„To win in front of the enemy and become the only master of the Universe, Maranam needs to be in control of the Gate of Aeon as well. That’s why we must help him open that gate even if this means sure death for us,” Parca whispered into Mayar’s ear while she was lying with her eyes closed, floating a half meter above the coil of a fountain found right in the middle of the Glade of Mannar, in that dark projection of Rophion Forest.

But even if it was only a shadow of that splendid forest, it still kept in it some places that looked the same as in the real world, and one of those places was Mannar’s Glade, completely scorched and lifeless. But there was still something there - the fountain, which appeared right in the place where Mannar was kept captive in the real world.

Then, Parca moved her palm above Mayar’s body, without touching her and each time the hand of the titanide was above the girl’s forehead, Mayar’s body approached, even more, the coil of the fountain.

Getting only a few centimeters from the coil when her head was half of the mouth of it, Mayar suddenly opened her eyes and a deep dark glance, submissive, stared at those tangled branches of the trees that were guarding the fountain like a circle, with thick roots out of the ground and heading all over the glade as if they were stone snakes. But those roots stopped about a meter from the fountain as if there was the border which they had forbidden to cross over.

Then the branches seen by Mayar in front of her eyes suddenly vanished. But it was only an illusion, for they had never been right above her: only the roots got almost near the fountain, not the branches. Yet, Shiver Sun and the Dark Parca used that trick to have more control over Mayar, and when the light of a black sky seen above, with paunchy and smoky clouds rushing on the celestial vault got above the glade, Mayar rotated in the air as if moved by an inner force and looked upside down at the water in the fountain.

At first, she only saw the dark mirror of the water. After seconds of staring at it, she saw Parca’s face reflected in that water mirror. But… after another few moments of watching it, instead of the reflection of a single Parca’s face, of the Good one, it split up and the Dark Parca’s face appeared reflected on the right of the good one. Between them, a lighted path was seen which was leading toward a faraway place at the edge of it Mayar saw Yggdrasil.

„The two-headed tree,” murmured Mayar.

„That’s right because Yggdrasil is Light and Darkness at the same time, Life and Death closed into a single wooden body,” the young girl heard Shiver Sun’s voice not that far from the fountain.

„But… why do I see him?” murmured Mayar, often blinking from her eyelashes.

„To finally see the real prophecy of time,” the two Parca from the water murmured at the same time and, suddenly, Mayar saw Samaya, lying in the same position as she was lying at that moment when Chaos took the girl to the Desert of Oblivion and he showed her the future inside of the Fountain of Truth. But what Samaya didn’t see then, Mayar saw now: the three elements which Eris picked up from below - a loupe, a key in the form of a clock’s needle, and a small sphere with a face reflected on its wall.

Mayar, however, didn’t see whose face was reflected on the wall of that sphere. She could only spot the despair in the eyes of the one closed there and a bitter sigh came out of her chest, for even if her body and mind fell prey to the malefic power of Parca and of Shiver Sun, her soul was still alive inside her being.

This made the two Parca turn toward her, facing her, in the reflection in the water. But each of them looked at the girl in her way: the Dark Parca - with hatred, the Good Parca - kindly. Then, when both of them stretched their right hand in front, palm facing up, Mayar saw a small loupe on each of the palms. And even if the loupes had a similar shape, yet, they still had different shades - golden in the Good Parca’s palm, and reddish in the Dark Parca’s hand.

„This is the Eye of the Devil,” said the Dark Parca. „It’s the Eye that will eventually form the Gate of Aeon, here, on Earth. But… even if this is the element that will help us a lot to get the triumph, we still don’t know where it is. And this will be your first mission: to find it.”

„Then you should find the key,” said the Good Parca, and, instead of the loupe, the key appeared in her palm. „This key will stop the Clock of Time, something that allows the Gate of Aeon to be opened. But this is possible only if the time stops in both Worlds - Earth and Aeon, for even if time never flows in Aeon, it still rushes on earth.”

„What about… the sphere?” murmured Mayar, and the two Parca looked at each other, in silence, and a kind of complicity could be spotted in their glance.

„All in good time, Mayar!” they heard Shiver Sun’s voice. „Everything in its own time, for time never rushes, even if we think so. It only flows in its rhythm, and we should do the same if we want to win.”

Mayar again closed her eyes, immersing in a kind of deep sleep, being closely watched by the two Parca, who was looking up as if trying to see the Shiver Sun’s eyes while he said what he said.

