„You won’t give up, won’t you?” Tomai asked Dike while the two of them were moving in a circle, preparing for the fight, and lurking on the opponent from the corner of their eyes to prevent a surprise attack.
While Dike and Tomai seemed to dance around an invisible fire, without doing sudden movements, but still acting like performing spectacular dance steps, detached from ancient rites, the other three Titans stood aside, closely guarded by the ghouls, for Dike’s pact with Tomai was to fight only the two of them, without involving the others.
Actually, the one who asked for that pact was Tomai and not Dike, and this was because when the Titan threw Ionas toward him and the sword returned to his master, Dike had a vision: Succubi Forest in flames and none of them could save their lives.
But not only Dike seemed to have seen that vision, but also Tomai, who suddenly winced and stared at the Titan.
„It can’t be!” Tomai said to Dike, using telepathy. „How is this possible to see the same thing as you, Titan? What kind of devilish magic is this?”
„None,” Dike loudly said, for all to hear. „It’s only the power of the Cyclops involved here.”
„The Power of the Cyclops?” asked Tomai. „How could it…?”
„Ionas! This sword has been hardened in the fire of Inetha Island, in Lamar Smith, the one led by Shiman, the unbeatable king of Cyclops.”
„Not that unbeatable,” one of the ghouls said in mockery, grinning. „We all know who put the Cyclops to fight, leaving them without room and board, and forcing them to run with the tail between their legs,” but the ghoul hadn’t enough time to enjoy the triumph of his wise words, for a sudden hit, received right in the middle of his forehead, put him to the ground, leaving him unconscious.
Tomai snarled, seeing his fellow lying on the ground, and furiously stared at the Titans.
„Ups, no offense!” said Island, grinning, for he was who punched the bold one’s forehead so hard that left him unconscious.
And, to be honest, the Titan of Ice didn’t put too much effort into that hit. He only took advantage that the ghoul was only half a step behind him and, when Island suddenly raised his left hand up, with his fist squeezed, he managed to hit the target right in the middle of his forehead. Well, he also used some magic to make that hit be felt like a hit of a sledgehammer on the top of the head, but this is another story.
„I only chased some flies away!” The Titan made a joke. „Not the other, but… I hate hearing them buzzing in my ear!”
Tomai instead disliked the joke and took two steps toward the Titan, intending to bring Island to his senses. He stopped, however, when Dike stepped in front of him.
„He said… no offense. It’s not Island’s fault that he was sitting too close to him. He only… defended himself from… flies!”
„Then… someone should pay for this,” Tomai hissed through his teeth, staring at Dike with hatred. „Tit for tat, Titan.”
While they talked to each other with hatred, Dike and Tomai were standing face to face, but not in a straight line, but somehow at 45 degrees of each other and their shoulders almost touched the other one’s, in a kind of weird kiss while the owners of the shoulders were piercing the rival with their glance.
„And… what will you win doing this? Revenge?” Dike asked Tomai in disgust, for even if he wasn’t afraid to fight with the ghoul, yet, he would have liked to avoid that fight. Not the other, but… a big war was approaching, and they didn't have why to waste their forces in vain.
„Revenge?! No, Titan! It won't come in handy for me.”
„Then?”
„The vision! You also saw it! So clearly! It means that if we all fight, this forest will burn in Hestia’s flames, controlled by Chaos’s and the Titans'power. But… if we choose to willingly fight, only the two of us, then they won’t intervene.”
„Yet, I don’t see the point of this fight,” insisted Dike.
„You said this before: the Yātrīkars!”
„The Yātrīkars?! And… what have those Devilish Virgins to do with the fight between us?”
„Of course, they have, and a lot! Or… do you think that we came in your way only because we were so eager to scratch your backs a little bit? You are stupid if you think so, for we did this because we have an order: to kneel you down or destroy you!”
„So then?! Well, as far as I can read into your eyes, you aren’t convinced that you’ll make it eventually.”
„True! Thus: we don’t have why to risk our lives for taking yours! That’s why we must fight only the two of us, and the one who’ll win will have the right to subdue the other one.”
„To subdue him, you say?! Well, I don’t see how this can help me.”
„Fighting force! The war with Maranam seems to be tough and each sword raised against him can help you win.”
„This is true. But… we all know that you won’t be ever on the side of good. I see this reflected in your black-like pitch souls, which only long for more blood, victims, and a lot of pain,” said Dike almost in a whisper, but the words said by him resounded in the ghoul’s ears as if they were spoken with hatred, outlined, using the entire power the Titan was capable of.
