„Again drums,” Āṇmai feverishly murmured, slowly shaking while squeezing hard the handle of the sword that was still in its scabbard. Then he stood up and looked around in concern, seeing the two lines in red and blue floating above them and losing themselves somewhere in the distance.
The other soldiers kept sitting for a while, each of them where they found a comfortable place to sit. But when the sound of the drums became unbearable to listen to, making the air around them vibrate, they also stood up and looked around in concern, murmuring with fear: „what happens? What’s waiting for us this time?”
„Us… nothing!” They heard Sephir’s voice and looked at her while she was still sitting next to the pyre, staring at its flames.
Boor, who was sitting right behind his daughter, with his arms crossed on his chest and staring at the same dancing flames, asked: „then? What’s going on, Sephir? For… no matter how much I don’t stare at these flames, I only see a burning lance stabbed in the ground in the depth of that damn forest that’s behind us, called Succubi Forest. And… in front of that Lance, I see Ionas. But’s quiet there… no alive soul is seen there.”
„It’s Life, father!” murmured Sephir barely heard, and Boor shuddered, for even if he had heard others talking about Life before, he knew that She doesn’t have a body and that She only lives in Cosmos, not on Earth.
„Are you sure? As far as I know, Life is only in…?” asked Boor, squatting this time, only half step behind Sephir.
„… in Cosmos do you mean that She is only?!” asked Sephir, sadly smiling. But she kept staring at the flames. „It seems that the whole world turned us round by now, father and we are only chess pieces on a huge board, drawn with white and black plaids.”
„Why do you say so?” Boor asked her, this time even more amazed than before, sitting on her left and staring at her.
Āṇmai, who was quite far from them, took a few steps toward the pyre, trying to listen to their conversation better, for even if the talk between Boor and Sephir seemed to be confidential, he knew that it wasn't so, for if it was the case, they would have gone somewhere else to talk about their plans far from the others.
As if feeling him approaching them, Sephir looked at Āṇmai and demanded him: „everybody in position, Āṇmai! We have visitors!” And she suddenly stood up.
„Visitors? Who exactly? The ghouls?” The soldiers wondered and their murmur spread everywhere.
„No! The ghouls must face another hard try today, for… they chose to walk onto the path of Death and not of Life. There are others that look for our death w more than the ghouls.”
Saying this, Sephir intended to head towards the forest. But Boor grabbed her by the arm, stopping her. „What’s going on, Sephir? Who’s approaching us? No matter how hard I didn’t think about this, I can’t realize why this place makes me vulnerable and why I don’t see things as this happened before. While… you didn’t lose your power to see things.”
Sephir turned her head and looked at her father, deep inside of his soul, as if trying to suck all his energy with her glance. But Sephir’s behavior wasn’t devilish and she didn’t look at her father with mean thought, as it seemed at first look. She was only concerned. More after the images seen in the flames. But… not to frighten the others, she decided to reveal those things to her father only telepathically. „Life and Death had already met on this Earth, father, and the two declared war on each other today… openly… and it seems that Life hides something from us, something very important, something that we aren't aware of”
„Is Life hiding something from us? What are you talking about, Sephir? How can Life hide something when She’s nothing more than a voice in the service of the Cosmos?” asked Boor, confused and not at all convinced at the same time.
„Hestia’s flames never lie, father, and you know this! Just as those flames didn’t lie to us when they showed us the moment when Maranam met Life in the same forest of the Barefaced where Fenrir and the others are now. And… there’s something weirder in the behavior of both of them, I mean here Life and Maranam, for while they were talking, I saw Dike and the ghouls walking on the same path while, behind them, two different paths were seen - one illuminated by a red arrow and the second one by blue light.”
„The Paths of Life and Death!” Boor murmured, barely heard. „That’s why my power is limited here. To not tell others what we saw.”
„No, father! You’re wrong here! Not because of this Life limited only your power, but not mine! It seems that her plan is to protect us because… we’ll be hard tried by Fate.”
„Parca? What the Titanide of Fate has to do here?”
Sephir grinned. „Of course, she has! A lot actually. But… I can’t figure out what’s her role in this war, for… Life hides this even from me. But… she didn’t hide something.”
„Something?”
„In that premonition… after Maranam’s departure… next to the Life’s transparent body… I saw Parca.”
„Whaat??? Life and… Parca?”
„Yes, father! But that Parca was different from the one we know! That Parca was in the service of Life and not of ours! And… I understood, from their behavior, that the history of the two is older than the Fate of this Cosmos. And… I saw this when Parca bowed in front of Life as if she was worshipping in front of a queen.”
