It took him some time to find stability on the main axis of the roof, before speaking: “Who are you? What do you want?”
His companion was in front of him, while a taller figure was beside the bell of Noul.
The woman turned around after a moment and took her hood off, a movement that her companion repeated.
Viktor was in awe of the eyes, icy and without emotion, staring at him.
“I am Amir and he is Kanda,” explained the woman next to the bell.
The long red hair fell over her shoulders and an orange light surrounded it every time a lightning bolt fell on Beleth.
Kanda, on the other hand, was a boy with black hair and eyes, with a beard that covered his face.
“Look up,” Amir told Viktor.
The boy looked up and saw a blue sphere glow intermittently, as if the light pulsed from within. “It wasn’t there before ... What is it?
“It’s the Star of the Prophecy, only the members of the Star can see it, and now that we’re with you, you have this ability. Our job is to teach you for your mission: recover Arald and bring back the primordial balance of the planet.” Amir’s words profoundly shook Viktor, who hesitated for a moment before smiling.
“Do you really believe that in a moment like this I can listen to such stories?” I read it a few days ago in a book: chosen ones who save the world from the villain every hundred years. A beautiful fairy tale, but now beasts we have never seen before are attacking the city and my friends need help!” the boy snapped.
“It’s not as simple as you think, the story is true, but it’s obvious that things are more serious and your story is just an interpretation for kids.” The only alternative you have is to trust us, for now. You will get the details in due course when we get away from here,” Kanda continued, in the same gloomy tone that he had used when he ordered Trust and Selene to leave.
“We’ve been watching you for a while, all of this is not happening at random, they are trying to kill you before it’s too late.”
Amir’s words had brought Viktor’s mind back to the image of the two indistinct figures seen on the bridge to Beleth, and then he asked again, this time with more serious tones: “All this is happening because of me, are they trying to kill me?”
“Yes, and they will not stop until they have done it, come with us and we will explain everything to you.”
Amir settled on the edge of the roof that gave onto the square and materialized a red sphere in his hands, which floated in the air and expanded quickly, destroying every beast that its surface met.
The leaden clouds and the abominable offenses disappeared, while the moonlight returned over a ruined Beleth.
“You could have done it before,” said Viktor.
Kanda laughed: “We were too busy observing you.”
“You let an entire city be destroyed,” the boy replied.
“Cities are rebuilt,” said Amir coldly. “The planet cannot be rebuilt if you don’t cooperate. Some things are more important than others: one day they will also remember this in their annual festival.”
Viktor preferred not to counteract that absurd response, devoid of humanity, so he decided to remain in silence, observing the scene of corpses, rubble and blood that dominated the city surrounded by the ruins of its walls.
He turned his gaze towards Lezhen, thinking of Selene, and then he felt the last remnants of force leaving his exhausted body: he fell to the ground, unconscious.
“It must be fatigue and the pressure of the situation,” Kanda observed, supporting his body.
“Likely,” Amir replied, stroking the boy’s sweaty forehead.
The three disappeared in an emerald flash, leaving Beleth’s spectacle of destruction behind them.
Before passing out, it was as if Viktor knew what was about to happen. Shortly before he lost consciousness, the ruins of the city torn by darkness had brought to his mind the young soldier whose life had been taken by a monster and a verse from the poem he had heard from Kheidra that very day.
“Your eyes will never meet mine again
nor will mine yours detain.”
Those words full of sadness and bitter truth echoed in Viktor’s heart and in the heart of all those who had lost loved ones that day.
UNBREAKABLE BOND
T he wheels of the wagon creaked.
The cart was shaken by the tortuous course of the path and the mithril rod rolled from one end of the wooden planks to the other, shining red when the object reflected the blood that covered it. Selene saw it as she turned her head, first leaning on her legs, towards the silent Trust who was driving.
Thoughts travelled as fast as the cart through the pine trees that surrounded the path, but only one of them managed to remain vivid and distinct in the stream of her memories: Viktor.
She was clearly worried about him. The fact that someone, whose identity was unknown, had taken him away, was not reassuring, indeed, and, in her heart, she even feared she’d never to see him again.
“They kidnapped him? For what reason?” she repeated, unable to get distracted in any way. She slid against the wall of the wagon and tilted her head back, watching the fabric cover above her.
The wagon suffered another jolt, then Trust turned to her.
“How are you?”
“I could be better.”
“He said that we wouldn’t see him again for some time, but he will come back. They will not harm him, otherwise they wouldn’t have saved us from those monstrous beings.”
Selene sensed the blacksmith’s forlorn mood, although he tried to hide it and be optimistic, as he often did.
“He could have done it just to convince us he was a good man,” the girl replied.
“He wouldn’t have planned all this and allowed a city to be razed to the ground, if he only wanted to kidnap him: there wouldn’t have been any need. His magic would have allowed him to subdue him with the same speed as the fire arrows that had fallen on Beleth. I also doubt that there are reasons to kidnap Viktor. I could have understood the gesture if he came from a rich family, but it is not his case: there is certainly something bigger behind it. They kidnapped him, of course, but not for a ransom or something else.” The man spoke as if he needed Viktor for something.
