white hair.

  Jar said nothing and, stretching his hand in front, he grabbed the mirror and brought it closer to his face, mirroring his gaze in its magical eye, and he has been amazed to see it from closer, for the mirror was somehow weird in its way - its surface, on which one could mirror his face, was formed by a transparent air, with a shade of gray-blue in some parts of it. But only around the mirror was a kind of hardened, milky shadow, which allowed Jar to hold it.

  „The Breath of Aeon,” Jar whispered, barely heard, and, without waiting for an answer from Hestia, he focused his gaze on the image reflected in the mirror - a huge, white realm, immersed in a milky gray mist - and, as if dragged by an unseen power inside of the mirror, Jar entered that world through it and, after Jar was gone, the mirror continued to float in front of Hestia, as if it was slowly rocked by the warm gust of a spring wind and Hestia smiled again.

  „At least some of us still can see The Promised Land,” Hestia sadly whispered, for even if she never saw that Realm, being created by Chaos right in the heart of the Cosmos, Hestia always felt that she was missing something and someone's strange voice was whispering to her heart that what she was missing the most was the Breath of Aeon.

  Then the stars began to pulsate in front of her. But that slight movement of theirs did not surprise the Titanide of Fire, who looked into the distance: the Cosmos came to life and its black creature, made from heavenly air, was floating now in front of her as if it was the ocean waters around of a peninsula and, step by step, that gleam of the Cosmic wave turned into water and Hestia saw indeed a limitless Ocean with black waters in front of her eyes and, above those waters, as if it was the sun rising behind the mountain, Chaos’s eyes showed up.

  „An illusion born from immortality,” Hestia whispered again, and, turning her head toward the flames that were dancing behind her, she stretched her hand toward them, and, soon, the flames faded off and, in their place, in that old fireplace, it was only steaming ash.

  This new view of her home brought melancholy in Hestia’s soul and she felt that looking away from that desolate home was something impossible for her. That’s why she decided to slowly bend and she touched the still-warm ash. However, it only sketched a sad smile on her face while a trace of hope could be seen in it.

  „It’s still warm,” Hestia whispered, taking a few of that ash in her fist. „There’s still hope for us. There’s still some life,” and the ash, from her hand, later opened, returned to its place, slowly blown by the cold breeze of the ocean that was calmly moving its body behind Hestia, and its waters were reaching till Hestia’s feet, but it didn’t touch them, as if the water was afraid not to melt the Titanide by joining their bodies.

  Hestia straightened up and looked into the distance, opposite to the breeze of the Ocean, where the prison Māṉsṭar Kēlaksi could be seen on the horizon. „Is she still there, father?”

  „She’s still there, daughter of mine, but even the sky doesn’t know for how long,” Hestia could hear the voice of Chaos behind her and, slowly floating past the Titanide, the echo of that voice floated in the distance.

  Hestia slowly turned her face toward the eyes that were floating above the waters and, watching in their depth, she smiled with kindness. „At least something good happens in bad times.”

  „The life which we still have pulsating in us is the real miracle, Hestia and you know it.”

  „I know and yet I feel that I forget this from time to time. Especially when I think about that Eris can escape any time from Māṉsṭar Kēlaksi and, after invading Earth, end with the dreaming, with the fairy tale world in which men still live their lives.”

  „Don’t be fooled by the stories you are hearing often told or invented by the fireside while you are dancing your soul around the firewood, daughter of mine. Men’s life isn’t a fairytale. It’s just an invented one to face times that pass and those that come.”

  „But still… men at least have it. Men at least can dream, despite the bad weather, and it doesn't matter if it's stormy outside, and all this because they still have the hope that tomorrow will be sunny again and that they will enjoy life again.”

  „And who is holding you away from dreaming, Hestia?”

  Hestia smiled. „Can the fire dream while it eats the flesh of the firewood?”

  „Why not?! The fire is also a kind of a breath of creation,” Chaos said and his fire eyes slowly changed their color into blue-purple, and their blink reminded Hestia of Samaya’s eyes, after transforming in Jar when they first came there, in the immensity of the Cosmos.

  „The fire has the same blow of creation,” Hestia slowly mumbled the words of her father as if she wanted to remember them for a long-long time.

  „Of course. Isn’t the fire born from ashes?”

