Tears… sweet and long time ago forgotten by the world parts of a wolf’s soul are swelling like life beads from Adaman’s eyes, which’s lying on the ground, with its snout on its front paws and staring at that holy monument built from three white stones which have been put one above the other.
Actually, that small and holly temple of the wolf’s heart was its place of remembering and glorifying the old times, those times when it wasn’t alone when by its side was still Sheen, which always managed to take him out of the net of thoughts and bring him back on the path of happiness.”
„Will you stay so for long? With your head bowed and with your soul in fire, Adamant? Won’t you really do anything to protect this world?” he heard Sheen’s voice, floating somewhere next to him and the red wolf right away raised his head and looked everywhere, but he couldn’t see her.
„Of course, you won’t see anything as long as your heart is mourning,” the she-wolf added and she suddenly appeared above that sanctuary, built there in the name of glory and of hers, something that has been so saint for Adamant once.
„Sheen,” the wolf’s voice barely whispered. After that, he right away stood up and bowed his head in front of the one which was still his wife even if her body and name were just a simple memory for others.
„Yes, Adamant! It’s me and I see that you still didn't leave those times behind,” the she-wolf said with sadness intertwined with reproach in her voice, something felt like sweet vibrations.
„But… how to leave them behind when I’m so alone?”
„Alone? And… why exactly are you alone? Just look around and you’ll see how many beautiful souls are surrounding you: it’s the starry sky, which seems made from those diamonds taken by the gnomes from the heart of the mount, are the fireflies that are following you everywhere, illuminating your path, are the crickets that always sing to flatter your soul and make you, even if it’s for a second only, to live, just as it’s nature with its holy breathing that still makes your heart beat in your chest.”
„But… you aren’t here!”
„Of course, I’m: in your heart, in your mind, in each thrill that pierces your body, for even if my body isn’t something alive anymore on this vast land, I’m still alive through you, and I must be grateful to you for this, even for the fact that I haven’t been forgotten by the world yet.”
„But, Sheen, it’s so hard without you! It’s so hard without you all!”
„Even so, if Fate and this World gave you another chance for life, it must be for something. That’s why you must be grateful for this opportunity and fulfill your mission on this world, Adamant, even if this world burns in flames eventually.”
And the she-wolf’s voice suddenly faded, and Adamant opened his eyes and saw the emptiness in front of him: he fell asleep and dreamt about that short reunion with the lady of his heart, a being he longed for so long, his beloved wife.
„Fate,” the wolf suddenly murmured in his head and a painful sigh came out of his chest. „Is this fate so powerful that makes us the servants of heart and power from our first breathing till the last one?”
Nobody, however, answered him and only a sweet melody have been heard all around that mountain, turning it into seconds into a fairy world, into a magic world where everybody would have given everything to live even for a few seconds only. Adamant instead hadn’t been amazed by that beauty, for he started to feel it as being a dungeon where only he and the loneliness were living.
He suddenly winced and looked to his right when he felt a strange pulsation in the mount’s wall, which was only 300 meters from him. „What’s going on?” Adamant wondered, standing up on his four paws. „Did the gnomes get with the digging till here and they’ll unwillingly make a hole into that wall?”
Adamant was wrong, however: not the gnomes got with the digging till there, but the mount itself was looking for union with the Life that was surrounding it. That’s why, soon after that first noise heard from the heart of the mount and the first thrill in Adamant’s heart, a secret Gate opened in front of the wolf - that Gate was known as Nāṟcanti or the Gates of the Crossroads. But seconds after this, nobody crossed through that gate, made from a kind of black air, whose currents were rhythmically moving and in the same direction from each other, painting on that surface, from black smoke and thick fog, a kind of impressive, rectangular painting.
Then… someone’s breathing has been heard: both hissing and gripping at the same time, and the name of that Soul has been recognized by Adamant as being the Breathing of Earth. And the voice of the mount, which he believed that have forgotten and long ago buried in his mind, told the wolf: „I never thought that you feel so lonely, Adamant! I thought that my simple presence it’s enough for you. It seems that I’ve been wrong.”
„Nowise, Great Spirit of the mount Kuṭṭi Mantiram,” Adamant rushed to answer and bowed his glance, and he only felt how, through that Gate, someone’s foot entered the outside world, and when the wolf raised his glance, he saw Kuṭṭi Mantiram standing right in front of him and looking at him with his deep black eyes while the Mount’s body was tall like of a Titan, with long and black garments like the clothes of the mount itself while on the garments’cloth were seen, stuck on it, figurines of the beings and plants that were living in that world of dreams.
