At first, only the silence was heard in the huge grotto that was serving as a home for Ahi, on the Mountain of Fear. The same happened at the entrance to the grotto: the same silence and neither the whistle of the wind wasn't heard as if that silence and the blind light of the night, pierced only by the light of the few lit torches that were attached to the wall of the mountain, would have tried to prolong the horizon and make the so narrow space between the wall of the grotto and the one of the abyss, that was yawning so frightening only a few meters in front, be even more dangerous and hilly than it was already.

Then, a slight mumbling had been heard as if someone has completely forgotten the words, but he still had a huge desire in his soul to tell others about what he was feeling and, accompanying those words, strangely and incomprehensibly whispered, a thick fog that surrounded the whole crater of the front gulf slowly raised above the Earth’s surface. But when there were only about 10-15 meters to the surface of the gulf, the fog transformed into a geyser that exploded outside and tried thus to cover the entire mount with a wet and white hug, as if trying to give some comfort to it.

And minutes in a row have passed then without anything happening, time while the fog was floating above the earth as if it was the clouds on the sky’s surface hurrying somewhere while they were chased away from behind by the sharp whiplash of the Cattai whip. And, as if the spell of the words itself summoned it there, a cold wind started to be felt around, strewing the milky fog in places, and Anaya’s body had been seen so well, from behind while the top of her toes was so close of the mouth of the abyss.

She had her eyes closed, her arms stretched to the side, and her face was so white as if being painted with chalk and the milky fog from around her also colored her hair into a pure snow white.

Then, the wind went down, and this was seen in the slow movement of Anaya’s hair that was blown beside her shoulders while she continued her spell. But when he opened her eyes, black as the same abyss that was gaping in front of her, the fog rived as if a huge knife had cut it. Then, was heard how something deafeningly cracked and the split space, only a little bit at first, branched more and more to the horizon while the while cloth of the fog was cracking more and more. And when the crack finally palled with stunning the valley, at its other side, a huge plane was seen. But there was no life on that plain, however. It was completely dried and everywhere cracked, for the rain never got there as if being afraid of that place.

Everywhere, where someone was casting an eye over that plain, no alive soul was seen, and the reddish soil has been suddenly started to be blown by tearers, which were running a rig throughout those realms, considered as being the Gates of the Underworld.

And that wind that was sweeping everything in its way, raising up the reddish dust and forming a kind of thick fog of fire, was the one of which even the titans were afraid of and which Boor named once as Kkāṟṟu or the Wind of the Desert.

„And we are standing once again face to face, Kkāṟṟu,” Anaya murmured, barely heard, staring at those places. But she received no answer. Only a kind of high-pitched and sneering laughter was soon heard coming from that fog. „I know: it is also unpleasantly for you to see my face once again, but… you are forced to do that, for I’m looking for you for so long,” the old woman said, and, after she had started to aspirate the milky fog from around her body in her mouth, she started to move through the air, more and more in front of her, toward that place of fear, seen on that strange land.

„Welcome to the Realm of Death!” the voice of a man told Anaya when her soles touched the reddish soil. But in that voice was no trace of kindness. Per contra: that man’s voice was rude, thundering, with a lot of mean vibrations felt in it, and, also, it could be understood from the way he said those words that he was capable enough to break someone into pieces just for fun.

Anaya instead just cunningly smiled, staring at that thick cloud of red fog in front of her. „Maybe it’s as you say, but… even so, I don’t see any sign of your hospitality, Kkāṟṟu. Otherwise, you would have shown yourself in front of me. Even if only to scare me.”

Another high-pitched laughter was heard piercing the horizon. „If you say so and if your heart wants this,” Kkāṟṟu said, and the fog started to powerfully vibrate. After a few moments of waiting, Kkāṟṟu’s huge body was seen getting closer through the fog: it was as taller as Shiman’s people, with wide soles that were leaving deep traces into the dust of the horizon, and the same big were his palms, which he was swinging beside his body while his big arms were quickly moving back and forth, helping him to move. Then, were his eyes: of a bright red as if the eternal fire had burnt in them, and that blaze from them could make everybody feel dizzy if that person had looked in his glance for some minutes.

Otherwise, he looked like any other normal person, but of bigger proportions, according to his body. His head was bald instead, and the big and deformed ears on the lap looked as if they had been bitten by someone’s fangs all the time or as if a sharp whip cut it like the blade of the knife, to the quick. But… there was no fresh wound on them.