Boor had lost his tongue, hearing his daughter’s words, for even if they seemed unbelievable and unknown to him at the same time, even if he knew that Sephir had a huge power flowing through her veins, yet, it was too much even for her to see such things. Then, Boor looked at his daughter while she was heading toward the forest, and, in his mind, a thought started to spin: „why Sephir? Why did Life choose not to hide to truth from Sephir? What role had my daughter in that mysterious past of Life, about which my daughter told me just what, a past where Parca had her important role too?”
But he didn't have too much time to think about this, for he right away remembered that Sephir told them to prepare the weapons and that there was no time to waste, for an unexpected visitor was about to show up in front of them.
„Wait, Āṇmai!” He told the soldier, seeing him following Sephir. „We need you here!”
„But, Master! Princess Sephir can be in danger in that forest, where the enemies stir around worse than the rats.”
„You should better be afraid for us, Āṇmai, for if Sephir’s words are true, the one who can visit us tonight can be even more dangerous than the ghouls are. And… don’t worry about Sephir. If she entered Succubi Forest, it means that’s no danger for her there.”
„Yet,” Āṇmai tried to stay against Boor’s idea.
„Do as I said, Āṇmai! There’s no time to waste!” After this, Boor took Imagus out of his girdle and he powerfully blew it, making the surroundings resound.
***
„Imagus!” murmured Gaea, hearing the lament of the horn, piercing the forest and the air around them.
„An enemy is approaching!” Island said, and Lodur only nodded yes.
„And that enemy is close. That’s why, hurry up, brother!” He told Dike telepathically, letting him know that that enemy, that was approaching them and whom Boor was telling them about while blowing Imagus, could kill their soldiers and, at that moment, they needed each man ready for the fight.
Dike instead didn’t answer Lodur’s telepathic thought: he was too focused on Tomai, who was slowly moving in a circle, bare to the brim, and carefully lurking on each of the Titan’s movements, looking for a breach to prevail in front of Dike.
The Titan was also careful, looking for an opportunity to kneel the ghoul down and force him to fight by his side. But no matter how hard Dike didn’t try to enter Tomai’s brain and find out what he was thinking about, he was all the time hitting an invisible border, something he never met before.
Eventually, Dike decided to follow suit with Tomai and he also took off his shirt, with lazy movements, but precise, movements used to win time, for even though Tomai was a devilish being, yet, he respected the laws of the fight and, while the enemy wasn’t yet prepared, he never attacked.
Then, with a few sudden movements, Dike grabbed his long and almost gray hair in a bun, above his head, using a small agraffe for this, beautifully engraved and sharp at both tops, something he received from Gaea, who, as if reading his thoughts, that he’d grab his hair, took that agraffe off her hair and threw it toward the Titan.
„Clever movement!” said Tomai, grinning, and his hand grabbed the lance in fire, right from the middle. But even if the flames were dancing around the lance’s body, yet, they were cold flames and didn’t hurt his hand.
„An illusion!” Dike thought, staring at the flames that were dancing around the ghoul’s hand that time.
„That’s right! These aren’t flames taken from Hestia’s fire, but created by someone’s power,” Lodur sent his thought to his brother.
„Parca?”
„It’s possible, for… I don’t know why, but I feel her presence here. And… it seems that the one visiting us soon has something to do with her too.”
„It won't surprise me at all,” Gaea joined their telepathic talk. „She’s always capable of mean deeds. But, to think logically, she can’t, for… helping Maranam, she sentences herself to loss.” But Gaea suddenly looked back and stubbed her sword into the belly of a ghoul that tried to attack her.
That sudden movement of the Titanide amazed Island a lot, for he all the time kept an eye on the ghouls that were behind Lodur and Gaea. Yet, he didn’t manage to prevent the attack. Gaea instead had been sharper at mind than him.
„How is this possible?” Island mumbled, staring at the black blood that was plinking off the Titanide’s sword. „I just…”
„It’s not your fault,” Gaea told him confidently. Then, she took the sword out of the ghoul’s body, which fell to the ground, to her right, facing the ground. „You’ve been always influenced by Parca and she’s the one who put a veil on your eyes this time too. But… you couldn’t see it.”
„A veil? What are you…?” Island furiously asked. But he kept silent, seeing Ionas hardly hitting the fire lance, and making everything around deafeningly resound.
This meant the start of the battle between Dike and the ghoul, a battle Tomai chose for Life, but which seemed to be a new path toward death.
