“Real choice?” Lorelei tore herself away from the ghost’s fingers. “What are you talking about? As if someone could choose if they die or not!”

“But you can.” Orhana kept a respectful distance as a sad smile appeared on her face. “Here, at the border between life and death that you mortals call a dream, you can have that choice - cross to the other side and into eternity, or go back to the living world. You make that choice every time you dream, although you don’t remember it in the morning.”

“But…”

“Please, little sister, let me explain. After that, I won’t intervene, whatever your decision is.”

“And why should I believe anything you say?” Lorelei’s arms wrapped around her body. Her eyes fixated on the other woman, careful not to miss the slightest movement on her part. “Meeting you in this strange place… How can I be sure that you are really who you claim to be? I’ve never met Orhana. You could be an imposter wishing to harm and deceive me.”

“If this was the Mortal Realm and I was a living being, your doubts would have had some merit.” The ghost closed her eyes and her sad smile deepened. “But I am dead. When our gamur, the part of our soul that is bound to the life-core, disappears, all our earthly feelings begin to fade. What you see right now is my amir, my true soul. And a true soul can not lie, because it doesn’t feel the need to deceive.”

“But what about malicious souls?” Although feeling somewhat relieved, Lorelei didn’t let her guard down. For all she knew, that spirit could be lying to her right now. “I thought that malicious souls feel hate and desire to destroy. Then what you just said is false.”

“Aren’t you a cautious one!” Orhana’s spirit burst into laughter. “Yani was right. You are a peculiar person. To answer your question - yes, wraiths do possess negative emotions. But you’ll never be able to speak to one. Their minds become so clouded that they can’t communicate.”

“Then how are you able to laugh?” Lorelei persisted, still weary of the other woman’s intentions.

Before her eyes, Orhana’s smiling face froze. Then, very slowly, all emotion drained away from it, leaving behind a beautiful but expressionless mask.

“Observant.” Even the ghost’s voice had become monotonous. Hearing it made chills run down Lorelei’s spine. As if beneath the calm surface, a dangerous beast lay waiting. “But although I’ve been dead for over seven years, I still remember the emotions I felt as a human and am able to mimic them. I thought that it would make our conversation more comfortable, but if you insist, we can continue as is. Still, this changes nothing in the sincerity of my words. But if you still don’t believe me…”

Putting a hand over the left side of her chest, where in life her heart had beaten, Orhana spoke in a solemn, echoing voice:

“Oh Creators of the Realms, oh Makers of Gods and Mortals, oh Rulers of Chaos and Order! Hear upon this speck’s plea. Upon my truest essence, I swear and bind myself to the one before me. I shall never harm her, in body or spirit. If I were to break this pledge, may my soul be destroyed, banned forever from being part of Your creation.”

Belatedly, Lorelei realized that, although she understood every word coming from Orhana’s mouth, the language she spoke was neither Limerian nor Binshi-ka, nor any she knew or had heard before. A second later, the spirit’s form wavered and paled, becoming almost completely translucent. A single speck of bright, pulsating light akin to a star shone brightly a little under the pit of Orhana’s stomach. Then, a heartbeat later, the world around them shook violently and a hair-thin chain of silver wrapped around the ghost’s left hand, connecting it to Lorelei’s right. Slowly, the light dimmed and Orhana returned to her previous form, but the silver bind remained.

“W-what did you do?” Lorelei shook her hand and tried to pull the chain away but her fingers went straight through it like it was air.

“I’ve bound myself to you.” Replied Orhana, her calm words echoing directly into Lorelei’s mind. “I am now at your mercy; your slave for all eternity. I’ll never be able to harm you, but you can destroy my essence whenever you wish. You should be able to feel that I’m telling the truth.”

She could!

The peculiar feeling that overcame Lorelei was difficult to express in words. Like… there were two hearts beating in her chest, both of them belonging to her. And she was privy to both their secrets and yearnings. Her new heart was placid like a mountain lake - a cold, bottomless mirror, without a ripple disturbing its surface. There was something scary and beautiful in it, and also… sad.

As she peered at the lake’s surface, Lorelei couldn’t see her reflection. Instead, she saw three different figures, their features slightly distorted but still recognizable. There was a child with a cloud of white hair. A smiling man with dimples and calm, star-filled eyes. And then, there was the third face - younger features and bark-colored skin, untainted by scar or blemish; a familiar frown cleaving the broad brow. But his gray eyes were still the same - deep, warm, and domineering.

“Now you know what’s hidden in the depths of my soul, little sister.” Orhana’s words had regained their liveliness and sounded human-like again. “This is all I can do to make you trust me. Will you listen to me? Or do you want me to disappear? What are your orders?”

