"Gwydion," said Eduarda for the tenth time, "I'm worried sick. It's been six days since he's been fighting Samuel without any news—"

"Now, we don't even have a way to follow him," replied the dragon, keeping calm, "but I have faith in the Guardian."

Eduarda tried, but her nervousness increased more and more and neither her parents calmed her down, although they had tried more than once. Valdo also made an effort to help and failed. Then, Ezequiel said:

"My dear, Igor has faced this creature more than once and has always been defeated." She was going to speak, but the wise man signaled for her to calm down. "And whenever that happened, he beat a hasty retreat in order to recover and continue the battle. So, I think this silence is a good sign, very good indeed, especially after he learned to create the new protection barrier."

"Really?" She shook her head. "I should never have allowed him to fool me into not staying with him."

"He loves you very much, my daughter," insisted Ezequiel, "and he did that because he wants to see you safe. But how did he convince you?"

― ☼ ―

The sun was hot, unbearable, and all Igor wanted was to rest in a shade and drink some water. With great difficulty, he opened his eyes and needed all his willpower to get up, otherwise he would die right there. When night fell, the temperature of that desert would drop to negative values in a few minutes and very strong storms would arise for which he had no defense.

He knew that his life would not last even a couple of hours, but he needed to save the souls trapped inside him or all that effort would have been in vain. It was at that moment that he evoked the strongest thing he could think of: the memory of his sweet Eduarda. He thought of her with all the strength of his being and that gave him a little more energy to get up. He had to get out of that desert before he died for good.

He tried to raise his hand to open a passage and did not think right where, as long as there was water and shade, but his arm seemed to weigh more than a hundred kilos. He insisted a little more, very slowly, until he dropped his hand while activating that special sector of his mind and a portal was opened.

Slowly, he advanced one foot, followed by the other with great difficulty. It was a Herculean effort to take that step, but he needed to take one more. He touched the barrier, breaking the membrane that separated the two worlds and immediately felt the cool wind pass, causing a slight relief. He achieved the second step and reached the other planet, which should be at least twenty-five or thirty degrees cooler, providing him with immediate relief.

Igor needed to go as soon as possible to the Crystal World, but he was not sure he could and that made him even more desperate because, after the endless difficulties, he carried all those thousands of essences within him, lives that would disappear forever if he failed and died. To his great sadness, he felt that the end was imminent.

He still had time to think that, although he did not wish for death, he did not fear it and in that aspect he felt serene, but sad to know that he would never again in that life have his beloved fiancee in his arms.

With difficulty, he looked around and tried to calculate in which plane he was, but his brain could no longer work coherently because he had suffered excessive wear and tear. Without even closing the portal, he took one more step, this time much easier and what was left of logical reasoning told him that there the gravity was much lower, perhaps equal to that of Earth or even a little lower.

In a way, this brought him such a great relief that he looked around again and discovered, to his joy, that he was only a hundred meters from his goal. He sketched something like a smile and took one more step.

― ☼ ―

Eduarda blushed a little and the wise man burst into a Homeric laughter.

"I know, he promised you a child," he commented, with tears in his eyes from laughing so much. When he saw that he hit the nail on the head, he laughed even more.

"I always wanted that with him," said the girl, shyly, "since we started dating in college, actually even before—"

"There is no doubt that you and my Ailin are the same spirit." He still laughed, but Eduarda noticed that it was out of love. "And Igor, although he didn't know, felt it. That's why the exile in the past didn't make him desperate, although he was sad many times. And look, despite the great physical resemblance, Ailin was even more beautiful."

"Thank goodness Gwydion awakened my memories," said Eduarda, distracted. "It made me understand that, not to mention that my powers increased absurdly as if I had absorbed the learning from the past. I even know how to fight with a sword, something I never did."

"But that's exactly what happened." Ezequiel shook his head and smiled. "Have you ever thought that the you of today would not exist if Igor had not fulfilled that promise in the past?"

"I find this name, Ailin, charming." She smiled. "But I also really like Eduarda."