***
„Which way?” snarled Izkina, the ghoul leader let by Tomai at the edge of the forest to impede Boor and his army enter the woods.
Sephir instead didn’t look into his eyes and neither did she oppose when he touched her left shoulder to stop her.
„You don’t see beyond your own darkness, don’t you?” Sephir told him in disgust, seeing Izkina fulfilling Tomai’s order like a faithful dog, as if he had no brain to think on his own. „It’s a shame then! Otherwise, you would have seen the huge danger that lurks on you all and you wouldn't have looked at the others thus,” Sephir hissed through her teeth and she finally looked into the ghoul’s eyes.
Actually, they both looked into the other’s eyes for a few moments, trying to understand what the enemy was thinking about. But, as if something hit the top of his head, Izkina suddenly closed his eyes and, staggering to his feet, he took two steps back.
Two ghouls, that were right next to him, rushed to grab him by arms not to let him fall while the others fiercely growled at Sephir, showing her their fangs.
She instead didn’t even move. Only her hand tightly grabbed the handle of the whip Cattai, preparing for an eventual attack.
„Witch!” one of the ghouls, that look more thirsty for blood than the others, snarled. „You dared to step onto our lands and try to subdue us with your useless power. But… the ghouls never bow in front of anybody, you, cobra!” And he suddenly pounced on her.
But the ghoul couldn't touch Sephir because, being only one step from her, Sephir took the whip Cattai from her girdle, which took normal size in her hand, and she hardly hit the enemy, making him deafeningly yelp while a deep, whip wound could be seen on his face and around his body, for, touching the ghoul’s body, Cattai wrapped itself around the ghoul, from top to toe, to later throw him against a tree.
Sephir’s daring drove the other ghouls mad, who started to growl at her: „Witch!” „Cobra!” „Leper!” And any other names they could think about, to later rush pounce again on her.
Sephir instead, being not at her first fight with the ghouls, knew how to defend herself and started to hit left and right, helped by Cattai, and her enemies were flying all over around her. But… the ghouls were a lot while she was alone. Yet… it was no step back and Sephir knew this very well. That’s why she could only fight.
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Yet, who restrained the ghouls and Sephir's desire to fight has been Izkina, who suddenly roared: „Stop!” making his fellows yelp like maniacs because they knew that if Izkina goes crazy then they could be badly injured. That’s why they withdrew at a safe distance from him, looking for shelter behind the trees, inside of the hollows, or in the bushes.
The only one who kept standing in front of Izkina has been Sephir, who, with a slow movement, made Cattai wrap around her, releasing her arms, and the handle of the whip turned back to her girdle.
Then Sephir moved her head from one side to another, making it slowly crack, as if chasing the numbness away. „Eh, I was waiting for more exercises. But… it seems that I’d been wrong.”
Izkina snarled instead, hearing her talking like that. „You should better keep your bad jokes for you only, Boor’s daughter, and tell me about what I saw in your eyes.”
Sephir smiled: if Izkina mentioned this, it meant that her trick worked, for when she entered the forest, she intended to cut through the ghouls by force. But… being in front of Izkina, she saw a breach in the defense system of his soul, a thin breach, the size of a needle, but yet - this gave her the chance to try. That’s why she chanced it: she formed a small painting in her mind, made from fragments from what she saw in Hestia’s flames while she was still in the camp, and what Izkina saw in her eyes was the image of Tomai lying on the ground, decapitated, while the other ghouls were exterminated by the Virgins Yātrīkar.
Well, that part with the Virgins Yātrīkar was just an illusion created by Sephir’s power to disarm and tear the ghouls, for she knew them easy to frighten when they felt that they could be betrayed by someone, and the fear resulted being Sephir’s best ally at that moment.
„Interpretation you want, huh?! Well, I don’t see what else could I explain,” said Sephir, ironically smiling. „No one can face Fate, Izkina, and you know this better than me.”
„Yet, it seems to me that you’re trying to round me on the top of your fingers,” the ghoul hissed through his teeth.
„And… what do I win doing this?” Sephir confidently said, staring into Izkina’s eyes.
„Then, tell me how can I impede what I saw.”
„You can’t!”
„It must be a way!” The ghoul shouted. „It must be, for… if Tomai dies, all of us will die too.”
Sephir grinned: „you’ll do a favor to the world,” she murmured, barely heard. But she loudly told him: „and… who told you that if Tomai dies all of you’ll die too?”
