The sun crested the Blue Mountains, gilding the snowy peaks. On the banks of Ixis Spring, Teo lay sprawled on a fallen tree trunk, watching the waterfall cascade over the rocks below. His thoughts swirled and crashed against his memories, leaving a bitter, melancholic aftertaste in his spirit.

  Baruch and Tiziano slept soundly on a soft bed of fresh, green grass. Isgalis and Roderic had ventured into the nearby woods to hunt, as the group hadn’t eaten since the previous day. Jayden, meanwhile, sat perched on a rock at the pond’s edge, observing Nerea as she swam in the crystal-clear water.

  “What troubles you, Teo?” the nymph asked. “I see sadness in your eyes.”

  Teo didn’t respond immediately. He scrutinized her with suspicion and disdain.

  “Why do you trust me?” he asked apathetically. “Why did you forgive me before, when I tortured the goldrigs?”

  Nerea, surprised, approached him.

  “Because I believe in you, Teo,” she replied. “Just like your friends do.”

  “You don’t know anything about me!” the boy shouted. “None of you know anything about me! If I wanted to kill you all, I could do it with a simple snap of my fingers. You yourself told Isgalis you sensed evil in my blood! So please, don’t insult my intelligence by saying you believe in me! We all know I’m a Vendalion! And all Vendalions want is to plunder, subdue, and dominate! We’re corrupted by power! It’s in our nature! I didn’t ask for these powers! I didn’t want them! But I have them, and I’m condemned to them!”

  “You’re not, Teo!” Nerea declared earnestly. “That’s what makes you different from other Vendalions! You have the power to reduce entire cities to ash, to subjugate every being on this continent... but you don’t want to! That makes you special! Trustworthy! Because the most just and wise of rulers is the one who doesn’t crave power! You’re not condemned to your powers! You’re condemned to your freedom, condemned to the choice of what to do with them!”

  “You don’t understand, Nerea! You’re right! My blood is cursed! When I realized the goldrigs were going to hurt my friends, a dark force took over me! A pulsing, living energy within me! I couldn’t control it; it controlled me! And when I cursed them, I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop! A snap of my fingers would have been enough to silence their laughter and make them leave us alone, but I wanted them to suffer! I reveled in their pain! I enjoyed watching them convulse and writhe on the ground! For trying to take away the people who are important to me! People who are...!” Teo’s voice broke. “People who are all I have!”

  A lump formed in his throat, and tears welled up in his eyes.

  “My father’s murderers didn’t deserve forgiveness! They should have suffered as he did, when the cold blood soaked his chest, and he knew he’d never see his children again! I suffered so much when I knew the light of my life had gone out forever! I wanted my revenge, and Dromegard stole it from me when he appeared!”

  Teo covered his face with his hands and wept uncontrollably. Nerea, feeling his immense pain, surfaced and embraced him.

  “When Isgalis spoke of the atrocities Falk committed against The Revived,” the boy sobbed, “I was terrified. I can’t lose him again, Nerea! My heart couldn’t take it!”

  The naiad remained silent, because in the face of such suffering, sometimes silence is the most eloquent response.

  Teo, suddenly blushing, noticed the nymph’s nakedness.

  “I don’t mean to offend you, Nerea. But aren’t you ashamed of being naked all the time?”

  “Nature made me this way, Teo,” she replied. “Why should I be ashamed? It’s not my nakedness that offends people, but their impure thoughts. I’m proud of myself, because this is who I am, and this is how I present myself! I don’t hide behind disguises what shouldn’t be hidden! The only way to find peace and beauty in life is to be true to yourself.”

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  Nerea took the boy by the shoulders and looked at him directly.

  “Never be ashamed of who you are, Teo!” she said. “You’ve been through a lot, you’ve suffered a lot, and it’s understandable that you feel anger! But that doesn’t make you a bad person! Your blood doesn’t define you; it’s the kind of world you want to leave for those who come after you.”

