The orphaned children

The next day, as usual, he got up very early, with the first light of dawn.

Before leaving home, he opened the wooden table hidden in the ground. The notes and the stacks of papers that had recovered from Roland's house were still there. He sighed with relief and went into the forest with his bow and arrows.

Usually, going hunting helped him forget everything. He could set a goal and pursued it for much of the morning. Once the hunt finished, back home, he cleaned the dead animal and removed its skin. Then he stored it or got it ready for cooking it later. He did this every day, mechanically. It had become a habit, a ritual.

But that day he could not focus. Several hours had passed and his attemps to hunt a deer failed one after another.

As much as he tried, he could not take his mind off the horrible death of his friend, quartered by a Lamat. But the image that had more fixed in his mind was his expressionless face, as he was being devoured. Those empty eyes. That lifeless expression.
What had happened? Who were these people and why had they done something so horrible? His blood began to boil. He kicked one of the trees. He could not understand anything.

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Orphaned children of the Tower began to arrive, as usual, for training. Many of them had a tired expression on their faces. Their clothes were in tatters and dirty.

-When a Lamat is coming for you, never attack directly to the front- Ark exclaimed, with his booming voice - Say I'm the Lamat. Ok? And I am attacking Kullan - he pointed towards a scrawny and pale boy who reminded him when he was also an orphan boy in the Tower- What are you doing, Kullan? Be quick! - He pounced on him.

The child leaned back, with a jump, and protected himself with wooden sword. Ark, however, fell on him and made him fall to the ground. Everyone laughed out loud.

-A Lamat weighs 5 tons. If this monster is attacking you from the front, leaning back will not prevent you from being run over by it - he offered his hand to the boy, and helped him to get up- Come again! And this time use that pretty little head, which not only serves to grow hair.

After several hours of training, the children, exhausted but with a satisfied gleam in their eyes, gathered around Ark. He smiled.

-So? You hungry, lads?

-Yes! - They screamed in unison, with a laugh.

Alone Again

The rock was gone. Instead, he was lying on the ground, feeling a sharp pain on his temples, so painful that it was as if two small dwarves were digging his head with peaks from within the skull.

He noted the woods around him. The same light. The rays of a full moon fell from the top of thick oaks. His whole body hurt, but he finally stood up.

What had happened? Where was Roland?

He leaned against one of the trees, and started to reorganize his thoughts.
He began to remember everything from the beginning, and the more he remembered, the more unreal everything seemed. Did they have really killed Roland? He couldn't still believe it. No. There had to be a mistake somewhere. Perhaps everything had been part of a hallucination. Maybe something on the rock, those runes, had made them lose their minds.

No, as unreal as it seemed, it had also been too clear. He felt a sharp pain on his right side, where a Lamat had stoked him. Shit! No, it had not been a fucking hallucination.

Where was Ume?

He was looking for them, for a long time. For her and Roland. He was screaming their names. No response. Only the sound of owls and crickets.

This was not the solution. He knew well that he wouldn't be able to find them there. Something was wrong. He had to go somewhere. Yes. he had to go to a place, urgently.

Now!

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Darkness reigned before the house of Roland. Not a single light on. No moanings, no women insulting him from below. The door was locked and no one answered his door knocks.
Driven by an almost obsessive determination, he went to the back of the house and climbed over the walls. He broke a window with his elbow and entered a room.

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He lit a candle and could see inside the studio of Roland. Books, books and more books. He hated this boring junk. How could he gather so much useless things? It was not time to try to understand.
He opened the drawers and looked inside. There were many writings of his own handwriting. Foreign entries in languages ​​he did not understand. Drawings of strange creatures here and there.

He did not understand a thing, but he knew he had to take those notes somewhere safe . And also those books.
He took the wads of notes and papers, and began to place them in a bag he had found in the pantry.

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Suddenly, a loud door slammed downstairs in the main room, and a lot of hasty footsteps came inside. Glass breaking, thuds, broken furniture.
Shit! He began to hear those footsteps climbing up, up the stairs.
He grabbed a bundle of notes, thrust them hastily into the sack and took one last look at the books on the shelves.