Soon after, the reflection of the Good Parca vanished, and the Dark One came out of the water and sat down next to Mayar, who was sleeping next to the coil of the fountain, lying on the ground.

While staying next to Mayar, supporting her body against the coil of the fountain and looking in the distance, Parca couldn’t see Shiver Sun, as if he was someone she only imagined. But the eyes seen on the trunks and the fact that their roots, which seemed dried, started to suddenly move around her as if being snakes, betrayed the fact that what were they living wasn’t just a dream and that happened was only the product of the discreet flow of time.

***

A painful „Ah,” came out of Baradar’s chest when he turned back to the real world, for he has suddenly fallen into a weird sleep in which he saw what happened to Mayar when she saw the three elements that had to be found to win the war.

„Did you see the other world?” asked Shiver Sun, the real one, and Baradar suddenly turned toward him and thunderstruck looked at him, for he was sure that he saw Shiver Sun talking to Mayar there, being not that far from the coil of that fountain. But in the real world, Shiver Sun was standing only a few steps from him.

„You!” Baradar unwillingly murmured. „You… were also there!”

„I know! As everything you see around you at this moment was also there, but everything was sunken into darkness.”

„How… how do you know that?” stuttered Baradar and, staggering to his feet, he fell eventually next to the trunk of the tree behind him.

Then, as if bothered by the image of Shiver Sun, the one seen in front of him, Baradar looked at the ground, at the blades of grass that were so alive all around them, at the scentful flowers seen here and there, and at the trunks of the trees that had a bright color. „There… wasn’t any life there, Shiver Sun. It was only Death seen there. As I've often seen in Mortor Forest, that one which is gone today. But… I don’t understand what I saw there or why did I see it.”

Shiver Sun took a few steps toward Baradar, slowly crawling his wooden legs made from roots taken out of the ground. Yet, he said no word and he either didn’t stop in front of Baradar when he got next to him, but he went further, slowly-slowly, with his timber toe.

Baradar looked behind the log. But his mind was empty, his mind wasn’t thinking at anything, as if he had been afraid not to see what he had seen in that strange forest, like in a dream, not that long ago. But… seeing that the log was too far from him, the minikin stood up and, with crawling legs, he followed Shiver Sun.

While they were slowly walking, one behind the other, with their heads bowed, nature around seemed to awake behind them. Yet, they kept in their being the melancholy felt in the minikin’s and the log’s souls, and even the birds in the trees started to sing their sad melodies. But even so, even with those melancholic chirps, they still had a unique charm, reminding somehow about dreaming, longing, and desire to see someone dear that went somewhere and who won’t ever turn back.

They stopped eventually, arriving at the edge of the Glade of Mannar, and both looked with pain at the disaster and the desert seen around.

„So painful,” the minikin eventually said and his eyes filled with tears, for he felt pain in his heart, seeing what was left from the Glade that has been once so alive, so beautiful, but which was in ruin at that moment, with a scorched land here and there, and with dried flowers and herbs there where was still some alive ground. Yet, that glade was still surrounded by alive trees, as if they were meant to be there, protecting the Rophion Forest from the evil that was living in that glade, not allowing it to bring ruin to the surroundings.

Only a single tree was completely dried in that line of secular trees, and the log approached it eventually and, as if looking for comfort from it, the log stuck its forehead of the dried bark and painfully whispered: „that Shiver Sun you saw in your dream, minikin is this tree: my twin brother and the only one of the Guardians of this Glade, who fell prey to the madness of the master of the black diamond, the one named Mannar.”

„But… how is this possible that he says that his name is also Shiver Sun?” asked the minikin in half a voice, approaching the log.

„The Mirror of Souls, Baradar, for that tree looks there for what he hadn’t here: power, admiration from the other trees, and as there isn’t a Baradar, he assumed the responsibility of being the leader of that forest. But… my brother doesn’t feel yet fulfilled, he never feels that he did enough, even if he only listens to orders, even if he’s submitted by the evil.”

„Then? What should we do to bring him back? What should we do to revive him, Shiver Sun? Huh? Tell me! What should we do to bring him back to you, for I see that your soul longs so much for that old friend and brother.”

„If I could, I would give everything to bring him back, minikin, but I know that my desire is something impossible and that I must accept that each of us has his role in this world - mine is to follow you here, to be your friend and your adviser while he has to be Maradam’s servant and bow in front of evil because of this he allowed them to take his soul.”

„Yet… I consider that the spell that fell over him can be reversed and he can turn back to this world.”