„The tradition, for… only due to Tomai’s huge power we’re still alive and safe now while our bodies are reborn from human virgins, and this gives us eternal life.”
„Eternity means to continue something from father to son!” Sephir reproachfully told him, snarling the words in disgust, for she was really unhappy to see how tightly the ghouls were holding the thread of their lives and of immortality, without caring at all about the souls of their unborn children, souls that were chased out of their bodies and forced to restlessly wander the underworld.
„You’re wrong, Boor’s daughter and Island’s granddaughter, the one who takes her power from water and wind: immortality means to live forever, to remember the past and the future of the world.”
„Nea. Immortality doesn’t mean living forever to destroy everything around you. Immortality means to live through your creation, and the only creation you can leave behind you if you die are your children if they get to be born. But… due to your madness, lead by the deceiving whispers of Moirae, you got to stain your hands even with the blood of your children.”
„You're lying!” shouted Izkina. „If you don't know what you’re talking about, keep your mouth shut!”
„Do you want to demonstrate you that the veil on your eyes had been thrown by Moirae, hundreds of years ago when they cursed your souls and killed your people only to reach their mean purpose?”
„As if you can!” Izkina mistrustfully snarled.
„Then… if you’re so sure about this, that I’m lying to you… you won’t lose anything trying, right?” Sephir told him, outlining each word and trying to make Izkina fall into her trap.
„Alright then!” Izkina suddenly said, and Sephir smiled: the ghoul fell into her trap because of his own stupidity and without seeing this: „but… if what I see is a lie, I’ll take care for your head to stay at your feet. Do you agree?”
Sephir only shrugged, grinning inside, for she knew that Izkina didn’t have the power to kill her. She instead had a huge power to make the ghouls see what she wanted they to see, and, at that time, she had the perfect weapon for this: the truth of the history, which Moirae „forgot” to erase off the huge, white sheet of that faraway past, being so confident of their luck, and this happened because they never thought that someone will find out about this one day and will use it against them.
***
„Watch your back!” One ghoul shouted to Tomai when he saw Dike pouncing on the leader and trying to hit the top of his head with Ionas when the ghoul landed on his knees after an unsuccessful movement of his lance.
His helper’s shout made Tomai lay on his back, grabbing the lance with both hands, and Ionas hit the middle of it, without breaking it into two. Then the two started to force: Dike pushing with Ionas on the lance, with empty hands, trying to suck all the energy from Tomai while the ghoul was pushing up.
„Use your magic, Tomai! Don’t let him defeat you! Don’t let him…,” the same ghoul continued to shout, trying to warn Tomai about Dike’s attack.
But, that time, the „bold one” has been forced to keep his mouth shut and forever when Zorrota, Tomai’s second helper, grabbed the ghoul from the back of his head with both hands and, with a sudden movement, he left him without his head.
Seeing the blood dropping off the decapitated body, Island looked elsewhere, for such scenes were disgusting to him. Then, Island pushed the body of the dead one with his leg, for he fell too close to him.
But the body vanished so suddenly, along with his head, when he turned into ashes, for Tomai was too busy fighting with Dike and hadn’t time to „protect” the soul of the fallen one too, as he used to do: catching it inside of a fire, ash ball, to „implant” it later into the body of a recently born baby. Thus the dead ghoul vanished forever, and the cry of a woman, that suddenly fell to the ground, touching her rounded belly, made the others look thunderstruck at her.
Yet, they’ve been even more amazed to see that she wasn’t crying for her „husband’s death,” but because she has been released from her curse, and the red and black marks on her face vanished too, a sign that the birth of her child was a sure one.
„Life vs Death!” murmured Island. „This means that…,”
„To survive those beings, that are inside of their mother’s wombs, their fathers must die,” Gaea sadly said, for even if the ghouls had been her children once, she understood that she did wrong bringing them into that world, just as she understood that bringing children to life, that had mixed blood, after the union of the human virgins with the ghouls, could mean bigger power than those monsters had. But Mother Earth was more afraid that they’ll fight by the evil’s side and not by their mother’s.”
The only ones who kept fighting have been Dike and Tomai, for, blinded for a second by the light of the lance’s flames, controlled by the ghoul, Dike closed his eyes and allowed his rival to kick his stomach and threw him against a trunk. Then Tomai stood up jumping and ran toward Dike. But when to stub the lance’s sharp top in the Titan’s body, Dike rolled on the ground and small holes, made by the lance, appeared on the soil.