„And… what use of our malice, if we aren’t free?!” said Tomai, and the ghoul’s words amazed Dike and the other Titans.
Even the ghouls have been so amazed hearing this and stared thunderstruck at each other.
„Better to choose the smaller evil: I mean - you, than to be at the feet of Maranam forever,” added Tomai. „Life for life, power for power, and pact for a pact.”
„But… I still have a big doubt,” said Dike, cunningly grinning, for even if Tomai’s proposal was tempting, for they had huge power and could have helped them in the fight, the Titan still had to tie the ghoul through a vow and be sure that they will fight on the side of good in that war thus, and not against them. „How will you ensure us that you won’t break your word later by attacking your allies or changing the camps?”
„It depends on the pact you propose,” said Tomai.
„Are you sure?! It might be something you’ll dislike.”
„As I said: it depends on the pact.”
„Well then, you are who said this: it depends on the pact. Then, here’s my proposal - if you win, the Titans will leave this forest, and even if we meet on the battlefield, we won’t cut your head or threw you pray to death.”
„And if you win?”
„Don’t rush,” Gaea hissed through her teeth. „Listen to the end and you’ll find out.”
„Indomitable as always, Mother Earth. But: you should better watch your own back, for this pact doesn’t include you, and this is because I have a personal reckoning with you, an older one, bigger as all the days.”
„As if I’m afraid of such a jerk like you! Anywhere, anytime, Tomai: it’ll be my pleasure to cut your head!” And Gaea said those words with all the hatred she was capable of, for she still didn’t forget the death of the Siar Virgins, due to the ghouls’help at Tenebre’s and her allies’request, especially having a deal with Moirae.
„It’s not the moment, Gaea!” Dike harshly said. „We have so many other things to deal with now, besides stupid revenge.”
„Not that stupid, anyway!” Mother Earth snarled.
„Dike is right, Gaea! Now’s the time to take care of Life and take a step back in the face of Death.”
As if having another premonition, Dike winced, hearing what Lodur told to Gaea, and he found the perfect pact to suggest to Tomai, and, this way, to tie him and his fellows by the army of Good in that war. „If we win, to be sure that you won’t ever betray us, we need life insurance.”
„A life insurance?” asked Tomai, confused.
„Mmm, one extremely sure - your body!” And Dike’s answer made the ghouls wince, then shudder like hell.
And Dike's words also made Island and Gaea stare thunderstruck at each other, for, even if they weren’t sure of Dike’s plan and why he was ready to accept that useless fight, they never expected to hear such words told by him.
Yet, not everybody has been amazed hearing the offer made by Dike to Tomai, and that person, who stood silent and calm, with crossed arms and staring at a small point on the soil, thinking about something, has been Lodur.
Tomai instead, hearing Dike’s offer, gnashed his teeth and hardly squeezed his fists, something that made the forest moan, for that forest and its weirdness were tightly related to the huge power of the ghouls’leader. „Do you at least realize what you ask for in exchange?” Tomai hissed through his teeth, staring with hatred at the Titan.
„Of course! Life for life and… death for death, Tomai! Or what, did you think that we’ll enter this war without thinking about ensuring our backs against a possible betrayal on your part?”
„Of course, not! But… asking for our priceless, natural gift before the fight you only break a pact, which actually isn't sealed yet.”
„Then, not accepting this pact, is no fight, Tomai. And we won’t accept also to watch your backs in the war against Maranam.”
„Even so: do you think we’re so stupid to willingly give up on our chance to be reborn for a useless fight?” Tomai shouted, making the surroundings scream and shudder. „Our bodies mean our future. Ceding to them as spoils of war is too much even coming from you, Titan.”
„Then… Let Succubi Forest burn!” Dike confidently said to him and turned his back to Tomai. But Dike couldn’t take a normal step in front when he has been stopped by the ghoul’s hand that touched his shoulder.
„You know that’s sure death for all of us!” said Tomai, staring at a blind spot in front of them. „You should think twice before proposing such a pact, Titan!”
„There’s no other pact to propose,” Dike said, knowing very well that that pact was the most benefic and trustful for them to tie the ghouls by legs and hands, and ensure their backs.
„A pact we aren’t ready to accept! Never on this side of the grave!” added Tomai, still staring in front.
