„Night, tell me, will my dreams come true someday?” Princess Curse whispered while standing on the balcony of her room, watching the starry night even if the cold of the winter made them seem so insignificant.
Neither the stars nor the night answered to Curse while only the breath of time was heard somewhere close due to the elements of the Balance of Time, hidden somewhere in the soul of the People of Siar, making the whispers of time be heard.
„I know that my dream is impossible. I know that my desire, reincarnated in the night, wasn’t more than a simple wish of my mind, hungry for love. But yet… I’m able to give up on eternity for another night in his arms because his whispers, his caresses, and his deep glance made me feel alive for a short time. Will it…,” but she kept silent, seeing a powerful light crossing the sky and vanishing into nothingness, soon after: „the comets have a short life too, as my dream had,” Curse murmured and her lips sketched a bitter smile.
Then, the old woman’s words have been heard in her ear again, those words that have been spoken to her when the lady approached her in the street and, holding her hands, she told her: „and yet, for dreaming about eternity, one needs manhood. Tell me, princess, are you powerful enough for such dreams?”
Turning her back to the window, Curse wondered what the old lady’s words could mean because they seemed somehow weird and… unexpected and, she had never heard anyone talking to her like the old lady did, even if she participated in many of the elders’councils. Yet, their wise words always resounded differently and their voice was always telling words only after a long way of analyzing their meanings. But… the old lady’s words had been so clear and so incomprehensible at the same time.
In front of her eyes, at the same time with the image of the cunning smile that she saw on the woman’s face, Curse saw the apple, which she got as a gift and which was on the table at that moment, next to the bed, charming her somehow with its color.
While Curse approached the bed, in her mind resounded the old lady’s words again while putting the apple into Curse’s hand: „take care of this fruit of life, princess Curse. How you’ll take care of it, you’ll take care of your people too, deciding if your people make it or fail in the end.”
Listening to those words, Curse laughed then, in front of the lady. But now, thinking about what she told her and watching the apple that seemed somehow alive, she understood that she didn’t receive it as a gift for anything.
Thus, she approached the apple, took it into her hand, and carefully looked at it. But the blind light of the candle wasn’t allowing the princess to watch the apple as she would have liked to. So, Curse approached the window again and watched it at the light of the stars: it was perfect, that apple, in her eyes, red on one side and somehow golden on the other side. „If I’m not mistaken, having a sweet apple in your house, means luck and love, and how I’m not married yet, does it mean that I’ll find my soul mate soon?”
Then, she heard a strange voice talking to her: „and yet, the old South-Asian people consider that seeing an apple in your dream means a big pain in your life, a big loss, and emptiness in your soul, and if you saw it cut, it means that someone’s life approaches its end or this person will lose someone who he loves soon.”
„But… I’m not dreaming. It’s real what I see and…,” she looked around, but she saw nobody and this amazed her. „It seems to me that I heard whispers talking to me. It might be because of tiredness.” So, she left the apple on the table, entered her bed, and, being so tired, she fell asleep right away.
And she saw herself advancing through a big apple orchard in her dream: the trees were in flower and this made the garden so beautiful. Then, while advancing, she saw, in the middle of the orchard, the trees full of fruits, and the flowers vanished somewhere. But, only two steps to exit the orchard, Curse looked at her hands and saw them looking like the hands of an old lady, aged, and her hair was completely grey.
Watching her hands, on Curse’s cheeks, tears started to flow. Then, she heard the old lady’s voice, talking to her again: „I told you to take care of that apple, but it seems that you considered a joke my words. Now, you have to pay for your foolishness, princess Curse. You have to pay!”
And a huge knife cut the apple into two, right in front of her, while the knife and the apple were floating in the air, and Curse awoke from her sleep, painfully screaming.
***
„It’s a boy!” The midwife told princess Curse, after she gave birth, nine months after she had that dream.
With her eyes full of tears, Curse took the child into her arms and looked at the boy’s face: „so bright,” the young mother whispered, forcing a smile. „And so cruel Fate is waiting for you, my boy, and you even didn’t see the light of the day yet.”
And Curse was so right because she gave birth to her son during the night, after many hours of pain when she had forced herself not to scream, just not to be heard by her people.
But her people knew already about her sin because the news that princess Curse was expecting a baby did spread out like the wind after many princes and kings came to ask for her hand, but she refused everyone, telling them that her heart was given already.
It happened at first when she didn’t know about the baby yet. Then, finding out about this, she’d been closed in her room and she couldn’t leave it.