In his right hand, a big whip could be seen, made from black leather, which Kkāṟṟu used to chase his Cerberus of fire from behind that was all the time bringing havoc on those realms.

But being only a few meters away from Anaya, Kkāṟṟu stopped, and, bowing a little bit in front, he watched her carefully, grinning. „So… how’s felt to see my face?”

„As if I got to hell and I met Maranam himself. But… let’s say you at least have some charm. Anyway… it wasn’t a compliment if something.”

„Then? What brings you here… why did you want you to see me so urgently?”

Anaya looked at him demurely, but still calm, feeling no kind of emotion in her soul. Only after minutes in a row of analyzing Kkāṟṟu’s face, she murmured: „Maranam! When those gates open, releasing him on Earth?”

Kkāṟṟu slowly coughed, clearing his voice. After that, he stretched his back and looked at the reddish horizon behind Anaya. On his face, however, the concern was seen, for he, like the other titans, didn’t want those gates to be open. But as well as he wished that, he knew that he can’t fight against Fate. „Kkāṟṟu?” the old fox called him by name, but he didn’t answer her for other few minutes.

„I don’t know this, old witch of Inmar’s foxes. And probably nobody knows the exact time. But… it’ll be soon, for… I feel his cold like ice breath blowing behind me and, all the nights, I hear the deafening sounds of hooves, powerfully hitting the floor of the underworld. But… I can also do nothing to impede that. And you know, as well as I do, that I’m powerless in front of Fate, like any other creature in this World or in the Cosmos.”

„I know… that’s why I summoned you here. Let’s make a deal.”

„A deal? What kind of deal?” Kkāṟṟu murmured confused and stared at the old woman, who suddenly took her red fox shape and stepped toward him.

„To join our power in this fight, Kkāṟṟu: humans, titans, Magos, winds, and any other creature that will agree to fight by our side, and not to serve the death forever.”

„But it’s impossible what you are saying, Anaya. How can the wind and the water fight in the same team in this War?” Kkāṟṟu said in a thundering voice and he slowly turned to the right, watching the fox that passed by him and headed deeper and deeper inside that thick cloud of reddish fog that was seen behind him.

„Because there’s a need for sacrifice in everything,” he heard Anaya’s voice, but he couldn’t see her body which was completely swallowed by the cloud of dust and fog.

Kkāṟṟu sighed. Then, he deeply breathed in and followed the fox, saying no word. But with each step he took in front, the horizon became clearer and cleared, revealing the path on which he was stepping on both sides where fierce Cerberus were standing, serving him and waiting for his command.

The Cerberus’open snouts let sharp fangs to be seen, fangs on which the spit was creeping while their eyes of fire were fiercely blinking in that horizon of a world of fire. But… none of them took no step toward their master and nor did they move somehow as if they were just statues. But even so, they were alive, for their snarl was heard coming out of their throat as their hissing breath was also heard.

„Calm, my boys, calm!” Kkāṟṟu told them conciliatory. „She’s here with my will. You can withdraw!” Kkāṟṟu gave the command, in a low voice, and the Cerberus bowed their heads right away, only a little bit at first, to withdraw quickly back very soon, more and more, till their bodies had been surrounded by the mystery of the fire seen on those realms.

Watching the fog that was splitting in front of him while he was advancing, Kkāṟṟu finally saw Anaya sitting on her tail, at the edge of a huge abyss that was between his realms and Maranam's. And he has been so amazed, seeing her staring somewhere in front of her at something unseen. Then, after minutes of sitting like that, each of them staring at their own target, Kkāṟṟu finally got closer to Anaya and looked in the same direction as she was looking. But he saw nothing else than the huge flames that were eating the void of the abyss that was opening in front of them while above those flames, huge thick clouds, made from a black-grey smoke, were seen.

„He’s there!” Anaya murmured eventually.

„Who?” Kkāṟṟu asked in a whisper and stared in amazement at her.

„Maranam’s messenger on earth and the one who’ll fight the most to open those gates.”

Kkāṟṟu said nothing instead, for he felt confused, and… for the first time, he wasn’t sure of anything. Then, he decided to make some light there: he first blew some hot air from his mouth… air that pierced the horizon with the power of the thought, but nothing happened till Kkāṟṟu didn’t squeeze the tail of his whip and didn’t hit six times with its sharp top on the ground from his right. Only then did the air from in front of him become clearer and they could see something black and huge being outlined in the distance.