„Yes, Baradar, you’re right: this tree will revive someday. But it’ll be only when the Eye of the Devil will work for the Army of Good and not for the Evil, and this can be also an impossible dream.”

„The Eye of the Devil? Do you mean the Loupe of the Yātrīkar?”

„That’s right, minikin. I mean the Eye that can open the Gate of Aeon, here, on Earth, and what will give huge power to the one named as its new master.”

Baradar suddenly shudder, remembering that he saw that Loupe along with Mayar, in the water’s reflection. „Gaea! We must tell the titanide that Yātrīkar and Maranam are after that loupe and that she must hide it,” Baradar murmured worriedly and he suddenly closed his eyes, intending to teleport and find Gaea.

„No, Baradar, you’re wrong now: the loupe seen at Mother Earth’s girdle is just a fake, a perfect copy to deceive Evil and hide till the right moment. But… unfortunately, not even Gaea knows where that loupe hides as nobody from the Rophions knows what Maranam is after right now.”

„Then, we must hurry to find them. We must tell them about this, Shiver Sun. Only this way we can impede…”

The log shook his head in denial instead. „No, Baradar. You can’t tell them about this, for the instant you’ll open your mouth to say something, your tongue will harden, your thought will stop in your mind, and you won’t be able to send any message, and this will happen when you try to oppose fate.”

„Then, Shiver Sun, how should we tell others about the approaching danger?”

„Waiting, Baradar, waiting, for what’s meant to happen will happen, and if the Rophions have to know about this, then they’ll find out about this at the right moment, and it’ll be fate itself who’ll tell them about Maranam’s plans.”

Then the log sighed once again, looking at the dried tree. After that, he turned his back on him and slowly moved toward the alive forest, seen over the borders of that lifeless glade.

„Let’s go, Baradar! We still have a lot to do, for Tarther itself awakens in the Glade of Shadows, and we must get there till the sunset if we want to impede him to set fire to this forest.”

Soon the log vanished through the lines of trees that were perfectly towering in the distance, even if each tree grew up where it wanted. Even so, each of those trees kept the alive essence and the Magic of the Rophion Forest inside it.

Understanding this, Baradar followed the log soon. But before also sunken into the depths of the forest, he once again looked at the Glade of Mannar and whispered, barely heard: „soon, this glade will see its Master and we’ll also face Maranam.”

***

The group led by Fenrir and Nathaniel got to the edge of Tenebre Forest and they stopped by the side of the other, lurking in the surroundings.

Yet, everything was sunken into a deep silence: a too overwhelming silence, as if it was something that was known by others like the silence before the storm. And this was felt even more powerful due to that big field seen all over in front of them, with tall grass and a lot of blue flowers of chicory, that were slowly rocking in the dance of the wind, heading their small blue heads toward that purple sky that was stretching toward the horizon.

Suddenly, Samaya passed between Fenrir and Nathaniel, making the two follow her by glance till she stopped, about 10 meters from them, looking with concern at the surroundings.

„Something happens?” Fenrir asked her and intended to approach her. He stopped instead when Samaya raised her left hand, asking him to stop, for the wind suddenly started to blow even more powerfully, making the leaves of the trees strangely resound, and the tall blades of grass madly dancing all over them.

„Is this Maranam? Does that Maranam approach us again?” the people wondered, afraid. But they kept silent when Nathaniel looked at them, asking them by a glance to be quiet. And they listened to their leader, for not only once did the young men’s sixth sense help them to avoid death.

„Samaya, watch out!” Yellen suddenly shouted, taking everybody by surprise. But when they looked at her, the girl lost consciousness, falling into Bestla’s arms, who was only one step behind her.

„Yellen! Yellen, wake up!” Nathaniel screamed, approaching her in a hurry while Bestla looked at him with pumped eyes, murmuring: „I did nothing! She fell alone!”

Being too focused on what happened to Yellen, nobody noticed the arrow thrown toward them from the opposite side, from in front, an arrow that dizzyingly headed toward Samaya.

Yet, the young girl felt the vibrations of the arrow in the air while it was flying toward her, and, at the last moment, she threw herself to the ground. Only then did Fenrir look at her, but not seeing her, he became alert and, driven crazy, he ran toward there. But Fenrir couldn’t get to the edge of the forest because Nathaniel and Mago caught up with him and fought with him to keep the young man at the shelter.

„Leave me! Allow me to pass! My sister is there! She’s my sister!” Fenrir kept screaming while fighting with them to be released.

„Fenrir, wake up!” he finally heard Nathaniel’s voice, calling his name when he only saw the man’s lips moving till that moment. He heard that Nathaniel was telling something, but Fenrir heard no word said by him.

