Hiamstar’s heavy footsteps leave barely seen traces on the too-hardened soil of Mortor Forest, on the path that leads South, toward that scary Valley, known and bypassed by all living creatures - the Valley of Cry. And the Old Spirit of the Woods is slowly moving through the forest, carefully stepping by the secular trees that were asleep for so long already, asleep by time and by magical powers as if Hiamstar had been afraid not to awaken them.

  But many of those trees couldn't have been awakened already: they were as tired as Fate was to face the evil, to fight against their own existence and against the impossibility of defending themselves from those mean spirits that tried to kill their souls.

  „It’s so quiet here,” murmured Baradar, still sitting on the old tree’s shoulder and enjoying that sweet rocking caused by the movement of Hiamstar’s wooden arms, which were moving back and forth.

  „This is true,” Hiamstar said barely heard and a painful sigh had been heard coming out of his chest. „And there was so much joy in old times here. There were so many birds that were sweetly singing while floating through the air; there was so much innocence felt in the new leaves that barely appeared on our branches while they were enjoying the sun rays; as it was so beautiful all around this forest - with its eternal hungry wolves, but which never hurt anyone without a reason; with the diligent squirrels, always jumping from one branch to another and, if they dropped a nut from their paws, this was so joyfully and so clumsy rolling on our old trunks, and till that nut was reaching the earth, we were laughing and moving so much, for its touches were tickling our bodies. Then was the grass - of bright pure green, of a shadow green, that was slowly rocking on the soil, well protected by our huge crowns and, protected by the burning sun, it was growing a lot, and it was so soft to the touch, for it was all the time caressed by the light gusts of wind, for there were playful gusts of wind, too, that were touching our bodies, and…”

  „…what you loved the most has been the music of this forest, Hiamstar. You loved those choirs formed by many birds, by many different voices that were so divine singing while trying to be heard by the sun first, by the sky, by the earth. But those heavenly singers are already gone and since long ago.”

  „Oh, and you’re so right, minikin,” said Hiamstar with its manly voice, of a baritone, as if he had been once part of that choir of which Baradar had talked about. „But, to be honest, we still hear those melodies, from time to time: when the sky is so clear above us, when the wind barely blows around us, cooling our wounds, and, most important - when we are out of our own curse.”

  And those last words Hiamstar spoke with pain as if syllabifying them, for he wanted to put, in those words, all the burden that has pressed its chest in those long millennia of its existence in the shadow of the time. And when its footsteps finally got to the edge of the forest, at that Southern edge of the forest where the Valley of Cry was seen from, they saw the valley’s deserted surroundings as if they were also cursed by Fate.

  Then Hiamstar stopped, only a few steps from the first line of trees, on a small hurst, from the top off which they could see the valley so well.

  But what amazed them the most has been to see a reddish horizon all above the valley, even if it was only dawn. „Oh, these Dirges are acting up again,” Hiamstar sadly murmured.

  „Aga,” admitted Baradar. „They don’t like to lose a battle, ever, in front of anyone. It’s their way to cry their pain while they are bandaging their wounds.”

  Suddenly, a loud lament, full of pain, has been heard all along the valley, and this made Hiamstar and Baradar wince and turn their heads to the left, toward the place where waves of air currents were felt from.

  Yet, this wasn’t only an illusion of nature there: it was the Dirges’power, the strength of their souls in pain while chasing the other souls away from next to them - the souls of those soldiers that fell prey to their madness in that battle, for even if they loved to make up their lines with new innocent souls that time when they lost the battle, they preferred not to receive those souls in their group, but to completely destroy them and show their discontent to the others thus.

  „Should we intervene?” Hiamstar asked in half a voice, watching Baradar from the corner of his eyes.

  „You know I love to, but… we don’t have this right.”

  „Eh, this is so. You’re right, minikin, as always. But each time I see such oppressions, my soul starts to hurt my chest and I remember about our own sad Fate again,” and the melancholy took over Hiamstar again.

  Baradar preferred to keep silent for a long while instead, allowing the tree to come to its senses. Then, he said: „do you remember, Hiamstar, what we talk about last time we met? 7 thousand years ago?”

  „Ooo, if my memory doesn’t play a prank on me…,” murmured Hiamstar and its eyes suddenly narrowed as if it was trying hard to turn back time or force the wheel of its mind to turn back time and remember what they have talked about, thousands and thousands of years ago. „Aaa, wait, I think I remembered. If to be more precise, it seems to me that I told you the Princess Curse’s story then.”