„Yet, Adamant, you aren’t alone just as I’m not the only one who keeps you company, for it’s the entire world by your side, even if you don’t see it! So, don’t despair ever, and if you feel lonely, talk: with the sky, with the stars, with the grass, with any other being you meet on your way. You can even talk to the air, even if it seems weird to you. But it’s nothing weird in saying at least to someone about the burden that’s pressing your soul. Per contra: you’ll feel released and you’ll find the power to move further.”
„I will, Spirit of Kuṭṭi Mantiram. As always your advice helped me to stand up and move further on this path toward infinity.”
„I’m glad that’s so, Adamant because I have a mission for you.”
„A mission? What kind of mission?” Adamant asked in amazement.
„To take a soul, that died a long time ago, toward the path of Life.” Then Kuṭṭi Mantiram moved to the side and allowed Karina to pass through the same Gate, the one who was at that moment only a dead soul, living in the world of the alive ones.
Her eyes instead, that have been so alive and so brilliant once, looked so empty and lifeless at that moment. But Adamant quickly understood the truth, after only a few seconds of looking into them: it was only a mask of the soul that has been left without life once, but which was so much longing for new love at that moment.
„Is this my new mission?” Adamant asked Kuṭṭi Mantiram, looking at that face that seemed carved in stone, but which was so beautiful at that moment, something unseen by the wolf before, and the Spirit of the Mountain slowly nodded yes. „Then, I can only accept this mission and bow in front of you, Kuṭṭi Mantiram taking this soul toward the path of its fulfillment.”
Kuṭṭi Mantiram said nothing instead: only his eyes were talking, blessing those two souls that were about to hit the road and which could meet so many dangers on their way. And the Spirit saw how Adamant approached Karina, touched the skirts of her long, black cloak with his head, a hint that he’ll be always submissive to her, and Karina right away put on the hood, covering her face. Then she climbed on Adamant’s back and the two started to slowly descend toward the foot of the mount.
„Let the Sky bless you and Earth always take care of you,” Kuṭṭi Mantiram said, in his mind, looking at the two travelers that were slowly moving away, leaving that corner of Heavens behind for the vastity of the dangerous fields, for the water, and for the forests, that they had to cross in their way. „And… if Fate wants and you turn back here someday, I’ll always be your friend, Adamant,” the Spirit’s lips murmured. After this, he turned back into the heart of the mount, entering the same Gate, which right away closed behind him and only the stars in the sky saw that strange change. But even so, the secret of the Mountain Kuṭṭi Mantiram was safe, for the stars couldn’t tell anyone about this. They could only slowly blink with their magic light and watch the world with their cold and empty eyes.
***
„How long ago did this world change so much?” asked Karina in a low voice, staring at that beautiful forest, known by others as Kristallar.
„Did it change?” Adamant asked in amazement while they kept slowly descending the mount, carefully bypassing the trees, or slowly crossing over the sharp stones or through the bushes that seemed magical, but which could hide a lot of dangers. „I don’t find it changed. Or maybe it’s only my impression because I’ve seen it every day in these 2000 years of life.”
„Two thousand years?” asked Karina, suddenly looking in front. But Adamant didn’t look at her, even if he felt her eyes fixed on him and somehow looking past by the top of his ears.
„That’s right! We are now in the year 9950 of Dike’s coming on Earth. And… exactly 6 centuries have passed since your soul crossed the threshold of the Kingdom of Adamant Sheen, waiting for reborn.”
„600 years,” Karina feverishly murmured. „I knew that’s been a while since Gaea visited us in the kingdom of gnomes, but I didn’t think that it has been so long ago.”
„The passing of time it’s not a problem, but it is the fact that we didn’t feel that passing,” said Adamant and his soul bitterly smiled.
Karina said nothing instead. However, Adamant felt that big storm from inside the Virgin when her hand unwillingly squeezed the wolf’s fur without hurting him. Or maybe… Adamant was already used to the pain since he was alone and he didn’t pay that much attention to this?!
