With the hands stretched to the side, on her back, and with her eyes closed, Mayar was floating in the air, about 3 meters above the ground, in the same place where Zeal, Island, and the kids have stood before, trying thus to fill her body with alive energy, feeling that it was what she was missing in those moments: the beautiful instants of innocence.

Anaya instead was sitting in the same place, next to the trunk of the big tree, staring at the last reddish rays of the sun that were barely seen in the sky. Only after the sky required its normal evening shade, of a dark grey, did she also stand up and, at a slow step, she approached Mayar.

The girl hasn’t been bothered by Anaya’s approaching and she kept floating in the air, feeling with all her being that sweet vibration of the Cosmos that was surrounding her from all over. She only opened her eyes when she felt a slight, cold gust of wind, blowing from the North, from the mountain, a hint that the weather was turning cold for in the next days. Then, she stood up in a vertical position but still floating, and she looked in front of her at the splendor of nature that was slowly rocking in the sweet whisper of the night.

Eventually, she descended on Earth, only a few steps from Anaya, and looked at the old lady whose eyes seemed so empty at that moment. „What are you thinking of so deeply?” Mayar asked.

„At Island’s story and at the fact that a stick has two stubs,” Anaya said, in a whisper.

„That a stick has two stubs? What do you mean?” Mayar inquired, frowning, for not knowing why, but she felt like a kind of strange worm sneaked inside her, under the skin: the worm of betrayal.

Anaya bitterly smiled and, turning her back on the girl, she headed toward the mountain seen in the distance. But she didn’t rush, she just gave time to Mayar to follow her. „You’re right about what you feel on your skin: this is the worm of betrayal or as humans call it - the worm of doubt.”

„How do you know what I feel?” Mayar asked, being so amazed that the old fox knew about her feelings. But she hadn’t to wait for an answer for long, for Anaya stopped, and when the girl arrived next to her, she took Mayar’s hand into hers and she slowly passed the palm above it, feeling the alive energy that was coming from inside the girl and that made the barely seen hair on the girl's skin stare.

„This is what I call real feeling: the self-preservation and not the magic you use,” the old fox told Mayar in a sharp voice, for she has always been against magic, against fights, and against evil, but she couldn’t eventually do anything against all this because namely the magic and the world where they were living had forced her to live among the evil, even if there was also a certain amount of kindness among Inmar’s foxes.

„Yet, Anaya, the magic you keep in your soul… you can’t hide it, and no matter how developed your instinct wouldn't have been, you couldn’t have felt what I feel if you only based on your inner power, and not on the magic you manage.”

„Maybe you’re right, but yet: I’ll use it as less as possible.”

„Why?”

Anaya again smiled. „Because magic means evil, even if it’s used for a noble cause. Don’t forget that there’s a start point and that there’s an ending point for everything in this world and that eventually, the one who decides the result of everything is fate instead. And… if someone tries to change the rhythm of the movement or at least its trajectory, even if only a little bit, even if it makes a single speck of dust disappear from this world, it changes in fact the life of each being and of each object on this planet.”

„Like?”

„The story. The one that Island told the children. How do you think, what percentage of what he said is a lie and what percentage is the truth?”

„70% the truth and 30% a lie?” Mayar said at random.

„50/50.”

„I don’t believe you. As I got to know Island and the rest that live next to him, they aren’t capable of lying.”

„I didn’t say that he lied. I only said that he didn’t say the truth.”

The fixed glance of the old fox into hers, made Mayar wonder what Island’s story was hiding in fact, because she has never before asked herself such questions, even if she had heard his stories so many times, for loving to listen to him telling tales, even if she didn’t know why. This was the reason why Mayar was often sneaking around, in the shadow of the trees that were growing at the edge of Kiago Forest, especially when Island was coming there with the children, on that vast field, and he was opening his sack with tales and he was so charming telling the kids about them. Now instead, she felt that she had never known the real meaning of those tales and that she had never known the magic of those words in fact.

„Do you also know the story told by Island?” Mayar asked Anaya, after minutes in a row of keeping silent, in the same place where they’ve stopped.

„Of course, I know it. I think that there are only a few of us that don’t know the story of Baradar and of People of Noear, only differently told by others.”

„Of Baradar? The one known today as the Spirit of the Woods?

„Exactly.”

„But… from what I know, he ended his life in a different way and that he hasn’t been a perfumer. At least this is what Ahi and Inmar told me.”

Anaya smiled: „you’ve been asking the wolf what the lamb thinks before eating him,” and she moved from her place, heading toward the mountain. „It seems that you’ve forgotten who in fact has been involved in every single bad thing that happened to Noea and her people.”

„The snake Ian Gyar?”