„You’ll accept it, Tomai!” A woman’s shout has been heard behind them and when they looked over there, they saw a young woman, about twenty, confidently staring at the ghouls, without fear, remorse, or hesitation.
„Stay away from this, Kalimērā!” shouted Tomai. But when he looked at her, he felt his blood freezing in his veins, for both Kalimērā and the rest of the women, that were giving birth to the ghouls’bodies and who were pregnant at that moment, were staring with hatred at those present there while holding daggers in their hands, with the sharp tops touching their rounded bellies.
„I won’t, Tomai! I've had enough of being forced to keep silent!” The woman shouted, squeezing the dagger’s handle. „It had been enough of so much silence and oppression! It’s our time!”
„It’s madness what you’re doing! Stop this!” Tomai shouted again and took a step toward them, intending to force them to turn back to the hide-outs. But he suddenly stopped, seeing the decision in the woman’s glance: to kill her baby in the womb. „You won’t ever do that!” He furiously shouted through his teeth.
„Do you think so?! I am sure that I can do this, just as I’m sure that each being that’s behind me can do this. And… do you know why?! Because we’re tired to be only vessels used to form your bodies while the souls of our children are chased out of their bodies, just yours to take their place,” the woman said with hatred while her fingers were threateningly moving around the dagger’s handle, now squeezing it then weakening it a little bit, and her jaw was moving in a kind of weird tremble.
„You don’t even know what kind of devilish pact you suggest me to accept, stupid woman!” said Tomai. „Accepting the Titan’s pact, you sentence us at sure death, all of us, for… being part of you, in case one of us dies and he won’t be able to rebirth, his soul will wander forever on the death’s fields.”
„And? Why should we care about your souls?! Accepting this pact you at least have the chance for your cursed blood not to vanish, and your people of assassins continue through your children, kids we accept to give birth in case one of you dies on the battlefield!”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
„A fair pact, seems to me,” Gaea cunningly murmured. „Life for life as Dike said!”
But Tomai thought differently. That’s why he stared with hatred at the Titanide.
Gaea instead didn’t look elsewhere but straight into his eyes. Suddenly she winced, however, having a premonition: Tomai falling on his knees, beheaded. But she couldn’t see how that happened, for it was dark all around her in that vision. Then Gaea saw Kalimērā stepping toward the kneeled Tomai, and the Titanide saw a newborn in the woman’s arms, whose eyes were lively shining and weren’t spreading fear or bloodthirsty all around. „It can’t be!” Gaea murmured again and looked into Kalimēra’s eyes, who continued staring at her husband.
Only when Kalimērā felt someone’s glance focused on her did she look over there and saw Gaea staring at her. And, when the two women’s glances met, Gaea shuddered once again and a fragment, from her faraway past, came back to her memory: a visit paid to the People of Siar in Rocu Forest. A 5-year-old child running toward her while cheerfully laughing and playing with a soap balloon, and Gaea recognized in that girl’s glance Kalimērā’s.
„It can’t be! This definitely can’t be!” Gaea unwillingly murmured and, unconsciously, she took a step back, wiggling. But the Titanide didn’t fall, for both Lodur and Island grabbed her by the arms, supporting her.
„What happens, Mother Earth? What bothered you so much that you reacted like this?”
Shaking, Gaea stared thunderstruck into the Titan’s eyes, and Lodur saw reflected, on the retina of her eyes, the same memory she saw moments only ago.
Then, Lodur looked at Kalimērā, but he didn’t see that girl in her glance. Yet, he thought: „the blood of People of Siar joined a devilish power! Thus, a way to survive and one to die met at a crossroads, to split up later again! A doubtful future and… a new death!”
Dike, hearing his brother’s inner voice, turned toward him and looked thunderstruck at him. Then, he also looked at Kalimērā and saw her heading toward them.
„If Tomai doesn’t accept your pact, Master Dike, then we’ll accept it, and, for this, we’ll choose the death’s path and the ghoul's people's death too.”
„You’re definitely crazy!” murmured Tomai, staring at his wife.
„Exactly! I went crazy at the moment I’d been forced to give up on my innocence and become your wife! I went crazy the moment I felt a heart beating in my belly, knowing very well that’s a life without a future, thanks to you.”
„But you have that seed of life in your belly, thanks to me,” Tomai shouted madly. „The one who sowed that seed in your womb is me. That fruit belongs to me.”
„Here you’re wrong, Tomai!” The woman confidently said and, when her eyes filled with hatred and seemed to sparkle fire, two lines appeared on her right cheek: a black one and a red one.
