Far in the valley, passing by Kiago Forest, howls of wolves were heard. But even so, none was seen in the distance because that place, which seemed sometimes deserted, hid a lot of secrets, and many of those secrets were closely tied to the sins of the hearts of those who ever crossed that valley.

  „It is said that the howls of wolves in solitude is always a bad sign,” Morena whispered while carefully looking around, crossing the Glade of Ahilar, right through the place where Curse burned the tree from the ground.

  It was a beautiful day, even though heavy clouds of rain were seen in the sky. And around was also felt a warm gust of wind and the scent of beech wood was smelled too. But the interesting thing there was that Kiago Forest wasn’t a beech forest, but an oak one, a secular forest where no seed of beech was ever seen there.

  Then Morena looked at the sky and she kept looking for a long while at the dance of the clouds that seemed to hurry up somewhere on the limitless vault of the sky and their hurry was more similar to a thick fog chased by the wind than with pot-bellied clouds that were bringing heavy rain.

  „Somewhere is a big storm,” the woman said, still with her eyes on the sky.

  Suddenly, she winced and touched her chest because a strong feeling of anxiety was painfully pressing it. „I had the same feeling when Inmar's red foxes crossed the village. But, why now? I don’t see any fox around,” she feverishly whispered while her black, small eyes looked for anxiety, in the distance.

  However, she saw nothing for minutes in a row while all around that place seemed to reign the loneliness only. Then, something suddenly changed: the air started to be difficult to breathe and Morena shuddered, feeling how the cold of the wind, which started to powerfully blow around, cut her to the bones and she also felt someone’s presence behind her.

  Yet, she had been afraid to turn to watch the one who decided to take a visit to that place, as she was doing, and, after meeting her, he wanted to talk to her.

  But something deep inside told her that the place she was crossing was a devilish one. Soon, she decided to face to truth and looked back, seeing a strange presence in the same place where, in the past, the Ahilar Tree was growing.

  At first, she thought that it was a man standing there: completely black-dressed, with hair and eyes of the same color, and his white hands were ending in long and sharp, black nails, similar to the beast's and, because of this, Morena understood, in the end, that what she was seeing wasn’t a normal man.

  But what was even scarier at that Spirit, who had appeared there from nowhere, was the fact that he was holding, in his right hand, a small sphere in which the dark shades of the colors of the world were seen. Yet, the predominant one was the black color.

  Then, were his eyes which were shining: when dark abyssal, when dark red, and this change in seconds made the sphere in his hand grow up.

  Morena and the Spirit didn’t talk for minutes and not because they were shy, but because they were trying to understand who the other one might be.

  Well, if to judge by Morena’s face and clothes, and looking at the alive blink of her eyes, a Spirit, with magic powers, could have understood in seconds that she was human, but not the same could Morena see while staring at the one in front of her.

  So, Morena tried to remember all the stories she heard while wandering the world and especially the stories about Spirits that lived in that area because while looking for Mayar and Inmar, she often talked to strangers to find out about them, and not only a few scary stories she had to listen to in her life.

  Suddenly, Morena stopped breathing and her eyes fixed on her enemy while she was listening, in her head, a fragment of a story she heard a long time ago: „and Ahilar didn’t die when Curse’s words of blame burnt him. But, as Ahi told Island when they fought, the tree became alive when he swallowed an innocent soul, and, from the union between a tree and a soul, a Spirit with devilish eyes has been born, in whose soul was burning the flames of the hell and the name of the Spirit born from the tree was the same as the tree had while being in this world…”

  „Ahilar…,” Morena murmured and deeply breathed in the cold air of the Glade. „I thought you were just a story, but it seems that I was wrong. As the humans were wrong, thinking that you are just a story, wandering the surroundings.”

  Her words made Ahilar loudly laugh and his laughter spun around the Glade, filling it with dark magic. Then, he suddenly squeezed the sphere in his hand and a kind of explosion of air was felt around, throwing Morena a few meters from him.

  But the woman, while flying through the air, didn’t hit anything else than the ground when she finally stopped moving.

  After the shock passed, Morena stood in a sitting position and turned her head toward Ahilar, who was standing in the same place, playing with the sphere as if it was a small ball that he was throwing in the air, catching it seconds later with the other hand.