  „True. The princess Curse’s story and of the Titan Island, the one who’s actually in this forest right now.”

  „So it to be?!” murmured Hiamstar, wonderingly. „So it is if you say so. But… to be honest, I didn’t recognize him or… maybe I never met him before?!” And Hiamstar suddenly took thoughts.

  „You told me about the curse then, Hiamstar, and that each of us lives the curse in his way. But… you never told me how Mortor Forest paid for what happened then.”

  „Oh, my poor Mortor Forest… oh, my sweet forest,” and Hiamstar’s heavy voice rolled along the valley, as if it wanted everyone to know the forest’s sad story. „We paid by turning into shadows,” the tree outlined each word. „We became ghosts, living in the same Universe which we loved till madness once. Yes, we’ve been sentenced to wander our old realms for eternity and live the last moments of our lives forever, those last few happy moments we had before that havoc,” and Hiamstar’s eyes suddenly turned dark green, almost black, increasing in volume and allowing the Time to pass through them and turn back time while the Wheel of Time started to rotate at a dizzy speed as if it was too eager to see those times once again.

***

  Small circles of rays of light have been seen floating above the forest at first. Then, finding a small crack among the secular trees’branches, those circles entered through it, and, half away, they became bigger in size, joyfully waving above the trees, above the bushes and herbs, making the dark green of the moss, seen on the roots and trunks, be brighter than ever.

  Then, the melodious chirp of a nightingale has been heard around as if it had tried to awaken nature and, soon after that first shout of life, many others have been heard, forming a kind of choir of divine voices and musical notes.

  And it was so much delight all around, hearing that sweet melody, that even the trees’branches were slowly rocking, trying to send pleasure to their soul through that slight movement, dancing with those rays of light thus, rays that continued to float above them.

  Suddenly, the birds’chirp has been interrupted by the tubby growl of a bear, which made the birds be quiet for a few moments. But they right away started to sing louder as if they were trying to silence that strange sound that interrupted their morning concert.

  And, in the rhythm of the music heard in the heights, a big brown bear has been seen exiting a bush, grown right in the middle of a narrow path that was climbing a slope and which was leading toward a small streamlet heard not that far from that place.

  At first, the bear found it strange that silence all around, even if it was a silence woven with the melody heard among the leaves. That’s why he stopped, stood up on its back legs while slowly touching its belly with its front paws, and sniffed the horizon. But because nothing else was felt around as if the scent was stubborn that morning and didn’t want to leave the womb of the flowers, the wind also suddenly stopped, and not even the too-clear air of the forest wasn’t the same as before.

  And namely that weird silence made the bear powerfully growl. But receiving no answer, he once again growled. So, to be heard another growl too.

  Yet… the bear wasn’t alone. Behind him, pushing their way through that bush, two little bears of about few months appeared on that path soon and approached their mother and… the bear that seemed to be only a lonely soul at first resulted being a too loving and overprotecting mother. And, after she saw her baby bears next to her, playing and pushing each other, the big bear got down on all four paws and moved further. But even so, it was looking to the left and to the right, making sure that there was no danger lurking on them.

  The baby bears played a little more next to that bush. But, seeing that their mother was already far from them, they rushed to catch up with her.

  Behind them, from the same bush, the head of a fox had been seen first, and it seemed that she had stood hidden in that bush all that time, spying on the baby bears’play and on the she-bear’s concern. But it was only a forest’s illusion, for that path was the usual path on which all the forest’s creatures were walking toward the streamlet, to drink water.

  The fox instead didn’t stop to sniff the horizon as the bear did, but it looked around to see if it could find something tasty to eat. But, to its misfortune, the tasty bunnies and all of its usual „snacks,” were hidden in their dens, feeling the fox's presence there. So, eventually, the queen-fox has been forced to drop its bundle and follow the she-bear, to at least drink sweet water from that streamlet, if that day it didn’t have the luck to lick its lips after having a delicious meal.

  Soon after that, the other small creatures left their dens, too. At first, the small head of a red squirrel, which was living in a hollow seen on the upper part of a secular tree, has been seen. Later, from its small den, dug next to the squirrel’s tree, the small head of a white, fearful bunny has been seen. But it showed only its little black, small and wet nose at first, and only after that, the tip of its long ears has been seen. Then - its shiny eyes, of a bright grey, sparkled in the air, and, in the end, its small fluffy tail has been spotted while he headed in small playful jumps toward the sunny glade, seen not that far from that place.