And those lines were the sign of the cursed union between a human and a devil, like the ghouls were, even if that union took place against their will.
„Even if the plowman puts the seed in the ground, the one which chooses if that seed turns into a plant or it’ll be only a barren fruit is the earth itself. The same happens to us: the women are those who choose between giving birth to your seed or… taking it out of the roots. And, to think differently, Tomai, you must accept that pact. It’s the only pact we’ll accept.”
„Alright then!” Tomai hissed eventually through his teeth, for even if he could force Kalimērā to give up on her mad idea, using his power, he knew very well that everything could tragically end due to that premonition with Succubi Forest in flames. „I accept your pact, Dike! But… I assure you that I’m more than decided to win this battle and see you all knelt in front of me and asking for mercy.”
Then, in Tomai’s hand, a lance in flames appeared and he suddenly hit Dike.
Ionas instead, feeling the danger close, showed up from nowhere in front of the lance, and when the blade of the sword hit the hard body but in flames of the lance, the air around started to vibrate, the forest moaned again, the sky cracked of thunders and has been pierced by the sharp blade of the swords called thunderlights twice, and the two objects that could bring death: Ionas and the Lance of Death of Tomai have been thrown in the air by the same air explosion made by their contact, to later be stubbed into the ground, about a meter distance between them.
Yet… it was something weird at the two objects of the war: while the lance kept burning into a vivid red of bringing death, Ionas sent a blue light around, a kind of aura, filled with life-giving energy, something similar to the pure hearts and bringing hope for the future.
***
A weird song suddenly floated above the ground while two auras - a red one and a blue one, like those created by Boor and Sephir earlier that night to see the ghouls that were lurking on them from the edge of Succubi Forest, covered the sky as if it was a peel, forcing those clouds, controlled by Maranam, not to be seen anymore by the earthly creatures.
Then, from that peel, colored red and blue, two lines took form, each of them having its color taken from those forces that unified into one when Ionas and the Lance of Death hit each other. And, as if weaving between them, in a kind of weird dance, as if being waves, while their tops seemed to be sharp tops of arrows, the two lines dizzyingly moved above the forest, entering through the trees, piercing voids of air and water till they got far in the distance.
Vakkurti, which at that moment was madly galloping through the woods, having Maranam on his back, who kept spurring him to gallop even faster, suddenly neighed like a mad being, raising on his rear legs, as if it saw the devil itself and, no matter how hard didn’t Maranam try to make the horse continue the gallop, the horse was standing against his idea.
Then, when the two panthers: Koṭumai and Kurūcim caught up with them, also madly running after them, Vakkurti descended its front hooves on the ground and turned to face the same road on which they came till there.
„What’s going on, master?” The panthers asked their devilish lord while staying on both sides of the horse.
Maranam said nothing instead. He kept staring in front, even if the edges of the hood of his black cloak were half covering his sight. Then Vakkurti’s interrupted puffing continued to be heard, a hint that something weird was approaching them, to later its left hoof start scratching the ground, leaving deep marks on it.
But… those moments of waiting and staring in front were rushing somewhere, without anything happening, even if the air of the black void around them was strangely vibrating. Later, a rumble has been heard, followed by the same song heard after the power of the lance and of Ionas unified, and the leaves on the branches and the grass on the ground started to shake as if a strong wind was madly blowing around. Then that wind intensified its power and not only the branches of the trees were violently shaking, but also everything that surrounded Maranam and his fellows, while the skirts of his cloak were moving in a weird dance.
At the moment the dried leaves on the ground started to float in the air, raised by a strange energy, Maranam squeezed the reins and started to mumble the unknown words of a spell, making that wind, that was approaching them, sweep everything in its way, moving the dried leaves to the side and bending the blades of grass to the ground.
„Savaṉṉā!” Maranam suddenly murmured, and his voice strangely echoed as if he talked to the wind from inside of a barrel. „I know you’re around, but I can’t understand the reason for your visit to these lands.”
A few moments after this, nothing else than the wind, that was acting up, and the suspense were heard around. Then, as if thrown from an imaginary, huge gallopper, the yellow and red leaves, which have been swept before to the edges of the road, have been thrown in front, toward the center of the road. But they didn’t fall later to the ground but have been kept inside by a kind of vertigo that showed up there from nowhere. Thus, when the leaves stuck on that vertigo, Savaṉṉā’s body could be seen, the only wind which didn’t have a body, or better to say the only wind with a transparent body, and he turned to look so after a cruel battle with his brothers, thousands of years ago. Thus, to have one, Savaṉṉā had to „stick” something on him to be seen by the others.