“What makes you think so?” she asked, frowning.
“From what he said:” He will stay with us for a while, but you will see him again. “It was like saying that they will bring him back when they have finished doing what they have to do with him.”
“They?”
“Yes, don’t you remember? He made it clear that there was more than one person behind all this, and this confirms my theory: that Viktor is part of a greater aim, though he does not know what it is.”
“I just hope I understand what it is ... and that it is good,” concluded Selene, returning to her thoughts.
At that moment, the cart staggered and then proceeded to the bridge that crossed the Silver River.
Despite the events, neither the blacksmith nor the girl were tired, worried about the vicissitudes that in a few days away from Lezhen had turned into hell. Despite this Selene had tried to fall asleep, looking for an escape from the thousand thoughts that weighed as burdens every second more, as she approached Lezhen and had to tell Gabriel and First what had happened.
“Will they believe such a story?” the girl wondered, realizing that believing it would be the only alternative.
The light of dawn began to spread its first heat when the wayfarers saw the roofs of the houses of Lezhen tinge the horizon.
They quickly passed through the still deserted village and walked down the path to the fields where Trust knew he would find Viktor’s father and brother.
The cultivated fields were flooded by the bronze light of dawn and it was not easy to distinguish Gabriel intent on loading boxes on his arms to bring them to the farm, while First ploughed the fertile soil with his stubby hands.
When they saw the wagon making its way up the path t
hrough the grain, the two workers stopped, going onto the main street, in anticipation of their arrival.
Trust ordered the horses to stop, got down with Selene and set off for First and Gabriel, who greeted them enthusiastically as soon as they were within reach.
“How did it go? And where is Viktor?” Gabriel asked, aware of his brother’s absence.
“We won, but some things didn’t go as planned,” replied Trust in a low tone.
First, realizing that something bad had happened, wanted explanations. Selene was silent throughout the story, which left the listeners incredulous.
“But ... it’s not possible!” First exclaimed, trying to keep his tone down. “How is it possible that my son was taken away by a perfect stranger during an attack of monsters that razed Beleth? It must be a joke, you don’t really believe that ...”
Trust tried to calm his friend, swearing that it was the truth.
“If it was a joke, I wouldn’t have chosen to tell you something so crazy and unbelievable,” he continued under First’s severe gaze.
******
That afternoon Trust and Selene met at Viktor’s house to provide a more detailed explanation of the way things had taken place.
They told everything from the departure for the contest to their return from Beleth. They described everything about the attack: the monsters, the rain of fire, the people screaming as the walls collapsed.
When First and Gabriel had a clearer and more detailed idea of the events, Trust and Selene fell silent.
“People who materialize through a whirlwind of blue energy ...” Gabriel had commented, perplexed, when Selene had explained how the kidnapper had appeared.
Selene had returned home while Trust had stayed at First’s house to talk. By now everyone was convinced that Viktor was safe, but they kept on racking their brains about why he had been taken away and how he could help the people who had claimed him.
Selene, after getting back on her feet, was taking a book from a shelf when someone knocked on the door. She placed the old dusty volume on the table and opened the door to find Gabriel.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, letting the boy in.
“I know you love my brother and you’re trying to get to the bottom of this story. I want to help you, whatever you have to do,” he replied.
The young girl caught the boy’s trembling voice and understood him.
“Come here,” she said with a gesture as she closed the door behind him and returned to the table.
“Remember the monsters that invaded Beleth?” she asked as Gabriel reached her.
“Yeah.”
“Then look here,” she said, pointing to the leather volume. “Perhaps we can find some connections in this book; it shows illustrations with the descriptions and names of every ancient creature.”
“Do you think it will help us to find my brother?”
“Not very much, I think. But we have nothing else to start with, maybe we could get to another lead from here.”
“All right, let’s see if we can find this monster,” he agreed.
Selene pointed to other volumes and asked him to bring them to the table, then the young woman opened the book and flipped through the pages, scrutinizing the images and the words flowing quickly under her hands. She turned the pages with surprising speed, eager to find an answer to at least one of the thousand questions that cluttered her mind.
Gabriel placed a small pile of books on the table and sat down next to Selene, waiting and hoping for some positive result.
Several minutes later, she closed the book, put her hands to her temples, and leaned her elbows on the table that creaked.
“Nothing?”
“Nothing,” the girl replied, holding out a hand to another book. The sunlight filtered through the glass with less energy than a few hours before and the kitchen was radiated by a scarlet red colour from the corners of the grilled stoves to the grooves of the table.
“Found!” Selene exulted.
Gabriel jumped from his chair and bent his head on the image. The figure of the monster was in relief and seeing it, reproduced in such a faithful way to reality, gave Selene the sensation of touching the real one, feeling the same terror and disgust that she felt when she saw it the first time.