  And... while playing, he seemed inattentive and not at all interested in what Morena did. But it was only an illusion because each time he was throwing the sphere in the air, on the walls of the sphere, Morena’s face was reflected and he could see everything she did: he saw her squeezing her fists at first, of anger for being hit for nothing, then he saw her standing up and moving again toward him, fearless.

  „I see that you aren’t afraid to die, human being,” Ahilar cunningly whispered. „But… maybe it’ll be better this way. Others also died after they dared to cross these lands. You won’t be an exception.”

  „Like others? What others?” The woman asked.

  Ahilar suddenly stopped playing with the sphere and, after closing his eyes for a few seconds, he looked at the woman: but at that moment his eyes were completely red and were spinning in small circles as if they were the eyes of a cobra, trying to drag the prey to him. „People!” He whispered, in the end, hissing.

  At first, looking into his eyes, Morena felt charmed and she started to walk right toward him, like the small frogs do, on the lake, when they meet a cobra which is charming them with her eyes, trying to eat them. But, when it was about nine meters left between them, Morena turned to reality when she hit a transparent wall in front of her.

  Seeing this, Ahilar roared as a jackal: „Humans and their damn magical aura which protects them from evil. I hate these cheap tricks, invented by Mother Earth. Gaea!!! Where are you? Show up!” He yelled, but none except him, and Morena was seen around.

  Morena smiled, understanding his trick. „Well, it seems that you have also weaknesses, Spirit of Ahilar. I thought that it was also a myth, but it’s real: you can’t move from that place where you show up in front of travelers. Not even one step you can’t take in front and this is because of the curse of the Princess of Siar People, who cursed you before her soul had been swallowed by you without mercy. But her human aura not only cursed you but also tied you in your own trap.”

  „Be quiet, woman!” Ahilar roared, furious to find out that a human being dared to provoke him, the devil’s tree, had huge power flowing in his veins, but he couldn’t use it while being tied to that place.

  Actually, Ahilar could be released if another soul would have accepted to take his place, willingly. But… who’s the stupid one to give up on his freedom, only to help the evil?! Not even an evil soul didn’t want the freedom of Ahilar and humans weren’t an exception.

  In time, Ahilar started to use his cunningness: he learned the dance of the cobras and put that dance in his glance, dragging innocent humans to him this way while they were crossing those lands, not aware of the evil that was living there. But even so, charmed and kneeled in front of him, none of his victims willingly gave up on his freedom and soul and they chose death instead of eternal captivity.

  „And yet, I am right,” Morena added. „You can’t escape from there and this means that I can move at my will around you. Especially now when thanks to your stupidity you’ve activated my protection sphere inside me. Thus, I’m safe in front of your evil soul.”

  „Not if I convince you to an exchange,” Ahilar whispered, using all the cunningness he was capable of, especially what his changing being was capable of: his voice lowered till a pleasant sound was heard, becoming melodious, his glance became so kind and so innocent when the red of his eyes changed back to black while his words were resounding so beautiful around while being hissed through his teeth.

  But Morena felt that change, deeply in her soul because she had the power of feeling, and not only once her sixth sense saved her not getting into trouble. So, she preferred to wait and see what is next or… to play the same game as Ahilar and this way to understand what he was planning. „An exchange you say?! And… what kind of exchange?”

  Ahilar smiled with satisfaction, thinking that his trick worked. „Life for another life and… a sin exchanged for another one.”

  „And, so?”

  The indifference suddenly felt in Morena’s voice got him mad. That's why he threw small flames toward her, but the sphere that was protecting the woman threw it back to him and Ahilar saw himself burning, but those flames didn’t hurt him because an evil fire can’t burn another one.

  So, Ahilar clapped his palms and a cold gust of wind blew around, extinguishing the fire in his body. „I see that you are trying to give me a dose of my own medicine, tricky woman. But my powers are beyond your limitless intelligence. If I…”

  „And this sounds to me like a damn brag,” Mayar’s voice has been heard behind Morena and Ahilar didn’t even manage to look at her when he felt a dagger stabbing into his chest.