Then, after his body has been formed from dead leaves, his powerful laughter has been heard wandering the surroundings. But neither Maranam nor the panthers didn’t see the smile sketched on his face.
„I see that you didn’t forget me, master!” Savaṉṉā cunningly snarled, for even if he was the wind that was wandering the lands and the bridges of the underworld, those controlled by Maranam, Savaṉṉā was no one’s servant in fact, for, losing his body while fighting with his brothers, he got the supreme right not to bow in front of anyone. „I’m glad that's so! Thus, I won’t waste time introducing myself!”
„Say what you have to say, Savaṉṉā, and don’t waste our time,” Koṭumai harshly talked to him, taking a few steps in front. She stopped l, however, when Maranam raised his left hand, forcing her to stay away from that talk.
„A dog will always be a dog,” Savaṉṉā said in mockery, „submissive and stupid. But… you won’t ever taste the real pleasure of the power, you, stupid dogs,” the wind hissed through his teeth to the two panthers, making their eyes sparkle because of hatred.
„Just like you!” Kurūcim said, but her voice turned to be wiser than that of her sister. „We at least have a master in front of whom to bow. You live instead without a home and at loose ends, being neither a servant nor a king.”
„Servant? King?” mumbled Savaṉṉā. „What do I need these titles for a show when I can be who I am?” He hissed through his teeth. „But… I can be a trustful ally in case of need,” and the wind’s eyes focused on Maranam, turning to black due to the hatred that was increasing in his soul.
„Speak!” Maranam demanded him. „What’s your request?”
„Request?” Savaṉṉā ironically said. „None! Let’s just say that I turn a favor to someone.”
„A revenge then?!” Koṭumai mumbled, but when Maranam stared with hatred at her, for she kept intervening in his talk with the wind, the panther withdrew a little back, as if looking for shelter, and bowed her head.
Her sister instead didn’t move a centimeter and kept staring at that red and yellow ghost seen in front, carefully listening to him, for she didn’t know why, but she felt that his presence there wasn’t senseless.
„It can’t be a pact!” Kurūcim eventually murmured, and her murmur made both Maranam and Savaṉṉā attentive, for both of them knew well that that panther, the elder one of the two sisters, was the wiser in fact. „As it didn’t seem to be an act of revenge or reciprocal help! It’s better a mission!”
„Bingo!” Savaṉṉā cheerfully said. „It means you can make some logical deductions.”
„Parca!” murmured Maranam. „She’s the one who sent you here, right?”
„No. I came here on my own feet,” Savaṉṉā ironically added. „But… I won’t deny the fact that Parca also had something to do with my decision, for she told me where I can find you.”
„Then?” inquired Maranam. „What’s the purpose of your visit?”
„To fulfill the role I have given by the Titans at the beginning of this world, Maranam: to tell others what Fate wants to do next,” and Savaṉṉā’s words made the void behind him, the one that had strangely vibrated by then, be illuminated by the two arrow-lines, colored red and blue. Then, those colored lines passed by Maranam and the Panthers, rounding Savaṉṉā thus, to intertwine right behind the wind, to later, when they split up again, let two roads be seen not that far behind Savaṉṉā: two roads that lead in two different directions, having a single start point, but positioned at 45 degrees of each other.
„The second road of death,” murmured Kurūcim, and her sister, amazed by those words, finally approached her again from the left, staring at her.
But… when Koṭumai tried to say something, Savaṉṉā put his index finger to his lips, motioning them to keep silent. Then two songs have been heard in the far away distance of those two roads: one of lament, coming from the left road while on the right one, illuminated by the blue light, but which was losing somewhere in the distance, a cheerful song, full of life, was heard.
„The song of the People of Siar,” murmured Savaṉṉā. „A Song for Life while the Song of Death is this time accompanied by the ghouls’voice, whose end is so close this time.”
„The ghouls? Why?” asked Maranam.
Savaṉṉā smiled: „because namely the People of Siar, the one hated so much by you and by others, the one chased for centuries and forced to hide, will be the one to end with the reign of those devils on this earth. An evil which will actually fight against you this time, Maranam, giving only to you, the great King of Death, a big lesson for Life!” And Savaṉṉā vanished, as quickly as he showed up.
