CHAPTER IV: LIGHTS AND SHADES

The golden daughter felt a heavy breath as she reached Eldrįner. She wanted to breathe cold air again, so she left her horse in the main stable, and stayed in Edoer, on the outskirts of the nightfall of the town; she wandered near the campaigns, among the locals and country tents of the elves' kingdom.

She found a small group, remote; lonely upon a small mound. It was a meeting for storytelling, where the mythical stories of the caged dragons, Tales of the Töran, and lost kingdoms of the south and the east were being narrated. Amara integrated herself into the audience, and the whole group recognized her immediately. They stopped to applaud her, as she asked them to stop doing it so, clumsily. The event continued this time with more intensity, in the presence of the magical Princess of Aramordt.

After the event finished, the group was so amazed, that some of them stayed and continued telling stories. In fact, they lit the fire even more. Amara was also enjoying the sweet reunion; she now was telling them old tales and adventures of her mother, who dwells in the path of her father.

A boy suddenly approached the beautiful princess. He was coming from a group of young elves, within the festivity of dinner.

"Ma'am, can I ask you a question?" exclaims the boy.

"Tell me, my child," Amara replies.

"Are you an elf?"

"Not really, my boy," answers the princess, laughing. "I'm not, as far as I'm concerned!"

"Then why do you have long ears? And a pointy nose?"

The boy was confused. But suddenly, he saw a small fire crystal, embedded in the inside of the princess' right hand.

"Wait, are you an Agnarok?"

"You are right, my prince," replied the princess.

"An Agnarok!" shouts the boy. "The unique race of a Solarian, mixed with the fury of a Dragon!"

"As you say," exclaims Amara. "Furthermore, I am a member of the Royal Raēn Race. In my veins, runs the Divine Blood of Dragons."

"This is unbelievable! It's just—it's incredible!" shouted the boy. "I thought this only existed in the Töran! But how ... how is this possible? How does a dragon have children with a sorceress, if they, you know—"

"Calev is enough!" exclaims the boy's mother, approaching the scene. "Shut your mouth right now! Don't ask any more of your improper questions!

"No, no, Tessied! It's fine!" Amara says with a smile. "He is a very curious child."

"A long time ago, my father was a dragon," expands the princess. "But with the help of my mother, he became a human in order to protect her, in the face of a dangerous battle. An attack of barbarians, that was probably going to cost my mother's life. As a dragon, he could not protect her, but as a man, he could."

"They were really in love," she continued, "so much, that my father renounced his physical state, was expelled from his kingdom, and successfully defended my mother's native town, against the imminent battle. He triumphed and became the king of these people. Although as a man, he remained a Raēn in the nature of his soul, and because he was a chosen one, his life ended up being guided by the ancestral spirits of the dragon realm; our ancestors. Who led him to find, his own path of a king."

"And from my father, a new dynasty emerged," she continued. "The adaptation of the Raēn Spirits incarnated into humans, was born. And the adaptation of the Kingdom of Dragons in the terrestrial race began. And the dragons found their leader again, reassuring the continuity of a name, a kingdom, guided by the hands of one man. He married my mother, made her the Queen of the Region, and promised his love to her, for all of existence."

"Your father is King Argônæth!" exclaimed the boy. "And your mother is the Queen Leyra, the owner of the forests from the north!"

"That's right," says the woman blushing. "But, let's keep it private, shall we?"

"I cannot believe this!" said the kid. "Are you their only daughter? Do you have siblings?"

Amara remains silent.

"Are there others like you? Please, tell me there are more!"

"Calev is enough!" exclaims the mother. "Excuse me, Amara, that's why I didn't want him to continue."

"It's okay Tessied," the woman exclaims. "Yes, there are others like me. We were five brothers, but we are all scattered now. I hope that, on another occasion, we can all meet again. Actually, I just came from seeing my older sister! Maybe, I can tell her to come here, and that day we can tell you the story, way better. What do you think?"

"Yes!" exclaims the boy. "Mommy we must come. Please! I beg you!"

The boy's mother only laughed subtly and looked again into the eyes of the golden princess.

"You are so good with children," exclaims the mother.

"Do you think?" Amara asks.

"It's so hard for me. I guess it's simple for you, because of Ada," the woman exclaims. "How lucky is she to have the most beautiful and honorable woman I have ever known, as her mother."

"I hope she also believes in that," Amara replies, distracted.

"How did things go with her?" exclaimed Tessied. "You saw her recently right?"

