„Shadows! Shadows, where are you?” Weird whispers were heard in a forest as weird as the whispers were, with black trees, leafless, and almost entirely dried.
All around the forest, huge spider webs were seen, webs that were caught by the branches of one tree at first, then they were spun in the air, and the second edge of them was caught by the branches of another tree.
Then, on many of those webs, white balls wrapped in spider threads were seen, a hint that many fell victim to the tyranny while black, huge widows were crawling their long and pilose legs on the ground that was watered by the fog, on dried leaves fallen in a significant amount from the trees on the same wet ground, and this made them wildly sparkle in that white-grey of an invisible fog.
„Do you hear me, shadows? Do you hear my whispers?” The squeaky voice of a woman asked and the air around, as the image of the forest, suddenly started to dizzily spin as if someone looked up for a too long time at the burning sun while keeping his head back.
A powerful hit on the cloth of an invisible drum pierced the horizon and made it deafeningly sound, banishing the little light that was seen around this way and which was barely allowing the black outline of the trees to be seen.
Then, a new blow and the first sparkle illuminated the darkness for a second. Another hit and the second sparkle have been seen at the same height and distance as the first one. Then, when the blows of the drums wakened their rhythm, the sparkles, as if they were the lights of the candles, were haphazardly appearing and disappearing in that weird forest sunken into darkness while the barely heard and incomprehensible whispers were heard everywhere, and the voice of the woman started to pitifully sung but using no words.
Suddenly, the drums fell silent when the voice of the woman stopped her song as if she took a short time to breathe in. And, only then candles have been seen all around, in all their size, stuck in their silver holders, being kept in their hands by Virgins, that were totally black-dressed, with the hoods of their long overcoats on their heads, and their long, black hair was falling on their chest, on both sides, over the shoulders, softly touching the white skin of their neck.
However, they also stopped when a new blow in the cloth of the drums has been heard and the light of the candle from their hand illuminated their face: they all looked the same, having Mayar’s face, but their eyes seemed lacking life, desire, or ambitions.
And, when the voice of the woman started to sing her wordless song again, in the spectacular and deafening rhythm of the drums, the Virgins resumed their march and headed in the same direction, but each of them in her way, randomly positioned in the wood, among the trees. Thus, they walked at a sure step, but slowly till they got in front of a big, secular tree, at whose base the entrance in a hollow covered by the same white spider web was seen.
Then, the light of all candles joined in one single place as if there was the middle of the intersection of many red laser lights that were piercing the void, and their union formed a small crystal sphere that was reddishly illuminating the horizon and the entrance in the hollow, making the gaps in the cobwebs seem so frightening, even if any disgusting living thing wasn’t seen on that web, and the same light brought to light the fact that it was the same hollow discovered by Inmar and Ahi many years ago as being Mayar’s hidden place.
„Mama,” the cry of a child has been suddenly heard, and the Virgin that was closer to the hollow got closer to the sphere first, put her palm under it, without touching it, and that movement made the sphere separate itself from those red lights that were projecting it and then the sphere floated above the girl. And when the Virgin stepped toward the hollow, the sphere followed her as if listening to her command.
Squatting in front of the hollow, the young girl edged the sphere towards the spider web, illuminating the inside of the tree through the threads of that web, and she could reveal the intruder that was hidden in that hollow thus: Mayar, the 5-years-old girl, who was looking exactly the same as Ahi saw her there, many years ago.
And the poor child was shaking from all limbs, but it wasn’t clear if she was shaking because of fear or of cold. A thing was clear instead: her eyes were seeing nothing, being covered by a white peel as if she had the eyes of a Yātrikar, and the light of the sphere made the image of the girl shake as if it was only a bad projection, somehow disturbed, and, from that exchange of pictures, both Mayar’s childish body and Mayar’s young girl body have been seen, who was tightly holding Eftir Daudann’s handle, and, on whose blade, black drops of blood were also seen.
„Steps! Missing life! Doom! Destruction! Win!” Mayar’s lips were whispering to death while her eyes were looking somewhere in the distance at a blind spot.
Suddenly, Mayar turned her face and looked at the Virgin that was at the entrance in the hollow, and her cobwebby eyes, which were frightening looking, scared the Virgin that withdrew a few steps back, crawling on the ground.
After a few meters instead, the Virgin stood up and ran like a rabbit and, with her, without looking back, the other Virgins that were following her also ran.
Yet, they didn’t take the candles with them and, because of this, leaving them to themselves, the candles started to float in the air, projecting the same red lights toward the empty place where the sphere has been projected at first while the sphere was still seen at the entrance in the hollow.
