“Yeah, it would be a contradiction ... Look,” the girl pointed to a point in the sky, “a shooting star!”
Gabriel looked up too late.
“What a shame. I wanted to see it.”
The other smiled.
“Would you have liked to make a wish?”
“I expressed many when I was little, but I am still waiting for them to come true. And you? Did you make a wish?”
“I wanted everything to go right.”
Her friend dropped onto the sheet behind him and looked back at the stars.
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t express my wish on the shooting star,” his friend resumed, fiddling with a few blades of grass.
“Ah, no? And why did you do it?”
“All these stories that incite to express desires like the gold coin in the well, the shooting star and so on, are just whoppers told to people so that they have reasons to hope for something. I think the real purpose of these stories is just to bring us to the understanding of how important it is to have hope, to have something that will allow us to move forward even in the worst of situations. Let’s face it: if we didn’t have hope at this time we wouldn’t be traveling to the monastery, would we? Humanity lives on hope and it is thanks to this, perhaps, that we have been able to evolve to this day.”
They discussed the subject for a long time, while the idea of leaving at dawn was fading with the pressing of the night and Gabriel swore he had heard Selene yawn.
“I promise you that from today on I will begin to express wishes. I’ll keep hoping,” she smiled, and then gave herself over to weariness.
The boy continued looking at the sky a bit with the hope of seeing another star darting to the earth, but this didn’t happen. Then, he finally let himself be kidnapped by a vigilant sleep.
A NEW LIFE
“H ow’s it going with the boy? What impression did he give you?” asked Amir, as she stood against the wall in Galaeth’s office.
The Master closed the drawer lock and watched the girl caress the tips of her long red hair that fell over the hood of her tunic, merging with it.
“He is suspicious, even if he is being condescending. I think he does it to push us to tell him more. He does not know us. He would like to go back to his life and although he seems to accept the situation, he still does not have a clear vision of what surrounds him. He will assume his own responsibilities and become more confident as the training goes on. At the moment, what he says stems only from his curiosity. He’s a good boy, but he’s not used to interacting with people outside of Lezhen, especially if those people kidnap him with the motive to train him to fight against a deity: that’s what he thinks.”
“I think he will have to take his responsibilities as soon as possible,” the girl said in a detached tone.
“All in good time,” said Galaeth.
“You have been our Master and Elder of the Council of the Circular room for many years and we have all grown up under your wing; however, we too have had a difficult past, but we don’t behave as we please. If Viktor intends to be suspicious and difficult, believing he is the only one in the world to bear the weight of a past that he didn’t want, it is a wrong approach and it would be better if you changed his way as soon as possible.”
Galaeth caught the bitterness in Amir’s words, who had suddenly turned her eyes to him.
“This is your impression. I have never alluded to this. I never said that Viktor is playing hard and taking advantage of what he has experienced and, unlike what you think, I deduced that his behaviour depends on never having had relationships with other people outside his village. The situation is not simple and no one among the Members of the Star has accepted a new life straightaway, even though you have chosen it yourself. All of you have come here for your experience. You know that the Members of the Star are chosen because, having had a past that has defined your characters well, you won’t stop at appearances and you get to the bottom of the issues. This is what differentiates you from others, what you have been chosen for; Viktor, unlike you, has no choice, but is forced to accept a new reality and if it was difficult for you even though you were the one to choose, think how difficult it may be for him to know that his fate has already been written.”
Amir was lost in Galaeth’s eyes.
“What I want to say is that while we have long awaited the arrival of the chosen one, they start asking silly questions instead of taking it seriously!”
“Amir, since no one thought your questions foolish when I saved you from loneliness and misery, I would invite you to keep your thoughts to yourself. The questions that you think are silly are the same questions that you would have made if it were you. Often the questions of others are considered useless only because we believe to be superior to those who ask: this is really shameful. This is the same behaviour you are having towards Viktor. Is it because he looks so much like your brother that you have the same grudge against him?”
“I just want to make sure that the chosen one we have long awaited is not a fake!” replied Amir, angrily.
“If the Star has chosen him, he certainly won’t be,” the Master reassured her without moving a brow.
Amir looked doubtfully at Galaeth, before saying good-bye and leaving the room.
******
Viktor had noticed some drawings on the front pages of the diary with dates on their side.
The boy assumed that they probably symbolized a period of Xemnath’s infancy, since they had very infantile traits.
He flipped through a few pages, then paused to read.
“During my first few days in the place where the members of the Star brought me, I could not quite grasp what situation I was in. But I liked it.
I had managed to get the attention I had always wanted; at last people were worried about asking how I felt and what I thought.
My father and mother were the first to try to explain to me the reason why I had been taken away from my house, although I didn’t care much: I had always been the object of ridicule among the other children of the village, for my slim build and my shy character. Even today, the only thing I regret is the scent of flowering trees and cut grass.
