"Love is not seen with the eyes, but with the heart."

William Shakespeare.

Eduarda had long been free from the influence of her tormentor, but she needed to pretend because he was too powerful and dangerous. With patience as her guide, she honed her arcane talents in solitude, clandestinely enhancing her abilities in the manner she was able, drawing upon the scant teachings her betrothed had imparted. She soon unearthed the harrowing truth that Samuel had cast a lethal toxin upon her, one that threatened her very life should she stray too far from his sway-times during which he maintained her neutrality.

It was Igor who undertook the task of instructing her in the mastery of her own physiology, and through his guidance, she effortlessly purged the venom. Yet, she did so with such discretion that not a soul harbored the slightest inkling of her ordeal. When they went to Porto Alegre, Samuel authorized and Eduarda took the opportunity to pick up some of her things at her parents' house, leaving a secret message in the bedroom with the old rune game, using her powers to transform the pieces into the Celtic alphabet, hoping he would have the idea to go there. She had an unrestricted confidence in her groom and knew that he would spare no effort to free her once again, keeping herself patient and always training hard.

The more time passed, the more worried she became because she was sure that something happened to Igor for him not to have appeared yet. Samuel said, once, that he was fighting against his own ghosts of the past and she did not understand, but that meant that something happened to him to take so long. Despite this, she did not lose faith and always trained, feeling that her powers increased every day.

Samuel traveled a lot and infiltrated with all subtlety in organized crime and politics, specializing in corrupting people for his purposes. The more success he achieved in this, the more happiness he showed and the more disgust he aroused in the false wife.

That day, they were in Rio de Janeiro, in a luxurious hotel in Barra da Tijuca neighborhood that faced the sea. He had left for a meeting with a corrupt senator who had been attracting to his business, many of them of a very dubious nature, and she felt very bored because she had been forbidden to go to the street. Since her escape with Igor, the demon took heavy measures and the only place where she could be alone was in her room, because he also did not want anyone to take advantage of the woman.

Locked in the room, she played with her powers performing the most diverse experiments, but even that ended up tiring someone at the end of some time, especially when she felt in captivity, as was her case.

Sad, she remembered her groom and the cabin in the forest of the canyon, when she was free and with the man of her life, the last decent and tasty days she had. She felt a great concern for him, because she was sure that, if something serious had not happened, he would have tried to rescue her. What she feared most was that he was dead, but she tried to avoid thinking about it, although her faith became more and more shaken as the days went by.

The longing was so strong that she tried to imagine every detail of the place, remembering the few days of joy she had when he saved her a few months ago. It was as if she felt in her memory the cool wind of the end of the day and the smell of the forest, while listening to the singing of the birds rhythmically with the rustling of the leaves in the breeze. Along with all this, she imagined Igor by her side, taking care of her with affection while handing her the traditional red rose accompanied by his irresistible smile.

Without apparent explanation, Eduarda began to hear a noise incompatible with the room where she was because it was the noise of birds and wind blowing in the trees of a forest, not to mention the peculiar smell of the bush, as she had been imagining.

She looked in the direction of the noises and saw an opening in the wall. Her first reaction was a huge fright, almost panic, because she thought the building was going to collapse and she was on the eighth floor. Soon after, she calmed down because what she saw in the crack in the wall was not the sea where she was facing. She widened her eyes and approached more, observing a forest and the cabin where she had been when she fled. She put both hands in the middle of the opening, moving them apart to widen the passage more and finding that this actually happened. When she realized that she had opened a portal the same way Igor did, she did not think twice and crossed it to the other side, closing it afterwards in the same way that she would if she had closed the curtains of a window.

― ☼ ―

Igor waited for the machine's answer, thoughtful. He was in the fourth hour of waiting when the crystal bust appeared in the air right in front of him and began to speak:

"In accordance with the quantum theory of relativistic fields, it is possible to calculate the approximate position of the person as long as their thought is well known, more precisely the brain waves."

"Explain," he ordered.

"The thought waves, which have a behavior similar to particles, can interfere with quantum gravity. Just as quantum electrodynamics is affected by photon waves, we can modulate them to be affected by the target's thought waves. However, to have high selectivity, the detector manipulator must emit thought waves that are compatible and capable of a separation of one to a billion. The quantum waves of this type are not restricted by distance because they are massless, instantaneous."