The king even demanded, in big secret, to be found the one who dared to steal his daughter’s honor, but his people couldn’t find the guilty one and Curse couldn’t also tell him who that man was: she only murmured that she had a dream, in the Glade of Ahilar when a seed became a fruit in her belly and that she didn't know more about this.
Listening to those words, the king presumed that there was also the influence of the devil and he decided that right after the baby will be born, to get rid of him and that Curse will be chased in the mountains, without having ever the permission to show up in front of humans again.
But Curse found out about her father’s mean thoughts. However, she didn’t know what she could do to protect her child because, deep inside, she knew that it wasn’t Ahilar's child or of another mean spirit, but she was sure that her child was the fruit of her love with a Pure Soul, a loving Spirit, a lighted one and if she could find him and tell him about what will happen to them, then they’ll be saved.
„Let’s chase the devil out of our houses! Let’s kill the Seed of Evil or it will besmirch our lands! Chase him away from here! He must vanish from in front of us!” There were heard shouts in front of the Palace, and this scared Curse, who looked thunderstruck through the open window through which the shameful words were getting to her, making her heart bleed so bad.
One of the servants intended to close the window, but Curse opposed it: „let it open! If my people want to tell me about what’s in their souls, then… I’ll listen to them! But… I don’t have why to hide… I didn’t err and I’m not also feeling any compunction pressing my chest.”
„But, my lady, people are angry because…”
„…I gave birth to a child whose father I don’t know?! I know this very well, but… if I have to suffer for love, then I’ll suffer for this, because…”
But she couldn’t finish her thoughts when the guards entered her room and tried to take her baby.
The princess fought tooth and nail with them, and the unusual power of the baby threw them all against the wall, hardly hitting it, which amazed everybody. And, because of this, they were afraid to approach the child again.
Piercing them with her furious glance, Curse told them: „who’ll touch my baby, to have his hands burn by the hell’s fire, their eyes not to see ever the light of the day, and their children not to listen ever the sweet rustle of the mountain spring.” Then, she left the room, helped by one of her servants, and she first went to the throne hall.
The king, that was sitting at that moment on his throne, did not even look at her when she entered.
Curse, instead, slowly bent in front of her father and, with her eyes full of tears, she told him: „you won’t even look at your grandson, father?”
„Grandson? I… don’t have any grandsons! And… I don’t even have children anymore, once you dared to confront me by selling your honor to a…”
„I asked you to trust me, father! That Spirit is real. That Spirit isn’t evil. If you give me some time… if you give us some time… when he’ll hear about the baby and…”
„Stop drawing the long bow, Curse! That „good” Spirit exists only in your head. So… get lost in front of me: you and your baby, and I hope not to see you ever again in this palace because… the blood, that flows into your veins, has nothing to do with mine, as my heart won’t ache for you.”
Curse said nothing else. She just turned her back to her father and left the Palace, confronting the furious glances of her people, that was expecting her with axes and forks in front of the palace, with lit torches and… stones: that they threw behind her all the way till she left the City Light.
Outside the city, people stopped and watched her going away: while feeling the cold, being left alone and unprotected because Curse refused to be followed by one of her servants after she decided that if she and her child must die, then only they will die and nobody else must pay for her sin.
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But, in her mind, the words of a mother’s curse took form: of a mother forced to leave her warm room, with her newborn baby in her arms, chased away to wander hills and valleys with no purpose or shelter to be found: „your houses to be also the hole of the snake where you can’t even hide because the hatred of those who want your soul will find you even there. Not to know ever what joy means, as my child won’t feel ever what means the love of his people. Not to have ever peace, until you’ll wash off your souls the last drop of your sins for what you did to us because none of you trusted my words, even if you swore that I was your only princess. My damnation to be over only when a single soul will accept to take it with him to the place where everything starts and everything is ended and…”
Then, Curse’s screams have been heard from the far away Glade of Ahilar on a frosty morning, screams that turned the people out of their houses, and then they looked into the distance. But no matter how much didn't they wonder what that shout meant, nobody knew the answer.
Yet, they understood their mistake very soon when the shivers and the burning ashes of the Ahilar tree had been thrown over their city, blown by Island’s wind, and this burned everything to the ground.
People, driven crazy, tried to escape out of hell’s path. But, for many of them, that path toward the Gates of the City had been the last one too: part of them fell prey to the others’madness, trampled under feet, callously destroyed, and their bodies had transformed into ashes at the same time with the city.
While his people were leaving the city in a hurry, the King held his sword to his chest and wandered the halls of the palace in the fire. Thus, he got to the undercroft where kings were usually resting after their death.
