3 The Blue Swamp

It had been several hours since they left the orphanage, the journey was endless and it seemed that they would never arrive, Zenda was not used to make trips as long as this and much less with someone whom she did not know technically long ago, however with time Zenda was quickly gaining confidence with her new mother, she was charismatic, a bit sarcastic and elegant, but with good principles. After talking for part of the trip, Mirtha decides to stop ina self-service car to put gas in the car and buy some food. When she returns, zenda curiously asks her what the place where they were nicknamed the blue swamp looks like.

—Well, the blue swamp is, as its name says, a pretty big swamp, clearly it's not like we're going to live in the swamp as such and be among the rushes and wet trees, there's a town which is also called by the same name as the swamp by foreign people, it's actually called boglachville, but it's a little hard to learn so only a few who live in it name it that way." — and what does that mean? Boglachille or whatever you say. -haha boglachville, it is a strange name, it is the mixture of boglach, which means swamp in Scots and ville which as you will know is villa, swamp village. "But —That village... Is it in the water? The marshes have plenty of water. How do you make a village there? —well, it's actually a very large swamp and it's not all made up of water, although if there is water near some houses, the town was built on a fairly stable land, more stable than in the rest of the swamp. —ahh, what things can be done? I know there are many questions but curiosity kills me. —you ask as many questions as you want that you are free of that, although I don't think you want to know everything about the swamp, you know, monsters and those things. — monsters?! Really? I don't believe you. "Of course there are no monsters," she says with a feigned wicked laugh, "or perhaps?" Mmm who knows...

Even if it doesn't seem like it, there are many things you can do in a swamp, you can go fishing through the different secret and not so secret water routes there are, you can walk through mysterious paths that run through the swamp, there are even some that only certain people know and that lead to specific places - everything? Isn't it a big swamp? - yes, of course, but not all trails are accessible, some are forbidden because they are dangerous as they walk through areas where crocodiles abound, - crocodiles?! -yes, big crocodiles measuring up to 7 meters - but are there any of those crocodiles in the village?? "Of course not, there have been cases where they have been seen nearby but you can rarely find them hovering in the west. Within the town there is not much tourist attraction to say, we have the cemetery called ilana DE aragonesa, in honor of the youngest daughter of the aragonese family, founder of the town. "And why did they name it?" Did anything happen to her? - yes, although to this day it is still considered the greatest mystery of the village. Let me tell you what happened: one day, like any other, the aragonese family and their few visitors were enjoying an ordinary Sunday, there was a tradition that every last Sunday of the month a feast was held to celebrate the family and the success of the newborn boglachville. But things didn't turn out as expected.

But things did not end up as expected. Night had fallen and the family was getting ready for the feast, but it is said that something strange happened to Ilana that day, she had been having visions about the place, they say that it spread among the few inhabitants that there was one of the visions of Ilana had been the one of an enormous specter that inhabited the swamp and that claimed to be its owner, a supposed creature in the form of a giant snake the thickness of a house and longer than the same town from end to end. —a giant snake? in the swamp? I am very afraid of snakes, please tell me it is not real. —do not worry Zenda, they are just fantasy stories, nothing more.

Zenda asked her to continue telling the story as she was very curious and intrigued about what happened

People and even her family began to take her like crazy, all until that very night. It is said that when the doors of the house were closed a strong wind swept through and a sensation of chills to all those who lay seated, legend has it that the voice of the creature, who was never seen by anyone but was able to speak from where I would like for them to listen to her, said "as you dare to occupy these sacred lands blessed by the blue moon, you have no more consolation, you must give me your youngest soul Ilana, if you do not do it I will torment you every full moon and all those who dare to cross through this swamp, they have three more full moons to give me their daughter, or else I will take her away and spill a curse that only a spirit destined for the moon can break "

"What you mean by" moon spirit "are clearly fantasy tales, but I would like to know as follows. - well, it is said that for three full moons, as the spectre said, the family and the village was tormented by multiple events, the first full moon there were floods without even rain, the second full moon brought with it all kinds of dangerous and wild animals to the village, even some who had never been in that area before, and finally the third moon, which would break the family, a deadly disease broke out only in them, There were 16 members and only 6 were left when the full moon ended, although later one more would leave, ilana. Legend has it that one day she was walking along a path and could not notice a bright blue light floating a few meters away from her, she try to follow It to know what it was, and that was the last time she was seen, and to this day, 145 years later, her whereabouts are still unknown. Her father, who was not far from ilana, says he saw a blue aura surround his daughter and take her to the depths of the swamp.

-wow, how tragic, you don't believe in those stories, do you? - well, not really though, if something is true is that ilana disappeared and these stories were told by the same family, it is still very easy to manipulate history and change it in a fantastic way with the passing of the generations so it is possible that we will never know, maybe that is not the end of the story, since after all this the aragonese family possessed a treasure of great value. But having lost an entire family they did not feel that they needed such a fortune as the best things had been taken away and could never be taken back. - and... Found the treasure? Or it's still hidden somewhere in the swamp. - they did not find it, but before the father of the family, liam aragonesa disappeared after leaving in a boat through one of the water channels never to return, he left a couple of clues and secrets, the tomb of ilana has a mark, like a small hole where it is seen that a precious stone goes, some believe that this precious stone is the one that was in the special necklace of Ilana, a rare blue diamond in its kind that was brought from France, but over the years has disappeared. "But what does that stone have to do with the treasure?" That in itself is a treasure but how would you find it? - well that's what I'm going to do, don't hurry me, the stone when placed in the tomb won't do anything special but there are those who say that liam spent years preparing a map that is hidden in Ilana's tomb, a map that is not visible to the naked eye, and that the full moon is said to reveal the path along with the diamond in the tomb itself.

One hour later

—We are about to arrive Zenda, are you excited to meet your new home? she said with an enthusiastic face —yes! Sure, I'm super intrigued with Ilana's story, are there more similar or fantastic stories like this one about the swamp? and Mirtha replies — of course! And I can't wait to tell you all.