„Exactly, and Doubt from Island’s story is in fact Moirae, who has eventually convinced the boy to drink from their venom, using trickery. Thus, cursing his soul, he destroyed the Heaven where he was living at that moment.”

„But… in Island’s story, Doubt is good and it looks like Hubo, but instead of a he, Doubt is a she.”

„Just as Moirae: they’ve appeared in front of Baradar like an innocent Virgin, ready to put their heart at his feet. But what Baradar didn’t see then has been the worm of destruction from their soul, because namely Doubt took him in its power and made him think that he wants immortality. And because of this, that poor minikin doesn’t know till today that not everything he remembers is true and that in fact he has been unfairly judged for what he deeds.”

„Anyway, I don’t think he cares too much about this while he’s not alive anymore.”

Anaya again stopped and deeply looked into Mayar’s eyes. „Are you sure?”

„About?”

„That the dead ones don’t have feelings! If so, then you are so wrong because they have feelings, even if, just as Baradar, are only wandering souls throughout the world, without a human body, even if they feel like a real person.”

„Anaya, it was just a word, because…”

„Don't waste words, child, because you’ll never be able to change the meaning already understood by others, even if you tried to say something totally different. The words are like a bird: if they flew out of the cage, they won’t ever turn back, and this is because birds love to fly freely to the horizon. Unlike birds, who don’t hurt anybody if they flew, words can kill. Similar words have killed Baradar and condemned him to an eternity of sufferance.”

„Words condemned him? What words and how do you know all that?”

„You’re invited! These are the words that sealed Baradar’s fate when he told the three Moirae that was in front of him with a single face of the Virgin, and wherefrom I know that: I met Baradar. Only once! In Kiago’s Forest! But it has been enough to understand that our fate is already decided and sealed and since long ago and if we want to change it, then we have to fight against ourselves first.”

The old lady’s eyes, which she focused on Mayar, have reflected a strange light that turned the wheel of time back again as if looking for a truth deeply hidden in Anaya’s heart.

***

THREE MONTHS BEFORE

The lisp of the leaves, the scent of the trees, and the music of the herbs that are rustling under the feet which are stepping onto them are the favorite melodies of Anaya, in her short times of liberty, when she has the right to wander alone the surroundings and she also has the right to remember old times or to acquire new memories that she could guard only for her, and which later can’t be read by Mayar, Inmar, or Ahi.

It was already past noon, but the sun was still abundantly bathing the heart of nature deeply hidden in the woods as if its rays would have been golden arrows that were piercing the green vault of the branches.

Suddenly, Anaya stopped and looked up, listening to the weird whisper of the trees, but because of the blinding light, she put her hand to her forehead, covering so her sight, and only when she has used to the sun's rays did she look again up and she noticed the sky painted strangely by the branches of the trees and by the leaves.

„So beautiful,” she whispered and smiled.

„Isn’t it?!” she heard Baradar’s voice next to her and this sudden apparition of him made her wince because she hadn't expected to meet someone in that part of the forest.

„Do you know me?” Baradar asked and she nodded yes because even if Anaya had never met him personally before, she had heard about him and she could understand who he was because of his vestment and of his deep green glance similar to the color of the herbs around them.

„Baradar. The Spirit of the woods… here?” the old lady asked in amazement.

„That’s right. It’s a bit strange even for me to be in this part of the world, but it has still been necessary to come here.”

„Necessary? Why? As far as I’m aware, you can control the trees using the power of your thoughts which you send everywhere through magic waves, and even if this place is so far from Rophion Forest: your home, and of the titan Dike, you still have the power to create magic even here.”

„Wise words you say, old Anaya, but you’ve forgotten that I have a hold only above nature, but I don't have power over people or over other alive souls, and I need to send a message now not to the trees or to the herbs, but to the humans, or better to say to the Spirits.”

„A message? What kind of message and to whom?”

„To you!” and Baradar’s eyes mirrored into her glance as if he tried to send her that message through the energetic waves of the thoughts, but those waves suddenly hit a kind of blocking transparent wall and the minikin found it weird because he met something similar only once before, and the power of his mind returned to him in the form of small waves, but strong waves, that hit his face, forcing him to close his eyes and to wince.

„The barrier!” Baradar murmured, for seeing it before at Fenrir when he tried to read his mind, but he met the black wolf Fenrir instead and he had found out a big secret from a different life of the boy. But now, Anaya’s barrier didn’t reveal anything to him, and that meant only one thing: he and the old lady were much alike, two wandering souls without a body, and that never allows any of them to pass beyond its limits or to control the mind of the other one.

„Since when are you wandering this world without a rest?” Baradar asked her, keeping an eye on her, even if all those words and namely the minikin’s reaction seemed weird to Anaya.

