“Dev!” the chosen one called him.
The member of the Star frowned, the wind slightly blowing his clothes.
“You’re a good friend, as well as a good teacher,” the boy confided.
Devanorth stared at the chosen one and sighed with a smirk, looking away to resume his walk, waving two fingers up in farewell.
Viktor smiled again, then headed for the fish market: he would take Siride with him.
“Here I am, I’ll relieve you! Sorry for the delay ,” the boy wanted to be forgiven as soon as he entered the fish market.
“Don’t worry, it’s not so late,” reassured an elderly woman sitting on a wooden stool.
“Then you’re here, I can go ... behind the counter there’s a meal in case you get hungry later,” she added, getting up slowly to reach for a shawl that she threw around her neck before leaving the fish market.
Viktor placed Siride behind the counter next to the meal prepared by the owner and put on a dark coat.
It took the chosen one a while before getting used to the strong smell of fish.
The hours went by slowly and it seemed that the night would never end and, moreover, he began to feel the fatigue of training.
His thoughts turned to Selene with ever-increasing force, but that night he tried not to think of her.
All this, however, couldn’t keep his mind from wondering if his feelings really were exaggerated. Perhaps she wasn’t the friend he had thought, at least, not anymore.
Maybe Devanorth and Trust were right to believe that he was in love. Evidently he didn’t realize it because he had never been in love before, he had never met a girl who made him feel the same emotions.
He really had to like her: this was the only logical explanation he gave himself when he thought about how jealous he was and how he felt bad about the circumstances he was living.
At the end of the shift, Viktor ate the cold meal continuing to wriggle out of the grip of his thoughts, then he got some rags to clean a wooden tub.
Before closing the shop, he made a last round of the fish shop, then went out in the cold, damp air of a clear night.
Walking on the pier that skirted the lake, on the way back to the inn, he saw a figure sitting with her feet dangling over the cold wood, and her head to one side as she observed the silent, dark horizon.
The boy approached slowly, then the mysterious person moved her head. At that moment, rapid golden reflections ran through the filaments of her hair and the young man winced: Selene sat a few steps away from him.
Instinctively, he slipped into a narrow space between two buildings, embarrassed.
He still didn’t want to speak to her, but avoiding her so shamelessly, as if he didn’t care about her, didn’t convince him that it was the best solution.
“One more step, courage … You’ve known her all your life, Viktor!” he repeated deep down inside to encourage himself.
He swallowed and breathed heavily before coming out in the open and approaching her.
Near the girl, the wood under Viktor’s feet creaked and Selene winced.
“You scared me”
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to.”
She didn’t answer.
“Can I sit down?” asked the boy hopefully.
“How did it go in the fish shop?” she asked.
“The usual monotony, I’m not very enthusiastic about it.”
“You don’t have to do it …”
“I know, Devanorth told me so too … and you? Why are you out here?”
The sound of the water in the lake was the only thing that interrupted the long silence that followed.
The chosen one rubbed his hands and sat down next to his friend.
“It’s cold, isn’t it? You could have stayed under the warm blankets in the inn. We have training tomorrow morning and it would be better if you rested a bit.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“I understand…,” he nodded.
“And you? Wouldn’t you prefer going to sleep instead of wasting time here?”
He looked at her. “I’m not wasting time … I don’t waste time when I’m with you.”
There was a brief pause before she answered: “Do you remember when you upset me with your gesture on the bridge between Lezhen and Beleth? Do you remember how we argued late into the night at the inn in Beleth before you met Devanorth?”
“Yes, and by that…”
“Even then I spent a sleepless night. And again now. I really would like to stop arguing but there’s always something wrong, whether it’s me or your behaviour that I hardly recognize anymore.”
A tear dropped down the girl’s cheek and stopped just above her chin.
“I never wanted to lose you in any way! I didn’t want to get to this ...”
“I don’t recognize you anymore!” Selene cried.
Viktor looked down, his face dark.
“So many things have changed in such a short time ... perhaps it is the awareness of my new life that gives me so much insecurity. I can often say something wrong, make mistakes ... but only in this way we learn from them and make sure that we don’t repeat them. Making mistakes is as useful as it is fair, but all is nullified if there isn’t someone at our side to understand us!”
“But you can’t even blame your mistakes on other people, though! You can’t,” Selene answered rising from the pier and walking down the road to the inn.
Viktor got up and followed her, grapping her wrist; she turned around.
Come right out and tell her Viktor.
He felt her lips wet with tears brush against his gently, to then become a mixture of such overwhelming emotions that he was speechless.
As their lips, even their hands merged together, their fingers intertwined.
The two became a single figure, like the sun and the moon in a spectacular, unexpected eclipse.
TURIN
A s in a painting of sumptuous elven gardens, the pleasant village of Lezhen had been even more embellished by the lush gardens and the cultivated fields with its furrows so full of new life as never before.