„Maybe we should intervene, aaa?” Another ghoul whispered into Zorrota’s ear. But this one pushed him away from him, growling:
„No one should intervene in this fight and you know this very well, Calmac, for if another ghoul enters the fight, the pact will be broken and our chance to have our honor not stained will vanish. So, if Tomai loses, he’ll be chased away from between us.”
„Yet, he's our master,” insisted Calmac, who suddenly approached Zorrota again, but the ghoul’s stinky breath made Island and Gaea cover their noses.
Zorrota instead, upset that he was forced to say the same thing twice, looked with hatred at his fellow and showed him his teeth, stained with blood, after the old meal: „our master must be only a winner, Calmac, and I’ll bow only in front of a winner! And this is for you too!” He shouted eventually, to be heard by everybody.
His second helper’s shout made Tomai wry his face, for he understood very well what Zorrota meant: if he loses, there will be no turning back between ghouls for him, for even if Dike leaves him alive, the other ghouls will kill him, only to wash their stained honor.
Zorrota instead continued his thought, even if he saw the unpleasant smile on Tomai’s face when he looked at him for a few seconds, letting him know that, after his fight with Dike, he will fight with Zorrota too: „If I see someone of you bowing in front of a loser, he’ll die by my hand, for, from the ancestors, we've defended our people, trusting only this principle - that our leader must win ever and never lose. That’s why we are still alive and nobody ever could defeat us by now!”
„You forget about the blood’s law,” Izkina shouted, showing up from nowhere behind their women, and his sudden appearance made Kalimērā and the other women withdrew, frightened. But neither Izkina nor the other ghouls had businesses with them at that moment. They were more focused to satisfy their macho ego. Yet, the women decided to be vigilant and move away from the ghouls while the top of their sharp daggers entered the cloth of their dresses, scratching the skin of their bellies, and coloring the material red.
„A law that actually can kill us!” Zorrota shouted, unsatisfied and, taking his sword out of the scabbard, he took a few steps toward izkina. But he didn’t intend to fight with his fellow just to let him know about what he was thinking, but to protect the women, for even if he always hid his intentions from the others, he always wanted Kalimērā for him. Yet, Tomai took her for him, even if he knew that Zorrota wanted her, and namely because of this Tomai lost the respect of his helper - for being greedy and taking something that someone else wanted.
„Then, you give me no other choice than to kill you,” Izkina shouted, also taking the sword out of its scabbard.
„That’s enough!” Tomai suddenly shouted, taking everybody by surprise, for even though he and Dike kept fighting while Zorrota and Izkina exchanged tough words and glances of hatred, Tomai heard everything they said about him. That’s why he decided to make them keep silent, even if that intervention could have worked against him.
But he had been wrong, for, at the moment he turned his back on Dike, who fell to the ground after a powerful hit, fed by the increasing power of Tomai because of hatred and anger, hearing what others said about him, he didn’t notice that two swords showed up in the Titan’s hands at the moment Ionas split into two. Then Dike pounced on him and, hitting only once, he made the lance from Tomai’s hand be thrown away, and the hit of the second sword cut the ghoul's hips and forced him to kneel down.
That unexpected turn of events made everybody stare in amazement at the kneeled ghoul while the other ghouls started to ghastly shudder, for that meant being submissive in front of the Titans and forever.
The only ones who didn’t move from their places have been Izkina and Zorrota, who suddenly swallowed hard, staring toward their kneeled leader and they understood that Tomai lost because of them actually. But… it was too late to change something: that’s why both of them just gnashed their teeth and looked again with hatred at the other one.
But… not everything ended with Tomai’s falling on his knees, which meant losing in front of Dike: his head also fell off his shoulders, cut by the blade of a sword, and when they looked at who dared doing that, they saw Kalimērā staring with hatred at her kneeled and headless husband while squeezing the sword’s handle in her hand and black drops of blood were spilled on the ground from off its blade.
„A spilled blood is paid only with blood, Tomai!” Kalimērā said, gnashing her teeth. „This is your reward for our brothers, sisters, and parents, who died because of you, and, since today, the ghouls hit another path, something far away from your devilish minds.”
Izkina tried to take his sword out of its scabbard and make Kalimērā pay for her betrayal.
But Zorrota grabbed his arm instead, hissing through his teeth: „will you break that law of blood you bowed in front of it for centuries, Izkina?”
Izkina looked with hatred at his opponent instead: „the one who broke that law first had been our leader’s wife, who died because of her. She must pay for this.”
„Not as long as she’s our master, Izkina, for, as long as our next leader and Tomai’s child is in her womb, Kalimērā won’t be punished ever for what she did because, giving birth to the leader of the ghouls, it makes her saint even in your eyes.”
