Inexistent

We stared at each other for some time after I landed that punch on him... He was using this time of silence to walk away and keep his distance from me. It was smart, given I am limited in range, even with my sword...

I needed to get my trustworthy sword to inflict more damage, so I ran for it. He didn't take the opportunity to do anything until I was almost reaching for the sword... But then a pillar made with the earth of the ground rose quickly, sending my sword even farther away... I tried to reach for it again, but he did the same thing. Why he was doing so, I couldn't understand, but one thing was certain, I wouldn't be able to get my sword if things continued this way.

When he noticed I was going for him this time, he rose his staff to the sky and moved it around in a circle, creating a ring made of thunderstorm clouds, flashing occasional lights. That's what was his attack.

I jumped to the side quickly, just in time to dodge a lightning strike that came from the ring. I kept the momentum and continued to surge forward as more lightning strikes came again. Now that they were expected, it was much easier to dodge.

He was getting frustrated as I reached closer... He raised his staff and the ring disappeared while I raised my fist, ready to give him another punch. In the split of a second, he managed to put his iron staff in the way, and then he jumped backward, getting away from me.

I proceeded with a series of quick attacks, forcing him to continue retreating more and more, but he defended each one of them... I tried different angles as I punched and put some extra strength on certain attacks, but there was no difference...

The wizard, however, knew that things couldn't stay that way for one of us to win. He rose a wall that blocked one of my punches and then it started to push me away, almost as though I was a feather. I wonder if was slow to notice it, but he pushed me close to my sword and I managed to pick it up before one of those pillars appeared again, although it almost hit me in the face.

With my swords back in my hands, I saw the wizard do some movements with his staff... But nothing happened. He was smiling, however, as though I had fallen into his trap. This could only mean that I fell into his trap already... Worried, I looked behind me and there was another wall coming to me, with spikes all over it.

I ran away from it and although I seemed dumb to be running in a straight line instead of getting out of the wall's path, I had something in mind planned. Once I had run for some time and the wall was almost touching me, I spun to the side, dodging the wall that undid itself shortly after. He then realized what I did. I ran away in a straight line for him to not notice that I was closing my distance to him rather than just trying to escape the wall.

With the little space we had between us now, he attempted to create another wall to push me again, but I was ready and rolled to the side, proceeding then to attack with my sword. He blocked the attack with the staff again. I pushed my sword against his staff, trying to force him to retreat and when he had all his strength on pushing me back, I raised my foot and stomped on his leg.

In pain, he fell on his knees and I quickly attacked his iron staff, knocking it away... He was on the floor, defenseless now... He couldn't fight anymore, that was the end of his test, so I put my sword back on its sheet.

"Here, let me help you", I said and extended a helping hand to him. He smiled and reached for my hand, but when our fingers touched, he disappeared. It only got worse, the walls, the grass, the sky... They all started to fade away like a fog, revealing the room I previously was in with the wizard...

"You seem confused...", the wizard, the real one this time, said. "Take some deep breaths, I will explain. You know, I am quite old, I can't test you myself. Instead, then, I created an illusion to fight for me... It was pretty real, wasn't it? It took me years to perfect it"

"An illusion...", I said to myself while still processing the information.

"Anyway, you passed this test, Dagger. You proved that no matter the danger, you're willing to fight for your objectives until the end... This proves how much love you have for her. I would be more than glad to cast a spell or give a potion to such an honorable person...", he said to me. I had a feeling, however, that he wanted to say something more... a "but".

"Is there something bothering you, Gabriel?".

"Oh, well... You see... A potion or a spell to change your gender... Is inexistent... I hope you're not disappointed...". I think he could at least have told me that sooner, all that combat was pretty pointless if the potion or spell that I wanted did not exist... I did not question his motives for not doing so, however. My mind was more worried about the princess... That was probably my only hope of saving her dreams...

"Is... Isn't there another way I can help the princess?", I asked the wizard. He put himself in a thoughtful state for a moment and, suddenly, he snapped his finger and walked to a shelf in the other room, I just followed him. He looked over the books and then pulled a blank sheet of paper from between two books, handing it to me. I was confused, but I accepted the paper and looked at it... It looked like an ordinary sheet of paper...

"Have you ever heard of the Love Curse of the Gem?", he suddenly asked me. I shook my head in denial and he sighed a little. "Well, it's a real story of a wizard called Arthur. He was a powerful wizard and he lived in an era that humans were free to love others for what they are, not caring about gender. He is the one responsible for the end of this era... He fell in love with a woman called Eliza, but Eliza didn't love him back... Eliza was in love with Diana. Arthur could not bear with that... He wanted the love of Eliza... So he cast a curse with a gem as its core. The Love Curse of the Gem, most humans fell to it and started rejecting same-sex love... They forgot about it and burnt down any documents about it, which's why we have no registers of this era... This way, Eliza and Diana no longer wanted to stay together and Arthur finally managed to get Eliza to himself..."

"So... A single wizard cast a curse so powerful that affected the whole humankind because of jealously?"

"Not the whole, but most of the humankind. People like me and you resisted the curse, we know it's not wrong, but the others are too blind to see that. If you can break the core of the curse, the gem, humans will be able to see that it's not wrong... Humans will be able to accept you and the truth of you and the princess can be revealed to the world... I think that's your only and last hope", he said.

It was a lot of information to digest, however. Go after such a crystal would not just allow me to marry the princess and to reveal our love, but also mark me in the history of humankind. The idea is interesting, but am I worth such an accomplishment?

"I... I don't think-"

"Yes, you can...", he interrupted me. "I can see what you're thinking Dagger, yet, you're worthy of that. Even if you're not ready, how long do you think it will take for someone to come and decide to go after the gem? Years, decades, centuries? Dagger Everblade, someone must take a step ahead, even if they fail later...", he said. I was thoughtfully considering the words he said... He was right, one must take a step ahead. It's not a matter of being famous, after all, it's in the name of Isabelle!

Closing my hands into fists, I took a deep breath and looked at the wizard eyes... I had made my decision.

"I... I will go then, I will be one of those who will take this step ahead!"