„Maybe,” Karina eventually said and closed her eyes, allowing Adamant to take her in the distance of those places, on the back of a wolf that has been the glory of the mount Kuṭṭi Mantiram once and which was only a councilor that day and a companion for a long road while the two of them were crossing through old forests, over green fields, later yellowed by the autumn or with a lot of flowers and blue spring waters, for their path toward life was leaving deep traces in the sand of the realms surrounded by waters or maybe those beautiful places only passed by them and none of them noticed this, just as nobody ever feels or notices the passing of time.
But their footsteps, which deeply left an alive trace on the wet sand of the shores, have been quickly erased by the same waters that washed once their souls too and which became history later, just like everything that a soul leaves behind it after its death.
***
„It’s time,” Gaea said in a whisper and she took off the hood of her grey, Veppam cloak, and this brought pain and death there, for those two were always walking by the side of the other one lately, more after Parca and Moirae found out about the Titanide’s visit in the Kingdom of gnomes.
„Is it time for what?” She heard Parca’s voice, and when Gaea turned her head to the right, she saw the Titanide of Fate heading toward her. But it seemed that Parca wasn’t ready for a fair fight, for she came there having the shape of the child, looking with innocence around, even if the cunningness was felt in her voice.
Gaea, however, only cunningly smiled and slowly turned toward Parca, suddenly turning into a little Karina.
„You chose not to play fair, sister,” Parca hissed through her teeth.
„Just like you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come here looking like this, but prepared for a real fight,” and a band of jasmine petals has been suddenly thrown over Parca, who avoided the attack by attacking with dandelion-nettle blend, and this made everything around freeze, and those petals and floss floated in the air as if being inside of a lifeless bubble or a huge void.
„Jasmine in the Rocu Forest?!” Parca gnashed her teeth, for namely that was the flower she hated the most because it reminded her so much about her nature and her drawbacks: love and femininity, for no matter how hard didn’t Parca try to fill those empty places from inside her, she didn’t manage it, just as she could never find out the reason why of all this. That’s why she hated the Jasmine flowers, whose meaning was love and femininity.
„A special gift for a special being!” Gaea said in mockery and, around them, suddenly started to rain, with small round and cold drops, but which were so well capturing the nature around and reflecting, on their small bodies, everything they met in their way: the green of the trees, the clarity of the air around, the dark brown trunks, painted with soft green moss or lianas that climbed and descended from off the branches.
But what Parca really disliked has been to notice the clear reflection of the jasmine flowers in each of the raindrops, as if that image froze in front of her eyes. Yet, those jasmine flowers, seen in those raindrops, weren’t those thrown by Gaea, but they were alive flowers, so alive that hurt the Titanide of Fate deep inside. Especially their image hurt her because she saw them at first like lonely flowers, floating inside of the void, to later gather in a kind of group, to form seconds later long branches of jasmine, filled to the brim with white flowers that were enriching, with an unbelievable splendor, all those jasmines bushes seen in that mirror of life and water.
Suddenly, however, those raindrops cracked and Gaea’s jasmine flowers have been thrown over Parca with all their force. But even if the Titanide of Fate answered the attack with a sudden explosion of black energy, that came from inside her, she still felt a burning on her left cheek, something that deeply pierced her heart too.
Touching her hurt cheek, Parca felt it wet, and when she looked at the top of her fingers, that touched the wound, she saw a few drops of blood coloring it: it was because of a jasmine flower that touched her cheek, for that touch of love and femininity made the evil and the hatred, hidden in Parca’s soul, bleed.
But… her eyes have seen not only one enemy in front of her on who to take revenge for the wound on her face and from her soul, and this made the hatred from her heart boil like a cauldron full to the brim with water while it was above a pyre under which hungry flames were eating the wood thrown in that pyre.
„Hestia!” Parca hissed through her teeth, seeing the Titanide of Fire appearing only two steps behind Gaea and outlining her body from flames. „I didn’t know that’s a family party in Rocu Forest,” Parca added ironically.
„This means that our plan to make you come here worked,” Hestia answered, happily smiling, and her red eyes suddenly became alive, taking the color of the leaves from of the trees around.
„Plan? What plan?” Parca asked in disbelief.
„If you force your brain to work a little bit, you’ll understand by yourself. I don’t think that’s necessary to make an effort and explain the obvious,” the girl Gaea answered, suddenly taking back her real face, and this forced Parca to change too, to have equal powers.