To hell with the books. I'm outta here!

With great agility he clambered over the window and jumped away into the street with such bad luck that landed over a Guard. Before the guard received the blow to the head that left him unconscious, he had time to scream.

So many things happening in just one fucking night. Holy shit!

-Go get him! Don't let him escape!

But even though her body ached, Ark had no equal in terms of agility and speed. Before long he had disappeared and left everyone behind, clambering over several houses. Then, thanks to the cover of darkness and avoiding the moonlight, he returned to his cabin with his bag on his shoulder, filled with strange and mysterious notes.

He was confused, very sad for Roland. He also remembered that kiss. That perfume, that silky skin and those honey-colored eyes.

Ume ... would she be left alone in this world without anyone?

And Roland? Would his aura continue to be trapped in another world?

He blew out all the candles of his cabin and sat on the bed.
Looking at how the moon seemed to be broken off by clouds, he came to a resolution.

-I will rescue you. You both.

Ark and Women

Ark had always felt uncomfortable with women. They were incomprehensible, strange beings that didn't seem to be governed by rational rules. And they turned others that surrounded them irrational, too.

That girl with big eyes was still talking, but he was not listening. He was spellbound, paralyzed. He hated that feeling of helplessness. Whenever he felt threatened, he could always pull out the sword. But that was impossible with a girl. There was something about the way she placed a finger to her nose, thoughtfully, as she continued talking. There was something in the way she retreated her blue hair behind her ear. Something in the way she opened and closed her eyelids with those long lashes. Something that was unable to describe, that left him more helpless than a baby in a basket being dragged by the current of a river.

-Long story short, when I saw that little bud that appeared on the tree, I thought that something very strange was happening. Because...You know? Since I appeared here 18 years ago, this tree had always been dead. Hey ... Are you listening to me?

-Uh? - Ark came to with a spasm, as when one is awakened from a deep sleep - Ah, yes, yes - It was not true. He hadn't listened to any word she had said - but I was thinking uh ...that it would be nice to know your name. What is your name?

-What is my name? - She repeated that funny gesture, her finger on the nose - Ume. My name is Ume. And yours?

She was speaking slowly, as if she was struggling with this type of communication.

-My name is Ark. Nice to meet you, Ume.

-What are you talking about? We've already met each other! - she raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

-This is called a presentation. It's a social rule. It's a polite thing to do. You give me my name and I give you mine in exchange. We had forgotten.

-A presentation? - She laughed, twisted her mouth and her eyes narrowed - Social rule? Ha ha! I think the only fool here is you.

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-Ume. You haven't answered me yet. Where are we exactly? I mean ... I have to go back to the Fortress. I do not know how to get back and you ...

Suddenly, Ume silenced him. Without realizing it, she had approached him, on tiptoe, and, without a word, she kissed him on the lips.

-Is this also a social rule?

-¡¿Wh ... What are you doing ?!

-Why are you trying to avoid me all the time? I don't get it. I just want you to be my companion. I've been very lonely for many years.

-No ... that's not what I mean. But you can't suddenly...

Ark felt as if his heart was pumping with a blistering pace. His breathing ragged. His chest was burning. He felt an unbearable desire to run away. He also wished that those waters swallowed him forever.

-Suddenly? - Again she approached him. He backed up again and bumped his head against the tree trunk - Ha ha! Again! You're cute.

-Ume, I ...

-You? - Again she brought her lips over Ark's lips, very naturally. When she was about to kiss him again, he collapsed on his knees, and placed both his hands over his flushed face. Then he felt the whole world collapsing on him, contracting and expanding. The colors were mixing each other. Something inside him began to spin in vertigineous speed, in spiral shaped turns as if it wanted to go somewhere.

-¡Ark! - Ume shouted. And she embraced him - What's wrong? Hey!