  Watching back, Morena saw Mayar. But with Mayar was Anaya too. However, Morena hadn’t the power to see a ghost, but Ahilar saw the old fox and grimaced, unhappily. „I hate the stinky smell of foxes, who are minding their own business,” Ahilar hissed through his teeth, grabbing the handle of the dagger and, after taking it out of his body, he threw the dagger back to Mayar.

  The girl didn’t move from her place and the dagger didn’t also hurt her because Anaya, moved by an inner force, showed up on the right of the girl and caught the dagger on the fly. Then, she turned toward Ahilar and, staring into his eyes, she said: „you still didn’t learn your lesson, devil with a wooden body. You forgot who you are facing now.”

  „Yeah, yeah, if you say so,” Ahilar ironically mumbled, and, shaking his black clothes, he managed to form, behind him, a wooden throne, burn-in places, a sign that Curse’s spell was still felt in his wooden body. „And… to what should I owe your visit?” He said in mockery.

  Mayar took two steps to Morena, who was staring at her because even if she couldn’t recognize her child, her intuition told her that that being is someone beloved by her.

  Then, stopping in front of the woman, with her back to Ahilar, Mayar stretched her hand in front and touched the sphere. But she didn’t hit the wall as the fire of Ahilar did, but her hand passed through the wall and stood like this, stretched, waiting for something.

  In the end, Morena took a few steps toward the wall and touched Mayar’s palm and everything around froze: the same happened to Anaya and Ahilar, who seemed mythical being carved in the air at that moment.

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  The only one who still had a clear mind was Mayar, who managed, using her power, to move Morena into her inner world and the magical eye of Mayar’s mind projected a warm light on both of them.

  „Did you call me, master?” A man’s strange voice has been heard coming out of the eye.

  „Yes, help me to read her past. I feel something strange in this woman. Something mine, but I can’t figure out what it can be.”

  „Are you sure about this? You’ve always run out of the past, but you’re trying to face it now, alone. Better…,” but the voice kept silent when Mayar stared at the eye.

  „You always knew what I am hiding, right?”

  The eye blinked several times, closing and opening its dark green peel that was covering only for an instant the oval yellow middle, and when the eye focused on Mayar again, it was brighter than it has been before. „Of course, I knew. As you knew it because we are one, Master Mayar, but unlike you, who preferred to run away from your own fear, I kept it in my being because I knew that, one day, you’ll look for that truth, inside you.”

  „Do you mean that the secret of my past I can find out only by looking inside me?”

  „That’s right. Actually, to find out the whole truth, the one your mind never knew because your eyes never saw it, you must deeply enter the heart of that being that stays in front of you now and, walking onto the hidden path of her heart, you’ll find out what you are so feverishly looking for.”

  Then, the yellow light of the eye had been projected on Morena, washing her into a golden light.

  Yet, this made Mayar close her eyes, touch her chest with her open palm, and wait. And... when she finally felt the extremely slow rhythm of her heartbeats, the girl stretched her hand and touched Morena’s chest.

  At that moment, the same thing happened as it happened with the wall of the sphere - the girl’s hand entered Morena’s body as if the woman wasn’t from flesh and blood but from thick fog. And, as deep her hand was entering the woman’s body as stronger Mayar was feeling that she completely entered a new world.

  Then, when she finally opened her eyes, she saw something strange, something that she had never seen before: a world sunken into darkness, but where nothing evil was felt. And... Mayar could even hear the woman’s heartbeats: so calm and so full of love pulsations.

  Seconds later... far-far in the distance, Mayar saw, in the end, a small light that was barely illuminating at first. But soon, the power of the light increased and increased until Mayar couldn’t look at it anymore because the light became blinding. Thus, to protect her eyes, Mayar covered them with her arm, but her feet started to move toward that light as if something strange, something from deep inside her told her to keep going toward there.

***

  Cold and soft moss was felt under Mayar’s bare feet, who was slowly advancing through the forest, so saintly bathed in the blessing sunrays. And namely that cold, felt on her soles, made Mayar open her eyes again and look around, and she’d been so amazed to see that she was far away from the Glade of Ahilar, in places she didn’t know.

  But, looking around, she realized that she was still in Kiago’s forest, localized Eastern of Tenebre’s Forest. Yet, the difference between the two forests was that while Kiago Forest was so illuminated by the sun, Tenebre’s Forest had thick thickets and was covered by darkness mostly.