  But… neither the squirrel nor the bunny were alone there: among the leaves, the small heads of the birds have been seen soon after, while, on the ground, from between herbs and other weeds, both quickly and slowly moving, the rest of the insects and small creatures have been seen - all kind of buzzers, worms, small spiders that abandoned their homes for a little while and they were rushing back home at that moment to see if they didn’t catch anything in their web.

  And their chaotical movement, as the espial of the birds from above, was giving a special charming to the forest, making a kind of strange call of nature all around it, for even if it was a savage world all around, millenary old, the forest has also its own order, a kind of ritual, unknown for so many, but so known, felt, and accepted by every single creature that was living in that forest.

  But a sudden weird scream pierced that dreamy silence of the forest, interrupting the sweet melody of those musicians hidden among the leaves. Later, the barely heard flap of a Great Horned Owl's wings has been heard and this made the branches slowly move when it lifted in the air and headed toward the same glade toward which the bunny was leading, following it from above.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  However, when to swoop upon the poor prey, which it craved more than the fox, the owl froze in the air for a few seconds after it looked to the North, where a huge, black smoke cloud was seen approaching that place of the forest.

  The owl, seeing the danger approaching them, let a powerful shout come out of its throat as if it had announced to the rest of the forest’s locals about the imminent danger that was quickly approaching them.

  And its warning cry has been right away heard by everyone: the bunny started to run back home, on the same path on which it headed toward the glade; the birds started to agitate among the leaves, screaming and shouting; the snakes, the lizards, and the rest of the small and big creatures exited their dens and digs and, all to one, gathered in one place. And, forgetting about their rivalry, they looked in the distance, concerned, at that big fire that was seen eating the wood of the secular trees and threatening to destroy their homes too, as threatening with taking their lives in the end.

  Thus, bowing to the ground and fighting against the flames that were consuming them, the trees were deafeningly shouting from their wooden throats as if asking for help and salvation from the other creatures, but also announcing to the others about the imminent death that was quickly approaching those places. But… as nobody and nothing can fight against the fire and the water, the same happened to the forest, which had been quickly on fire, with those hungry flames which were quickly eating their wooden bodies, making them lament with painful moans, but… there wasn't anybody there to help them.

  The fire, in its crazy haste to the South, made a lot of victims: the squirrels died in their hollows not wanting to leave their new-born babies; the insects had no chance to survive, for, generally living between the leaves or on the trees’trunks, they shared the same Fate as they did; the same happened to the bunnies, to the foxes, to the wolves, with a lot of the bears that were in the heart of the forest at the moment of the havoc and they also fell, killed by the same flames that burnt their fur, scorching it, leaving them powerless, and making them give up in front of death eventually.

  Only a few of the forest’s creatures saved themselves from that hell. But many of them had deep wounds on their skin, the traces of that war with the fire through which they had to pass to save themselves.

  And… when they saw themselves safe, on that huge plain that was next to the forest, they stopped and looked for a long time at the forest that kept burning and they hit the road only when everything around was only burning ashes, when only sparkling ashes were seen jerking in the air, above the place where the Mortor Forest existed once.

***

  „It has been very difficult then,” Hiamstar suddenly said, interrupting the silence that surrounded them when he decided to accompany Dike and the rest and show them the only path that was leading toward the exit gates from that ghost forest. „And there’s probably difficult for us now too, for even if we passed through the slaughter of those red enemies, called flames, many of us still think that we are alive and that’s why humans and other creatures can still see the splendor of the old Mortor Forest, from time to time.”

  „Yet, Hiamstar, life goes on. Instead of the old forest, another towering forest will grow up in the future, when this place will be saved by the curse, when the earth will breathe again, after a long time, receiving a new acorn, that has the seeds of life hidden in its small body, in its arms.”

  „Eh, Titane Dike, I wish this happen, but… I can’t lie to myself and neither I can lie to others. If we passed through what we had to pass in the past, to later live in this world between light and shadow without clearly seeing the sun, I doubt that there will still be life once again, on these lands which we love so much.”

  „Why do you think so, Hiamstar? Life is unpredictable and it can surprise you when you less expect this,” said Himera.

  „Maybe it's what you say, but… as older you are as less you believe in fairy tales, in miracles, and… in destinies.”

  Sephir smiled, because she remembered, for a moment only, her fight with Ian Gyar, for she also faced the World of Shadows after that.