Then, the king sat down on the cold stone, smoothed his rumpled feathers and the crown, and, after laying down, he put his sword on his chest, closed his eyes, and waited for his death, which didn’t last long to come to him, and the king fell prey to the same fire to which he condemned his daughter and grandson. But not even before death the king didn't rue for his deeds: he kept blaming Curse for what happened to them while closing his eyes forever.
However, the traditions of the People of Siar were saying that who died without repenting for the evil done to another person is condemned to be once again born and do the same evil things he did in his former life. But, in his second life, he’ll be worse punished because he’ll be judged by his own blood, who’ll eventually behead him.
***
„Rest in peace, Great King of Siar People," Arvam’s lips whispered while he, his wife, and his newborn child were entering the forest, trying to escape the havoc.
Arvam had been actually one of the few people that defended the princess. But when someone’s blinded by his own beliefs even the truth drawn black on white doesn’t help him to understand it.
So, eventually, the People of Siar had been condemned to live the bitter life of the wind, of the snakes, of the beings afraid of the sun, always hunted from everywhere by those who wanted them dead, without knowing at least where to go, as Curse did when she’d been forced to leave town, and thus nobody actually knew until where the power of the curse will work and when the prophecy that will release them will start.
***
„It had been once a beautiful white city, called the City Light. But a single apple has been enough to drive people crazy and condemn them to wander, to bitterness, and to many years of slaughter and chilling thus,” the same old lady that princess Curse met in the street said with cunningness and meanness in her voice while playing with a similar apple that she gave to Curse, in the street, when she turned back home after visiting the saint places of Ceyyum Karuvil.
And, while saying this, the old lady was at that moment in her den, in Tenebre’s Forest.
Then, her hysterical laughter was heard while the old lady transformed back to Tenebre and once again back to the old lady’s body as if she wasn’t capable to control her own power, and this one was acting up as it wanted.
But Tenebre knew very well what she was doing. She was just trying to take advantage as long as possible of her victory over the Siar People because namely in the body of the old lady she managed to deceive them when she convinced princess Curse to take the apple: the Apple of Discord.
Actually, that apple had a twin with which Tenebre was playing while being in her den and that apple was meant to deceive Island, telling him that if he takes it, then he can save his heart.
But, even if she pretended to be Gaea, who had the same habit to wander the world in the form of an old lady, Tenebre hadn’t succeeded yet because Island didn’t allow her to deceive him and, when Tenebre showed up in front of him while he was crossing Kiago Forest, he hit her with the power of his ice sphere and, when she hit the trunk of a tree, Tenebre had been forced to take back her natural shape, and the twin of the apple vanished.
Still on all four, trying to regain power, Tenebre stared at Island, grinning: „always so faithful and loyal to your people, Island. So bad that you won’t ever know what you could have gotten if you had taken the apple. It was a gift,” Tenebre hissed the words.
„A poisoned gift,” Inlan Diar’s voice has been heard not that far and, when Tenebre looked toward there, she realized that she had been the one deceived, in the end: the one to whom she tried to give the apple was Inlan Diar and not Island because the Titan had been sent by his mother to guard the palace, as if knowing what happened to Curse, eventually, in the Glade of Ahilar and that he had to save his child because Island was the only Titan capable to fight against the Ahilar.
Also to assure his son’s success, Inlan Diar took his form and started to wander the forest, lurking for those who were trying to hurt Island and, if this happened, then she had taken care of them to catch them as if catching mice in the trap.
And… the mouse didn’t last long to fall into Inlan Diar’s trap: Tenebre. „I see that you still didn’t learn your previous lessons, Tenebre. You still hope to get my son’s power,” Inlan Diar told Tenebre, cunningly smiling.
Tenebre finally stood up and stared at her rival while a cunning smile was seen on her face. „Why not if I can have it?! Soon I’ll have that power, and you’ll have to kneel in front of me, asking for forgiveness for everything you did to me, only not to lose your only son because I…”
„…did you dream to take advantage of Ahilar?” Inlan Diar told her in mockery. „It seems to me that that evil tree is already in the fire. If you don’t believe me, look there!”
And Inlan Diar formed an ice mirror between them on which was seen how the tree was in fire, and this made Tenebre growl with all the force she was capable of because she saw something else in that mirror: the child Boor in his father’s arms, saved from death.
„It can’t be! That child mustn’t live! He mustn’t survive or he’ll kill us all, idiot!” Tenebre screamed, throwing a ball of fire against Inlan Diar.
But that ball hit another one of ice, and, very soon, both balls transformed into swords.
„You and your cheap tricks!” Tenebre hissed to her rival.