"She is so big, and gorgeous," responds the princess. "Sometimes I feel like I'm putting her through an unmeasurable pain; unfair for her. Eros isn't paying attention to her needs either. He is more concerned about us, and that is exactly what bothers me! I'm not here because I want to, Tessied. I am here because I have a commitment with Elgoneth, I have a commitment to my people, I have a commitment with myself. I am here because I have to succeed, we have to succeed. More than anyone, he should understand that." "I understand, ma'am," says the woman. "These are difficult times; I guess all he wants, is to be closer to you."

"I guess you're right," says the woman. "I'm going to rest now. We must be prepared. The moment will come, at any time."

Meanwhile, at the Aramordt Refuge, the granddaughter of the blue legacy was ready to sleep. The adorable royal heir was held by a young woman, a friend of the family; a beautiful company.

"Miss Ivonne," exclaims Ada. "Could you tell me a story before I go to sleep?"

"You know I'm not good with stories my princess."

"Come on!" says the girl. "I know you can give me one!"

"Okay," answers Ivonne. "Once there was a bee, so tiny, that she found the little feet of a very intrepid girl; it went all up her little body until she found her tummy and the beak!"

"Miss Ivonne!" says the girl between tickles. "That way I won't be able to sleep!"

"You're right," says the young woman. "Sweet dreams, little princess," says Ivonne.

The woman got up and went away. And as she was about to close the door, the girl spoke to her again.

"Can I ask you something?" exclaims Ada. "Anything, my darling."

"Do you think my mom doesn't love me?"

"What?!" responds Ivonne. "Of course she does! Why do you say that?"

"Because she always leaves me,"

The woman was impressed by such a response, which followed as she stunned in silence. She sits back on the bed, and talks to the confused girl.

"Baby, as I've told you before, she has an important mission with your aunt," said Ivonne. "It's okay, they're going to resolve this soon, and before you can think about it, she is going to be here forever! She is going to be here for you, always!"

"You promise?" Ada asks.

A knot of fire came into the woman's throat, as a flash for the nervous one, and thought twice what she was about to say.

"I promise, my girl," responds the young woman.

The young woman went out of the room, as she went to the kitchen as quickly as she could; upon the owner of the beautiful lighthouse. "She can't wait any longer," exclaims Ivonne "Me neither," responds Eros.

"What happened guys?" the woman exclaims. "Yesterday you were so enthusiastic about this, now look at you."

"I don't know what's happening," exclaims Eros. "I need her here."

"Didn't you say that to her?"

"I did!" responds Eros. "And she told me that we must resolve things separately; that we can't be together. How the hell is she going to tell me that Ivonne? I feel so lonely."

Eros starts crying, and Ivonne approached the man. She cleaned his tears and held his face gently.

"You are alone because you want to," exclaims Ivonne. "You know I'm here. I'm here for both. I'm here for you."

They both stared at each other and as an instant in a lifetime passed by, kissed each other slowly. And in the midst of it all, the Colonel of Aramordt had an image of Amara over his mind. He stops the moment.

"Ivonne, I can't do this," he said. "I can't do this to Amara. She is annoying as hell, but she is everything to me."

"I'm sorry, I cannot do this either," exclaimed Ivonne, evasive. "I need -I need to go."

Among the hidden springs, a suspicious was quietly being found. Ceres was in it, for she couldn't sleep; it was late at night. She needed to clear her mind. She needed to clarify her doubts. She was trying to meditate when suddenly she felt an unusual, strange presence.

A dark dimness begins to cover the place, and the water from the lake begins to turn into a thick, grayish matter. Ceres rolled her eyes from side to side, and a voice whispered in her ears.

Thousands of thoughts began to run through her mind, hundreds of voices bellowed in her head, as a cry for help; as a name's vociferation, imploring for mercy.

She returns to herself. She rises from the ground and notices the lake's water is crystal clear and normal.

"I'm, as always, delusional," she exclaims to herself. "I need to wash my face."

Ceres then washed her face with the fresh water from the springs; as she did so, the reflection of the water began to distort. Through the reflection, her eyes turned black, and the light stopped meeting. In her pupils, started the display of a silhouette; a black hooded creature. A whisper, in the dark.

Terrified, she began to hear the voices again, which danced satirically, among the vapors of darkness arousing her. In the forefront, as the reflection of the spring's image, her younger sister's face began to materialize, while the eldest princess' eyes filled with horror and despair.

"Hello sister," exclaims Rita. "Why are you nervous?"