„I think it passed about two centuries already! Why do you ask?”

„Because your soul hardened and it isn’t any more hunger for rest. It got used to living among humans and because of this your soul doesn’t dream anymore to turn back to Aeon.”

Anaya smiled. „Didn’t you feel the same? As long as I’m aware, you also dreamt about immortality.”

Baradar shook his head in denial: „I don’t want this anymore, but I want peace instead. A sea of silence in the heart of my nature, without being tormented by dreams, by regrets, by memories,” the minikin’s lips whispered.

Anaya winced. She didn’t know why she winced and why so suddenly she felt fear, but she preferred not to talk about this just as she has preferred not to reveal that she has also felt how the doubt was sneaking inside her, wondering who she was in fact on that limitless earth. But she also knew that all that was something stupid because the minikin never hurt anyone and that she was safe with him.

„Let’s take a few steps,” Baradar told Anaya and she nodded yes.

They walked side by side and in silence for a while, toward the edge of the forest, as if both of them were trying to fully enjoy those whispers of the nature around them that only they were able to listen to.

Only when they got to the edge of the forest and they saw the field that was spreading toward the mountain, Anaya stopped, turned her face toward Baradar who stood hidden in the shadows of the first line of trees, and she told him: „and yet, you didn’t tell me the secret or the message for which you came here.”

„I’m not sure that you’ll understand it.”

„Why? Because I’m just a soul that only wants to live?” and Baradar nodded yes. „Well, let me tell you that you’re wrong, old minikin, for not all the souls that want to live will end hurting others, just as not all the souls that live forever will repent of this and will decide to hit the road toward Aeon.”

„The two truths of life!” Baradar whispered.

„That’s right because where there is light, darkness can also hide, just as in a lie some of us can find the truth.”

„But… what happens to those that can’t see these truths?” the minikin asked.

„They will die while walking toward the Purgatorium?!”

„No. They’ll try to find immortality, here, on Earth, no matter the costs. That’s why I’m here: to tell you not to enter the war that is approaching us or you’ll be lost forever and you won’t ever have the possibility to be reborn.”

Anaya looked thunderstruck at the minikin because even if his words were clear, her mind couldn’t understand their meaning. „What are you trying to say?”

„I’m talking about the huge power that you have in your heart, due to Gaea and Ahi, but that power is more like a double-edged sword than with something which can bring good to this world. On one side - there’s the white Magic and the kindness which was given to you by Mother Earth when you’ve been reborn from the waters, and on the other side - there’s the worm of betrayal that Coallar and Ahi formed into your soul in the same day.”

„Coallar? I don’t totally understand your words. What's the connection between me and the king of Coal??”

Baradar gently smiled. „Don’t rush the events and nor run further than you can reach for the moment, Anaya! There’s a right time for everything in this world. What I can tell you it’s to stay away from this war and not to take anybody’s side, but if you decide to enter the fight, try not to hurt your own blood.”

„My own blood? What blood we are talking about, minikin, because I…,” but she’s been even more amazed to realize that Baradar wasn’t anymore with her.

Anaya looked around, but she didn’t see him, or at least she didn’t notice any trace that he’s been there. „Did I imagine all this?” Anaya wondered, but it hasn’t been only her imagination and she was feeling this with her heart as if it was a worm squirming on barren land, looking for the path toward salvation.

She put her hand to the chest and the first face she’s seen has been Mayar’s face and this has been confusing for her. Then, she saw Inmar. „Why they?” Anaya again wondered, but she couldn’t find an answer for this.

When the sun suddenly hid behind the clouds, Anaya vanished because that moment of the day was returning her next to Mayar, to continue her eternal mission: to take care of that child.

Only when she hasn’t been at the edge of the forest, did Baradar reappear in the same place he’s been before. Actually, he has been there all the time, but the struggle between those two powers or truths from Anaya’s soul made him invisible to her, and the two powers Baradar talked to her about were: her human side, that was still living inside Coallar’s grotto, like the young Anaya, and the magic one, the old fox, which had passed through the Gates of Fate long time ago, but which hadn’t yet the power to see the truth in her own heart.

***

The winding road that was starting from the edge of the field and was leading toward the top of the mountain was beaten by so much walking in places while the rest of it was covered by the wildlife of the mountain, with weeds and thistles which reached over surroundings, and which had grown up at will.

Namely, onto that path, Mayar and Anaya started to walk returning home, but both of them were extremely quiet because each of them was thinking of the truth hidden in their heart, for that story told by Island, apparently for no particular purpose, had managed to confuse them both.