That something looked like a big brink: of the mount or of the gulf, but because of its too straight form, vertical and somehow square, it could be easily seen that it was a kind of wall formed by the laws of nature. Then, when the air became rifted, they saw, right in front of them, extended for miles, a huge black wall, built from big bricks, perfectly cut in stone, but at each few hundred meters big pillars were seen, heading toward the sky.

„Behind that wall… there’s the Realm of the Underworld,” Kkāṟṟu murmured, and, for the first time in his long life, he shivered.

„And you’re right, Kkāṟṟu. There is what we are so afraid of. And, even if I never saw what’s behind that wall, I am not tempted to find out what’s there, for even if I’m just a ghost and the ghosts shouldn’t be afraid of something while wandering the world, we are still limiting ourself to know such places.”

„Do you mean that none of the ghosts ever crossed the threshold of that Realm?” Kkāṟṟu asked and he saw in amazement Anaya nodding yes.

„At least none of the ghosts I’ve met in my way and I crossed a word with has been there. But… each of them told me that they aren’t eager to pass those Gates and to find out the secret hidden there for millennia, even to titans. But… it seems that it’s predestined to face that truth… at least to meet its master, and we must say thank to Eris and to her team of mad people for this.”

„Well… yes, I agree with you that we are crossing interesting times,” Kkāṟṟu murmured, scratching his head, and the concern could be read on his face.

„I’m still waiting for an answer from your part, Great Wind Kkāṟṟu, for even if you are someone humans and titans are afraid of, your heart still doesn’t long for Maranam’s world. So… be wise and fight by our side or everything around will be destroyed. Even the realms that belong to you,” and, the fox stood up, turned her back on him, and headed toward her world. After a few meters of walking, the fox took back Anaya’s human body that has been right away swallowed by that reddish and foggy dust.

Not seeing her anymore, Kkāṟṟu turned his head and looked again at the wall that was separating his world from Maranam’s. But he’s been more amazed to see another shape outlined in the distance and that form was small and black, but no matter how hard he didn’t try to see who that person was, Kkāṟṟu couldn’t.

***

Ahi’s roar pierced the silence of his grotto and his madness threw against the wall everything he met in his way: old books, papyrus, statues, different kinds of Palantir, and small bottles with different liquors in them. And all of them turned to dust and ashes in contact with the floor.

Frightened by that scary shout, Inmar broke into the room and saw in amazement the disaster left behind by her brother’s madness. „Ahi!” she murmured, scared. „What’s going on?”

„Cursed be all of those who ever wanted more from Life than they could get, for their purposes they are ready to trample under feet the souls of those who have a meaning in this world,” and, another wave of his madness has been spread around - flames that suddenly lit small fires everywhere.

„You don’t win anything with throwing useless things against the wall in the hug of the madness, Ahi,” they heard Anaya’s voice when she entered the room, staring at Ahi who was watching her madly, for the old fox dared to break the promise she gave thirteen years ago and entered his holy sanctuary.

Catching his glance, Anaya smiled: „there’s no time for ego, great Mago. It’s time to make some important decisions and to save ours.”

„By saving ours you mean Mayar?” Inmar asked, and the old fox nodded yes.

„And do you also mean that you found the right answer on how to bring her to the world of the alive souls?” Ahi snarled the words. „Answers which I couldn’t find out in none of my books and papyrus which I have gathered for hundreds of years?”

„What the books and papyrus serve if there’s no experience?” Anaya said calmly. „We need to act now, not to look for solutions in the books and magic liquors. For this… I went to meet Kkāṟṟu.”

Inmar shuddered, for even if she never met him, she had found out from others how mad can be the Wind of the Desert. Ahi instead stood calm and watched the old fox with interest. „Keep saying!” he told her eventually.

„Along with Kkāṟṟu, we saw that huge wall of black bricks that separates our world from Maranam’s, and… there, on the other shore of the abyss… there was a dark soul there, lurking in our world.”

„Mayar?” Inmar asked in a whisper.

„A messenger!” Ahi said.

„That’s right! And… even if I didn’t see his face, I’m sure that he has something to do with your parents, Ahi, and with the one called… Eris. And they will fight by Maranam’s side in the war that comes. That’s why we must join the Rophions and humans if we want to survive. The same pact I’ve proposed to Kkāṟṟu, I’m proposing now to you.”