  Teo sighed deeply.

  “I miss him, Nerea,” he murmured. “I miss my dad. I’m afraid I won’t find him when I get to Luria—if I ever get there. Isgalis taught us that fear is a tool our enemies use to control us, but I can’t help it. I know Raen wants to intimidate me, wants to make me desperate, but he has my dad! How can I sleep at night knowing the person I love most in the world is in the hands of a tyrant?! How can I find peace when I was taken from my sister, and I haven’t heard from her in days?! Steffi was my rock, and now she’s gone too!”

  “Listen to me carefully, Teo,” said the nymph. “Do you know why my naked body suspends those who harbor evil in their hearts?”

  The boy shook his head.

  “Because the vileness of their intentions bounces off my skin and returns to them,” Nerea explained. “It’s their own malice that paralyzes them. Do you understand what I’m saying? Let Raen’s evil be your weapon against him.”

  “I understand. But he has an advantage: he has my dad hostage. If Raen can see inside me, he’ll know I’d do anything for him. And Steffi is just a child! I trust Dromegard, but if Raen finds her, he won’t be able to protect her. My dad and Steffi are my whole world! They’re everything worth fighting for! If I lose them... nothing else matters to me!”

  The nymph was silent, lost in thought. You could see her mind diving into dark waters.

  “I lost everything because of Raen too,” she said. “Before the Eutarchians invaded Mantra, there were five of us naiads living in this spring. We had a peaceful and prosperous community, where solidarity and cooperation were our guiding principles. Each of us had a specific task regarding the care of the Fabras Forest: one wove the currents of the streams, another nurtured the trees and flora, another orchestrated the dance of insects, another whispered courage to the small creatures, and I was the protector of the heartbeats of the medium and large animals.”

  The nymph sighed deeply and continued her story.

  “Three of them chose to merge forever with the waters of the spring when we learned the scarlet glow of the Eutarchians’ gaze could enslave us to Raen’s will. But Aiko, the defender of the small creatures, and I refused to abandon everything we had fought for.”

  “And what happened?” Teo asked timidly.

  “Once, many years ago, a foreigner from Ikara, one of the seven great cities of The Continent, came to Ixis Spring. He was one of the Vaelantyr, extraordinary beings. While they aren’t one of the Four Races, Ardoras wouldn’t be the miracle it is without their help. Vaelantyr mastered the art of creating dimensional gates, cracks in the space-time continuum, to travel between dimensions. When a human dies on Earth against their will, the Vaelantyr are responsible for bringing them to The Continent. They don’t just move the body; they use their mastery over space and time to create an identical double—an isomorphic copy—right where the original body was. It’s like they’re able to split a single thread of reality into two. The copy remains on Earth, while the true body of the deceased revives on Ardoras.”

  “Is that copy what we bury in tombs?” Teo asked, stunned.

  The nymph nodded.

  “What do the Vaelantyr have to do with what happened to you and Aiko?”

  “The foreigner who came to Ixis Spring taught me his art, which I mastered after years of practice. When the Eutarchians arrived at the Spring, I opened a dimensional gate to escape with Aiko... but only I could make it through.”

  Nerea wept on the boy’s shoulder.

  “She was more than a friend to you, wasn’t she?” Teo said sadly. “Why did you decide to come back?”

  “Because I’ll never give up... I’ll never stop fighting!” Nerea exclaimed with vigor. “Not just for the hope of seeing her again and rescuing her from the darkness, but because I won’t give up on seeing the beauty of this continent flourish again! Ardoras was born as a dream: the dream of our beloved Founding Father to reunite those who loved each other and were separated by death. I won’t let Raen steal that dream! I won’t give up on dreaming!”

  Nerea’s words deeply affected Teo. Seeing her conviction and determination inspired him.

  “Me neither, Nerea! Despite my fears... I won’t give up on dreaming either!”

  The naiad smiled and hugged the boy tightly, a gesture that Jayden watched with a disapproving frown.

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