  „But ashes are just the wood after death that later the wind blows it and transforms it into nothing.”

  „And still… from ashes Phoenix reborn. From ashes stories are born, as the ashes are warming the earth, protecting it from pests and allowing other souls to come back to life.”

  „To come back to life?!”

  „As far as I can see, daughter of mine, you must look beyond your destructive nature because the fire from inside you, which most of the time sees only destruction in its path, doesn’t allow you to see creation beyond the image of your own flames.”

  „Yet… father… to see it, I need so much time because between hearing the men’s stories, burning the wooden bodies of trees that are feeding my breath, and watching the sky, I have not that much time left for dreaming.”

  „But still, Hestia, dreaming is always surrounding you. Those stories that men tell you are teachings of times because even if most of the time they are just human beings’inventions, they still have a Seed of Truth in them.”

  „Life after death… Heaven… Hell…,” Hestia mumbled as if she tried to remember all the stories she had heard over the years.

  „Life after death is the same Aeon to which we all tend to get while Hell is the fire in which we will burn in the battle with Eris.”

  „What about Heaven? What Heaven is for us, father?”

  „The life we are leaving now, Hestia, for not all the souls are meant to be born. There are many souls in Aeon who still wait to show up in this world, but Moirae ignores them, for knowing their true nature.”

  Hestia turned her head toward Māṉsṭar Kēlaksi again and she could see Lodur approaching them this time. But he was listening to their talk in silence as if he was afraid to interrupt them and, thus, to bring misfortune there.

  „Alabar! Bayer!” Hestia cheerfully whispered this time, seeing, in Lodur’s hand, the two elements of her love for that world.

  Hearing her words, Bayer started to brightly shine and, as if breaking the water of the Ocean into two, it formed a smooth path that was twisting toward the horizon and it was waiting for someone’s coming.

  „The Gates of the Galaxies are open, sister Hestia. It’s time to bring Jar back here, for the time of Samaya in Cosmos is limited and she still has to see and hear many things here.”

  „Impatient as always,” Hestia unpleasantly mumbled, for she wanted to enjoy for long Bayer’s view because its light wasn’t just a Breath of Life that was chasing the darkness away, but it was also a kind of crystal that was showing Hestia fairytale lands, where Hestia would have loved to get there, freely stepping on their lands, but she could only dream about those worlds for being a captive in the world of her flames.

  „Lodur is right, Hestia. Samaya’s stay here must be short, for we don’t know what Eris could plan if she finds out that Samaya and Jar are not far from her.”

  „Eris is imprisoned, father. Even if she finds out about it, she can’t do anything.”

  „She was imprisoned and when she sent her heart on Earth, changing this way Samaya’s fate and of Rophions too because when Moirae weaved her destiny, Samaya was meant to be the clock that stops the time at Moirae’s will and thus to work for them. But finding out about this, Eris sent her devilish wave of hatred toward Mannar and she sent him to kill Samandra, to be later the one who led the girl’s steps on that beach where the Balance of Times was half-buried in the sand and which can be found in Samaya’s soul now,” Lodur said this with a calm voice as if he tried to chase Hestia’s stubbornness away.

  „And still, Eris did a good thing then,” Hestia said in a sure voice.

  „Like?” Lodur asked, confused.

  „You forget about Samaya’s real fate and about the fact that she’s the one who will bring the One in this world and this way the Balance will be restored.”

  „There’s still a long way till that moment, my children,” Chaos whispered and his voice made the two Titans wince and turn back to reality. „Let’s not forget that the destiny of Rophions is still unclear and that Eris still has a lot to say about their future.”

  Hestia said nothing more. She knew well what her father’s words meant, but she was afraid to say it loudly because she saw not just once Samaya’s prophecy and, in that prophecy, Hestia saw the falling of the Titans off their throne and that, in their place, the darkness was ruling, and this was something that made her heart wince again.

  Even so, even if she wasn't convinced, she stretched her hand in front of her and she touched the mirror that till that moment floated between them and the ocean. But the touch didn’t bring Jar back, and this amazed them all.

  „Eris!” Lodur feverishly whispered. „It seems that she already knows about Samaya’s visit to Cosmos. We must bring her back. Bayer! Alabar! Open the Gates of Aeon! We must bring Jar back and thus bring Samaya back too,” but again nothing happened.