Suddenly she winced, however, and looked behind Gaea and Hestia. But… no matter how hard she didn’t force herself to see who was approaching them, no matter how much she didn’t narrow her eyes to see beyond appearances, she could only see the red of the leaves and the brown of the trees’trunks, colored by green moss. Even so, she felt someone approaching, someone known by them, but whose face she couldn’t see or remember where did she feel that presence before.
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Then she looked at Gaea, seeing her taking a few steps toward her. Yet, Gaea’s intention hasn’t been to approach Parca, but only to move from in front of Hestia, just to allow her sister to protect herself in case of a sudden attack from Parca.
„Betrayal!” murmured Parca, remembering that a night ago while she was descending off de Mount of Fear when she visited, as always, her elder sisters Moirae, she heard a weird murmur of the air that was wandering those surroundings, making the flowers and the grass bow in front of someone unknown, the animals not to pay attention to her as they did before, but hide in their dens when she was passing by them while the birds, that were flying above her at that moment, were freezing in the air, impeding Parca to hear their inner voice thus.
***
„Something weird is happening,” she told herself and carefully looked around. „Even if I have the feeling that someone’s lurking on me, I see nobody around. And… I’m sure that’s not Cronos’s business. But… whose?!”
„Of the stars,” Tenebre said after she suddenly showed up in front of the Titanide of Fate.
Thus, she amazed Parca a lot, for even if both of them were part of the same camp, yet, they weren’t too close to meet each other thus or talk about certain things. Yet, Parca decided to find out the mystery and approached Tenebre, who was only a few dozen meters in front of her.
„Of the stars you say?! And… who should we say thank you for this wonder?!”
„To Gaea, for… I’m sure that she’s planning something.
„Is she planning something? Like?”
„I’m not sure, but… following her, I saw her entering the Rocu Forest and spending hours and hours there, and this happened not only once. But… even if I feel a weird sensation floating around her, an aura or maybe the magic of someone known, I can’t understand what it is.”
„The Rocu Forest,” murmured Parca to herself, staring somewhere in front. „Hestia’s place of living. But… what exactly did Gaea lose there? I don’t think that she goes there to offer some comfort to Hestia, who fell prey to a curse, turning into a lifeless pyre.”
„I… won’t be that sure that she’s only a lifeless pyre,” said Tenebre, and some traces of cunningness have been seen in her glance and felt in her voice, but Parca didn't notice that strange change. „If I were you, I would have gone there to see what’s going on.”
This made the Titanide of Fate suddenly react and watch Tenebre with interest, feeling something strange at her, for Tenebre wasn’t that kind of person to give some pieces of good advice without being sure of their plan. At that moment, however, she seemed to try to decoy Parca in that forest, but the Titanide of Fate couldn’t understand the reason. „And… why don’t you do that? I mean why don’t you enter that forest to check what it’s hiding there, beyond that red like the fire oak trees of the Forest Delonix Regia?"
„I have the access prohibited in that forest, remember? And this thanks to you, the one who took care to restrict my path toward the Siar People,” Tenebre hissed through her teeth, taking a few steps toward Parca and staring into her eyes. „Thanks to you, the Siars are still safe… till nowadays.”
„But also thanks to me you managed to reach the impossible: to create the Virgins Yātrīkar.”
Tenebre grinned, but it was a grin of mean pleasure, intertwined with hatred, anger, and despair at the same time. „And… what good is it that Yātrīkar have been created if they didn’t bow in front of me?!”
„Then… what do you propose? What do you look to get from me?”
„Make the Virgins Yātrīkar bow only in front of me,” Tenebre said while being only one step from Parca. „And to enjoy this, I need to know what it’s going on in Rocu Forest and why Gaea goes there, even if she could meet Hestia wherever, for even if she’s only a useless Titanide now, closed in the curse of her own flames, Hestia can still wander the world. But… they go namely there, in the place where Yātrīkar took the bodies of the Virgins of Siar, 600 years ago,” and Tenebre’s voice suddenly became so hissing as if she was trying to make Parca pay attention only to what she was saying or sow the doubt in her soul. „But… while I can’t even pass off the first row of trees of that Cursed Forest, you can freely get in and out. Even so, I suggest you not go there alone. Take the Yātrīkar with you to watch your back and make sure that you’ll come back from there. Well, at least this is what I feel.” After that, Tenebre passed by Parca and headed up the mount while a large smile was seen sketched on her face… the smile of triumph.