"What are you doing here?!""You are wounded, Ceres," answers the evil sorceress. "You want to hide it, but this infection is killing you." "Silence!" shouts Ceres.

Ceres hit the water, but the water immediately burned her arm; forcing her to back off, for a greenish acid gushed from it.

"As you probably know by now, this infection could only be cured by a vegetative potion. Which are only found in Eldrįner," exclaims Rita. "And comically enough, my sister didn't even bother to bring you one. That's what I like to call a real bond, don't you think?"

"Keep your mind games for yourself! Insane witch!" Ceres answers.

"The only one insane here, is you," Rita replies. "You are, as always, full of fear. Full of cowardice; filled with guilt and resentment, trying to change the unchangeable. Lost in the past, as she figures out where it all went wrong. But don't punish yourself, sister, what you did to me was the best thing you could've ever done. Just look at me! Thanks to you, I am now the owner of this disgusting planet. Well done, Ceres! You are truly the example to follow!" "You don't own anything, Abhir," Ceres replies. "Get out of my mind!"

Suddenly, Ceres had a vision. She didn't know if what she was seeing was her manifested imagination, but at the bottom of the dark lake, she recognized one of the four haunted Glass Mirrors of Sattara; lost for a hundred years. And this one was the most dangerous of the whole nation.

Looking at it, she identified the evilness of the growing energy sprouting out, which was quickly integrating into the currents of the water; flowing uncertainly inside the gloomy lake. The night beclouds, instantly; the shadows began to take over the terrains of the place. She saw the sinister reflection of her youngest sister everywhere and witnessed her distorted voice circulating in the corners of her disturbed mind, repeating a single phrase: My Fate.

Rita then, finally, appears to Ceres. She was floating over the lake, approaching her sister with a sinister look. She quickly reached the shore, where the king's eldest daughter covered her ears in the ground; drowned in hardship, kneeling in despair.

"You can't escape from me," Rita exclaims. "Don't you see it? On me relies the past, the present, and the future. Everything begins with me, everything ends with me. And before the clarity of the dawn from tomorrow's sun will shine the prairies, the fate we're all waiting for, will be sentenced. It is the end, of all present times."

The golden daughter got up in the middle of the dawn, and the woman's troubled mind gradually made sense again. She had a terrible dream. Her heart wanted to come out of herself, and her trembling hands forced her to open the door and explore the outsides of the hidden city. She needed to breathe again, for this dream felt like she was drowning in sharp marshlands.

For a little while it was empty, silent. She went to the vicinity of the forest, and caught a small sapphire dragon; a messenger one. She got an old and empty parchment, where she wrote a message for her older sister. In it, she asked her to come to Eldrįn as soon as possible, for Amara's judgment psyche couldn't rest. Her senses were screaming at her. Her intuition anticipated something. Her consciousness weighed on her like never before. She already knew it, because her nerves clearly provoked her. Her deadly rival was about to arrive.

Amara, however, could not sleep anymore. She stayed in the vicinity of the forest, in the infinity of the dawn. Suddenly, she felt a strange presence behind the tree where she had been sitting for a long time. He got up quickly and decided to attack, but a familiar face appeared immediately, in the low light that inhabited the place.

"Sister?" the golden daughter asks.

"Amara! Thanks to all heavens!" Ceres exclaims.

"Did you receive my message?

"What message?" asks Ceres.

"I just sent you a messenger, a dragon one, asking you to come," said the golden daughter.

"I came because my instincts told me to do so," Ceres replies. "I am not here because I want to."

"Why are you here then Ceres?" asked Amara.

"I just had an encounter with Rita," exclaims the king's eldest daughter.

The atmosphere paralyzed instantly. Amara suddenly, lost the colors of her vision, and scenes of her son falling from a precipice came to her mind; imploring for his mother. Screaming and crying in the void of the nowhere, destined for the irreverent death of his forlorn soul.

"It is true, then," says Amara.

"What?" Ceres asks.

"My visions, my nightmares, are all correct," exclaims the woman. "They are evidence, they are facts. I saw it all sister. Elgoneth has allowed me to see everything; you were both in the springs. He has been trying to communicate with me for a while now."

"What is he trying to say to you?" asked the elder sister.

"The truth, Ceres," exclaims the woman. "That day, when the three of us were there, upon that peak ...

"I know I must've died, okay?" Ceres replies. "Where do you think this grief comes from? This regret? I know it was my fate if that was Elgoneth's will. I felt it. I was paralyzed with fear. I knew Rita was that curse."