In the clearing behind the farm some scarecrows made of wooden planks and straw had trouble remaining immobile.
Spring, now in full bloom, listened to the bowstring as it stretched.
The arrow travelled a long distance, sticking into the neck of a dummy.
“Gabriel, you’re here!” a familiar voice called behind him.
Good old Trust struggled among some plants to reach the young man in the clearing.
“You’re training with a few strokes?”
“A good way to release tension and relax at the same time after a morning at work.
“I thought you’d prefer to rest! Is your father at home?”
“Yes, he is … has something happened?
“I’ve got three nice first-cut horse steaks, I bought them today at the butcher’s. Do you think your father wants one?”
Gabriel put the new shaft in the quiver and lowered the bow, then he turned to the blacksmith.
“He surely will. Are you remaining for lunch? Being in company is a good way to get my father’s mind off his troubles.”
“He still misses Viktor?”
Well, yes … how couldn’t he. He seems to be better though. Maybe he’s coming to terms with it, I’m by his side.”
“Like it should be… who knows how your brother is getting along…”
“I prefer not to think about it…” Silence fell. Come on, let’s go back to the village. I need to rinse off before lunch!”
Trust nodded and the two of them started walking toward the small circle of houses separated by the river.
“If Viktor and Selene were with us, remaining in Lezhen all together, during the spring season, it would have been fantastic. Nature really has a lot of fantasy this time of the year,” he observed with a smile veiled with nostalgia.
“Idyllic ...” Trust pointed out, letting his mind wander.
******
Vroel and Devanorth sat at a solitary table in the inn.
“The consequences that this story can take aren’t positive. The boy learns quickly, Mirthya’s equilibrium begins to vacillate and the future is getting darker and darker. There’s little time left, with a bit of luck perhaps a few years. If we don’t use precautions the world will once again slide towards chaos, starting a second War of Oblivion.”
Devanorth nodded, holding his mug of beer tighter.
“Viktor will be ready when time runs out. Unthinkable to compare him to Xmenath’s level, but it will be enough to drive the evil back into its den.”
“The more valid is the one who wields Arald, the more lasting will be the time of calm. Xemnath confined Zergh for eight hundred years; how long do you think Viktor can do it? I don’t doubt him, but every time Zergh returns he’s always more powerful and I don’t know how long we’ll be able to compete with him. Eight hundred years of imprisonment are enough to motivate him to win the next fight.”
“These are problems that the entire council of the Circular Hall will face only after Viktor has completed his task: for now we have to face problems of primary urgency,” Devanorth replied.
“You say? And what would they be?”
“The completion of Viktor’s training and his success in fulfilling the destiny that the Star has entrusted to him. When he’s ready and Arald can reveal itself to him… the difficult part will begin. He’ll have to learn how to handle a much greater power than he thinks and it won’t be easy to use it when he finds out what’s behind that use.” With the last sentence, Devanorth lowered his voice so that no one could hear him.
Vroel looked around, worried, then he nodded. “It seems that his basics are well under way. Tomorrow, just before sunset, we’ll have a duel. I only hope that all goes well, so that we can return to the Den.”
“Anyway, you’ve been strange for a while,” he said.
“I’m just a little tired. I’m no longer a kid, now ...” replied Devanorth, sipping from his mug.
“Are you sure?”
“I have a bad feeling … it’s as if I feel the whole planet fear the worst with me. I listen to the complaints of its fears and tremble with it. I think it’s a bad omen and am beginning to consider the idea that something could go wrong.”
“Perhaps, as you were saying before, you’re only tired; and you feel the weight of the situation. Every member of the Star bears responsibilities now ...”
Devanorth barely smiled and got up from the table.
“Staying on the topic of fatigue, I think I’ll go and rest for a while. Leave the youths a free afternoon, tomorrow evening they’ll have to take the final test … don’t be hard on them,” he smiled, taking leave with a wave of his hand.
Vroel followed him to the front door of the inn; then, without making a sound, he disappeared.
******
Viktor was preparing for the umpteenth evening shift at the market.
A few days earlier, he resumed reading the diary of the memoirs he had received during his first visit to the Den, hoping to find answers to questions that the diary itself had put into his mind.
He closed Xemnath’s diary, put it in a case and left the room.
The evening went by as usual: a few customers, tubs to clean and other small arrangements.
Time went by slowly; when he saw the oil in the torch on the wall run out, he realized that working hours had finally come to an end. He closed the shop and began walking along the pier, but someone attracted his attention.
Selene called to him, raising her hand and going toward him with a steady step.
“It’s cold at this hour of night … are you thinking of joining me at the fish market every night?” Viktor smiled to her.
“Only if you don’t mind,” she answered, kissing him on the cheek.
“What have you got there?” Viktor inquired pointing to a leather bag on Selene’s shoulder.
“Precautions. Because of the cold, you know... as you said.”
“The girl took his hand and together they reached the edge of the bridge, the dark pool of the lake reigning beneath them.