Parca instead kept standing in the same place and staring behind Tenebre that night, trying to see something weird in her, but she saw nothing in the end. Yet: her talk with Tenebre made her think and she decided to investigate if it was true or not what she found out. And, to rush the things, she turned into that wonderful bird and flew like the wind away from that place.
And… when the magic bird was far away from that place, seen in the distance only like a black point, Tenebre stopped and looked at the horizon. But that being wasn’t Tenebre but Gaea, who took her sister’s face, the one she hated the most, only to make sure that she’ll deceive Parca and her success had been a sure one. That’s why Gaea was smiling while watching the horizon. Then she said: „a total success, sister! And… I’m sure that tomorrow we’ll make it… what we are planning for centuries, but which resulted in vain by now.”
Right away, to her left, Hestia’s fire projection appeared. „Then… see you tomorrow in Rocu Forest. Adamant and Karina are already on their way to us. This means that we must rush things a little bit.”
„There’s no rush anyway because… if we waited for this moment for so long, I still think that we shouldn’t rush, but follow our plan. And… I’m sure that Parca won’t show up unprepared or alone in that forest. That’s why we must be also prepared, for… two against the Yātrīkar Virgins and Parca… it’ll be definitely a tough fight.”
„Maybe you’re right, but… anyway, we won’t be alone,” Hestia confidently said, something that made Gaea turn her head toward her sister and stare thunderstruck at her.
„We won’t be alone? What do you mean?”
„You’ll find out tomorrow, Gaea! You’ll definitely find it out! And… as you said: don’t rush things, for everything has a precise moment in this world,” and Hestia vanished as quickly as she appeared.
A few seconds later, Gaea also vanished, and life around continued its normal flow, dancing with the waves of the scentful flowers and soft herbs while the melody of the air around was giving the world a new sensation of calmness and splendor.
***
„Get ready to go!” Parca told Kaṇkaḷ, the leader of the Virgins Yātrīkar after she had suddenly appeared in the depths of Kiago Forest where the Yātrīkar chose their place to camp.
Their camp was settled next to a beautiful waterfall of tormented water, of an amber color, surrounded by trees and bushes from everywhere, and also surrounded by stones washed till the bright by those waters and by the small transparent light of the fireflies that have been born by their own black magic there.
„To get ready to go? But… where exactly should we go?”
„To Rocu Forest!” Parca confidently said, and this made Kaṇkaḷ shudder.
„To Rocu Forest? But this is the place which…?”
„…the Yātrīkar Virgins are afraid of the most, for namely there you’ve done the worse sin of stealing the bodies of the Virgins of Siar.”
„And… even so, are you asking us to go there? You know very well that to enter that forest again might be a chance for others to take these bodies from us and return us to the Gates of the Purgatorium. Do you think that we’ll give on so easily of what we got by now only to help you?”
Suddenly, Parca grabbed the leader by the throat, and, with amazing force and speed, the two of them vanished and showed up in different places. But the power of the Titanide of Fate was a few dozen times bigger than that of Yātrīkar. That’s why she managed eventually to push Kaṇkaḷ against the wall of a huge rock that was right next to the waterfall while pressing with all her force by the throat.
„It seems that you’ve already forgotten who helped you to get rid of Chaos and Life’s curse and turned your steps back to earth when you were at the Gates of Death, giving you freedom on this land again,” Parca hissed through her teeth.
„We didn’t forget anything. But…,” Kaṇkaḷ whispered, barely heard.
„But you still forgot this. Yet… I intend to remind you every day, that you owe me, forever. That’s why you’ll go tomorrow to Rocu Forest to watch my back if you don’t want to finish your miserable existence. You know that’s not a big deal for me to return the souls of the Virgins of Siar in their bodies, and send you where your place is: waiting for nothing at the Gates of Perdition.”
Kaṇkaḷ lowered her glance eventually, a hint that she gave up, and Parca released her and took two steps back. Then Kaṇkaḷ coughed several times to recover her normal breathing, still touching her throat blackened by the force Parca used to press it.
„Anyway, I’m not asking you all to come with me. I need only ten of you. The rest… can stay here, for… I don’t intend to lose you all if something goes wrong in that forest.”
„Only ten of us? And… who exactly?” asked Kaṇkaḷ in a half voice. But when she caught Parca’s glance focused to their left, she also looked over there and shuddered, for the eyes of the Titanide of Fate were focused over Keyṉ, her sister, and the one who took Karina’s body. „No, never!” Kaṇkaḷ tried to oppose Parca’s idea. „I’ll go.”