  As if reading her mind, Hiamstar slowly turned its head toward her and kindly looked at her with that kindness of a grandfather that hadn’t seen his grandchildren for a long time, longing for seeing them so much. „There are still those in this world who also saw the world of shadows, the same world in which Mortor Forest is living in,” murmured the tree.

  „This is so, and… I can say without a doubt that’s totally different from what we expect to see after our death, for that world is full of fears and dangers, the same fears and dangers which we tried to avoid for an entire life,” said Sephir, without watching him.

  „Yet… you managed to turn back to life and join a soul that crossed the same path you crossed once, finding the way toward an illuminated place and full of love how your heart is,” said Hiamstar, without losing sight of her, and this amazed many of those who were accompanying them. But… this made Dike even more thinker than he had ever been.

  „Something bothers you?” Gaea asked him in a whisper, passing by Hiamstar and Sephir, who continued their talk about life while she approached the Titan.

  Dike, without looking at the Titanide, looking somewhere in the distance toward which they were heading, slowly nodded: „yes, and that bothering has a name - a father’s love.”

  „Fenrir!” murmured Gaea.

  „Yes. I was thinking about him, for the image that I saw entering this forest, an image of my boy on flames doesn’t leave me normally breathing.”

  „Yet, Dike… even if he had such a Fate once, he’s fine and safe now, even if Maranam is free and there’s no safe place on this earth anymore.”

  „Actually, what bothers me even more than that image is Parca and her reasons to join Fenrir’s and Sephir’s destinies when I’m sure that they didn't have to be together, or at least this is what I saw when my boy was born - his path in this life wasn’t joining the path of any other soul.”

  Gaea smiled. „You know, Tenebre asked me the same question once.”

  „Tenebre?” Dike asked in amazement, focusing his glance on the Titanide. „Since when does Tenebre know about this? And… don’t tell me that she had something to do with Parca’s plan.”

  „No. She has nothing to do with that. If and if Tenebre found out about Fenrir and Sephir is because she saw them once when she tried to cross the Fireflies’Waterfall, to spy on the People of Siar. Then is when she found out about their marriage. But… she only knows this. At least this is what I think.”

  „Parca has a bigger influence than you think,” Lodur said, getting next to the two Titans while slowly supporting his hand on the upper part of Alabar as if resting his palm on the small body of Bayer. But what seemed to be only a fatuous action at first faded the star’s light in fact, just not to make the trees and the creatures seen there as ghosts suffer more, for Bayer’s light was the light of hope and Lodur didn’t want that that forest think that it has a chance to resurrect. „It doesn’t seem random to me that Tenebre was at the lake at that moment when Sephir decided to join her life with Fenrir’s life. I'm sure that Parca is also involved.”

  „I won’t be surprised, to be honest. But I still don’t understand the reason for such a risky movement, for she knows very well Tenebre’s hatred for Inlan Diar’s dears, and, finding out about Fenrir and Sephir, it could have made her hurt them eventually by attacking them,” Gaea thoughtfully whispered.

  „The bone of contention in the form of Hatred,” said Lodur, and this made Dike and Gaea stop, looking at him, thunderstruck.

  „This is what I think and this is the same as you think about: Parca’s soul is already split up and she can’t control none of those two parts anymore - One Parca looks for making this war, that’s approaching us, be real and that’s why she gave Fenrir that medallion in the form of a Virgin, just to make sure that he’ll be Sephir’s soul mate one day. And if she did that is because she knew that Sephir will give power to Fenrir to fight and to always look for triumph and that she’ll always be by her husband’s side. And the second Parca, the darker part of the Titanide of Fate, is always looking for separating us. That’s why she sent Tenebre there - to make Sephir give up on her idea of being someone’s wife. But her plan didn’t happen because of the same dark power she counted on, for Island’s power, along with Dike’s power, who charmed the ivy that lives in that water, made that devilish herb try to hurt Tenebre, who eventually gave up on her plan and didn’t help Parca thus,” added Lodur.

  „And we’ve got where we’ve got,” Dike firmly said. „It was written in the stars for us to cross that Valley of Cry and the Mortor Forest, for Parca looked for our death thus.”

  „This is so, but she got the contrary, for we became stronger and we decided to make the Good triumph eventually, helping those sad souls that walked on that path toward Purgatory to find the right path toward Aeon,” said Lodur.

  Eventually, the Titan turned and looked back, at the trees that were slowly bowing behind them.

