Viktor

by Francesco Leo

  The wall of grey clouds tried to hide the sunlight, and the wind continued to rage, though with less force.

  “We should continue now that the wind allows us to breathe,” said Gabriel.

  “Yes,” Selene said as she stood up and took off the sheet. Her teeth were trembling from the cold.

  Gabriel offered her help during the crossing in the wind, but she assured him that she could do it alone.

  When the path became easier, they realized they were finally out of the storm.

  They went on by inertia, exhausted by the difficult journey that seemed would never end and seeing a large dark patch in the fog in front of them was like drinking a healing infusion.

  They continued towards the big shape, beyond the white haze, up to the mountain area no longer tormented by drafts.

  Selene immediately pointed out to her traveling companion how long they had travelled, pointing to the sky. It showed the nuances of sunset.

  “We have been walking for at least two hours ... I thought less,” Gabriel realized.

  “If you want, you can always go back into the storm and get another round,” Selene said.

  In front of them, they noticed the ground culminating in a slope that jutted out over the ocean. There, a large castle stood.

  They resumed walking, breathing such pure air that they had never breathed before. The building consisted of walls that guarded a high tower, and formed a quadrilateral with four lower turret towers at the top.

  When they were closer, they noticed the large, smooth black stones, not perfectly regular, which had been masterly placed one on top of another.

  A large, dark iron door, set in the boundary walls, conveyed a strong sense of majesty.

  A row of archers emerged from the back of the battlements, pointing arrows at the foreigners.

  “We come in peace!” Gabriel cried. “We are here to speak to the Elders.”

  Selene got closer to the boy, the words choked in her throat because she was so frightened.

  “What made you reach this peak and cross the storm?” asked a hoarse, authoritative voice.

  “We’re looking for a friend of mine, my travel companion’s brother,” Selene replied when she regained control.

  The black silhouettes at the top of the walls remained motionless for a while, before averting their aim away from them and disappearing.

  The loud screeching of iron echoed through the mountains when the entrance was thrown open.

  A figure wrapped in a green cloak came forward, his shape growing with every step.

  Selene immediately recognized the unusual features.

  His face was a little narrower and longer than any other person, his skin was smooth and he had no beard on his face; the ears, perfectly symmetrical, culminated in a tip. He was an elf.

  His hair went down to his back, smooth and silvery, well groomed. He removed his hands from the sleeves of his tunic. Several rings adorned his long fingers. The elf’s red irises burned as he narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the two humans with an investigative air.

  “Excuse me, Gabriel son of First and Selene of Lezhen. We knew you would be arriving, but the times require us to ask the travellers why they are on our doorstep. We hardly allow hearings, but we will be happy to give you hospitality and answers that can help you understand what is happening. We know how strong the bond is that unites you to Viktor.”

  “So you know what’s happening and where my brother is?” Gabriel exclaimed. Even Selene shuddered waiting for an answer.

  “You deserve to know, but in another place. Please follow me,” the Elder cut short, turning his back on them and heading beyond the walls.

  Gabriel and Selene glanced fleetingly and then followed the elf.

  The high cylindrical tower stood in the middle of the base of stony ground, and had small windows positioned at equal distances from each other.

  The elf led the boys inside towards an ancient spiral staircase.

  The Elder opened a door that wasn’t very thick, after climbing the stairs. The inside of the room had the same stone floor of the steps, but a green carpet entwined with particular golden lines adorned it.

  At the back of the room there were four elves seated on silver benches arranged in a semicircle, behind them high, large stained glass windows with green and golden hues reproducing their faces, impeccably and meticulously designed.

  Gabriel looked up at the great vaulted ceiling, caught by a strong sense of awe the moment his eyes had met those of one of the Elders. When he looked back at the four of them, he tried to release the tension by biting the inside of his lower lip.

  Twilight lazily licked the large windows, revealing the contours of the silver thrones.

  Selene didn’t seem so distressed.

  The elf to the right of the one who had escorted them to the top of the tower spoke: “Over time we have observed races lose the values that were once the sword that defended the kingdom: love, justice, loyalty. These sentiments gradually gave way to avarice, violence and hegemony.

  Fortunately, we saw something different in you. It is hard to believe in the words of strangers when you see a person who is dear to us being torn away for no apparent reason, but we can only repeat that you mustn’t fear: Viktor is fine. We hope that our words will reassure you.”

  “With all due respect, Elders, I don’t think I’ve come all this way to be told simply that Viktor is fine ...,” accused Selene trying to stay calm.

  “What would your idea be, human?” asked the elf who had welcomed the boys at the entrance to the tower.

  “Our idea,” Gabriel said, “was to have access to your library. We’d like to do some research.”

  “And what do you intend to look for, exactly?” asked the last of the four elves.

  Selene thought that working with the Elders could not lead to anything negative.