For my parents it was not easy to explain the reason why I had been brought there, but they justified everything by saying that they had moved to go and live with other people who would help us. Friends, they said. But helped to do what?
Six years later, a thirteen-year old boy, I knew how to write and read the various dialects of every region of Mirthya.
I still remember the afternoon when I was told the prophecy. In my free time I played the lute and that day I was intoning a melody accompanying it with the rhythmic tapping of the rain.
My parents showed up wearing a red tunic too.
It was the first time it happened.
It was then that they explained that they too belonged to the Members of the Star. They told me that I was the chosen one that they had been waiting for a long time.
I didn’t believe my parent’s words: I was thirteen and I would never have understood the seriousness of the thing.
So, I considered it a game. To fulfil my role and achieve my ultimate goal, I would have to master a weapon and magical forces. I remember the hard training in the rocks of the mountains of Jerrall, where the Star’s Den was hidden.
I began my apprenticeship early enough to reach a level of skill with unimaginable arcane weapons and arts; the Master repeated to me that the essence of battle and magic flowed in my blood. I was satisfied with what I was becoming and continued to train regularly, re-evaluating what, as a child, I thought was a game. The years passed and strange things began to happen: living-dead that emerged from the ground, cities that were attacked by beasts deemed extinct.
It was then that I took charge of the situation and began to delve in the stories about Zergh and the divine deities.
It must have been difficult for two members of the Star as my parents to be the mentors of a child destin
ed to risk his life for the good of others. I often smiled when I remembered the look on their faces when they had seen the prophetic star descend upon me.
At the moment, I’m writing to leave something useful to those who will take my place, since I know it will happen and that I won’t succeed in my intention to put an end to the inevitable cycle of which the chosen ones are part.
I hope that my memories and notes can help you who are reading.
What you must understand is that all you need is in this diary or at least what you won’t be able to know directly during your learning.
Perhaps now my words will not seem entirely understandable, but please think about them when doubts assail you.”
The prologue heralded the life that the last one chosen by the Star had faced, and Viktor’s soul became bitterly sad and lonely.
He and Xemnath were united by not having taken their condition seriously.
The chosen one lingered on the word “entirely” at the end of the reading. It seemed that those letters had been stressed.
He put the diary in its usual hiding place and headed for Galaeth’s office, ready to begin his apprenticeship.
Galaeth was waiting for him at the entrance hidden in the wall. “Did you sleep well?” the Master asked as Viktor followed him through the passages in the corridor beyond his study.
“Actually, I didn’t. I was ... well, let’s say, “held back.”
“Did you read the diary?”
“Yes, but so far nothing special: he writes about how he found himself at the Star’s Den. It seems he had a hard time. At least in the beginning.”
“Everyone in here has had the opportunity to join the Members of the Star because they come from a very hard life. At the moment you know very little about Xemnath’s life.”
Viktor remained silent for a few seconds, then gave voice to his thoughts: “Practically this is a merciful organization for the desperate.”
“You can put it this way; but those who accept a new life in this place are able to fight the reality that trapped them. To think of finding miraculous poor people in these walls is silly. To think of finding poor people who have learned to fight against the difficulties that have defeated them once is permissible. By now all those who are part of the Star are warriors or magicians who are specialized in a different field. What they were was left behind, in a forgotten past.”
The boy was silent until they reached a large iron door that the guide opened by waving a hand.
As soon as they went out of the door, they were in the open air in a big field of rocks and ground surrounded by the high mountains.
The orange soil in that territory was accentuated when the rays of the sun filtered over the mountains and caressed the ground.
Imposing eagles, as big as steeds, roamed over the sky above him. Galaeth noticed him and smiled: “The eagles of Jerrall ... we of the Star use them to ride,” he explained.
Viktor didn’t answer and looked in astonishment before him.
In front of the boy, there were some swords stuck in the cracks of the dry land.
“Choose one: it will be the one that will accompany you along the training.” Viktor didn’t expect to find himself choosing a sword as a companion, but remained serious and carefully studied the weapons he had in front of him. His eye fell on two swords in particular, but it didn’t take long to choose; he extracted his favourite from the ground, testing its handle and observing its long, slightly sinusoidal blade that culminated in a triangular point. A singular crimson colour dyed the blade when it was raised towards the sun.
Viktor clasped his fingers tightly around the brown hilt that ended in a red stone.
Galaeth seemed pleased by his choice and motioned to follow him to the centre of the area.
“We will start from the basics: the difference between lunge and slash. Do you already know something about it?”
“Can you tell me again, please?” the boy answered with an involuntary grimace that expressed all his insecurity.
The Master smiled and refreshed his pupil’s memory. “Now attack me. You will see that, once the concept is understood, it will be much simpler than you think,” he added.