„Anaya, are you insane? What kind of deal do you want to… you know that Ahi… brother, don’t go into a huff, for…,” Inmar kept stuttering, frightened, waiting for any possible and violent reaction from her brother.

But Ahi was extremely calm: much calmer than Anaya seemed to be while standing in the same place and staring somewhere at a blind spot.

„Brother?” Inmar finally dared to say.

Only then, did Ahi look at Inmar, who was quaking like an aspen leaf, but Ahi’s eyes weren’t reflecting any anger or madness, but a kind of strange clouds of thoughts that suddenly befell over him. „What do you propose then, Anaya?” he asked eventually. „How can we get Mayar out of that world again?”

„Just as you’ve found out about her big secret, thirteen years ago when you entered her inner world. It’s time to break those spider webs, and against them, only the love of a mother can fight. So… I only ask you to trust me and… to follow me,” Anaya calmly said and left the room.

Inmar stood frozen, in the same place, staring at Ahi who was also in his place. Only when Ahi left the room, following Anaya, did Inmar indulge in the luxury of breathing with all her chest and following them.

***

„Mayar! Mayar, do you hear my whisper?” Morena’s voice was heard, slowly floating through the forest and then entering the hollow inside of which Mayar kept hiding, with her knees held to her chest and shaking like an aspen leaf while her eyes, pale and lacking light, were staring at the black stains on the dagger’s blade, which was thrown on the wooden floor.

„Come on, my girl! Listen to my voice and show up!” the woman’s voice whispered again and resounding so sweetly in the silence of the forest, making even the lifeless tree shiver and, on their trunks, eyes appeared, staring in amazement at the world around them.

Then, again total silence took over the place. Even the slight movement of the spider webs froze. Even the black spiders that were seen in places, caught in the glue of their own houses, stood frozen as if touched by a spell.

Later, when all that wild charm seemed nothing else than an image painted on a huge canvas, a black, magical portal opened a few dozen meters from the hollow, and, through it, Ahi, old Anaya, and Morena entered that world.

„Stand guard!” Ahi whispered to the two women. „Even if this place seems quiet and that no danger lurks on us, we can’t be sure of anything, for none of us really knows what Mayar can be able of, more, influenced by the dagger.”

„You don’t trust even your own daughter,” Morena murmured reproachfully and took off the small piece of black cloth that was covering her eyes, for even if Ahi was powerful, he could pass the mortals into other worlds only covering their eyes. „Where is she?” Morena asked, concerned, and looked around. But she has been even more amazed to see another young woman in that world.

Seeing the amazement on Morena’s face, Ahi looked in the same direction and he also saw the young Anaya, appearing from behind the tree, in whose hollow Mayar was hiding. But that young woman wasn’t looking afraid anymore. Per contra: self-confident, she headed toward the three.

Getting only a few steps from them and carefully watching the face of each of them, Anaya stopped and looked into the old woman’s eyes who, like her, was looking at her with interest, but couldn’t remember where she knows her from.

„Who are you?” the young Anaya murmured.

„And you?” Ahi answered her with a question, for even if he helped the old Anaya survive, many years ago, he seemed to have forgotten how Anaya looked like in her youth. Suddenly, he winced, remembering the moment Anaya’s body had been taken out of the river by the men of her village and that he saw her face then: she looked exactly like the young woman in front of him. That’s why he right away looked at the old woman, being afraid that she would remember her previous life. But he was in vain afraid, for the two parts of Anaya’s soul could join their memories only in front of the Gates of the Purtagorium, and they were so far from that place. „The Guardian?!” Ahi again murmured, and the young Anaya nodded yes.

„That’s right. Those released from the spell of an Evil Mago have in their power the destiny of taking care of the hunted soul of another Mago, and the soul I should take care of is of that child that is hiding in the hollow.”

„Mago? Do you mean that Mayar’ll be someday an Evil Mago?” Morena murmured, frightened.

„She has always been a Mago. But the fact that she shares the same face with Rophionses’daughter, doesn’t allow her to use her whole power, as the other one can’t do that, too. They are like the two faces of a coin: when one of them is bathed in light, the other one hides in the shadows, and vice-versa. Only together they can fully use their power, and… nobody knows what they are capable to do while being together,” the young woman said.