"Perfect. Now I want to know how to identify an alien being among billions of other human beings. The said alien has the ability to infiltrate and look identical to a normal human being. Therefore, the only way to locate it is by mental emanations."

"The principle does not change, but it becomes simpler because there is no need for selectivity. Just look for a thought wave whose type is very divergent, that is, outside the standard deviation."

Igor got up and went to the labs to start preparing the device. He worked non-stop and did not even sleep for ten days. The final result was a small purple crystal of ten centimeters in length by two in width and height. Smiling, he looked at his friend and said:

"Let's go home, Gwydion. Transform yourself and climb on my shoulder."

After the dragon obeyed, he opened a portal directly to his room and returned home.

― ☼ ―

Sitting in the living room, after sleeping for a few hours and being well fed, he took the crystal in his hands and concentrated. At first nothing happened, but then the stone began to glow and flash with a soft purple color.

Igor relaxed a little, especially when he saw that the experiment was being crowned with success. After a few minutes the brightness of the crystal stabilized and he got up, opening a passage and crossing to the other side. He arrived just in time to see another portal close right in front of him. Very frustrated and desperate, he suppressed a curse when he realized that Samuel had once again managed to escape with his Eduarda. He looked out the window and noticed that he was facing a beautiful beach. According to what he saw below, he believed it was in Rio de Janeiro city. He transported himself to an isolated place and picked up the detector. He was startled when the small crystal began to glow alone and strongly as soon as he laid his eyes on it. In the midst of his astonishment, he concluded that Eduarda must be focused on him and, therefore, the waves entered into harmony almost by themselves. He did not hesitate and opened the portal to her right away, finding her where he least expected.

― ☼ ―

Eduarda felt something very close to a true ecstasy when she discovered that not only had she escaped from her captor, but from that moment on, she could go wherever she wanted. The first reaction was to laugh, laugh a lot and for no reason in the purest happiness of a very successful escape. After almost half an hour of laughter, reality took over and she began to think about her options.

Her biggest concern was that Samuel could track the portal, although it would take a few days to find the way, as the experience had already proven.

She decided, therefore, not to stay more than two days in the same place. She would like to know how to open a direct portal to find Igor, but she was afraid of making a mistake, not to mention that she did not know his whereabouts and how it actually worked. Samuel had said in the midst of evil laughter that he was a prisoner of his own past, but he did not explain anything or what.

Fallen on the ground, at the entrance of the cabin, was the small staff that Igor made for her. She picked it up and went in to try to find something to eat, when she remembered that she could create her own food. The first thing she did was a good coffee and went out to the street, sipping slowly.

She sat in the rocking chair with the staff in her hand and that made her think of her groom, when Igor awakened her gifts. After kissing the diamond ball, she leaned it on her face and began to feel a terrible longing for him, almost uncontrollable. It was so strong that she imagined him opening a portal, appearing in front of her along with the dragon disguised as a bird that perched on his shoulder. Seeing the mirage, she smiled with all her sweetness, while reaching out as if to reach her groom.

"Oh, if you were real, my love," she said, with a small tear in her eye. "I miss you so much, I love you so much!"

"But I am real, my princess," Igor replied, making her jump out of the chair.

"Igor!" Her scream was of joy and relief when she realized that she was not imagining anything. She hugged him with all her strength, covered her groom with kisses and tears of happiness ran loose on her face.

He looked at Eduarda and also felt the emotions almost out of control, not to mention the joy of seeing her well and free from the influence of the demon Samuel.

They stayed a long time hugging and kissing, until his practical sense came into action.

"Where is that black demon, Eduarda?" he asked, becoming harsh. "I need to destroy this creature from hell before he destroys us."

"In Rio de Janeiro, sweet heart. I managed to escape." She laughed, amazed and relieved. "I was able to open a portal and get out of here! It was kind of unintentional, but I did it. And you, what happened to you?"

"I was trapped in a time trap and thrown into the third century and in Europe. I was imprisoned for just over five months and almost couldn't get back, but in the end it worked out."

"You'll have to tell me about that one day," Eduarda said. "It must have been scary and at the same time exciting. Imagine how crazy! And me, who always dream of a very ancient time. Remember that I once told you about it. I even had a name in that dream, but I don't remember what. Anyway, I always dreamed, and still dream, that I died in a great battle. Funny, huh?"