„No. Keyṉ will go and 9 of her friends.”
„But… why? I’m the strongest here and I can be much more useful for your plan than my sister who…”
„Because you’re stronger… I want you here. In case Gaea and Hestia are planning to attack this place. And… there’s one more reason why Keyṉ must go with me to Rocu Forest: because she has the face of that Virgin, the one Gaea loved so much, Karina. Thus, seeing her, Gaea will be confused and, being weak inside and overwhelmed by remorse and doubts, I’ll be sure of our success. Anyway, we’ll defeat them there, no matter what. So: don’t worry! Your useless sister Keyṉ will turn back tomorrow - safe and unhurt,” and Parca’s eyes focused toward Keyṉ and the other Virgins Yātrīkar, who were taking a bath in the amber water of the waterfall, and their black, wet hair, in the weak light of the sunset, looked so beautiful, just like their olive skin faces that were reminding about beauty and devilish things at the same time.
***
„This is what you looked for,” Parca hissed through her teeth, staring into Gaea’s eyes, which seemed so cold and untouchable at that moment. „You looked for me to bring the Yātrīkars here just to have the possibility to turn these bodies to the Siar Virgins. But… it seems to me that you failed, Gaea - I’m alone here,” and Parca burst into a peal of hysterical laughter. „This means that you won’t ever defeat me: neither my power nor my intelligence. And… even if you made it: it would have been useless, for even if those chased souls turned back to their bodies they’ll turn to ashes, for… it has been many centuries since they died already, and this means that they have no chance to live. And… even if they had had a chance to live, I won’t ever agree with this.”
„Are you sure about this?” Gaea calmly asked, staring at Parca with her empty eyes, with her glacier glance that said nothing, a glance that was perfectly reflecting an empty soul as if she was one of the Siars, chased out of her body, hundreds of years ago. „That I brought you here for nothing?”
„Yes, for…,” but Parca suddenly kept silent, finally seeing Adamant appearing a few dozen steps behind Hestia and Gaea while a Virgin was seen on its back. But even if Karina’s face was hidden by the material of the hood, Parca knew very well whose soul was approaching them. „No… it can’t be. It’s impossible that this soul… this child to be here… freely stepping onto this land, like any other alive soul.”
„But it’s the reality, Parca, for no matter how hard you didn’t try to kill the innocence, only a blink is necessary for it to reappear in someone’s eyes and he to be reborn from ashes, just like that magical bird in which you transform your body each time you want to fly toward the horizon.
„And I must say thank you for this to Shalamar and to that insufferable Spirit of the Mount Kuṭṭi Mantiram,” said Parca, gnashing her teeth. „I thought that I killed him in that war when I took out his eyes and I turned him to a Cerberus, sentencing him to wander forever the sinuous paths of the Kingdom of Gnomes, but seeing nothing.”
„But… you can’t kill what has to be in this world,” said Hestia. „Just as you can’t lie to Life and Fate, Parca, or that you came here alone.”
„No… I came alone,” Parca murmured, afraid, even if she tried to seem calm.
„And you’re lying again. Do you want me to show you that I’m right?” added Hestia and looked toward Karina. „You can uncover your face, child! It’s time that your soul sees its body, even if it’s for a few seconds only.”
Parca shuddered from top to toe. „No… you won’t dare do this,” she hissed through her teeth. „Don’t do something like this, idiot or instead of an eternity of waiting at the Gates of the Purgatorium, you’ll curse yourself and the other Virgins to death,” Parca practically shouted, seeing Karina’s hands touching the edge of the hood.
Hearing Parca’s words, Karina stopped her movement, and this made the Titanide think that she won. But even so, she was crawling back as if looking for a shelter or a Gate to escape. She stopped instead when she heard Karina saying: „I’m dead and empty inside anyway. What does it matter if death completely takes my soul?! I don’t see anymore the point of waiting another eternity next to those Gates.”
„No,” Parca shouted again when Karina unhooded her head eventually, and this brought Keyṉ and the other 9 followers there, a few steps away from Karina and Adamant.
„Stupid! Get lost from here!” Parca demanded in a shout, but what is meant to happen cannot be impeded to take place, just as you can’t stop a soul to join with its body.
