VIGNETTE 6. UNHEALED WOUNDS.

'Lennah, Lennah', the voice softened like a distant echo 'Please, wake up… Please, please, please'.

I sensed a slap in the face. And I opened my eyes.

'Ouch', I said.

Caleb, his face all wet because of tears, hugged me tight.

'Oh, God! Blessed Akarat. Are you okay?'.

I sat up from the floor and looked around. All the room was untidied as if a hurricane had thrown all his things everywhere. There was furniture upside down, all broken and against the walls. The center of the room was clean and clear. The aura exploded there, where my brother was suspended, I thought.

My head hurt. It was like pressure, but I also noticed an open wound in my temple. I touched it with my hand and a pinch of pain went down my body.

'You're bleeding', he told me when he saw my fingers covered in blood.

I looked at the red stain on the floor. It looked smaller from that point of view. I wasn't that injured, even though I had lost some blood.

'Come here, I'll take some plants to stop the bleeding', he said.

We went to the garden. I was feeling dizzy and was afraid that I would fall to the floor again. So, my brother helped me walk. He was silent, with an embarrassed grin on his face. I saw his brown eyes turning glassy from time to time, he was probably feeling guilty. I let go of his arm and continued walking without help to make him feel I wasn't that bad. But he maintained his hand on my shoulder anyways. He made me sit down in the grass while he took some flowers and plants from the garden. There was an uncomfortable silence.

'Caleb, can I ask you something?', I muttered.

I looked at him and discovered he had red eyes. He approached me mixing some plants and started spreading the concoction in the wound. It stung a lot.

'Sure, tell me'.

He didn't look at me. He knew what I was going to ask. I knew the answer to the question too, but I needed to hear it from him.

'What were you doing?'.

He sighed.

'Hmm, I… I…', he looked at me and a tear fell from his eyes.

'I've heard that dark times are coming', he started saying, 'Burdeen was burned last week. A cult did it'. I noticed a little tremble in his voice. 'They were proclaiming Lilith's name'.

My heart bumped quicker. He made a pause and took some air. I knew what he was saying afterward.

'I think there is a way to stop those cults', he said.

My head started spinning around, and the dizziness began again. I was feeling nervous.

'Caleb, what are you talking about? You're just fourteen–'.

'Almost fifteen', he corrected me.

'So what? You cannot face a demon'.

'No, I'm not trying to face Lilith…', he made a pause as if thinking if he should tell me something.

He sat on the floor.

'I discovered something looking at some scrolls the other day… It is an enchantment, I think. I don't know who created it, but I believe it's from the time that Light still fought demons'.

I didn't say a thing, I couldn't talk. I felt anxious and paralyzed.

'The spell needs some blood to function, but I don't know what's wrong, why it isn't working'.

'Maybe it is because you're just too young', I said rapidly. 'Forget about it, okay? The last thing I want is to lose my family again, to lose you. You know Lilith can do that, please don't give her reasons to destroy all the things I love'.

He looked to the floor disappointed.

'Lennah, she's coming. We need to stop her. I'm sure this enchantment can help us'.

He grabbed the book from his pocket. It had bent sheets everywhere as if he had taken them from other books and put them together in his.

'Let's see…', he said while looking at his book. 'By three they come, by three the way opens. With the blood of the willing…[1]' he read.

He looked at me.

'See? Someone needs to come to fight Lilith, probably an angel, or three, as it says here… I'm the willing, that's why it needs some blood, right?'.

He started passing the pages.

'There must be something else…'.

He stopped at a page that showed a big door, probably from a cathedral or a church.

'I need to know where this is', he said.

I looked at him doubtfully. It sounded like a summoning, not exactly a good one.

'Caleb… This sounds creepy', I said, 'I'm not sure this is a Light enchantment'.

'What are you saying? I found this between Akarat's books'.

'Yeah, but what about the blood? The Light doesn't say you need your blood for anything'.

'It's an ancient enchantment'.

I was truly worried.

'Look! I know this place! Isn't it the abandoned village on the other side of the forest?', he said excitedly as if he had found the answer to all his problems.

'Caleb, stop it. You're behaving like a child. Stop doing this'.

'But if I stop, she will come and destroy everything we love. Aaren, the cathedral, our monastery… Everything will be burned'.

'You cannot face evil. I learned that many years ago'. I made a pause. 'If she discovers you're trying to invoke some angels or whatever that enchantment does, she will find you… Do you understand?'.

He nodded.

'She will kill you. Like she did to my family'.

His eyes went wet.

'Lennah, I hate her for what she did to you', he sobbed.

'I hate her too, but we cannot stop her. It's not our duty either'.

'She made your life miserable', he continued as if he hadn't heard me. 'I don't want her to destroy everything you have now'.

'Everything I have now is you. I don't want to lose you, so please, forget about it'.

There was silence. The birds were singing, crossing the blue sky. It was sunny and the garden looked beautiful in that light because all the colors looked brighter.

'I know where to go', he said, 'I know what I have to do to keep you safe, but please, don't follow me, or it will be ruined'.

He stood up and went inside the monastery.

I stayed in the sun for a minute or two feeling devastated. Something told me he was going to be in danger.

The next days I kept my eye on him. I was worried, so I followed him everywhere. His behavior didn't change much. He was more distracted than usual, he started losing things and forgetting others. But he prayed and studied. He played with me, and we talked about nontrivial things. Everything seemed normal. Until I woke up that morning and discovered he wasn't in his bedroom.

***

[1] Blizzard Entertainment sentence from the story launch trailer.