  Later, after the last alive soul passed by them, those trees turned into ashes, and their burning ash was scattered later by an unseen gust of wind. But there was heard no moan or lament, no cry or tormented sigh of the forest’s soul. It was only a deep silence, a deadly silence like the one we always feel before a big storm.

  And, when to pass by the last line of trees that were guarding the Northern Part of the forest, Hiamstar stopped and, sadly smiling, he said: „our journey together ends here, my boy. Now it’s your turn to fight for peace.” After that, Hiamstar put his arm on the shoulder and allowed Baradar to climb on his palm, to later leave him on the ground and bow in front of everyone.

  Then, Hiamstar raised his head and proudly looked at the sun, smiling with all his heart. Later he closed his eyes and had the same Fate as the rest of the forest’s creatures and the trees: its wooden body turned to ashes, which slowly floated toward the horizon later on the light transparent wings of a gust of wind.

  „The Legendary destiny of a Spirit of the Woods ended now,” Baradar sadly murmured.

  Sephir, who was standing to his left, put her hand on the minikin’s head, slowly caressing his hair and trying to give him at least a little bit of comfort.

  Saying nothing else, when the last sparkle of burning ash vanished in the air, and instead of the old Mortor Forest, which lived for millennia like a Ghost Forest, appeared a vast green field, the minikin turned his back on that place, for it was something painful for him to look at, realizing that it was the last time when he could see the places he adored once and, the most important, it was the last time when he heard, even for a short time, the beloved voice of Hiamstar - the one which has been his mentor, the one which loved him like a father and which said goodbye to the minikin like a good friend, giving him a piece of last good advice to walk later onto a new path - toward the unknown.

  One by one: Dike, Lodur, Gaea, Island, Sephir, and the rest of their group followed the minikin. But none of them said anything as if it was their manner of showing respect for the forest that wasn’t existing anymore.

  Yet, not everyone followed Baradar eventually - Himera and her fighters stopped in the same place where Hiamstar vanished, for their journey along with Dike and his fellows also ended there, for once the army of good was out of the death’s influence, the fighters had to turn back to the Valley of Cry and protect the alive souls from the Dirges.

  „Are you sure that you don’t want to follow us?” Boor whispered to his wife, caressing her cheek while she laid her head on his palm and closed her eyes, feeling his love for her even if it was for a short time.

  Without opening her eyes, Himera said: „I’m sure, Boor, and if we see each other in another life, then we’ll have enough time for us. Now, our priorities are others and it seems that our paths are different too: one will go North and the other one goes South; one - toward Life and the second one - toward Death. But each of us has the hope in his soul that this isn’t the end, but the beginning.”

  „Then, let's make our dream become true and when all this is over when all this isn't more than a forgotten by the world nightmare, I’ll turn back here and I’ll spend my long life with you.”

  Himera smiled: Boor never talked in vain and if he promised that he’d turn back to her one day and he’d be with her, even if for a short time... she knew that it’ll be so. That's why she lifted on tiptoe and kissed him. After that, she released her hand from his, leaving him to go, and Boor had to do that, for the others were already way too far in front of him and he had to rush to catch up with them.

  Remained in the same place where she said goodbye to her husband, Himera looked for a long time behind him, till Boor and the rest of his fellows were already lost in the distance. Only then, when she was completely alone, for her fighters were already a long way from her, knowing that no danger was lurking on her there, a playful gust of wind took the scarf off her head and carried it on its long wings, made from air currents, long-long in the distance, making it seem like a multicolored bird that fell prey to dreaming, floating in the rhythm of the earth's heart beats.

  With her face uncovered, on which were still seen the traces of her past sufferance, Himera smiled again while the wind kept acting up with her hair. Then, in the corner of her eyes, tears appeared, tears which Himera left to freely stream on her cheeks, for they were the personation of the sadness felt in her chest for the Mortor Forest that wasn’t alive anymore, but which she had known so well and, at the same time, she was sad to see leaving her two big loves: her husband and her daughter, who she was ushering them out in tears - they were actually going to war. How not be sad in such a case?!

  As if leaving her behind, like a story character, that finished already her role, Himera’s scarf kept floating toward the horizon, quickly carried it on, on the wind’s wings, till it caught up with Boor and, only when that scarf got above him, did Boor see it and smiled, feeling that there was still hope on earth. After that, he stretched his hand and grabbed that scarf, deeply breathing in its longing scent, the smell of that lifeless bird which was reminding him about his past which will always be by his side. That’s why Boor wrapped the scarf around his right wrist, taking it with him as if it was the power of great love.