Keyṉ and Karina stared into the other’s eyes as if being charmed, even if their eyes were empty, lifeless, and lacking energy. Then they stretched their right hands in front, in an uncontrolled movement, as if it was Life’s desire that two palms touch each other.
„Stupid,” Parca shouted and tried to use her power to make those Yātrīkar vanish from there. But… at the moment she intended to throw that big ball of destructive energy, that was dizzily forming between her palms, Adamant jumped over her, and the two, grabbed into a forced hug, rolled down the valley with such a speed, for it was a fight for life and death.
Seeing that Parca has been suddenly attacked, Yātrīkar took their swords from the girdle and prepared for attack. Only Karina and Keyṉ kept standing in the same place as if frozen.
„Now!” shouted Hestia when Yātrīkar swooped upon her and Gaea and, in seconds, hundreds of pyres, similar to the one that was burning under Hestia’s staples and whose flames got up to her hips, appeared all around, catching Yātrīkar into a trap.
Only then did Keyṉ come back to her senses and withdrew her hand while her lips unwillingly murmured: „TINEIMU!” taking a few steps back and tacking her sword out of its scabbard, preparing for the attack.
Karina instead continued in her place, staring at Keyṉ: „Do you think that you can defeat them? Do you think that you can once again take what’s mine?”
„Of course, I can, for this body belongs to me for 6 centuries already while you had it only for 22 years. This makes it mine and only dead I, you can take it back,” said Keyṉ with hatred.
„Then you give us no choice,” Keyṉ heard Gaea’s voice behind her, but she hadn’t time to react when she felt the blade of a dagger stub into her back.
A frightening shout of the Virgins Yātrīkar, that swooped over the Fighters Tineimu, pierced the horizon, for, seeing their leader attacked from behind, they intended to get revenge.
„Iṅkē nām oru kuṟukku vaḻiyil irukkiṟōm, viti! Nam neñcil maṉita itayam eppaṭi tuṭikkiṟatu eṉpatai oru kaṇam kūṭa uṇara vāyppillāmal inta nērattaiyum vāḻkkaiyiṉ mukattil iḻantōm. (Tamil)
„And we got to the crossroad, Fate! I lost this time too in front of Life, without having the chance to feel, at least for a second only, how a human heart beats in our chest,” murmured Keyṉ barely heard while slowly falling. But her fall was slow due to the fact that Gaea’s hand touched her body, and her eyes started to be wet with tears while, in front of her eyes, the red of the leaves of those oaks was gladdening her sight with a beautiful shade. „Gaea,” she whispered eventually.
„Tell me,” Gaea kindly said.
„Do you think that we still have a chance for life? Into another world? Having another fate?” murmured Keyṉ, feeling the thread of her life slowly exiting her body that started to slowly shake while she was grabbed in that slow dance with death.
„Time will pass and we’ll see it,” she heard eventually Gaea’s answer. „I think that’s never too late for something, just I don’t think that’s late for a soul that accepted its sins to be reborn.”
Keyṉ smiled, seeing, for the first time, that blue color of the sky, so clear and bright, as if that vault of red leaves suddenly became transparent, and the white peel on the young girl’s eyes also vanished. But disappeared only the peel while that view of the celestial vault was just an illusion of Hestia’s magic, who felt sorrow for Keyṉ and tried to give her some comfort before the final death.
A slight slap on Keyṉ’s back made a small sphere come out from her mouth, a sphere that was transparent at first, but which got the colors of a rainbow soon, even if there was no raindrop around… that sphere was Keyṉ’s soul, that was so alive floating in the air.
Seeing the sphere, Hestia snapped her fingers and Keyṉ’s soul appeared in her palm. Then she looked at it for a few moments till it started to melt in her palm due to the heat of the flames around it. But on the surface of that sphere was still seen the last smile that appeared on the lips of the young Yātrīkar before her sudden death.
The moment Hestia squeezed her fist, the sphere vanished, just as its multicolored light vanished too. Then, the Titanide of Fire looked at her fighters, that still had the other Yātrīkar kneeled in front of them, with the back at their pyres. And… the moment Hestia moved her head, because of the sudden movement of the fighters Tineimu’s hands, the throats of the Virgins Yātrīkar have been broken, and their bodies fell lifeless to the ground.
„Now, Gaea! It’s the time!” said Hestia and Gaea nodded yes. Then she stretched her hand toward Karina, who didn’t delay to approach her and, at the moment Gaea hugged her, Karina’s soul vanished too… with no trace.