But the time didn’t stop its course: after the Virgins had run away, approaching the same place, another Mayar has been seen.
However, this one had long, blond hair and she was wearing a white, long vestment. And when she got only a few meters from the hollow, staring at that captive Mayar who was also staring at her, she stopped.
„I’m Life!” That Mayar in white garments whispered and kindly smiled. „Will you hide for long of yourself and of others?”
Mayar, the one from the hollow, grinned as if being a wild animal showing her fangs while her fingers moved on the dagger’s handle as if she intended to squeeze it.
After that, suddenly, from one single movement, Mayar hit the sphere whose light was bothering her eyes, and Eftir Daudann’s blade broke the glass shape of the sphere, fading off the light all over.
***
Dropping the small Palantir in which she wanted to see the future, Tenebre let out a sigh that loudly resounded around Coallar's cave, and when the Palantir touched the ground, it broke up into many small red and black parts, scattered all over the floor while two shattered chips made a cut in the material of Tenebre's dress.
„The Shadows! Our Fears and our Doubts in front of Death! The hidden Maranam somewhere inside us and… the Life that still fights for us,” Tenebre murmured, looking in front with her lost glance as if she saw, at that moment, over and over again, the same image from Mayar’s inner world.
Then, Tenebre gathered her both palms in one single fist after sighing again. After that, the light of her eyes recovered its natural shade and she turned back to the real world from the trance, causing the shards of the Palantir to rise off the floor on their own, and when they got to float at Tenebre’s level chest, the Palantir took back its previous shape as if it has been reborn from ashes, reflecting on its surface the faces of the two Mayar: the one in white vestment, whom Tenebre called Life, and the one from the hollow, who was the perfect personation of Mayar’s fears, which she had run away from for an entire life.
„She’s hiding,” Tenebre said in a whisper, and, turning her head to the left, she looked at Coallar, who was still floating in that bubble, behind her. „Come closer!” Tenebre demanded and the young Anaya listened to her command, but she approached the Titanide with fear.
Being only one step from Tenebre, the young Anaya stopped, deeply breathed in as if trying to get some courage, and, raising her glance, she stared at her rival.
„How much do you know about this war?” Tenebre told Anaya without watching her.
„War? Between Life and Death?” Anaya shyly asked, even if she tried to seem calm and self-confident. She winced instead when Tenebre suddenly watched her with the eyes of a beast. „Not much!” Anaya rushed to say.
„Not much? Then… what do you know?” Tenebre hissed through her teeth.
„That there are three faces that will meet each other in the war against Maranam: one of the faces will be erased from Earth’s surface as if it never existed, as a wrong picture that the painter covers with black paint to hide his shame; the second one will give up to her freedom for Earth’s salvation; and the third one… well, the third one will have to choose on which path she will have to walk onto - toward glory or toward death.”
„Three faces… three destinies… three Virgins,” Tenebre murmured while she started to walk in a slow step throughout the cave. „One will die, the second one will change her destiny, and the third one will be the only one who will have the power to decide where to go,” she said as if she was trying to turn white into black those said by Anaya. „And… do you know who the three are?”
„No,” Anaya murmured, shaking her head and looking at the ground.
„Then? How did you find out that there will be three virgins fighting in that war and not only two? I'm hip only of two of them: Mayar and the girl of Rophions, who are in fact the Light and the Darkness of the Balance, or Life and Death of Iṟappu Vāḻkkai and the Masters of the two daggers.”
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
„I only know this,” Anaya murmured without watching Tenebre. „Let's say that this is a gift given to the ghosts that couldn’t pass through the Gates of Purgatorium… we have the power to see things, and one of these things has been to see the Fate of the three.”
„And… when did you see this for the first time?”
„Tonight… after the sky began to turn red at night.”
„When Mayar got Eftir Daudann,” Tenebre murmured and shuddered. Then, she furiously threw the Palantir against the bubble, which was keeping Coallar captive, and when the two spheres hit each other, the bubble broke into thousand pieces and Coallar has been thrown to the ground.
This unexpected event amazed Tenebre, who stared at Coallar, that was lying on the floor and continuously coughing as if he was trying to recover the normal rhythm of his breath.
Yet, this scared Anaya instead, who couldn’t take even one step back as if being frozen.
Her eyes were staring at Coallar instead and she spotted the muscles of his face jerking because of angst while he was staring at the two women in front of him.
Then, he supported himself on his palms, slowly stood up, still with his eyes on them, and when he was on his feet, he madly roared and started to slowly walk toward Anaya.