  „What’s going on?” Hestia wondered, frightened. „Do you think we are late this time?”

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  „No,” Chaos slowly whispered. „This time is Jar's power that is working against us. It seems that we must wait for a while till Aeon will send him back to us and only then things will be back to normal,” and Chaos’s eyes disappeared into the vastness of the Cosmos, as the Ocean vanished after them, leaving Lodur and Hestia behind them, waiting in the same place for the impossible to happen in the middle of nothingness.

***

  Repeatedly reflecting on the water's surface, Samaya’s face and Jar’s seemed so strange and unreal, and, because of this, they weren’t only one, but two separate souls that lived in one single human body, beings that thought and acted differently.

  „What happens?” Samaya wondered, amazed to see her reflection like two different images, for she knew that in her soul was living another Spirit too, who was giving her power, but she never saw Jar before, as she never felt his presence till then.

  „We finally met,” Jar’s reflection from the water talked to her after he had managed to take the mirror of the ocean in his power and talk to the girl.

  „Who are you?” Samaya asked him, curious and somehow afraid of him, and she had been much amazed to see how her image showed up next to Jar’s. But it wasn’t the same Samaya who lived in the present. It was the girl’s reflection, who met Mayar once and fought with her in the Glade of Shadows. „And… why am I a child next to you again?”

  „You are only what you want to be!” Jar calmly answered and he kindly smiled at the girl.

  „Am I what I want to be?!” Samaya’s voice was heard like an echo, repeating after him. „What I want to be is to be a child?”

  „Actually, this is what we all want… to be once again children in our mother’s arms, who kisses the top of our heads and makes us smile, feeling that we are safe while we are sticking our little bodies to their chest.”

  Samaya sadly smiled. „Next to my mother's chest. I forgot this feeling a long time ago, as I forgot the sound of her beating heart in her chest. And still, you didn’t tell me who you are.”

  „Me?... Jar. I’m Jar. The warlike spirit who lives inside you and the one who had been born already big because I showed up into this world when you stopped being a child. Think about my words till the next time we’ll see each other,” and Jar suddenly disappeared.

  „No, wait! Where are you going? You didn’t tell me what binds us… oh, he’s gone already. And, how to find out what he talked this time about?” Samaya wondered.

  She was on the path between waters at that moment, where she had been sent by the mirror, when Jar reflected his face in it, even if Hestia thought that he had been sent to Aeon Land.

  Jar instead remained in Cosmos because the Gates of Aeon were closed and no breath of life could open them.

  Looking around, Samaya saw the waves of water touching the threshold of the path between them and she has been so amazed to see that view because she knew that breaking the water into two and forming a path between them was impossible. But what amazed her, even more, has been the fact that she saw Samandra approaching her while she was sitting on a yellow star, that was floating above the path.

  „Mama!” Samaya slowly whispered and her eyes filled with tears right away. But she couldn’t move from her place and run toward her mother because a magic force was keeping her tied off that path.

  Instead, Samandra smiled and when the star stopped its sluggish fly, she descended off the star and she stepped on the path between waters, approaching Samaya. But the woman said no word. She only hugged the girl, that was loudly crying and, keeping her in her arms, she let Samaya cry for a long time because Samandra knew that the fire that was burning inside her girl could be extinguished only with tears and Samaya became a child again, loved and protected in her mother’s arms.

  After finishing crying all the tears that gathered in her soul, Samaya looked up into her mother’s eyes, who kindly smiled at her.

  „I’m glad to see you again, my child,” Samandra said while her hands were caressing the girl’s hair, while the five-year-old girl was watching her mother with her big eyes, full of amazement and so happy to see her again.

  „I thought that the last time I saw you, in our house, when Hestia brought you there, has been the last time I could see you and I was still so little at that moment, that I couldn’t remember your face well, mother. But Hestia brought us face to face again today and this makes me so happy, mother because this is a real miracle.”

  „Miracles happen only if we believe in them,” Samandra whispered and, grabbing the girl’s hand, she dragged her toward the star, helped her to climb on it, and, after that, she also climbed on the back of the shining star, which drove them away off that place in a journey through the Universe.

  „Where are we going?” The girl finally asked.

  „Where is our home and where immortality is born,” Samandra whispered, barely heard, while she was hugging her daughter, showing her all the love she had in her chest.