Suddenly she found herself running among the people of Beleth with Trust, immediately after losing sight of Viktor.
“He will join us at the wagon!” the blacksmith had shouted, tugging at her toward a way of escape from the general tumult of the maddened crowd.
The two were running toward the exit, when they heard louder shouts not many steps ahead.
They had begun to advance slowly and cautiously, until they had seen a citizen in the grip of the famished fury of the beasts; only his bones remained.
Selene was about to retch, then the smith had taken her away from there, through the alleys of the city that looked like the complex warp of a fabric.
As they ran, he saw a hooded figure leap over the roofs above them, toward the other side of the road.
The smith had decided to stop and hide several times, sheltered from the trajectories of the castigating bolts, then they had resumed their run towards the gap in the stone, but just then she thought she had seen Viktor struck by a four-legged creature , while he was trying to jump over the walls.
Trust had clamped one hand on the bag of coins he had received as a reward for the victory in the contest and with the other he pulled out his mithril rod.
Selene was approaching her friend while the blacksmith launched himself at the monster in an attempt to distract him.
The mithril shaft pierced the side of the beast, and at that moment Selene resurfaced.
“What’s happening? You looked lost in a void,” Gabriel said, looking deeply into her eyes.
“Oh, no ... it’s nothing. I guess it’s fatigue.”
“We can stop, if you want,” he suggested, understanding his friend’s malaise, albeit reluctantly.
Although Selene preferred to rest, she decided to continue seeking for information with Viktor’s brother, who didn’t hide his desire to help his brother.
The girl patted him on the shoulder, then read the description under the picture: “The quadruped Ograde, also known as a race of Barglas, is a rare creature with a threatening and nocturnal appearance. It prefers ground meat to seafood. In contact with humans, it is stimulated by a strong sense of hunting that ends only when every form of life present in the area is extirpated. The members of this species, great dark hunters, excel in promptness of reflexes, resistance and physical strength. They are very susceptible to thermal sources that, in specific cases, such as fire, also lead to injury. The weaknesses of these creatures, in addition to heat, is the time they need to get their strength back after hunting and/or healing their wounds. Currently, the species is almost completely extinct, remaining a reminder of the civilizations that once existed. “
“Yes ... extinct ...” Gabriel muttered as he continued to study the image of the beast. “It’s revolting, horrifying, and slimy!” He said, his eyes lost in the outlines of the illustration.
“I sincerely hope I never deal with any of these beasts again,” Selene said.
“They should be extinct ... but from what you’ve said there were many of them in Beleth: it’s obvious that something strange is going on.”
“I don’t know what to say, but surely it is not normal ... that they may have been evoked like the fiery darts?” Selene wondered. “Why such an elaborate attack? For Viktor? I don’t think he is the main cause of all this,” she added.
“You didn’t even think that this could happen, if I’m not mistaken. Why should my brother be the reason for an entire city to be razed to the ground?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to preclude any hypothesis given the presence of strangers who thought it so important that Viktor go with them.”
Selene reflected on Gabriel’s words, then added: “Perhaps getting to the botto
m of the question of the identity of these people could lead to something more concrete, like understanding what they are looking for.”
“I think so too,” the boy agreed. “But where do we start?” he asked, staring at Selene with his emerald eyes.
“I have no idea,” she said, puffing her cheeks, inhaling air and then breathing it out immediately, like the puffing of someone who doesn’t know what to do.
Selene had vast quantities of books concerning medical herbs, alchemy, white magic and ancient creatures, but nothing turned out to be useful for discovering something about the mysterious man in black.
Lost in her thoughts, Selene flipped through the pages of the book that contained the image of the Barglas.
She shifted her gaze to Gabriel for a moment and remembered when he was younger and spent time with her and Viktor, looking up to his brother and considering him an example to follow.
She used to find Gabriel repeating an action or a word mentioned by Viktor, even after several days: there had always been a strong bond between the two, although growing up they had taken different paths.
Evening was approaching, leaving behind that stressful day. “It would be better to lay off for today and go and rest after a good dinner,” said the girl to her friend, who nevertheless didn’t stop looking through the books on the shelf. “I don’t think you’ll find useful books right now: you’ve been looking for them all day long.”
“Is it possible that in all these volumes there isn’t something that speaks about these strange men in black? They could be known to somebody as a sect, I don’t know ... someone could know about them and have written something!” replied the boy, without giving up the search.
“You can search as much as you want,” Selene smiled. “It seems like I’m looking at myself in the mirror.”
When he finally got tired, Gabriel asked Selene if she wanted go home with him for dinner, but she refused, telling him she was tired and would go to bed early.
As Gabriel was about to leave, Selene closed the last book and something caught her attention. On the back of the volume, below, there was a symbol depicting a goose feather in the centre of a closed line that outlined the contours of Mirthya, the continent where Lezhen and Beleth were.
Viktor Page 8