„Nathaniel is right! Look, Samaya is there! She’s fine,” said Mago, and Fenrir could finally hear his voice and he also saw Samaya raising on her knees, for when she felt the arrow heading toward her, she threw in that field of chicory flowers that was only one step from her.

However, when Samaya looked around, she saw nothing. She couldn’t even figure out where the arrow flew eventually. But yet, something made her stare in front, long in front of her, as if something or someone weird was approaching them.

„What the hell is happening there?” murmured Fenrir, noticing Samaya’s glace focused in the distance. And, when Mago and Nathaniel also looked there, they saw the clouds gathering in one single place on the sky vault to later fall on earth as if they were swallowed by a huge vacuum cleaner.

„Oh, Great Lord!” Bestla also murmured, looking in the same direction.

„What’s going on, Bestla? Do you see something?” Fenrir asked her frightened.

„Yeah, but I can’t see what it is. Arion, help me to…,” she said, but when she looked around she couldn’t see him. However, she quickly remembered that Arion went to check the surroundings and make sure that they could safely pass by there.

„No need for panic,” they all heard Samaya’s whispered voice, floating around them. „There’ll be everything just…,” but she suddenly kept silent when she stood up and she could finally see Mayar, slowly crossing that field and coming toward them. But… that Mayar was different as Samaya knew her by then. Her walking was different - sure, confident, something similar to Yātrīkar’s walking. Yet, she hadn’t the same peel on her eyes and her clothes were also different.

However, it was something scary at that Mayar - her glance: of an abyssal dark, with no white on the eyeball while in their center, right there where the retina should be, was seen a huge fire. But it was only the reflection of a big fire on something small, but enough smooth to reflect it.

„Mayar!” Samaya whispered barely heard. Yet, her whisper has been heard by Fenrir, who right away strained his ears: „It’s Mayar! She’s here!”

Suddenly, Samaya’s glance met Mayar’s and this made the red fox stop, staring with hatred at her copy and having a burning desire in her eyes to kill her.

This made Samaya shudder, not because she saw Mayar, but because she saw the same image she has seen while watching the water of the Fountain of Truth: with Maranam cutting her head. And she tried to wake up from that daydream just to chase that nightmare away. But she couldn’t as if Mayar was hypnotizing her.

Then, Mayar sketched a cunning smile and suddenly raised her arms, heading an arrow toward Samaya. But nobody except the young she-wolf could see that bow and arrow as if it was only an illusion of the other Samaya.

And Mayar suddenly released the arrow, which flew like the wind above that field colored green because of the grass and blue because of the chicory flowers. However, it was something strange there: even if the wind was blowing hard, the arrow didn’t move from its trajectory not even 1 mm and it kept heading toward Samaya with a dizzying speed, threatening her by hitting her chest like a target.

Samaya’s sudden roar made everybody from her camp stare at her. But they saw nothing strange - only the wind that started to blow even crazier than before and a strange roar of lament was piercing the horizon.

But they saw Samaya suddenly laying on the ground as if something had thrown her on that field, something that came like an arrow from the heights and this made everybody stare at her amazed and frightened at the same time. Fenrir, as if called by the inner voice of the twin tied to his sister’s soul took a few steps toward Samaya. However, he stopped, seeing Samaya standing up. But she stood up not like the young girl, but like the she-wolf, the big grey she-wolf, which had the arrow thrown by Mayar between her teeth.

Only then could they see Mayar stopped, further in front of them, at the other edge of the field, on the threshold of a kind of Portal made from heavy black clouds, colored by thunders. And they also saw the bow in her right hand while she was squeezing its wooden body and her lips were sketching a cunning smile.

Then they heard what Mayar told Samaya: „this path is closed for you, young she-wolf, like any other road toward Rophion Forest. And it’ll be so, forced to stay away from the places you love, as long as I have to fulfill my mission in this world. And, when it’ll come the time to face you, I’ll allow you to turn back home. But it won’t be to allow you to protect your beloved forest, but to defeat you and the same home you love so much will be your grave eventually.”

„Keep dreaming!” the young she-wolf hissed through her teeth, spitting the arrow to the ground. „If you think that you can impede me to get home, you are really wrong, for who’s a stranger for those places is you while I’m their beloved child and their princess. That’s why I assure you that there even the blades of grass are your enemies.”

„Do you think so?” said Mayar grinning. „Maybe it was so by now. But once I’m part of Maranam’s invincible army, I’m also invincible.”