„The Vow! The one you proposed to Kkāṟṟu,” Ahi whispered and watched the old lady that was smiling, and her smile wasn’t either reflecting satisfaction or something devilish. It simply was the smile of a being that had finally understood that the world has so many hidden paths and that nobody ever will be able to find them all. „So, it’s true what you said: that the Pact with the Rophiones can save us all?”

„That’s right, Ahi. In a war of survival, one must swallow his pride, step on his heart, and fight even by the enemy’s side, if he wants to see the sun of tomorrow,” the old Anaya whispered.

„I doubt they’ll accept that pact,” Ahi replied sarcastically.

„They’ll accept it, for of that pact, the whole world’s survival depends on,” Morena whispered, self-confident. „You don’t have why to know that, Ahi, for always being the attacker and not the defender, but people do everything to survive… sometimes they even sell the soul to the devil to get it. But… let’s not forget why we are here, yet. We must take Mayar out of here first. We’ll think about the rest later.”

„The mortal is right,” said young Anaya, smiling.

„But you forget about the exchange of lives,” the old one said. „When Eftir Daudann is involved, there’s always an exchange of lives. To get Mayar out of here, another soul must accept to be closed into this world.”

„If there’s absolutely necessary, I’ll stay, for being her mother…”

„No, Morena. Because you are a mother you must be next to her. I’ll sacrifice myself this time. Anyway, I have experience of being a captive, for so long I’ve been closed inside king Coallar’s den. That’s why I’m not afraid anymore to be captive in another world,” the young Anaya whispered.

„What you forget is that this world is different from the outside one,” the old Anaya said. „This one is a world dominated by fears, a world where the dreads take the most hideous shapes. Are you sure you’ll handle this?”

„Yes. I’m sure, for if I don’t do this sacrifice, then, won’t be a world outside to which to come back. I’ll better stay here, knowing that outside is ok than to be outside and being aware that everything will be just ashes very soon,” and the young Anaya side-stepped of Morena, who finally got closer to the hollow.

Watching the old Anaya, the young one smiled. „Be as you whished,” the old fox said. „Anyway, we’ll meet again at the Gates of the Purgatorium sometime, then, when everything will be finished,” and both bowed their heads, greeting.

Then, the two Anaya looked at the hollow, in front of which Morena was sitting, supporting her back against the trunk, and whispering:

„You know, when I found out about your coming, my girl, I’ve been sad at first, for I wasn’t sure that I can offer you a better life than the one I had. But even so, I told myself that you’ll be the Heaven for me,” and Morena smiled while watching the rotated and rich in dried branches vault of that woods. „Then, when I felt your first movement inside me, I told myself - ah, Life is so blessing and so strong is this soul’s desire to live if it crossed other worlds and ideals to reach Earth, from the far away Aeon, just to find me and looking for me to be his mother.”

Morena’s words made Mayar stop shudder and it wasn’t just the magic of the words that made her react like that: it was more due to the fact that she was feeling the sweet vibration of the maternal love in the woman’s voice. Yet, she hadn’t decided to blindly trust and to get out of the hollow. Per contra: she held even tighter the knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, forming a cross when she put the arms one on the other one, and, later, she supported her chin on the knee. Then, she hid her face in the small space formed between the knees put together. Though she calmed down and a strange silence took over her as if she expected those whispers her entire life.

„Yet, Mayar, no matter how much we want to live, the simple desire doesn’t help us to succeed. It’s necessary more than that: our involvement, our desire to fight for this, to face our own fears.”

„For this, one mustn’t be alone,” Morena finally heard Mayar’s voice and she strained her ears, watching from the corner of her eye at what was happening inside the hollow, but nothing had changed there instead, for Mayar was sitting in the same position.

„And… whoever you want with you?”

„I don’t know. Maybe… I don’t know.”

„Why?”

„Because I’ve never been sure of anything. Others have decided always for me. Even the fact if I am born or not.”

Morena winced. „If you are born? What do you think that?”

„Because I saw this. I saw the moment when I’ve been conceived and… what was before that.”

It was Ahi's turn to wince. „Does she know about the night I’ve spent with Morena?” he wondered. „But… how is this possible?”

As if reading his mind, Mayar answered Ahi. „I’ve entered your world, mother. Your inner world. I’ve walked onto the path of your hidden thoughts and… I saw your memories, and the cedar scent has been my guide.”

„The cedar scent?” Morena asked in amazement.