Tenebre took a step to the side as if she felt that Coallar’s madness had nothing to do with her. And this was so because Coallar passed by her without even watching her. However, this made Tenebre very curious and she looked behind him, staring at him in amazement when she saw his hand grabbing Anaya by the throat and squeezing it while he was whispering barely heard: „betrayal, you, human shape! How could you hide this from me? How could you hide all this time that I have another child?”
Even if she was shaking with all her body, Anaya didn’t hide her glance, staring into his, and her hands suddenly squeezed his fingers, trying to release herself from his clutch.
„Speak!” Coallar roared. „Tell me, why did you choose to betray me instead of giving me the chance to see my girl growing up?”
„To protect her from your madness,” Anaya’s lips whispered. „To see your girl growing up?! Don’t make me laugh! You don’t have the heart to enjoy seeing someone, to see someone happy, to see someone alive. You wouldn’t have done more than to use her as you did to Ahi and to the rest of your family. Even to Mannar, whom you say all the time that you love so much. They have been the only ways of reaching your goals because you have never felt love for anyone and you don’t know what this means.”
„And yet… I have the right to decide my children’s Fate because I’m their father,” Coallar snarled, and this made Tenebre smile.
Hearing her giggle, Coallar turned his head and nervously looked at her. „Are you still here? Get lost!”
„I won’t! This time I'm not going to listen to your nonsense,” Tenebre told him self-confident and she turned the Palantir toward him, allowing him to see the two faces of Mayar this way. „It seems that the war started already, Coallar. Ahi’s child got Eftir Daudann.”
Coallar suddenly released Anaya, who fell to the ground, coughing and touching her throat with both hands. Then, he approached the Palantir, touching its glass wall on which was reflected Mayar’s face.
„She has the dagger. Finally, our blood has the dagger we were looking for centuries to reach our goals.”
„It seems so, but…”
„But…”
„Mayar is gone. She’s hidden in her secret world and she took the dagger with her.”
„Damn it!” Coallar roared. „There's really nothing you can do well??”
„Don't yell at me! It's not my fault! It’s Mannar’s fault. When he transformed Ahi’s child into what she’s today, he hasn’t been attentive. If he took her feelings out of there and closed them in a place where she couldn’t have reached them, then she would have been by our side today and we wouldn’t have been forced to find a way to take her out of there.”
„I can take her out of that damn world. Take me there!”
„I can’t! Actually, nobody can enter there,” Tenebre told him, even more upset than Coallar was, who was also in arms against everything.
„The only chance for Mayar to get out of there is to give her some time to fight against her own fears,” Anaya murmured without watching Coallar and Tenebre, and her words took the two by surprise, who stared at her. „What will help her to get out of there will be Eftir Daudann and her mother’s love.”
„Her mother’s love? Do you mean that the mortal, who procreated that child, can enter the magic world of the girl?” Coallar asked confused and skeptical.
Only then did Anaya raise her glance, and, cunningly smiling, she said: „you shouldn’t doubt about maternal love, king Coallar, because… very soon, you’ll find out what it can do,” she added and she suddenly vanished.
Alerted, Coallar began searching her everywhere: „Where is she? Where did she go? Show up! Anaya, show up and explain those said by you!”
Tenebre laughed with all her heart, and this made Coallar stare at her with great anger. „Your curse, Coallar… it seems that it has been broken by a… ghost. A ghost who’ll kneel all of us down eventually,” and, touching the Palantir, Tenebre also vanished, leaving Coallar alone, roaring like a mad person while being right in the middle of the grotto, for, even if Anaya got free of his curse, he was still captive of her curse and he had to stay in that grotto forever.
***
Sitting on a white stone, of a cubic shape which was right in front of their tent, Samaya raised her glance and looked at the sky, which was falling red on the horizon, but on which no star was seen. Then, feeling a slight burn on her hand, Samaya winced and looked to her left, seeing Lifid Ibloma so close to her.
„What’s going on?” Samaya wondered in a whisper, staring at the dagger. „It avoided me till now, but it looks for me alone at this moment. Why?”
„Because hard times are approaching, Samaya,” she heard her father’s whisper, who was inside the tent, right next to the entrance.
Turning her head to him, Samaya watched him for a long time. „But, father… why did the daggers follow us till the camp as if they were trustful puppies to vanish eventually? Do you think that Eftir Daudann can tell others about where we are?”
„No, I don’t think so, for even if it has great power, the dagger doesn’t guard memories as your cube does. Yet, what worries me is the bond between the two daggers. Namely, this connection can bring the other one to us and, with it, the army of the enemy.”
„And… isn’t there any possibility to block the power of the dagger?”