  But what made the girl be attentive was the scent of beech. So, Mayar started to sniff the horizon, looking for the source of that scent, deeply advancing into the forest.

  Thus she got, in the end, to the edge of the forest, and, looking in the distance, she saw a small lake, which according to the natural laws, didn't have to be there. But humans created that lake, after a lot of effort and many months of hard work, and, this way, they managed to dig the lake’s bed and Gaea’s rains filled it to the brim.

  However, the water of the lake hadn’t a stinky scent of water that stays and this was very strange. „Magic?” Mayar wondered, but she realized soon that in that place any kind of magic wasn’t felt: neither white nor black magic.

  But she saw, in the end, approaching her while coming from the Western part of the forest, a young woman, carrying on a basket with laundry for washing, and, for this, the woman was heading to the lake.

  At first, Mayar didn’t understand who that woman was. But while she was approaching the girl, Mayar could see her face that she knew so well once and her lips unwillingly whispered: „mama!”

  Yet, when young Morena passed by, she didn’t even look at the girl and this seemed strange to Mayar. So, she decided to call Morena’s name, but the girl couldn’t hear her voice while yelling. But even so, she kept yelling: „Mama! Do you see me?” But Morena kept approaching the lake, without stopping even for a second or looking back.

  This made Mayar sad because she couldn’t figure out what was going on. Only after she spotted that she was wearing a white dress, knee-deep, with short sleeves and, instead of her red hair, she had black hair, as Morena's, Mayar understood that she was dreaming. But she decided to find out what was hidden in that dream and, in the end, she approached the lake.

  Thus, mirroring her face on the water’s surface, Mayar saw how she should have looked if Mannar hadn't changed her appearance: something between Samaya’s face and Morena’s. But even so, Mayar was very beautiful. Soon after, she heard Morena singing, and she looked at her mother.

  „Far away, from the mountains,

  I keep listening to your voice,

  That is singing love whispers,

  Next to the fire, late at night.

  And I’m listening to your sweet voice,

  My beloved and dear man,

  For listening to your song,

  I feel the longing in my soul.

  Is this love, that our hearts feel,

  A sweet longing or is it a curse?

  Because I feel, deep inside me,

  A strange voice that whispers sad songs…"

  Mayar squatted next to Morena and watched her, listening to her song. But the girl didn’t pay too much attention to the words of the song, but she analyzed Morena’s face, looking at her olive soft skin, at her deep glance, overshadowed by thick and long eyelashes, and at her long black hair that was sweetly smelling beech wood.

  „The smell… it was of her hair,” Mayar slowly whispered. „Beech means my mother’s smell!” And her hand touched the woman’s shoulder, but Morena didn’t feel the touch.

  But the touch allowed Mayar to see Morena squatting in front of a pyre while preparing food and putting some beech logs on the flames and the smoke that exited the fire hid into Morena’s hair and, because of this, the woman smelled like the saint scent of beech at that moment.

  Suddenly, Mayar winced when she spotted Inmar approaching them from the right. Inmar instead didn’t see Mayar there because she was also a memory of Morena.

  „Beautiful words are you singing, Morena,” Inmar said and Mayar felt, in Inmar’s words, the cunningness of the fox, but Morena didn’t notice anything strange in those words. She kept washing the laundry, sweetly smiling.

  „Of course, the words of the song are sweet and beautiful. It happens only when one’s heart is pure: he sings love songs when he’s happy and when he’s sad… well, it is also felt in the song,” Morena said and, finishing to wash one cloth, she threw it on a big, white rock, leaving it there till it will be the time to clean it with water for the last time. „But… I’m more amazed to see you here, Inmar. I thought that you went North, with the other foxes.”

  Mayar looked amazed at her mother: „Does she know about Inmar? How’s this possible?” But she hadn’t to wait long for the answer.

  „Let’s say that last time you saw me stealing chicken from your village, you made me curious and I decided to see what the humans’heart is hiding,” Inmar said and sat down on a rock. „You received me in your house then and you showed me the kindness of your heart. But, are you really that fearless to watch me so kindly even after seeing who am I?”

  Morena deeply inhaled the fresh air, trying to buy some time to think. Thus she remembered how she met Inmar, two years ago: the people of her village decided to stop at the edge of that forest after coming there, looking for a better place to stay.