„Mmm, because the cedar scent smells like mom,” and the girl wrapped tighter the arms around her body. „You know… I’ve always felt that I remember something special being in the woods, but I’ve never known that the cedar scent was reminding me about you.”

„You knew then. Who I am. Right from the moment, we saw each other in the Glade of Ahilar,” the woman murmured.

„Mmm. I knew.”

„And… why didn't you say anything then?”

„Because… I’ve been afraid that I’ll lose you again, that you’ll run away from me when you see who I really am, and… that I won’t ever see you again.”

Morena’s eyes filled with tears, but she right away wiped them because it wasn’t either the perfect place for this or the right moment to get maudlin.

„Now you understand what you took from this child?” the old Anaya asked Ahi in a whisper.

„I didn’t know that she was still alive. They’ve told me she died. Many years ago.”

Anaya smiled. „You just knew what you want to see or to know, old Mago, for if you had really wanted to know about their fate, you would have looked for them to the bitter end.”

Ahi felt the reproach in the old woman’s words, but he said nothing, for deserving it. And, even if in such cases he would have punished the own who dared to jaw him, sometimes taking his life, Ahi did nothing that time, for he knew that it wasn’t the right time for fatuous madness.

„Sleep my dear baby, sleep tight,

Mom is with you, all the time,

And if you are a good child,

Mom will tell you about love, about life,

About realms full of magic,

Where the children are beloved,

By their parents, by the world,

By the sun, and by you… girl…”

Mayar smiled, after finishing her Lullaby song: „at least this is what I remember that you were singing me then, when I was just a baby and when I didn’t know what the scent of evil, the scent of blood, and the bitter taste of defeat means.”

„Why live only with the memories when you can have the life again in your hands?” Morena asked and the girl suddenly raised her glance and stared toward the hollow’s exit, but she could see only Morena’s shoulder, who was still sitting by the tree's trunk. Then, for minutes in a row, nothing was heard, except the calm breath of the mother. And there was something more there that was making Mayar feel weird: the fact that Morena’s scent was deeply entering her soul and, eventually, she decided that it was time to react.

At first, she hesitated if to exit the hollow or not, and she only took her hands off her knees. Then, she sat down on all four and slowly walked toward the exit. But she stopped right by the threshold and looked afraid around, but she didn’t see anymore those frightening trees, spiders, and the other ghosts that tormented her at first - at that moment, the woods looked like if it was a kind of painting of a nightmare fairytale, that she had once. „What’s that?” she asked.

„Your inner world. The one you built from sad memories,” Morena whispered, without watching her.

„But… why are you here? And… how did you find it?” and she looked at her mother in amazement.

Morena kindly smiled at her. Then, she touched Mayar’s chest with her left palm, over her heart, and whispered: „you summoned us here. Don’t you feel this in your heartbeats? They are similar to the heartbeats of a frightened child that yells with all his being after his mother, for only by her side he can be calm and happy.”

„But… I feel nothing.”

„What feels nothing is your brain. Instead, your heart, your soul, and each part of your body feel tired. Come here and put your head on my lap! Rest a little bit and let yourself prey to the childish dreaming and not of the one your brain commands you to think of, for your brain looks for a win against Life, while your soul is longing for love. Thus, you’ll see what really means to live life.”

Mayar hesitated for a few moments if to listen to her mother’s urge or not. Eventually, she got closer to Morena, lay her head on her lap, lay down next to her, closed her eyes, and fell prey to dreaming, feeling so calm Morena’s caresses on her head and her mother’s fingers whipping her hair.

Soon, Mayar fell asleep, in the sweet rock of the child’s silence that she found on her mother’s chest. And… both finally vanished at the moment the dagger’s blade, forgotten in the hollow, lighted red and it also vanished along with them.

„I told you that maternal love works like a charm, Ahi, but you never trusted me. I hope you understood this now,” the old Anaya whispered, forcing Ahi bitterly smile.

„Let’s go too!” he eventually said, in a demanding voice, and he has been the first one to step through the portal.

The old Anaya took a few steps, following him. But she stopped before stepping too through the portal and looked back: the young Anaya was in the hollow, in the same place Mayar had stood before. But she wasn’t tormented as the girl has been: young Anaya was so calm, somehow quit with her fate: „it easy to face other’s fears, but so difficult to face your owns,” the old Anaya whispered and she finally crossed over the threshold of the Portal that right away closed behind her, producing a blinding light around at the moment it also vanished.