  She exchanged a glance with Gabriel and, when he nodded, she began: “The man who took Viktor away used strong energy spells that produced outward bluish flashes. I have been interested in white magic for some time and I know that, depending on the type of spell, his mana can take on different densities and colours, but I rarely heard of a sapphire blue essence of that intensity. Another point are the Barglas, creatures whose name I discovered thanks to a book I have here with me, and according to it, they should be extinguished. “

  The Elders stood for a while in silence, until one of them seemed satisfied with what had been said.

  “You have clear ideas, it’s positive. Wait outside the room for a moment, then I will take you to your quarters: you can stay as long as you want. Tomorrow you can go in the library.”

  The other Elders exchanged confused looks while the two enthusiastic youngsters merely bowed their heads in thanksgiving and took their leave.

  “We are obliged to you,” said Gabriel.

  After a few moments, the elves were alone again.

  “Sinus, why?” asked one of the four to the Elder who had authorized the boys to remain in the monastery.

  “Should I have let them go away?”

  “You know I was not referring to that ... We founded the Organization of the Star to lead the chosen one and we’ve been handling the situation since before Remenant deserted. We knew they would come this far for some answers; we considered them worthy to know because motivated by strong feelings, but you kept silent about the situation of the chosen one: for what reason?”

  “There’s no need to repeat the reasons why we’re here. To see how they would behave. They have clear ideas, they are motivated and they are intelligent. If they want to follow Viktor, then it’s good that we see how far they can go by themselves.”

  Everyone was silent. Sinus rose from his chair to go to the door behind which Gabriel and Selene were waiting.

  ******

  The two boys followed the elf and found themselves walking up the narrow steps again, until they reached the foot of the tower.

  “Elder ...” Gabriel called.r />
  “Sinus ... my name is Sinus,” he warned, as he headed toward the buildings near the walls.

  “I would like to thank you again for the help you are offering us,” said Gabriel.

  “Oh, don’t worry. I only told you what you already knew, you will now try to understand more.”

  “Of course,” the young man confirmed.

  The snow began to fall lightly. Sinus opened the door to a low and not very large structure.

  “You will rest here. Don’t worry, there are two rooms,” he added after seeing Selene’s pensive gaze.

  The two crossed the threshold of the small building.

  A yellow-walled corridor presented itself to the guests, who noticed the entrances to the rooms. There were two bedrooms, a common room and a bathroom.

  The rooms were identical: wooden furniture and floor, beds with heavy white blankets and smooth ochre-coloured grout walls.

  Oil lamps illuminated the warm environment.

  “In the end you listened to me ...” Gabriel said, leaning his bags in the entrance.

  “About what?” she asked disoriented.

  “About the fact that many Barglas have probably been evoked.”

  “Ah, yes ... Well, I didn’t rule out any hypothesis, as you told me,” she smiled.

  “Did you notice the faces painted on the windows of the room at the top of the tower?” Gabriel asked as Selene arranged her belongings.

  “To tell you the truth, I didn’t pay much attention, I was listening to what the Elders were saying.”

  “The faces of the Elders had been painted in great details ... there were five, but there were only four thrones.”

  “So?”

  “It intrigued me what happened to the fifth, nothing more. I think I’ll ask about it. “

  “Don’t do it. You might be disrespectful,” the white sorcerer warned, patting her friend’s back.

  The two spent that evening sitting on the floor, huddled by the fire and intent on telling stories of yesteryear. They didn’t talk about the blood that had stained the fate of Beleth, or about their fears.

  LEGENDS AND SCROLLS

  T he youngsters awoke when the sun was already high in the sky.

  They ate a warm breakfast, got dressed and ready to go into the open air.

  “I didn’t believe there was so much to eat in the cupboard,” Gabriel observed casting a surprised glance at his friend.

  “A good breakfast is what we needed after the trip we made to get up here,” she replied.

  As soon as they opened the door, they met an elf.

  “I was coming to call you. The Elders want to know how your night went by; and they want me to bring you into the library of the monastery. Ah, anyway, my name is Vilsius.”

  The sun illuminated a great part of the monastery and on the grass at the sides of the narrow stony paths there was still some of the snow that had fallen the day before.

  A pair of sea gulls flew around the battlements of the central tower.

  Vilsius stopped at the entrance to one of the four lookout towers. It was not difficult to get their bearings and the youngsters soon understood that they were in the North-West tower, behind the one of the Elders.

  “Is it here?” Selene turned to Vilsius.

  “Beyond the door at the bottom of the stairs,” the elf pointed out letting them pass by.

  “Aren’t you coming with us?” Gabriel asked.

  “No, young man. I have other matters to attend and anyway the librarian will be there to welcome you.”

  “Thanks for your help,” Selene said.

  “No problem, miss,” Vilsius said as he nodded.

  The youngsters went through the door and went down the narrow staircase to the garden.

  “Surely it’s a big enough place, given the amount of writing that should be there,” Selene assumed with the air of someone who was about to reach a craved treasure.

  When the stairs finally ended, the two continued along a corridor that ended in a huge round room with woody hues.

  They walked, looking at the immense bookcases arranged all around the walls, until they stopped, hearing a noise similar to the thud of a stone on wood.