"But then again, she chose differently, to my surprise," she continues, "and closed the mouth of the entire empire. She remained loyal. Even I was proud of her. Relieved that this law was just a strange myth. Tell me, sister, what has it become now? Where does so much evil come from? Where does so much pain, so much anger, so much resentment come from?! Why destroy us like this now, Amara? We gave it all for her!"

"That is not our sister, Ceres," answers the golden princess. "Abhir died, the day her beloved one did."

"What will you do?" asks Ceres. "I know you want to face this on your own, but what if you come with me? What if we face it together?"

"We already tried Ceres. It didn't work," Amara replied. "I want to do it by myself, I need to try it alone, this time. I have to do it. I've been preparing four rimerians for this moment. Believe me, not a single day has gone by, in which I have not eagerly waited for this; with fervor, with passion. You already know what corresponds to me. It is my destiny."

Ceres then bowed her head and felt a bad omen. Instinctively, the golden daughter felt the remorse that existed inside of her sister; she then continued saying some words, some that would stay in her sister's mind, forever.

"If we must, we will face it together," Amara exclaims. "But it is up to me first, to deal with it. It's the wisest thing, and also an advantage for the army and for the kingdom. For the people, and for our father."

"Do you think my father wants this?!" Ceres shouts. "That's why I'm here for, Amara!"

"She took away everything that made sense to my Ceres! What do you want me to tell you ?!" answers the golden daughter. "I will not rest until that wretched witch has fallen!"

"It is our honor and the value for what beats within our souls!" she kept going. "Tell my father, I don't need him to send my sister to guide me. I know exactly what I want. I know exactly where I am going. And I know exactly what to do. Tell him, to look up into the clearing this morning, for Aramordt will rise in the North again, like his great empire. Like the renewed great nation. Like the counterattack of our people. Justice will be enforced. The Divine Law will be poured out on this miserable world, and I will make this place the heaven of all heavens! Tell him that when he sees the Golden Flag of victory, waving in Eldrįner's sky, over the airs of this chaotic planet, he will confirm the total demise of the Legion of Darkness. I promise you, sister, I will not leave that forest until I see that unfortunate woman dead; annihilated, and delivered to the profundities of the woods and the ground. To the extensions of the immortal forest. As it should have been, since the beginning of her life."

"This is what worries me, Amara," Ceres answers. "When you both meet in that forest, one of the two will pay with her own life. We don't want to lose either of you."

"Is this real? Do you still think Rita can recover?" Amara asks.

"My mother was thinking of doing The Clarendēn Spells to bring out the demon that lives inside of her; the one who controls her duty, and continues to do so."

"That demon is inside of her because she wanted it that way!" Amara answers. "Do you think she is not aware of everything she does? Don't you see it?! She was tormented all her life by her demons, she got tired, took possession of them, defeated each one of them, and now is the most powerful being of these cursed lands!"

"She is the sole owner of her ills," she continued. "She uses them as she pleases, covers herself with them; and since she's the queen of all her shadows and shades, I'd love to ask you, how does my mother think she is doing this under the command of a demon?! She controls them all! She dominates them all! She succeeded in her fight, and now they act upon what she tells them! She knows exactly what she has done; she wanted to do this since she was a child. There is no side of love, it doesn't exist anymore. Her heart is stained. Her mind is lost in gray. There is no balance in her energy, and the dark night of the soul is now fully integrated into her. It's the living evil. It's a calamity incarnated. And if we don't remove her, she will remove everything that is known. This is, her destiny."

"It's your decision," Ceres exclaims. "I just don't want to lose you."

"You won't, Ceres. I promise you," the woman exclaims. "Elgoneth is on my side."

Ceres then got back on her horse. The time to leave had arrived. She turned around, and before leaving, she gave a final word to her younger sister.

"I wish you the best of luck, sister," says the woman. "You are going to need it."

"Luck plays no role in the words of fate, Ceres," says Amara. "Trust me, I know we will reach victory."

"I hope so. For the good of this entire nation," the elder sister responds.

Amara couldn't sleep from what remained of the mystical dawn. She stayed in the forest, training until the first clear rays of the morning light showed up in the region. She anticipated it, sensed it in the atmosphere. The day of her revenge had finally arrived.

She raised all the locals, and prepared all the elves; guided them towards the brave view for they really needed it. The inevitable arrival of the unpostponable battle was clear and evident. She selected the best one hundred and forty archers and ordered them to hide in the heights of the tallest trees. Scattered, in the vicinity of the forest. The plan was to surprise the upcoming beasts up there, take down the fearful dragons flying over the Southern Elvish Forest, and battle within it. The Eleanor's Realm was to remain hidden and protected. And before the quick arrival of The Dark Legion, it was necessary the refuge of all of them in the vulnerable kingdom. The only way out was through.