“I hope so,” said Viktor, taking up his position.
He hesitated before attempting a lunge, which the opponent avoided by moving sideways.
At that point, from the position he was in, he tried to cleave the air by directing the blade to the Master’s side who avoided it by stepping back.
The boy felt ashamed: anyone who had witnessed the duel could have said that an old man had been quicker than he had.
When Viktor acquired sufficient familiarity with his movements, Galaeth showed him some movements that were useful to approach the enemy and a sword appeared from the crevices at the end of the area. Viktor winced when he saw the weapon darting at a surprising speed, and as it brushed against his face, he felt the object moving the air around him.
The sword stopped in Galaeth’s hand and the boy smiled when he saw that it was the one he had excluded.
“Did you attract it with magic?” he asked, making sure he had sufficient air in his lungs to complete the question without interruption.
“Of course, but this is another lesson,” replied the Master as Viktor began another attack.
Now his coach didn’t only dodge blows, but he blocked them with such speed that it didn’t seem credible.
As time went by, Viktor saw himself as a child intent on taking his first steps.
The Master always maintained his position, moving rarely from where Viktor was attacking, while the latter attempted to turn around and attack him using the movements his mentor had shown him. The training continued until the sun was high in the sky and sweat beaded the exhausted boy’s forehead: he felt his arms and legs move mechanically.
They continued for some time, but something interrupted the Master and the pupil.
At one point, Viktor heard words behind him.
“Cold and firm like stone,
is the hand that grabs the man.”
Viktor had already heard that voice, but could not remember where.
At that moment, he felt his ankles numb and immobilized.
The force that blocked his movements stabilized and Viktor let out a sigh.
“That’s not the right lesson, Kheira,” Galaeth shouted to the edge of the training camp.
“Kheira! I’ve already heard this name ... but where?”
The girl who had won the contest along with Trust, in the Great Talents, came forward.
“He’s a kid!” she exclaimed, peering at him with her big brown eyes.
“It is he whom the Star has chosen,” Galaeth answered, moving the palm of his hand as if to scrape the air: the boy felt the blood return, flowing in his ankles that regained sensitivity.
“You can see him from here too ...” Galaeth said ironically, “he will not run anywhere.”
Kheira smiled. “I wanted to see him, I’ve just come from Beleth: there is still a lot of confusion over there and some workers have already started to rebuild the most important buildings.”
“You took part in the Great Talents with Trust, the blacksmith from my village,” Viktor said as he approached her dumbfounded.
“Well, I’m an artist; I take part in it every year. I knew that Amir and Kanda were looking for you but I didn’t think you’d be in the audience in Beleth! That’s destiny, sometimes…..”
Galaeth smiled.
“Kheira is always very sociable when she’s at ease.”
“That’s why she didn’t say a word during the Great Talents,” Viktor joked.
“I recited my poem, what did you want me to say?” she asked jokingly.
In that precise moment the boy realized that who he believed to be a woman was even younger than him.
“I see I’m not the only child, however…” he alluded.
“Kheira is the youngest in the Star, but her qualities are extremely useful. Because sh
e is an artist, she has chosen to substitute magic formulas with poetry verses she improvises and, I don’t know with what enormous and inexplicable ability, manages to obtain the same effect as a spell, if not more powerful,” Galaeth explained as Kheira supported his speech nodding triumphantly.
When Kheira felt satisfied with the new acquaintance, she left the training camp.
Viktor resumed attacking Galaeth’s unbreakable guard, while the Master quickly avoided his pupil’s blows with unmistakable tranquillity and elegance.
Now exhausted, Viktor stopped and Galaeth urged him to follow him.
The two returned to the walls of the Den and headed for Galaeth’s office.
“Take it,” said the Master, throwing the sheath of his sword to the young man.
The scabbard was black and metallic, hooked to a leather strap with gold lines that could be worn behind the back.
It took the chosen one a while before being able to sheathe the weapon, impeded by its unusual form: after a minute or so, he realized that it didn’t have to be sheathed, but tucked to fit on one side of the case. He smiled to himself as he realized how awkward his behaviour was in that unusual circumstance.
“Do you think I can do it?” Viktor asked in a soft voice, struck by sudden anguish.
Galaeth frowned and watched the young man do the same. “It’s only your first day of training. Relax.”
“I’m just afraid I’m not good enough.”
“You will be, if you wish. Will is a weapon that you must not underestimate: don’t be discouraged by what you are now. When you face Zergh you will have Arald with you; besides you will not be the same person anymore. Experience will change you, as it has changed everyone. Me too. Thinking too much about the future is not productive. Many make the mistake of wasting time thinking about what will be, ignoring the opportunities of the present. The secret in having a good tomorrow is living today the best you can: I once made the same mistake. When I finally understood the way the world works, I realized I was too old to be able to live it.
Viktor Page 11