  “Who’s there?” a voice called from the back of the room.

  “He must be the librarian Vilsius told us about,” thought the boy.

  “Who’s there?” the voice repeated.

  “We don’t know if you were aware of our arrival, but ...” began Selene.

  “Oh, the two youngsters from Lezhen. Come forward.”

  Gabriel and Selene went to the centre of the room, where, from a high desk, appeared the figure of an elf with a long nose, deep eyes - one of which hidden by a silver monocle - and thin lips.

  “The Elders haven’t succeeded in reassuring you about the valorous Viktor’s well-being, have they?”

  “It depends on what you mean, sir,” replied Gabriel.

  “I am referring to the possible methods with which you could have stopped searching for a boy who will come back in due time.”

  “We believed the word of the Elders, but our intentions are to understand something more ... I don’t know if you are aware of the facts, but ...”

  “I know the vicissitudes, dear,” the elf addressed him, silencing Gabriel. “I suppose you have a track to follow.”

  “Exactly. I would like to know as much as possible about an old story.”

  “What story are you referring to?”

  “The legend of Arald, the sword of destiny. I think it’s linked to Viktor somehow,” explained Gabriel, alluding to his brother’s dreams.

  “Could I know the name?”

  “Xemnath ... can you help us, sir...”

  «Dandelion, guardian of Mirthya’s knowledge since the immemorial glorious times that preceded the War of Oblivion. In any case, the name whose story you are looking for corresponds to the one who, eight hundred years ago, sent Zergh back to his dimensional prison. I can help you by pointing to the bookcases down there,” he said, indicating a point in the library. “That is where we keep the most ancient writings and stories of the kingdom and, in all probability, you will find the original version of the legend of Arald.”

  “Can we start now?” Gabriel asked.

  “Provided you don’t create too much confusion, especially the position of the books on the shelves.”

  After a few hours of searching, Gabriel was enraptured reading one of the volumes.

  Selene, intrigued, approached him quietly and asked: “What is it?”

  “Short stories for young people, but I don’t think it makes any mention of what we are looking for.”

  “The situation would be much more profitable if you helped me with Arald!” Selene replied in a tone of friendly reproach.

  Gabriel closed the book and put it back in its place while, with his friend, he started looking for something that could lead them to the desired results.

  “How is it going?” asked Dandelion, who had appeared furtively behind them.

  “There are a myriad of books and it’s hard to find what we need. Could you help us?” he answered without stopping rummaging through the tons of paper.

  “I wouldn’t have told you where to look, if I had known the exact position of the book you want,” he snapped.

  “A librarian cannot ignore the exact position of a volume belonging to his library!” Gabriel insisted on the brink of insanity.

  “Even if I have the distinct feeling that you have not had the chance to meet many other librarians, perhaps they didn’t possess the knowledge of millennia we do. For this reason I asked you to pay attention to the arrangement of the volumes: finding the original one would be problematic.”

  Dandelion’s straight answer was enough to silence Gabriel, who, with some regret, continued helping Selene, who was stifling a laugh at what she had thought was an amusing reprimand.

  “Anyway,” the librarian added, “the author of the full version of the legend is quite famous,
they recorded him with four names, so I don’t think it’s very hard to find the book.”

  “Four names and he was a famous writer?” Selene repeated.

  “Yeah,” Dandelion said.

  “So it’s alarming that I don’t even know one?”

  The elf smiled and pointed to a bookshelf.

  “Here are all the works of Lein Gaudra Rufus Zair, writer of the book you are looking for. I have just remembered the author’s name, forgive me,” concluded Dandelion moving away to return to his paperwork and scrolls.

  “If these are four names they remember him by, I dare not imagine what his real name might be,” Gabriel remarked ironically, as he scrolled across the index.

  “Nothing, no trace of a book that refers to Arald ... If it is true that lies have short legs, soon we will begin to see people walking on their backside,” the boy argued.

  “Are you referring to Dandelion?” his friend asked, unable to hold back a laugh.

  “He said we could find all the writer’s books here, but there’s nothing.”

  The two paused for a while, then Gabriel added: “What if the original book didn’t have the same title as the adaption you have?” Gabriel proposed.

  “Probably ...” Selene agreed, looking up at the ceiling in some places stained by humidity. “I propose to put all the writings by this Lein on the table and examine them one by one.”

  “Help me get them off the shelf. If we find it, I’ll have to apologize to Dandelion!” Gabriel answered.

  “You can do it, then,” Selene said after a brief, profitable search.

  “Found it?” the boy asked, with a euphoric leap that brought him to the book Selene had in her hands.

  “Look here,” said the researcher, pointing to the index on a page of the volume.

  New Calm

  Get the presents, he has arrived

  As he went he has now arrived

  having his destiny strived

  Darkness has finally been expelled

  and hopefully will never again be beheld.

  What seemed like a fateful destiny

  the deeds of the chosen one quelled desperately

  Get the presents, he has arrived