Amara enlisted and placed both steel daggers on her back. She carried with her a phenomenal bow, along with thousands of arrows, all poisoned. Gingerly prepared by herself. With them, she intended to bring down the flying beasts, since this poison injected into their terrifying necks, would kill them immediately.He wore the same green armor, that the Elves of Eleanor had designed for her since the first day she arrived at Eldrįner. She remembered it as if it had been yesterday. When among innocent roses and spring bushes, an innocent and broken princess appeared, with a damaged heart; but with the most beautiful face ever seen by all the southern and northern nations over the planet of infinity.

"Madam, where are you going?" Irene asks.

"I'm going to the council," she replies. "I need everyone with their eyes wide open, children and the elderly to the hiding places. You must take refuge with them, now."

"Lady, I want to fight too!" said the woman. "Let us fight by your side!"

"I already told you, Irene, you're not going anywhere!" says the princess. "It is too dangerous, and we cannot risk losing more people. You are my family too."

"My lady, please…"

"I'm not going to say it twice," responds the beautiful princess. "Hurry up!"

Amara then went to the great council of The Seven Sages, and there was only one man there. The deputy counselor.

"Tyon?" asks Amara.

"Welcome Princess!" says the man. "I was waiting for you." "Where are the others?" said the golden daughter.

"They are all in their shelters," exclaims the man. "Councilor Fyier only asked me to wait here on the council."

"Well, don't wait any longer!" says the woman. "What are you doing here? The invasion will happen soon, and we need all of you in the hidden shelters!"

"I have remained here, waiting precisely for you, my lad," he says. "Counselor Fyier assigned me the task of delivering something to you. Follow me, please."

The man then turned around, without saying another word, and they entered the Royal Temple. They passed some levels until they reached the back of the temple. Behind it, there was a large stone door. Two huge stones coming together, perfectly aligned with each other. There were four torches, with their fires extinguished, which were embedded in the doors.

The man then raised a smaller stone, submerged in the dry earth. Inside of it, was a hollow; covered in ancient leaves and roots, with small internal holes that functioned as channels. The man deposited a potion that possessed a blue fire energy, and it ran through all the underground root, scattering it among the subsoil, until it connected with the channel that guided the energy to the torches; lighting all four at the same time. Denoting an incandescent blue fire.

When the bonfires were lit, the stone doors slowly opened inwards. They then went on and entered the secret chamber.

The chamber was very messy but full of jewels and crowns. Gold and silver garments. Writings and scrolls were everywhere, and the walls were still marked. Moisture and mold had taken over every corner. And in the center of it, was an armor, suspended inside a giant glass. It was completely blue, with fine silver and gold details embedded throughout the structure of it.

"Here is the legendary holy armor," says Tyon. "The last armor, made with the most precious crystals from our holy forest. Designed, for the eternal queen of the south. Queen Eleanor."

"Then, the myth is true!" says Amara.

"At least in the part of the armor, it is so," responds the man. "The rest of the legend will rest in your hands, Amara." "What do you mean?

The man then opened a secret compartment; made from roots. They found underneath it, a bronze plaque where it recited the precious name of the legendary armor. In addition, within the compartment, were three main roots. He cut one of them, and the door to the glass chamber opened before them.

"Madam, on behalf of all the People of Eleanor, we want to give you this armor," says the man. "According to the Töran, only with it on, would be possible to bring down the Prince of Darkness, and you will need it more than anyone else."

"I can't accept this," says the woman. "This armor is sacred, it is blessed. Reserved for the resurrection of the queen."

"Madam, if these myths are true in any case, we know that you are that woman," says the man. "My lady, you are better than this resurrection, you're better than the illusion. You are real. My generation has been waiting thousands of years in vain for a fantasy, a perfection that had never been born. But now, my people believe. My people have never been supported as they are now, thanks to you. This forgotten town, now see the light through you, my lady. The people believe in Elgoneth again, because of you, madam. And I repeat, you are better than that resurrection because you are really here."

"You are fighting with us," continues the man. "You are here with us. You've lifted us up, cared for us, and filled our hearts with love, hope, faith, and triumph. And it's the least that this city can do for you. It is the least this town can do for you. Madam, you are, the true Queen of the Eternal Kingdom."