But only Savaṉṉā’s body vanished: the rest of the image remained, and, thus, Maranam and the panthers saw, coming on that road, the ghouls and the People of Siar, led by Dike and the Titans. And when they got on the unique road, that stopped at that start point, both the ghouls and Dike walked side by side.
Seeing this, Maranam roared, something that made Vakkurti raise on its rear legs again, madly neighing while the eyes of their deadly enemies were confidently staring at them from in front. Eventually, a strange inner force made Vakkurti touch the ground with its four hooves and move back, even if Maranam tried to force him to stay in place.
Maranam suddenly wince and looked around, but saw nobody when Life’s voice has been heard floating around: „I’ve told you that it’ll come the moment when you’ll be betrayed by your own soul, Maranam and it seems that that moment’s approaching. I told you that the world itself, on whose throne you crave so much to sit on, will be the one to force you to step back on the road of death, and it seems to me that you’d just taken back that step, just as I told you that even without a body I’ll stay against you and I’ll fight with you forever. And… I keep my promise.”
„Maybe is as you say, Life, but… you forget one thing!” Maranam said, looking with hatred around.
„Do I forget? What exactly?" Life’s melodious voice has been heard floating around again, a voice that had both traces of harshness and kindness hidden in it, somehow woven with sweetness.
„That a bodiless power remains just a useless power in fact while I have body and power, and I can fight with you forever to reach my aim.”
„Then… I wish you good luck, Maranam, for I doubt a lot of your saying, for, while you have just a body, I have millions, for everything that breaths and has a life on this earth is my body: even the air you breathe, the dust on which you step onto, just as the heart that beats inside you is part of me.”
As Life’s words touched his ego, Maranam gnashed his teeth and closed his eyes, squeezing them hard. Then, again, the same voice similar to something coming out of a rumbling barrel has been heard around: „time will show us who’s been wrong and who's been right, Life, just as time will give us the chance to succeed or lose, and I assure you that I don’t intend to lose in front of no one.”
After this, Maranam pulled the reins and Vakkurti turned its back to that imaginary road on which Dike and his new army continued to walk onto. But Vakkurti could turn its back on that image only because Life allowed it.
Then, when Vakkurti retook its mad gallop, carrying its master on its back and followed from close by the two panthers, in the same place where Savaṉṉā stood before, Parca, the good one, showed up, while, on her left, the transparent body of a woman was taking a contour, as if that body was made from transparent gelatine, as the one used by Bestla to form mirrors.
„Another mission successfully fulfilled, Parca!” Life told the Titanide of Fate and, as an answer, Parca only bowed her head toward the transparent being. „Now it’s time to commit another heroic did and close another chapter of this war!”
„I listen and obey, Life!” Parca said in a whisper. „What should I start with?”
„With revealing the biggest secret of Yātrīkar. And… it’s also the time to make those involved in the rebirth of the Devilish Virgins pay for what they’d done.”
„But, Life… for this, it is necessary to make the innocence err again," the Titanide said.
„I know. But… this is a sacrifice we must accept,” said Life this time with sadness in her voice.
„But… to fulfill this plan, you also must take a step in front on this road of death, for the step taken back by Maranam left a huge void there, and this can disbalance the Equilibrium of Life and Death.”
„I’ll take it then, for… I can’t give up on my creation because of a simple ambition! Meanwhile, you should fulfill your mission, the one you have been sent on earth for, Parca!” And for the first time Life looked at the Titanide, who was standing with her head bowed in front of her.
And… right under the kind glance of Life, Parca suddenly took her darker body and, devilishly grinning, she suddenly vanished, as suddenly as she appeared, and the image of Dike and his army vanished at the same time as her.
But not the same happened with the two split roads.
Life, standing right at the roads'start point, suddenly deeply breathed in, and the noise of that inhaling resounded so livelily around, filling the void with sadness at the same time, for each time Life was stepping on the road of Death, even if it was for a short time, it meant disequilibrium on Cosmos and Earth, and this was inclining the power on the Unknown's side.
Yet, Life was convinced to do this: for the Triumph of Good in front of Evil and, to reach that aim, a sacrifice was necessary. So, with a sure step, but slow, Life stepped in front.
But no matter how many steps she didn’t take in front, she was heading on none of the two roads, but it unified them, in a single road in front of her, having as a final point Yggdrasil’s outlined silhouette, somewhere in the distance, for, in his wooden body, Life’s body was also closed.