„Maranam?!” Samaya disgustedly murmured. „You chose to hide behind a defeated idiot, Mayar when you could have chosen the victory path. But… all in good time. You’ll see eventually who has been wrong and who chose right.”

Then Samaya turned her back on the red fox and, at a slow step, she headed toward the others, showing her fangs, a hint that she was really upset with all that happened and more with finding out that Mayar chose to change the camp in a such inappropriate way, deciding to be part of Maranam’s madness. But… Samaya felt so confident and it was the first time in her life when she felt this way, for all her life she thought that she was weak. Yet, the thought that her beloved home might be in danger and that danger also lurked on her tribe that stood home to protect their kingdom, in the depths of Rophion Forest, gave her power to fight against everybody.

Behind Samaya, Arion also stood up and followed her, for he stood hidden by the tall herbs, trying to be there in case he needed to protect Samaya once again, for he was who threw himself like an arrow above the girl when he saw the second arrow heading toward her.

Actually, he also saw the first arrow, but he didn’t manage to alert Samaya. And he saw that arrow thrown from that Portal of clouds when he was turning back to tell others that he saw nothing strange around. However, when he spotted that hole formed by clouds on the sky vault, he understood that he was wrong and that those lands, that has been friendly once, became dangerous for them due to all the kinds of evil spirits that were living there and who chose to be part of Maranam’s army. But he awakened from his sadness when he saw the second thrown arrow. That’s why he increased the speed of his flight. But he threw himself over Samaya in his human shape, trying to protect her with his body when he understood that it was risky to shout others to do that, for shouting them to exit their hide-out could have revealed where they were.

But jumping had been a bad idea, for he didn’t manage to throw himself on her till she turned into the she-wolf. And, because of the impact, they had been both thrown to the ground, forced to roll and lay the grass around them.

A third arrow caught up with Samaya when she was only a few steps from her people. Yet, the arrow didn’t reach its target either this time, for it has been grabbed by Fenrir on the fly, who showed up to the right of the she-wolf so suddenly.

„Are you playing the smart guy now?” the she-wolf reproachfully told him, seeing him grinning satisfied after he had grabbed the arrow.

„Is this something forbidden?” he teased her, winking.

„What do I know?! Anyway, you have my permission to at least scratch her face. Not the other, but… she pissed me off today and I want to at least let her a sweet memory on her red snout,” the she-wolf snarled, for she remembered the sign she still had on her right shoulder after the fight she had with Mayar when they were nine only, in the Glade of Shadows when the red fox stubbed her fangs into her shoulder.

„Your word is a law for me, sister,” Fenrir said in a cheerful voice. But he couldn’t throw the arrow, even if he prepared for that, for Nathaniel suddenly grabbed it and Fenrir threw his arm in front but hit nothing.

„You…,” Fenrir snarled at Nathaniel, showing his fangs. But Arion slowly tapped on his shoulder, saying: „there’ll be more occasions for that.” So, hearing Arion’s words, Fenrir decided that it was a good idea to calm down.

But, arrived at the edge of the forest, with the arrow in his right hand and with the bow in his left one, Nathaniel amazed everyone when he prepared for shooting. However, he stopped, with the arrow heading toward the place Mayar was, and waited, for he saw Mago and more of his people approaching him, also with bows and arrows in their hands.

„Who tries to hurt one of us is just declaring war on all of us,” said Mago, without watching their young leader. After this, Nathaniel looked back and saw his men prepared for shooting.

„Now I understand the meaning of the saying - the love for a brother,” murmured Fenrir. „Am I right, sister?” he asked Samaya, seeing her taking back her human body.

Samaya instead didn’t reward him either with a glance. She only passed by him, took the arrow from the hand of one of Nathaniel’s men, and stepped between Mago and Nathaniel, saying: „we shoot from the last line till the first one. And we’ll have one single target: the one who looks exactly like me, but who’s standing in that Portal of clouds, trying to piss us off,” she finished in a shout.

Mago, Nathaniel, and the rest only slowly nodded yes and tightly grabbed the wooden body of the bow. Then, they headed first the arrows to the sky when Nathaniel shouted: „Preparing!” Later they headed the top of the arrows in front when the man said „Target!” and at „Action!” a rain of arrows crossed the field, making the air slowly hiss, and the flowers from below them shudder because of the energy made by them.

„Bestla, do you still have that poisonous tooth?” Fenrir asked without watching the girl.

„Do you mean the Spike of Winds?” asked Bestla, cunningly smiling.