„No. Or… at least I don’t know about such a thing, Samaya. I wish I had regained the power I had when I was in the Cosmos with my old appearance. Thus, I could have linked directly to Chaos or with the center of Aeon and I would have had the possibility to answer your question. Now instead, the only thing we can do is wait. As for Chaos, he really doesn't speak to you?”
„No, and this happens since I turned back from the Cosmos and they showed me Aeon. That’s why I don’t understand why the bond between me and Chaos has been broken even if it has been so strong before.”
Watching her palm, Samaya saw the red mark Eftir Daudann left on her skin when she tried to touch it in the woods.
„At least it doesn’t look like the sign seen on Arion’s palm,” Fenrir said in a joke, and when Samaya watched to her right, she saw Arion, Bestla, and Sephir approaching them along with Fenrir. „This would have been really dangerous, for… who knows, it could have been a real possibility for me to look for parts of my fur around the forest after your sharp teeth had tasted it, and it would have been for sure difficult for me to let you unconscious after hitting your head with my paw, as I did to Arion. But… there’s still no late to try it once,” Fenrir said, grinning with satisfaction.
„You don't waste any chance to rub salt in my wound, don’t you?” Arion unhappily snarled, and passed by Fenrir, heading toward his tent.
Nathaniel did the same, reproachfully nodding and whispering a „troublemaker" to Fenrir.
„You looked for it yourself!” Samaya said, smiling at her brother. „And it also seems that you’ll cop it, and... so badly,” and she motioned with her head toward him to watch back, at Sephir, who was standing with her arms crossed on her chest, staring at her husband, who lost no chance to look for trouble everywhere or make others angry.
„What? Am I again guilty for everything?” Fenrir murmured, trying to seem brave, but he still looked for shelter, sitting down next to Samaya and motioning her to offer her arm.
„What for?” Samaya asked in amazement.
„You'll see! A trick I've got from Hestia, after the kiss with…,” but he kept silent, understanding that he talked too much while his wife was present, who loudly whistled through her lips, and a rumble of thunder right away pierced the sky. „Don’t take it amiss! Let's say it has been only… the occupational hazard,” and he sweetly grinned, begging for mercy while finishing to form a small blue flame in his palm. After that, he passed that flame over Samaya’s palm, trying to heal her wound.
„A fire that heals another fire,” Dike murmured. Then, as if a great idea came to his mind, he jerked from his place and exited the tent. „Fenrir, do you think you can form a base of protection for Lifid Ibloma?”
„From fire?” Fenrir asked in amazement.
„Yes. Veil. We must hide somehow the „traces” of this dagger till will figure out where its half-soul vanished or who has it.”
„I never tried it, but… we can do it now,” Fenrir murmured, and, after finishing healing Samaya’s wound, he stood up and approached the dagger, that was floating somewhere in front of him.
When Fenrir stretched his palm with the blue flame above it toward the dagger, Lifid Ibloma seemed to have frozen in the air and also started to illuminate blue around. After this, its own light stretched toward the light of the flame from the young man’s palm as if it was made from gelatin, and when they joined a kind of exchange of energy has been seen between the dagger and the flame, covering the dagger with a blue, gelatinous cloth, from the same material used by Bestla to form mirrors and control minds through their reflection.
„It works!” Samaya murmured, standing up and approaching her father.
But everybody has been even more amazed to hear a melody playing around them and which was similar to the one Fenrir had called the „Music of Aeon” when he was still a child, when he, Samaya, and Dike were walking through the forest.
And the same melody brought the People of Siar and Arion out of the tents and looked amazed around, not understanding what was going on, for that music was usually heard only by those with magical power. At that moment instead, the humans could also hear it.
„The world is changing!” Boor murmured, approaching Arion and resting his palm on his shoulder.
„It seems so. It seems that Life gives humans a chance to help us in this war. That’s why they also can hear the Music of Aeon.”
„But… why?” Sephir asked in a whisper.
„To give them courage, for hard times are waiting for all of us,” her father told her.
„We’ve passed through even harder times once. I don’t think this will be a problem to cross it once again, more if this means the salvation of our people and of the entire world,” Nathaniel said, being stopped to the right of Boor.
Nobody said anything else then. Only Boor touched also Nathaniel’s shoulder as if trying to send him that humans aren’t alone anymore.
After that, they all saw how Lifid Ibloma has been completely covered by the gelatinous substance, and when the flame from Fenrir’s palm extinguished, the dagger blinked three times in the air as if being a light that was continuously blinking, to vanish later, and, after a few seconds, it right away appeared at Samaya’s girdle. And this amazed everyone because they thought that Lifid Ibloma had already given up on helping and protecting humans and Titans.