***

  A huge star of light was slowly spinning in the Center of the Universe. Even if it seemed to be bigger than Planet Earth, the child Samaya knew that this was only an illusion of her and nothing more, thanks to the fire ring that surrounded that star, which looked like Jupiter Planet and made it seem bigger than it really was.

  „Aeon!” Samaya whispered, barely heard, in whose eyes the star of light was mirroring its body, similar to a small blink of life, that was amazing the girl so much. „And still, it’s so fragile… even if others think that this Realm of Promise will punish us all for our sins.”

  „You are mistaken here, my child because Aeon is not the place where one pays for his sins, but the place where one’s soul is born because namely here the prophecy starts.”

  Samaya looked at her mother, but the woman didn’t look at her: she continued to stare at that star with an axis of fire around its body. „When I was still on Earth, I never thought that I had one destiny to fulfill. But once I got here and I was put to lead Ursa Minoris, I understood that nothing in this world is born without a fate in fact, as nothing dies without a role played.”

  „And… what was your role in this world, mother?”

  „To give birth to you and Fenrir because you are those who will fulfill the prophecy.” And this time Samandra turned her head to the girl and she smiled, seeing that, instead of the little girl, was the young virgin, who had been brought in Cosmos hugged by Hestia’s firearms. „You are so beautiful, Samaya. So beautiful.”

  „That’s because I look like you, mother!” But Samaya shook her head, denying it, and this amazed the young girl. „No? Then?”

  „That’s because you are unique. Each soul is unique in fact, in its way, and that’s why we should never doubt or regret the fact that we look like in one way or another.”

  A short silence took over the two, time in which Samandra stretched her hand and touched the girl’s cheek, and Samaya laid her head on her mother’s palm and she closed her eyes, falling prey to dreaming.

  „Why was Aeon created, mother?” Samaya asked in the end when she was sitting with her head on her mother’s shoulder and she was watching the fire ring that was slowly spinning around the star.

  „Nobody knows it because Aeon never revealed this secret to anybody. As anybody knows the secrets of immortality or why men have been created on Earth. They simply exist.”

  „But this fire ring? When did it show up around the star? As far as I recall when I was still a child and I could see Father Chaos’s eyes in my dream, he showed me this star once, but it was smaller in size and this ring wasn’t there.”

  Samandra kept silent for a while as if she was trying to remember when exactly that ring showed up around Aeon. But, in fact, she was struggling with the avalanche of emotions that were madly hitting her chest as if they were trying to go out of her being and join that fire ring.

  „Mother?”

  Samandra winced and looked at her child, and Samaya could see fear in her mother’s eyes. ,,Don’t tell me that…,” Samaya whispered, barely heard. „Did it show up when you died?”

  The woman nodded. „No, my child, this fire ring showed up when you touched the Balance of Time, on the shore of the River of Sins, and then the Gates of Aeon had been closed.”

  „The Gates of Aeon are closed? Why?”

  „Because Eris is trying to reach inside it through you and thus to release her body from Māṉsṭar Kēlaksi,” was heard Chaos’s thundering voice floating around and, soon, between the two women and Aeon, his eyes could be seen floating.

  In the beginning, the eyes were closed. But after the two women quickly stood up and bent in front of him, Chaos opened his eyes and watched them.

***

  Opening her eyes, Samaya has been so amazed to see the Desert of Oblivion lying around, and even if it seemed so desolating and so wilderness, the desert had its own beauty.

  „There’s still splendor all around,” Samaya whispered while she was watching those surroundings washed in the sand, and she could see, in the end, right in the middle of the desert, an old tree, big as all days, and, under its crown, beautifully weaved with branches, it was seen the Fountain of Truth.

  „Where are we, Father Chaos?” The young lady asked, looking up. But she has been so amazed to see instead of those fire eyes of Chaos, two smaller ones, round and cunning as if they were the eyes of a mouse, which were slowly floating in the air as if they were light black feathers floating in the warm hug of the air.

  Then, around those small and black eyes, the air took the same shade, and very soon the body of a black dragon, who was slowly stepping next to Samaya, had been drawn while his scalies were shining in the sunlight.

  „Father Chaos?” Samaya whispered, stopping for a moment in place.