"I need to take you to a safe place—"

"And I really need to go to my parents' house to talk to them, my love," Eduarda said, frowning for her fiancee's happiness. "They must think I'm horrible and I'm afraid that monster will try to kill them."

"Don't worry." Igor stroked her face. "I was with them and told them everything. Then I took them to Gwydion's world."

"Is it a safe place?"

"One of the safest in the Universe and we are going there right now, my princess, we are not going to wait and risk more."

Igor opened the portal and the three crossed, with Gwydion already coming in his original form because, in Ezequiel's cabin, he transformed himself in order to enter combat with the creature immediately, in case it appeared.

― ☼ ―

Ezequiel was leaning against the railing, appreciating the development of Fátima, who was of an impressive speed and calculated that she would belong to the fourth degree.

As he suspected at first, her husband also had the gift, although he was only of the ninth degree, at best, the eighth. Beside him, Valdo watched that, delighted and with a certain envy for not being able to do any of those things.

The couple trained and had fun when the rupture of the planes happened near them. Ezequiel rose and saw Gwydion passing. Saci, who was nearby, greeted his friend. Soon after, Ezequiel had to rub his eyes and look again. As the scene still persisted, he approached the Supreme Guardian and Eduarda, trembling. He raised his hand to his face, touching it gently to see if she was real. Unable to control himself any longer, the bitter words of longing came out of his mouth:

"Ailin, my daughter!" His hands trembled. "But I saw you die!"

"Ezequiel, this is Eduarda and not Ailin."

"That's right, it's Ailin!" Eduarda said, almost screaming. "Igor, that's the name I always dream of... hi, Valdinho."

The friend ran to hug Eduarda.

"Heavenly Dudinha," he said, nearly crying, "you almost killed me with worry."

"My God," Ezequiel said, moved, "it's been more than seventeen hundred years and my memory may be a bit dull, but she's too much like my daughter."

Eduarda saw her parents approaching and ran to them, hugging both. With tears in her eyes, she apologized to them, explaining that she had done that to not expose them.

Igor took advantage of their reunion, pulled his friend to the railing and put his hand on his shoulder.

"The past must not have been easy, I presume, but I guarantee that this is Eduarda, my fiancee. I couldn't have brought her with me, Ezequiel, and you know very well that this is true."

"But she looks so much like her!" insisted the wise man. "I think I never got over the loss of my daughter. Not even her mother hurt me so much!"

As the parents and Eduarda talked, the two guardians leaned against the railing, facing the sea. Igor commented:

"She was special, Ezequiel, and I'm sure her loss was painful. Eighteen centuries is a long time, but I told you that they were both too similar. What happened?"

"Yes, it's a long time." He wiped a tear. "She died, fighting against the Romans. She caused a plasma explosion so big that it killed the whole army, but she was also hit by the wave and could not absorb the energy because it was too strong. At that time, your daughter was already a great sorceress, the greatest of all time, and it was when I, along with my granddaughter, raised the Citadel and took the druids and priestesses to—"

"What story is this about your daughter, Igor?" Eduarda's voice sounded dangerous behind him because she had approached the pair and heard the last part.

Igor was a little embarrassed to explain something that he wouldn't even know how to do for himself, but he was also unable to lie to his fiancee.

"When I was imprisoned in the third century, I met Ailin who was very much like you," he confessed. "She used a subterfuge and asked me to make her a promise, in case I didn't want to marry her. I promised, without knowing what it was, and she asked me for a son."

"And you did that?" She was so angry that she started to turn red. "I can't believe it, Igor Montenegro! And to me, you always denied that!"

"I never broke my word, honey," Igor replied, serious and also helpless. "And I know very well that you have every right to be angry, even to separate, but I thought I would never be able to return to the present, not to mention that you didn't exist. She was so much like you that— I don't know, I think I got lost along the way. I even resisted at first and tried not to like her, but being with her was the same as being with you because I felt like I was really with you, Eduarda. I'm sorry, but I can't explain what happened, I swear I don't know, and the worst thing is I don't feel like I cheated on you because, for me, she was you!"