The conversation took place in the administrative palace, on a spacious balcony at the top of the building. Leaning on the railing, Valdo never tired of looking at the dreamlike landscape of that place. He listened to the conversation of his close friend, but only with one ear because his concentration was almost all focused on the vision of the clouds of water droplets that hovered around, cooling the place, especially the huge park in front and the various waterfalls at different levels and all around. Eduarda looked at her friend, who had an ecstatic expression and then at the landscape. She turned to Ezequiel and said:

"I'm already dying of missing him," she sighed deeply and continued. "It was a good idea to choose this world for our headquarters."

"What do you mean by your headquarters?" asked Valdo, turning to his friend. "Are you also from here?"

"This is the capital of the wizards and sorceresses, Valdo," explained Ezequiel, kindly, "and Eduarda is one of us. She just didn't know her powers. Besides, Igor is the supreme leader of this world and of our people and she is his future wife."

"Wow, Dudinha, you huh?" Valdo laughed. "My sweet friend is a little warlock and on top of that engaged to the king of the little warlocks.

"That's right, Valdinho." The girl made butterflies fly out of her hand. "My place is by his side, but we will always visit you, you can rest assured. Just don't say warlock because, for us, warlock is evil."

"Okay." Valdo laughed and continued. "But, in fact, nothing is more beautiful than—"

"Attention, alarm." The computer's voice was loud, overriding everything. In front of them appeared a holographic image that looked very much like a wizard, but that was, in appearance, made of crystal. " There was an unplanned planar rupture within the planetary sphere."

"Identify," commanded Ezequiel, stiff. "Obtain the most accurate position possible."

"Position identified," replied the crystalline machine, so advanced that nothing on Earth could resemble it. "It occurred two hundred kilometers from here, to the north. It is close to the Castle of Souls."

"Castle of Souls?" Ezequiel frowned. "Computer, what is that?"

The three-dimensional image of a huge construction and all made of crystal appeared in front of them. The machine continued:

"This construction was erected by the Magnificent Supreme Guardian Igor Montenegro after the catastrophe recorded by him and is full of security devices. It can only be opened by his presence or from the inside. Whoever approaches will be prevented and whoever insists on entering will be killed, as this was the defined guideline. Here are the location coordinates—"

"Gwydion," shouted Eduarda, exasperated. "Can you fly two hundred kilometers carrying me?"

"Easily," was the traditional answer. "But the ideal would be to open a portal to the desired location according to the distance."

"I can't open the portal because I don't know the place except for an image and direction. I still don't have the dexterity for that. How long would it take us to get there?"

"Maybe an hour, but you need protection for your face because of the high speed."

"Then let's go, please," she asked, nervous. "Pick me up here on the balcony."

Seconds later, Eduarda rode on Gwydion and said:

"I think it's better for everyone to come, Ezequiel. Maybe Igor didn't manage to bring the creature here and needs help."

"It makes sense. Go ahead, daughter," said the wizard, no longer smiling and not so calm. "Saci and the other dragons will follow behind, with us. Computer: how is the situation?"

"Unchanged," replied the machine, impersonal. "Whoever opened the portal did not close it."

"My Goddess of heaven," muttered the guardian, increasingly worried. "Igor would never fail to close the portal. I hope the creature from hell has not won."

He ran to call the others, while Eduarda moved away at full speed.

― ☼ ―

Gwydion beat his four wings vigorously and, in a few seconds, he was at a considerable height. To compensate for the cold, he forced his body to radiate heat to keep the girl warm while he shot north at a breakneck speed, compatible with a jet plane.

The wind was so strong that it whipped her face, causing pain and difficulty breathing. To relieve this, Eduarda used her powers and a protection barrier surrounded her body. Unlike the green, red, orange or blue barriers, which were for fighting according to the situation, that one was very white, just to protect her from the friction of the air.

Calmer, she tried to understand what could have happened, but her great fear was that her groom was injured.

"Saci and the others are already getting close. When they catch up, I'll speed up more" said Gwydion "but you need to help me know what we are looking for."

"How far have we gone?" she asked thinking hard because she couldn't speak with all the wind. "We have to find a massive crystal construction with about a hundred meters on each side."

"There are about ninety kilometers left." said Gwydion. Then he explained. "We can't fly faster, because only you and Ez are able to create the protection barrier. The others wear jackets and hats, insufficient for higher speeds."