And they both disappeared from that island, in the blink of an eye.
And that watery world, for the first time, was left completely alone.

The lonely island

Ark opened his eyes. Before him there was the young girl, squatting before him, looking at him somewhere between afraid and amazed. When she looked at his open eyes, she jumped and laughed. Then she hugged him.

-What a relief! I thought you were going to die.

-But what...?

Ark had never smelled such a captivating perfume. She smelled like many flowers, but like none in particular. Under that white dress he could feel her creamy skin perfectly. Overwhelmed by so much femininity, he jumped away from her, leaning back, and hit his head against the trunk of a small tree.

-Oh!

-Ha ha! Watch out! Are you really fine? You look confused - she placed one of his hands on his forehead, as wanting to know if he had a fever.

-No, don't worry, I'm fine - he could feel the blood concentrating on both his cheecks, and he again moved away from her and glanced around - Where are we?

There was water everywhere. Marshes, with little vegetation, extended by the four cardinal points.
There was only a small rocky and dry island, and this was the place where they were now. The sun was red and it seemed anchored on the horizon, not moving. Was it dusk or dawn? There was no sign of any animal. They were only the two of them in this world of water. Two of them and a small tree that would not measure more than a meter and a half. It seemed to be dead.

-Ah! Oops, sorry, I'm not used to receiving any visitors. In fact, hehe, is the first time I get one - she placed a hand on her chin and her little nose scrunched, eyes narrowed - All this time I have been wishing to have company and, suddenly, I forget what I wanted to say - she sighed , defeated - Anyway. This is the place where I live.

-Where you live? But there is only wilderness here. there is only water and rocks.

-Is not that enough? - she asked, her head bowed somewhat hesitantly.

-Look, I don't know whether you're kidding or you have simply lost your mind, but see, very strange things have been happening to me - he began to tell, stroking his fingers nervously - I was in the desert, watching my Old Me becoming crazy,when you suddenly appeared and got me out of there, bringing mme to this island. The point is that before reaching this desert I used to live in The Fortress- he paused and looked at her. She looked even more confused. Her nose wrinkles had intensified - I came with a Rock Entrance. I just don't know anymore. Everything seems a nightmare. I think I'm also becoming crazy.

-I do not know what you're talking about - she shrugged - You'll see. I've lived here for 18 years and today it was the first time that the waters were agitated. They have even formed small waves. So I went out to investigate, swimming, looking for the source of those waves and, in the end, I reached you. That is all. Then I brought you back here and I gave you some of this water.
And by the look of it, it seems it worked like a wonder!

A blue lightning

A blue lightning illuminated everything and, right after, a thick fog of the same color quickly spread through-out the forest. The screams, gradually, became more and more distant until there was silence. Ark did not know if that was a good or a bad sign. It was probably the latter. Those wizards had already caught him and they were about to do him the same they did to Roland. And he wouldn't be able to defend himself.
He tried to move his muscles, but he was totally paralyzed. He could not even close his eyes. He didn't feel his own body.

The noise of soft, spongy footsteps on the grass.

Tiny and whitish feet stopped before him. They looked like the feet of a child. A dress the color of the sky, simple, unadorned. She knelt beside him. And then she could see her: she was a teenager who would not be older than 18 years old. The first thing he noticed was her smile and her eyes. Both things at once. They were eyes of an intense honey and her hair was blue and silky That smile was, for him, like going from seeing a black and stormy sky, to seeing an immense starry sky, lying in the middle of a clearing. And the sound of a spring. Yes, that girl was water. This was her element.

In fact, they were both floating in a blue liquid. The fog was thick, and he could not see if that was a river. The strange thing is that she was kneeling on that water, caressing his hair. Her hair was now much longer. They grew as they moved through those waters. They were already so long, he did not know whether that liquid was water or just her hair all around. Both hair and water moved in waves, like being blown by an invisible wind.

She was a lovely girl.
He tried to say something, but his body still did not answer.
She, then, placed one of her small hands over his eyes, and everything turned dark.