"But I know." Saci and Gwydion approached. "I had already told Ailin and now I will tell everyone. Ailin and Eduarda are the same essence in different bodies."

Gwydion approached more and touched the girl's forehead. She didn't quite understand what happened, but the feeling was very strange because she began to see her own life and one of her most remote pasts as if she were outside, in a special movie, a movie in which she saw a life that was hers, although, at the same time, it was not or did not seem to be. She relived a remote past by the side of the man she loved the most, but she was different, with a different body. She felt their bodies pulsate and her womb conceive their daughter, the departure of her great love to a place where she could not accompany him and the birth of the baby. She lived Ailin's life again as a dull memory that unfolded and became one more memory of her own life. Many of the events that she experienced at that moment, she already knew from the strange dreams that she had quite frequently, but they became real memories. The shock was strong and the girl staggered with the explosion of information she received.

Gwydion moved away and she staggered again, holding the temple. Igor was quick and supported her. Eduarda, slowly, took her hand to her breast and took out of her bra a small object that glowed pulsing in an intense red. She put the ring on her finger and said:

"You gave me this ring on the day we went to the Crystal World!"

"Yes, I did," he replied and she threw herself into his arms.

Eduarda turned to Ezequiel and hugged him, kissing his face.

"It looks like I now have two fathers, because you are also my father, from another life, but you are and always will be."

Happy, Ezequiel said, laughing.

"Only my daughter to complicate things like that."

"I don't understand anything anymore," her parents said in unison, shaking their heads. "Does anyone want to explain?"

"I am her reincarnation, mother, his daughter," Eduarda said. The couple told everything, helped by the Guardian of Wisdom. When they were silent, Fatima commented:

"This ring has been passed down from generation to generation in my family for many centuries. When the daughter or niece turned twenty-five, she received the jewel and the message that it was from another world, possessing special powers for those who deserved it and that one day the true owner would appear to claim it back."

"I'm sorry, mom," Eduarda took it off and returned it, "but I needed something to focus my energy and I remembered the story of the ring's powers."

"Keep it, my daughter. After all it is yours by right. This means that we are descendants of you, Ezequiel, and hence the resemblance to my great-grandfather," she turned to the couple and said, mockingly. "Lucky you that so many centuries have passed, otherwise your relationship would be incestuous."

The three laughed a lot at the face the couple made. When things calmed down, Eduarda whispered in his ear:

"You are forgiven, but now you owe me a baby!" She laughed again, especially at his face. "Is that why I always wanted to have a child with you?"

"I don't know, but you never told me what you saw that day at college, when I tried to show you the future."

"Well, I saw us... you know." She blushed a little and Igor laughed. "I was crazy for that, but you remember the rest, so forget that story."

"Okay, you thought I was Valdinho's boyfriend. Well, it's more than fair if you want a baby. Besides, the secrets are over, but remember that you will live with a head of state, the sovereign of a whole planet. Will you be able to handle it?"

"No problem. You know, now that I remember everything I know that you gave me a cold shoulder until I challenged you that time, but now you don't have to do that, okay?" Eduarda gave a cheerful laugh. "Like... tonight I'm very needy."

"Me too, my sweet heart."

While Eduarda's parents returned to their training, this time accompanied by their daughter who surpassed them in everything, the guardians talked to each other.

"You didn't act like you knew I would be thrown into the past," Igor said, somewhat accusingly.

"Actually, the first time you came to me I didn't notice and you were so bad that my concern was only to help you get well," he explained, resting his hands on the railing and looking at the sea. "Then, when I realized and the memories came, I had to keep quiet."

"Why?" he asked, curious. "Maybe we could have avoided all this."

"It was you who warned me of the dangers of time paradoxes, Igor." Ezequiel scolded him. "Besides, if you hadn't fallen into the trap, the whole present would have changed. Now we know that not even your fiancee would exist, at least not as she is now. Without your help, we would have died in that war, all of us, and who knows what would have happened with the warlocks as winners. That's why I abandoned the white cloak and became a hermit, but for all the newly elected Magnificents I told them what they needed to know without affecting time, and they also implanted the path to my cabin in the memory of every child of level one superior, because my great fear was not to remember you after so long. Sergey came here on the day of your election to warn me that you would appear soon, but I didn't imagine that he was being so explicit."