***

  It was a dark night when she heard the bark of the dogs all over the village, a sign that something or someone was sneaking up around. Morena, who was still awake, sewing some flowers on a new dress, heard that bark, and, curious, she left her work on the bed, took the candle, and went toward the door.

  With the candle in her hand, she opened the door and, unexpectedly, she measured noses with Inmar, in the form of a red fox, who was heading toward the henhouse, intending to steal a chicken.

  Seeing the fox, Morena didn’t scare and she also didn’t know why that fox seemed so alluring to her.

  Inmar instead, stared at the woman, not knowing what to do: to attack her - well, she never attacked if she wasn't in deadly danger.

  And it was something strange in that woman too - the kindness in her eyes while looking at the fox and this was something interesting for Inmar. Then, stealing the chicken, as Inmar planned, wasn’t a good idea anymore while she had been caught.

  In the end, she turned toward the door and looked at the woman that was wearing a long, white dress, holding a candle in her hand, and fearlessly watching the fox.

  „Will you stay there for long?” Morena told the fox, in a low voice, and this amazed Inmar even more, not knowing what to understand from all this. „Come on, I know that you are taking this form every time you are hungry! So, come in!” The young woman said and turned her back to the fox and entered the house, but she didn’t close the door.

  Inmar hesitated for a few seconds, not knowing what to do: to enter the woman’s house like a fox - it definitely wasn’t a good idea because if anybody had seen her entering the house like this could have thought that she wanted to attack the woman and they would have come there with axes and pitchforks. But, if she took her human form… it could have amazed the woman so much, to drive her crazy and she could run away like chased by the devil. But, in the end, due to hunger, Inmar took her human form and entered the house.

  To her surprise, Morena didn’t seem at all scared, seeing her entering like a woman into the house and Inmar didn’t also see any trace of anger, fear, or other weird feelings in the woman’s eyes. „Did you know about me?” Inmar asked, eventually.

  Morena, who was bringing a cooked chicken to the table, smiled. „Of course, I knew. Actually, I know that there’s magic in this world since I was a little child. Then, I saw you at the edge of the forest, with a chicken in your mouth, a few weeks ago. But, before entering the forest, you changed your form and I understood that you are someone special.”

  „But… how did you recognize me? As a fox, I look like any other fox,” Inmar asked, in amazement.

  „This is what you think. Actually, you are different: the color of your fur is different and the size. More than this: your eyes - they didn’t blink wild. Maybe yes, but I never saw them blinking this way. Eat!” Morena told Inmar, showing the meal on the table. „I prepared something tasty today. I don’t know why, but I felt that I’ll have some special guests.”

  Before sitting at the table, Inmar hesitated: even if she was starving, she was still wondering how to act with that woman. In the end, she sat down, seeing Morena eating and who didn’t seem at all bother by her presence there.

  Then, the two young women ate in silence for a while. In the end, Inmar looked around and found that house strange: it looked somehow deserted as if there wasn’t living a whole family in that house. „And… where are the others?” Inmar asked in half a voice.

  „The others? Who?” Morena asked, staring in amazement at Inmar. „Aaa, do you mean my family?! Well… I’m alone now. I had a father and a mother, but they aren’t alive anymore and I never had brothers or sisters. Now I’m alone, but… it’s ok for me.”

  „Why? I thought that humans prefer to live in a family.”

  Morena smiled again, amazed by the fox’s innocence. „Not everybody is longing for having a family. Are those who are comfortable living alone and I’m one of those people.”

  After that night, Inmar and Morena were often seen together at the edge of the forest. In time, they even became friends. Well, as far as the friendship between a fox and a young woman was possible. Then, Inmar and the red foxes moved North, looking for food, as Inmar told Morena.

  Actually, they went there to help Ahi with his plans of getting revenge on those who were still alive from the People of Siar. But they were back now and Morena thought that their friendship will become even tighter than before and she was happy because she had missed the time they spent together a lot.

  Inmar instead had other plans because the cunningness of the fox has never gone and she never looked for a friend, just for someone who could feed her in harsh times.

  But Morena never knew this and never thought about this because she was blinded by the innocence of her heart and, behind the wall of her trust in the world, the worm of betrayal was hiding.