  „Yes, Samaya. It's me,” Chaos said, and, looking into her eyes, he sent a gust of kindness toward her.

  „I thought you don't have a body, after Eris had scattered you throughout the Universe, in the shape of thousands and thousands of shining stars.”

  „I have a shape here because in this desert is where my life weaves with the Destiny of the Universe. This is the Desert of Oblivion.”

  „The Desert of Oblivion? The one in which…?”

  „… some of us forget our past life, some of us pay their eternal sins here, and many of us… we are looking into our fate's eyes because the one which has this power flowing in its veins is that tree you see in the distance - Yggdrasil. Under it, you can see the Fountain of Truth, and through the tree's branches is living the Thought of the Universe - Ratatosk.”

  The two approached the tree in silence, which was shuddering its leaves more and more, with each step taken in front by Samaya and the dragon.

  And the same happened to the coil of the fountain, which, in the beginning, had the color of the sand, then it became golden under the arson of the sun.

  But when Samaya and Chaos got in front of Yggdrasil, the coil was completely white, and, next to it, a silver jar could be seen, as the one Gaea used to wear at her waist, in miniature form.

  „Welcome into my world,” Yggdrasil whispered with all its leaves and a crystallin chink has been heard piercing the horizon.

  Watching up, Samaya has been so amazed to see a squirrel jumping from one branch to another, which, catching the girl’s gaze, stopped in place and looked at Samaya with its small and curious eyes.

  „I thought that Ratatosk was a little, white bunny,” Samaya said. „At least this way Fenrir described him.”

  „As Father Chaos, Ratatosk can take here any form it wants, and, because it loves to play between my branches, it prefers the form of a red squirrel because namely the squirrel’s cleverness and alacrity give life and wisdom to him,” and Yggdrasil stretched its trunk, which slowly cracked of numbness. „I’m glad to see you into my world, little woman. I heard a lot about you and of your destiny, but I never had the pleasure to see your face.”

  Samaya slowly bent in front of the tree. „I also heard a lot about you, but only hearsay I knew you, Yggdrasil. But I still carry on the burden of your words on my shoulders.”

  „The burden of my words?” Yggdrasil thoughtfully whispered. „Why exactly a burden?”

  „Because all the wise words are carrying a burden in them.”

  „No, my child. There are words that burn the men’s soul, there are words that kill, just as there are words that comfort one’s body and mind while sneaking into their souls and they remain there for a long time, namely because their wisdom is the one which creates our path in life.”

  „And… which category do your words belong to, Yggdrasil?” The girl asked him again, approaching its trunk and touching it with her palm. „I remember that being a child, Father Chaos told me once that the curse will be broken and I’ll talk when the night will fall over the world. But I don’t know why I have the feeling that then, while he was talking to me, I heard the shivering of your leaves.”

  „The girl is right, Yggdrasil. Your leaves had been which sent my thoughts to her when I still hadn’t the power to talk to the earthlings.”

  „So be it?!” Yggdrasil wondered, slowly shivering its branches. „Maybe! I don’t know! I’m too old to remember this!” And its cheerful laughter had pierced like a rumble of thunder the horizon. „And still, why are you two here, Father Chaos?”

  „Because it’s time to show Samaya the truth of her destiny.”

  „So then?! I thought that there was still time till then, but it seems that I was wrong. Come on, Ratatosk, help me with this!” Yggdrasil slowly whispered and the red squirrel suddenly jumped in Samaya’s arms, nestling on her chest. „Allow her to guide you in the world of prophecies, my daughter. There you will see what you must do to fight with destiny.”

  Listening to the advice of the tree, while she was caressing the fluffy fur of Ratatosk, Samaya stepped toward the fountain, as if moved by a mystical inner voice. Then, when she got next to the coil of the fountain, she took the jar in her hand and filled it with water that she later poured into her palm.

  All the time the girl did this short ritual of water, Ratatosk stood on the girl’s shoulder, slightly touching its front paws and also its nose of the paws'fluffy fur as if it was sending a hidden message to the girl.

  Then, the girl took the squirrel in her hands and put it on the coil, kneeled next to it, after she turned her back to the fountain, and slowly bent on her back with her eyes widely open.