„Exactly! I intend to keep my word today and revenge Samaya for everything that fox did to my sister all this time.”

„If you say so,” said Bestla randomly and gave him the spike she took from her girdle.

Hardly squeezing that spike in his hand, even though the three sharp edges of it were deeply biting from his palm, Fenrir approached his sister and stopped to her left, right at the moment Mayar managed to throw to the ground and the last thrown arrow toward her, hitting them with the wooden part of her bow.

„You won’t avoid this one,” Fenrir gnashed his teeth and, with a jerk of his arm, he threw the spike toward Mayar.

The young girl spotted him throwing something toward her, but she saw neither lance nor arrow coming toward her. Yet, she felt that he didn’t pretend only. So, she took an attack position, squeezing the wooden body of the bow in her hand, to be ready to throw it like a boomerang if necessary. But… even if she heard a roar piercing the horizon and heading toward her, she could see nothing approaching her, and this made her eyes fill with tears of so much staring in front while she was biting her lower lip.

A harsh pain threw her with her back to the ground and when she hit the soil, Mayar painfully sighed. After this, she stood like this, with her eyes focused on the sky, and only then did she spot the spike thrown by Fenrir coming out of the portal and heading toward the same place from where it had been thrown.

This made Mayar deeply breathe in the cold air of rain and she let the bow from her hand. Then, with a shaking hand, she touched her left shoulder where she felt something warm spilling through her fingers. Later, looking at her palm stained with blood, she sadly smiled, murmuring: „they beat you with your own weapon, Mayar! You believed too much in fate and namely fate betrayed you eventually. It’s time to hold yourself in your own hands and subdue your fate.,” and her body has been suddenly dragged through that portal as if swallowed by a bottomless hole.

A few moments later, that gathering of clouds vanished and the sky has been covered only by black clouds that were rushing on its vault, and the spike hit the trunk of the tree from Fenrir’s left.

„One shot, one kill,” he happily murmured.

„It’s only the beginning, Fenrir,” Samaya told him, still staring at the horizon. „It has been only a warning. Soon, the real hunting will start.”

„Hunting?” Nathaniel asked in amazement. „After whom?”

„After the twin wolves,” upset Samaya hissed through her teeth. Then she furiously looked at her brother. „I told you only to leave a memory on her snout, not to hurt her, Fenrir. You became her target too, now.”

„Wonderful then! It means she finally considers me a worthy enemy to face. And related to the memory: she’ll have it, forever, for that wound will be damn difficult to heal… if it heals someday.”

Then, he turned his back on the three and said to the others: „we’ll camp here tonight! The road toward the other forest is closed for the moment,” and people listened to him, heading in silence toward the depths of the forest.

At the edge of the forest remained only Samaya and Bestla to watch the surroundings. Nathaniel also wanted to stay, but he saw Yellen still unconscious, lying on the ground next to a tree and he decided that her presence there, more having the powers of a Yātrīkar, could call the army of evil there, and he wasn’t that sure that they could fight against the Devilish Virgins only in that formula they were at that moment.

„If she dared to attack you, what do you think she’s after?” Bestla to Samaya.

„I don’t know, but… she’s changed now. A lot. As if her mind is out of control or maybe she’s controlled by someone else. But… what’s weirder than this is that we see the same thing, but each of us in her way.”

„Weird? In which way”

„Our death while Maranam cuts our head. But in my vision, it’s me who dies while in hers, it’s she who dies.”

„And this is something good, right? While she thinks that Maranam can kill her, she’ll stand against him.”

„No, Bestla! Mayar already changed the camps and she’s by Maranam’s side now. I don’t know the price she’ll pay or she already paid for this betrayal, but… the one who can die can be me eventually if… Mayar exchanged me for her life,” and Samaya turned her back to the field and headed after the others, closely followed by Bestla, who kept asking:

„Exchange? What kind of exchange do you mean, Samaya?”

„I don’t know, Bestla! We’ll see this at the right moment. Now, let’s see what we can do to hide.”

Behind them, only the chicory flower field was left with its tall grass that was slowly rocking in the dance of the mad wind that was blowing around. Yet… there was someone else there, someone who stood hidden all that time and nobody saw: right in the middle of the field, in the same place over which Mayar’s arrow crossed, the same Yātrīkar who died killed by her own sister appeared. But it was only a restless soul, that was hiding inside of Yellen’s body, and, at her arm, the loupe could be seen, the same loupe known as the Eye of the Devil, madly sparkling, illuminated by the lights that were piercing those paunchy smoky clouds.