Suddenly, Anaya stopped, and, blowing cold air in front of her, she managed to make the horizon unclear. So, she right away grabbed Mayar’s hand, forcing her to also stop. „What is going…?” Mayar tried to ask, but the old fox motioned to her to keep silent, and, using her magical power, Anaya managed to hide them both from the sights of the curious ones that seemed to have reached those places.

They stood like this, for minutes in a row, hidden into a twilling world, but nothing weird happened. But yet, if Anaya chose to hide, it meant that she was really afraid of something and because of this, Mayar had decided to be obedient and to wait in silence.

For other minutes nothing happened and it was already dark night all over. Only then, as if a kind of Gate made from darkness opened, Tenebre and Ian Gyar showed up in front of them, looking around as if they were trying to find someone.

„Tenebre!” Mayar hissed through the teeth, furious to see the Queen of the eternal Night there, even if Tenebre has been for her only another being as others before.

„Wherefrom did you know her?” Anaya asked, looking at the young fox.

„I’ve seen her into Coallar’s den when I went there to see what my dreams with him meant. There I’ve heard them planning something about Ahi’s child,” and Mayar looked at the old lady, curious to find out if she was aware or not who was the kid of the most feared Mago. But Anaya wasn’t aware of anything and she hadn’t also wherefrom to have found out that because neither Ahi nor Inmar have considered it necessary to tell her about Mayar. That’s why they have ordered Anaya to follow Mayar everywhere, like a shadow, and to tell them if something bad will sneak around the girl.

„Ahi’s child!” Anaya murmured. „Interesting! It means that this witch looks for her own blood’s salvation.”

„Salvation? What do you mean?”

„Mannar's release, Ahi’s eternal rival, and Tenebre and Coallar’s beloved child. But: if it happens, if Mannar is released, they won’t be safe also, for what they don’t know is that Mannar is already lost and forever, and if they release him from his cell, they won’t have ever the power to turn him back to life. And all this it’s due to Eris, who managed to make him her eternal servant.”

Mayar looked at the old woman with interest: Anaya knew more than she was telling her. „And… do you know where this Mannar is now?” Mayar asked, using her eternal trick to ask something in an innocent and absolutely careless voice just not to betray her purpose.

Anaya grinned instead. „Wherefrom should I know that? I have nothing common with him and… you also shouldn’t have businesses with him if you care about your life,” the old fox told Mayar in a serious and sharp tone as if she could read the girl’s mind and this made Mayar wince.

Then, Mayar looked in front, feeling the power of the fire that was increasing and taking shape on Tenebre’s palm and this was somehow calling the girl toward it. Mayar tried to stand against that call, entering and exiting her own inner world, but the eye of her mind wasn’t listening to her at all… and it in fact has somehow lost part of its light.

Only when the wind started to powerfully blow around, did Mayar come to herself and she saw Anaya whispering unknown words and she understood that the old fox appealed to her magic power eventually just to protect her.

Then, the wind started to blow even more powerfully, and the flame from Tenebre’s palm has been thrown against her as if it flared up over her face, and this made the Titanide cry blue murder: „Damn Mountain! It never helps me when I need that!”

„This is something more than the power of the mountain,” Ian Gyar calmly said and he yawned because of the boring. „It seems to me that we have „guests” that are lurking us from the shadows,” and his bold glance started to search for something on the horizon.

Anaya squeezed Mayar’s hand and whispered to her: „use the power of your mind and call Ahi here or we are both lost.”

Even if Mayar had thought about showing up in front of those two and teaching them a good lesson of manners, she still remained calm, listening to the old fox’s words and this made her understand that she was still weak to fight against those two. At least she was weak at that moment. So, she closed her eyes and, for seconds, tried to re-establish the connection with her inner eye. Only then, when she stood face to face with the eye and the power it sent to her somehow warmed her, and that exchange of energy between them brought back the light inside of the eye, it whispered to her. „I’m sorry, master Mayar! I’ve been asleep for a few seconds! I don’t know why…”

„Call Ahi here! I don’t have time to gossip with you about your sleep!” she ordered the eye and she closed her eyes, allowing that power from inside her to project over her all the light it was capable of, and thus, when their powers intertwined as if thousands of sparkles of electricity were scattered around, she managed to project herself in front of Ahi, who was in front of his grotto at that moment, and she told him: „come to the root of the mountain! Tenebre and Ian Gyar are after me!” and her projection right away vanished.

„Damn it, mother!” Ahi shouted. „Inmar! Gather the foxes and move to the root of the mountain! Tenebre and Ian Gyar are after Mayar! If only one hair falls off the head of that child, I swear that I’ll burn you all!” Ahi shouted with a thundering voice and, surrounded by a cloud of smoke, he raised in the air and, pushed from behind by a powerful gust of wind, he has been sent to the root of the mountain where Anaya and Mayar were hiding from the enemy.