„Why cheap? As far as I know, the ice is considered a saint thing, in some places in the world, and my magic is well-known as healing and protective. But I can’t tell the same about the fire from your heart, Tenebre - a fire that burned a saint city to the ground, actually, and this happened only because you drove those people crazy, stinging them to sin. Was it absolutely necessary to use the Apple of Discord for such cheap tricks?”
„Did you know?! That I’ll use the apple to deceive Curse?!" Tenebre asked while cunningly staring at her rival, and the two swords, controlled by their power, started to hit each other.
„Of course, I knew. Or, did you think that I’m just staying and waiting to see what your madness is capable of, Tenebre?! Don’t think you are someone very important to be afraid of you.”
„But yet, you did nothing to impede Curse to take that apple. Why? I’m sure that you were there when I gave her the apple. Why didn’t you intervene then? Thus, you could have saved her.”
Inlan Diar smiled instead and told Tenebre wise words: „because each of us has his own cross to carry on his shoulders, and Curse’s had been the Apple of Discord and the night she spent with Island in the Glade of Ahilar. On both occasions, she chose alone which path to walk onto, and I couldn’t oppose it. Even if you did this, when you made the pact with Moirae and the snake Ian Gyar for destroying the City Light, and this only happened because you consider that it stays in your way. But… I’m not that sure about the reason why you did this.”
„Because we can do that?!” Tenebre cunningly said and her sword hit Inlan Diar’s with such power that broke it into two.
But, the pieces of the ice sword, after falling on the ground and breaking into other smaller pieces, quickly transformed into small daggers that surrounded Tenebre all over, forcing her to grimace.
„Ṭayal! Now I understand why you are so full-hearted, Inlan Diar - the child born from Island, and the mortal Curse carries in his blood the face of the Clock of Times, and this means that one of the heirs of this child will form the glass of the Clepsydra and of the Clock: Kaṇṇāṭi.”
„I won’t tell you that you aren’t right because you are and I also don’t think that is worthy to hide this from you because this means that we won, and you lost, Tenebre.
Even after chasing the People of Siar away from their lands, condemning them to wander, you didn’t manage to kneel me down, and also you couldn't get Nēram Vāṉalai (the Balance of Time and Space). Thus: you'll have to feel the killing fire of shame and hatred for us inside you for a long time since now because you won’t have ever the power in your hands, Tenebre.”
Inlan Diar’s sudden fury made the daggers that were surrounding Tenebre turn with their sharp tips toward her. But they couldn’t stab Tenebre because she used the fire to vanish, and the ice daggers melted, falling like water on the ground.
„We’ll meet again, Tenebre. This war isn’t finished yet,” Inlan Diar murmured with hatred and she also vanished.
***
„He’s so small and so unprotected,” Inlan Diar whispered, watching with love the baby boy from Island’s arms, that was continuously moving and suddenly started to cry as if he felt deep inside his heart the loss of his mother.
„I named him Boor,” Island whispered.
„The Spirit of the Winds,” Inland Diar also whispered and she took the boy in her arms, slowly rocking him while whispering words to calm him down. „I like this name. It’s perfect for the God that he’ll be one day.”
„A God?” Island asked in amazement.
„Yes. Do you remember what I told you when we saw the Virgins of Shadows crossing the Valley of Cry? That we must prepare for a big power that will come into this world? Well, I was talking about this boy because he’s the first of the Gods. Yes, he’s the first God that existed on Earth. The rest will be born later and thus they’ll kneel the Titans due to their own avarice, blinded by their own stupid pride.”
„But, mother, if Boor has such a power, it’s possible that others will try to hunt him, because…”
„They already tried this,” and his mother’s words amazed Island so much. „Tenebre. I met her today in Kiago Forest. She was trying to wile you with the Apple of Discord.”
„Does she consider me so weak?!? Island smiled.
„But she’s right, Island. Now that you are a father, you have also a weakness - your boy and, until you won’t be able to control the new great power that also grows inside you, once this child was born, you are vulnerable. That’s why I advise you not to approach Kiago Forest for a long while, and if you meet Ahi, Mannar, or Tenebre, vanish, as quickly as possible. And I don’t say this because I’m afraid for us, Island, but because I’m afraid for this baby. He needs us and while he’s still unprotected, we must be always next to him. So, listen to my words and trust me.”
„I will, mother because Boor needs at least his father if he lost his mother,” Island sadly said and he took the boy in his arms again.
After this, he approached the front door of the Palace, stopped next to the threshold, and looked at the red horizon as if trying to show it to the boy that was already asleep in his arms.
„The end of an era is approaching, my boy as it approaches the rise of a new one, and you brought this new era into this world when you have been born. So, it’s our duty to fight for a new day, for a new beginning, and for the survival of the People of Siar.”