“Speak…” said Lorelei with some difficulty, feeling a lump forming in her throat.

Orhana nodded and turned around, sitting on the ledge of the pond with a tired sigh. She motioned invitingly to Lorelei, who followed suit. The ghost caressed the surface of the pond, her face becoming absentminded.

“Where should I start…? Do you know about the Star-gazer’s powers?”

“Sir Gregor told me about them. Reading the Web of Time. And I know about Sir Yanosh’s prophecy.”

Lorelei closed her eyes, recalling Rish’s words.

“The fate of the star-children is on the balance. When South and North unite, a Future will be born. When one draws a blade on their kin, a great Change will come. Carrying sword and shield, a man of mixed-blood shall cross the abyss. To the children of stars, the one branded Beast will bring Light and Salvation. On the night of a red moon, Hope will wither. On the day without sun, Hope will bud. For the people of Norden to survive, the blood of Stars and Beast must mix.”

Just saying the prophecy made Lorelei shake, every word carrying unimaginable weight. Like the first time in Ildemar, she could again see blurred images and smell the fires of battle. Next to her, Orhana nodded her head.

“Yes. This is what Yani shared with the world - the Binshi’s future being tied to a mixed-blood bearing the sign of the beast.”

“I know that. From the two possible candidates, Sir Yanosh chose the Duke.” Lorelei remembered Noah’s pained face, his trembling body, hunched from the weight of guilt and sorrow, and the shaking words he had uttered that night - ‘Because I befriended Yanosh, because he supported me and claimed that I am the “mixed-blood” from his prophecy, the Red Hands reared their heads.’

“He lied.”

Deep in thought, Lorelei almost overheard Orhana’s quiet voice. She needed a moment before the meaning of the ghost’s statement completely sank in.

“Who… lied?”

“Yani never saw two Beasts. Or at least, not in the way he made everyone believe he did.” Orhana threw Lorelei a side glance. “No one knew about this. Not the Star-path Valley Elders, not the kush-turgans, not even Noah. I’m the only one.”

She lifted her head, letting her gaze wander over the tops of the silver trees.

“As he traversed the Web of Time, Yani only saw kush-turgan Bayan.”

Lorelei just stood there, petrified and blinking like a newborn chick. After some time, she found her voice again, but still, forming the right question proved to be difficult.

“How…? Why…? But… the words in the prophecy do match with both…”

“The futures a Star-gazer sees, the verses they announce, and how the prophecy is interpreted… Those are all different things.” Orhana sighed. “Yani told me that in the futures he saw, Bayan's teachings and leadership guided our people to victory. The Binshi took back Norden, driving the Limerians to the mainland. Our magic was stronger than ever.”

“Then why did he have to lie!?” Anger welled up in Lorelei’s chest. “Why did he do this to Noah? Making him the target of the Red Hands, forcing him to fight all this time… to lose so much. Why, when he saw such a bright future?”

“Because our bright future meant darkness for everyone else.” Orhana’s beautiful face twisted. “He told me… he saw death. Bayan united us, but also rekindled our anger. Anyone standing in our way was destroyed. Binshi troops marched into Limris, killing any living being in their way. Kingdom after kingdom fell under the armies of ghosts our shamans summoned. Yani said he saw our daughter, reigning over mountains of bones.”

Orhana shuddered, her eyes staring into nothingness for a long time before her gaze turned to the petrified Lorelei.

“Do you see now? Yani chose to go against the will of the Gods, against the future, dictated by destiny. But to do so, he needed to find a weakness in his own prophecy. And he did.”

“Noah?” whispered Lorelei.

“Yes. In all the futures he saw, the first hurdle Bayan needed to overcome was the Duke of Norden. And the Duke always fell. All futures always flowed into a singular stream. But then, Yani saw a tiny ripple that defied the flow of time. A young boy had taken the ducal throne. Time behaved strangely around him - twisting and dissolving into impenetrable mist.”

“Mist?” Lorelei was taken aback. “Was there no future?”

“Oh, no. On the contrary. There were uncountable possibilities. So many that one could not clearly predict the flow of time.” Orhana smiled sadly. A silver tear rolled down her cheek. “And yet, the moment the boy set foot in Norden, the mist lifted and his future cleared. He was bound to Bayan’s fate and… died.”

“But Noah survived.” Lorelei furrowed her brow. “Was Yanosh’s prophecy wrong or…?”

Her eyes rounded. Orhana nodded sharply.

“Yani chose the hope of an unknown future before the certainty of glory and destruction. But to achieve this, Noah had to live and be made part of the prophecy.”