  At first, the water in the fountain didn’t move. But soon it started to shudder and, on its surface, white jasmine flowers showed up, that started to move in small circles, as a garland, and their movement, in circles, made Samaya feel dizzy as if touched by a spell, and, soon, her soul separated from her body and joined the water, standing inside of that garland of jasmine flowers, in the shape of a mini-Jar.

  But Jar’s shape didn’t last long and soon it was replaced by a mini-Samaya while the real girl was still bending over the coil of the fountain and looking like a stone statue.

  „The eyes that see the created illusion give birth to the truth of her,” Samaya heard a whisper and her mini-shape looked carefully around, not understanding who was talking to her.

  But instead of a body or lips that talked to her, she saw only the dizzying movement of the jasmine flowers.

  „Who are you?” The girl whispered. „Show up!”

  „Does the sun show up behind the clouds only because someone is asking it to rise?!” The voice asked.

  „Then?”

  „What do you think, who am I?”

  „The Spirit of the Fountain?!”

  „You are still far from the truth. So, I’ll offer you another hint,” and, in Samaya’s hand, a small jar like the one Gaea appeared. „Now?”

  „Something tells me that you aren’t Gaea, even if I saw this jar before at her waist.”

  „And you are right and, because of this, I’ll give you another hint,” and, next to the jar, in the girl’s palm, a loop of the same size showed up.

  „Yātrīkar!” Samaya whispered this time, shuddering, and her shaking hand let the loop fall, which floated in the air above the water later.

  Then, the sunlight passed through its glass eye and, on the water’s surface, a white canvas started to be formed, but with no painting on it.

  Later, the jar from the girl’s hand, as moved by her own force, took water from the fountain and poured it slowly on the canvas surface.

  And as if the water transformed into ink, it drew, on the canvas, a series of images - a huge fire eating the Universe after the fire ring of Aeon broke into a thousand pieces and its unbearable heat melted part of the Māṉsṭar Kēlaksi surface and Eris escaped from her prison thus.

  The thick chains from Eris’s ankles and wrists had fell and its sound deafened the surroundings when it touched the sandy and stony body of the ground. Then, Eris climbed on Elyzar’s back and with the power of the thought got on Earth, where the army of Yātrīkar was waiting for her and they conquered together the Kingdom of Rophions, kneeling them.

  This made Samaya take a step back, and a scream came out of her mouth because she saw, in the image on the canvas, the same prophecy Dike saw in Gaea’s water when she showed him the future at the River of Sins - Samaya’s death: how the lance pierced her back and she transformed into ashes, in front of Mannar’s fire gaze.

  But what Dike couldn’t hear then, Samaya could hear now „you are the one who formed my path to immortality, a woman with a wolf body, and, for this, I condemn you to immortality in Māṉsṭar Kēlaksi,” and then there was Mannar's sharp laugh accompanied by the same mischievous laugh that came out of Eris's mouth.

  And, when Samaya’s body, the one from the prophecy, vanished into ashes, Mannar took Eris’s shape and she took, from off the ground, three small objects and she again showed up in front of Aeon.

  But after she had thrown those objects toward the star, the Gates of Aeon opened again and Eris stepped over the threshold of it and had been crowned Queen, and everything around sunk into darkness again.

  Later, after the image was gone and a heavy sigh came out from her chest, Samaya came back to life.

  She was sitting on the ground at that moment while, in her arms, was Ratatosk, which lightly glued its body to hers, giving her warmth.

  A few steps away was the dragon Chaos and, looking up, Samaya saw Yggdrasil's black-and-green leaves loudly rustling from their bodies.

  „What you saw is only a small part of what can happen if Eris triumphs," Yggdrasil told her. „Your mission, Samaya, is to never let her find those three objects that can make her smooth path to immortality."

  „But... what are those three things, Yggdrasil? I could not see their form in the water prophecy. "

  But Yggdrasil sighed, and the dragon slightly bowed his head, sad and thoughtful.

  „Nobody knows that except Aeon, and how its gates are closed to us now, this burden is on your shoulders, Samaya, for you have part of Aeon in you, and therefore you must protect it from evil.”

  After saying these words, the dragon disappeared into nothingness, as Samaya continued to watch the rustle of Yggdrasil's leaves, which weren’t telling her anything else, but which still gave her power, as Ratatosk did with its breath, for the life that was in it was now tied of Samaya’s and soon they started to weave the future.