Ezequiel sighed and turned his gaze to Igor, continuing:

"Without that, maybe today there would be no more magicians and I can see that you have matured a lot."

"Have you realized that this, by itself, was already a great paradox of time?" Igor asked, laughing.

"It was inevitable, son. What matters is that it's over."

"What was she like, my daughter?" Igor felt as if he had abandoned a part of him in the past. "I wanted so much to have met her!"

She was even more beautiful than her mother and Ailin named her Morgana. Everyone knew her as Morgana, the Beautiful. At two years old, her powers were already manifesting intensely and she was of the first superior level, that is, she did not need the help of amulets. The first buildings of the Citadel were erected by me and her. Morgana, the Beautiful, had three beautiful children, but I spent more time in the Citadel and she on Earth. That's why I didn't see them much and, when my granddaughter was about a hundred years old, she disappeared without explanation. My great-grandchildren followed their paths and I ended up becoming a loner, despite having a family. The great truth is that I never got over the loss of Ailin and her mother."

"Well," Igor puted his hand on his shoulder, "I have no words to tell you, but look on the bright side," he pointed to his fiancee and mother-in-law, "they are still your family, even with a gap of more than seventeen centuries and she is Ailin returned, not to mention that he recognized you as being her other father."

― ☼ ―

It was dawning and Igor was at the window of the south tower of the castle. Below him there was a respectable cliff that ended in the ocean. He thought about life when he was interrupted by a soft voice:

"Hey, handsome, stop exposing yourself naked in the window and come back to bed."

He turned and smiled. Went to Eduarda and hugged her. She let out a little scream and said:

"Geez, man, you're so cold!"

"Then warm me up."

Hugging, simply feeling peace and happiness while relaxing, she asked:

"I feel that you are very worried about something."

"We've been here for ten days, honey," Igor said. "I think about the horrors that the black demon might be up to."

"I understand." She kissed his shoulder and snuggled more. "I also think about that and I believe that I will only feel free when I am sure that Samuel was destroyed."

"Angel, I need to go back to Earth and finish off that creature."

"I know," she agreed, caressing him. "It's been two days since I noticed your growing concern. I think I already master my powers with some security and I'll go with you."

"I don't know if it's a good idea after everything we've been through. He is too strong and I may not be able to protect you. In fact, I still don't know if I can defeat him, although I'm much better and—"

"My love, I'm not asking to go with you." She laughed, squeezing him against her. "I'm telling you that I'm going with you, do you understand the difference?"

"Holy cow, Eduarda, we're not even married and you're already treating me like this?" Igor laughed. "I just wonder what kind of evils you will invent against your sweet husband in two or three centuries."

"How are we not married?" she said, also laughing. "Are you chickening out?"

― ☼ ―

"Ezequiel." Igor looked at his friend who felt trouble coming right away.

"That look of yours doesn't fool me, Igor," he said bluntly. "What do you want?"

"Eduarda and I are going back and hunting down the demon. I would like to ask you a favor."

They were all having lunch at the castle. He shrugged and laughed:

"What crazy nonsense are you going to ask me this time?" The old wizard was very happy to have met Eduarda, feeling as if it was a second chance to have his daughter by his side.

"That you go to the Citadel with my in-laws, Valdo and Saci. If possible, one or two more dragons who want a little adventure. I intend to corner him there and test my theory to save the other magicians."

"If you think I'm going to let you risk Ailin's life, son, you're very wrong."

"Ezequiel, Ezequiel," Igor laughed, shaking his head, "she is Eduarda, but I understand this dilemma, since they are the same essence. Now explain one thing, by the Goddess: if not even I, with all my power, can dominate her, then what would you do to stop her? If you want to do that so much, feel free, because I would be very grateful, eternally grateful, in fact."

― ☼ ―

Igor opened a portal to the Citadel right in the center of its main square and a very heterogeneous group crossed over there. Among dragons and magicians, Valdo was stunned by such beauty, but it was Eduarda who spoke first:

"Another place of my dreams, just like when we came here for the first time, only it was so fast and I was so bad that I didn't see it right."

"So this is the famous secret city, considered the most beautiful in the Universe," Fátima commented. "There is no doubt that it lives up to its reputation."

"Holy cow!" Valdo said, not knowing how to express himself.

― ☼ ―