Izkina suddenly madly roared, understanding that he has been beaten with his own weapons, for what Zorrota said was the truth: a ghoul could never raise his hand against the mother of their leader, and, at that moment, Kalimērā was safe.
The only one not at all amazed by that turn of events has been Sephir, for, namely she gave her sword to Kalimērā when she and the other ghouls, led by Izkina, got next to the women. Then she threw it, on the sly, toward the women, and the one who was sitting on the ground quickly hid it with the skirts of her dress. Later, the same woman gave Kalimērā the sword, which she used to end their suffering.
***
Sephir’s success with Izkina was due only to her power of charming like the cobras, a trick she learned from Zeal, one evening when her sister was in good mood and decided to teach Bestla and Samaya her ruse. But the only one who managed to learn it has been actually Sephir, who was laying on a hammock at that moment, hidden by the huge branches of a secular oak.
Namely that moment Sephir showed to the ghoul, for, after she had stared into his eyes, she made him lose his will for a short time, and become easy to manipulate. Thus, she transferred him into an imaginary world where he saw the lazy but sure movements of Zeal, dancing the charming dance of the cobras.
And… when the eyes of the ghoul started to „dance” on the orbits, following each of Zeal’s movements, Sephir snapped her fingers and changed the view: it was then when he saw the Virgins Yātrīkar killing the People of the Ghouls, and, to be sure that that image will help her, Sephir added some hissing words: „do you think that what you see is only an illusion, Izkina? Per contra: this is a fragment of what is coming because your people will be exterminated by those in front of who you so eagerly bowed for centuries - Moirae, who planned your falling. That’s why they sent the Yātrīkars to attack you and, when they get your power, they’ll subdue Succubi Forest, which they’ll transform into a kind of Heaven for the Souls of Hell, the Heaven of Maranam.”
„This is impossible,” murmured Izkina, trying to stay against that spell. „As far as we could find out, Maranam is only after the Rophion Forest, dreaming to kneel the Rophions down.”
„Then you’re a fool!” Sephir told him, gnashing her teeth. „Do you think that Maranam, the one greedy for power, will be satisfied with only ruling over Rophions or killing them only? You’re wrong, for Maranam and the Yātrīkars'aim is to defeat the whole world, taking it under their control, and, for this, they must exterminate all the people, one by one, starting with the powerful ones. That’s why the Virgins Yātrīkar had been sent here: to kill you and lay the foundation of Maranam’s Kingdom, here, in Succubi Forest!”
„But… what about the Rophions?” insisted Izkina.
„They’ll be the last ones to be killed, after being forced to fight alone, with no one’s help.”
„But… I feel that a „but” is coming.”
„And you’re right! To survive, all the people of the world must ally. The People of Ice chose already the right path and joined the Rophions, just like the humans, represented by Siar People, did. The next on the list must be the ghouls.”
„But Tomai won’t ever accept this pact. He already allied with the Virgins Yātrīkar and we’ll follow him.”
„Then… you’ll die, just as Tomai’ll die,” and another snap of her fingers showed him Tomai’s death. But, in that vision, the head of their leader wasn’t cut by Kalimērā, but by a Yātrīkar. „After Tomai, you’ll fall,” Sephir hissed the words into his ears, to later force him to turn back to the real world.
Looking frightened at her, Izkina wondered if what he saw was true. But… Sephir’s fixed glance, something that didn’t betray any anxiety, made him even more confused than before. That’s why he decided that it was the right time to turn back to the camp and ask Tomai for a piece of good advice, forgetting about his promise to guard the forest.
„You go with us!” He told Sephir, turning his back on her.
Sephir smiled, for this was what she was waiting for: to be taken inside of Succubi Forest, to the ghouls’camp, so well protected by the malice of those places, a camp that could be easily found only by the ghouls while even the most courageous ones were falling prey to their own madness deciding to find it. Sephir instead didn’t want to take that risk because she knew well the power of Succubi Forest, and she decided to use it against them. That’s why she sowed the seed of doubt into Izkina’s soul.
On the way to the camp instead, seeing Tomai’s death again, Sephir decided that it was the perfect time to intervene in this and, to be sure of her success, she needed a weapon to give later to Kalimērā. That’s why, taking advantage that they passed through a thick and dark thicket, Sephir used Cattai to take the sword of one of the ghouls, after imprisoning him with two lianas wrapped around him, leaving him there, in that hide-out of death.