“I wanted to stay here a little with you... with work and training we don’t have so much time to ourselves,” Selene admitted after they both sat on the wood, covering themselves with a large greenish blanket that the girl had pulled out from her bag.
“You aren’t tired, are you?” she asked, placing one side of her face on Viktor’s shoulder.
“Not to stay here a little with you,” he replied, wrapping his arm around her waist.
“What a clever move the other night…”
“What move?”
“The kiss. I didn’t expect it from you.”
“I didn’t either. Perhaps, however, it was what I always wanted ...”
“When did you realize this?”
“When I realized that simply having you beside me was no longer enough for me; when I felt what it meant losing you,” said Viktor, his voice trembling.
She hugged him tighter and stood still, without speaking. Although Selene was more outgoing and self-confident, both she and Viktor were very embarrassed with the situation.
Suddenly her childhood friend and lifelong confidant had become even more fundamental and this made her uncomfortable.
Her heart was pounding, her stomach tightened.
A distant and feeble shooting star drew an arch between the stars that filled the clear, cloudless night sky.
Selene’s eyes shone as her gaze landed on the star wrapped in white and silver flames, then closed.
“What are you doing?” asked Viktor.
She waited a bit before reopening her eyes. “I made a wish.”
“I didn’t know you were the type that expresses wishes on a fallen star,” the boy admitted.
“In fact, I’ve never done it before. Why do people express wishes?” she asked.
“Because hope is the last thing you lose?”
“Exactly. People express wishes because they have the strength to hope. I swear, I’ve never taken these things seriously, but someone you know made me change my mine.”
“Someone I know well?” repeated Viktor.
“Gabriel. On our way to the monastery, we stopped to observe the stars and, as now, a star traced the sky and disappeared behind the tops of the trees. Your brother scolded me for not expressing a desire, making me realize that, as silly as it may sound, people need to show how much they still believe.”
Viktor smiled at the mention of his brother’s name and his thoughts flew to him and to the green groves around Lezhen. When Selene fell silent, he understood that she too must have followed him in his thoughts.
The two remained hugging a while longer before getting up to return to the inn, tired and sleepy.
In spite of being sleepy, Viktor thought he saw someone slip behind a house a few steps away from him, but he didn’t have the strength or the desire to know for sure, but he still kept his senses alert as much as he could until he arrived to his room.
In the meantime, Devanorth was at arm’s length and watched the couple disappear behind the inn door.
A smile rippled over his face.
“It seems he talked to her,” he said to himself with satisfaction.
******
Late in the afternoon, Vroel and Devanorth began the test that saw Viktor engaged in fighting the half vampire and Selene curing any possible injuries the boy could have gotten.
Devanorth would only stand aside and judge, hopeful in the youth’s abilities.
If Viktor won the duel, the group could leave for the Den of the Star.
“As usual, all you have to do is touch me with your weapon to win,” Vroel repeated.
“Selene, are you ready?” asked Devanorth.
Viktor pulled Siride out and clenched his fingers around the hilt.
“Ready,” she assured him.
“Well then. Let’s begin!”
Vroel shifted and opened his hand palm down, then he exclaimed: “Gaedra!”
Stone spikes emerged from the ground towards Viktor, who cleverly dodged them.
“Druira!” Viktor summoned this time.
Water bolts darted violently from the lake heading for Vroel, who started running towards the boy.
At that point, arriving to his side, he blocked his arm making Siride fall, then pushed him forward.
Viktor had barely got firm on his legs when his mentor hit him in several places with Devanorth’s weapon.
After the umpteenth blow, he tried to oppose resistance by punching his adversary in the face, but he failed. When Vroel tried to hit him again, however, he unexpectedly parried the blow with the other cane.
In fact he had managed to slip the weapon from its sheath. The boy raised a hand to the duellist’s face and shouted: “Seida!”
A strong gust of wind hit Vroel in his breastbone, pushing him backwards and, while he was getting up, Viktor sensed the effects of Selene’s magic carrying out its task.
“Great control of the elements, I grant you that,” Vroel said.
“If you had done it seriously, I couldn’t have done it,” the boy answered, launching one of the two canes to him.
“Certainly not. But this is enough for the level we’re looking for at the moment,” Vroel confirmed, handing Eren and Delir to Devanorth.
“Congratulations to the both of you. Test passed,” Devanorth announced.
Selene hugged Viktor and Vroel seemed amused by the little scene, satisfied with the challenge.
Devanorth, on the other hand, casted a significant glance to his friend.
“Viktor, did you learn only the runes of the elements from the book you were given?” asked Devanorth.
“They are the runes that end with the letter ‘a’, right? Well yes … I studied the elements and hardly looked at the others, why?”
“I wanted to understand how far you went. And you?” he turned to the girl.
“I learned the basic runes regarding the magic of curing and just gave a glance to the element runes.”
Devanorth nodded
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