The Castle of Souls became visible fifty kilometers away because of the strong glow it emitted due to the sunset and it was at that moment that they discovered that the construction was made of a diamond monolith, certainly impregnable and indestructible. Eduarda was the first to find the portal still open about a hundred meters from the construction, pointing to the dragon. Halfway there, she saw the body lying on the ground.

At that very second things changed. She felt that everything seemed to stop while her throat contracted with fear and despair.

A little further back, Ezequiel widened his eyes scared when he saw Gwydion dive steeply, thinking he had gone mad, but soon he saw the body and asked Saci to do the same.

Obeying his anguished request, Gwydion looked like a stone falling and only braked his uncontrolled dive very close to the ground, landing about ten meters from the guy, who was lying face down. Eduarda didn't even wait for him to lower himself and jumped off the dragon's back, twisting her foot as she collided with the floor, even though it was soft sand. With a grimace of pain, she ran to the wounded, although with some difficulty. Those ragged and dirty clothes and the blond hair of their owner indicated with a high degree of probability that it was the groom and the girl didn't care about herself.

As she approached, the steps became more painful and difficult to take, but Eduarda didn't care and limped more and more. She reached him and bent down, pulling his shoulders. As soon as she turned him over, her suspicions were confirmed and, giving a scream of despair, she grabbed his body, crying profusely.

She was hugging Igor when Valdo, her parents and Ezequiel approached.

"It's Igor," muttered the friend with a faint voice. "My God—"

"Saci," asked the guardian of wisdom, "please try to close the portal before a disaster occurs, if it hasn't already."

Worried, he approached the pair and just a critical look was enough to see everything the girl didn't notice. Carefully, he pulled Eduarda back and lifted his friend a little, using the staff to radiate some energy.

"You're going to suffocate him, my daughter," said the wise man. The girl widened her eyes and turned her face to the groom, trying to see something amid the tears, which made it very difficult.

Ezequiel confirmed:

"Yes, sweetheart, he is still alive, but he is hanging by a thread. We need—"

Igor opened his eyes and pushed the staff away. Slowly, he stretched out his hand that trembled a lot, pointing to the construction. He tried to say something, but his battered throat did not obey and he had no energy left. With a superhuman willpower, he tried to get up and then drag himself.

Understanding his wish, Ezequiel asked Levi to help lift the wizard, taking each one by a shoulder. With his head down and more dragging his feet in the sand than walking, Igor was taken by the fifty meters that were missing to reach the small fortress. Ezequiel wanted to radiate some additional energy, but he couldn't do both things and the wizard was adamant that they should take him to the so-called Castle of Souls that the wise man supposed to be the place where the bodies of the wizards were. With that, he concluded that the battle was won, but at a high cost.

Near the door, Igor reacted again and signaled for them to stop, ordering by gestures that the two get away. As Ezequiel had heard the computer's explanations, he understood the order and moved away, but Levi didn't want to let him go, annoyed by the mentor's attitude.

"Let him go, he needs to go alone, Levi," explained the wise man, pulling his apprentice by the arm. "That is a fortress programmed to stop us and kill us in case of insistence."

Stumbling, the young man reached the door and touched it with his hand, soon after falling on his knees. Eduarda limped a lot and Valdo gave her support, but when she saw the groom fall again, she forgot the pain and approached, running as she could. Ezequiel tried to yell a warning, but there was no time; the wall of the fortress began to glow and hit her in the chest with a ray of something that threw her back and caused a lot of pain, but did not hurt her.

At that moment the door opened and Igor, seeing that, gave in to exhaustion and fell right at the entrance. Before the astonished eyes of everyone, his body began to glow very strongly, coming out of him something that resembled smoke, only it was a smoke that had the nuance of human shapes in miniature. This happened for almost fifteen minutes until everything returned to normal. Believing that the protection barriers had been deactivated, Ezequiel approached the body almost running because he was very worried about his friend, being the first to arrive.

Limping more and more and supported by her college colleague, Eduarda followed behind, trembling non-stop.

When Ezequiel bent down and touched the young man's neck looking for his heartbeat, his worst feeling was confirmed he looked at the girl, shaking his head in a negative and letting a tear escape. With a sharp and desperate scream, Eduarda let herself fall to the ground, crying her eyes out.

― ☼ ―