"Difficulties prepare ordinary people for extraordinary destinies."

C. S. Lewis.

On that particularly hot end of the day Ezequiel, sat quietly on his porch, meditative. Now that the sun had set and a barely perceptible breeze hovered over the clearing where he had erected his cabin, both made by means of his powers, he enjoyed his moment of contemplation of nature, savoring the only vice he kept over the last centuries: smoking his pipe.

He began the preparation ritual, whose first step was the careful cleaning of the artifact, doing it with all the attention and without any hurry. In the end, he blew away the pieces of old tobacco and analyzed his work. Then, from a black leather bag already old and worn, he began to fill the pipe with tobacco, tamping it with his thumb and inhaling delighted the aroma that emanated. Finally, when everything was finished and approved, he materialized a twig and made it ignite the tip, lighting his pipe. He took a strong puff and leaned back in his chair, relaxed, looking at the smoke he blew and that formed rings that grew with each one that was created. In that vision, he remembered Igor, who made a grimace every time he started smoking, claiming that it was not healthy at all, besides too smelly. With longing, he smiled.

Once, the young wizard had asked why he did not use his gifts to skip straight to the last step and Ezequiel explained that it was because of the pleasure. After such an answer, the boy shrugged and left with a proposal that, on that occasion, made him laugh for a long time: "Then, enjoy and start by planting the tobacco. That way the service is complete and I free of this stench for a while."

Smiling with the memory, he leaned back more, took a puff on his favorite pipe and rocked the chair slowly, whose chains creaked a little. Then, he tilted his head back and let out the smoke, enjoying the sounds of nature, the subtle noise of some bats that only a few men could hear, the monkeys that withdrew whistling after having won many pieces of food from the elder and the crickets that made a real orchestra at nightfall. At that time, feeling homesick for the young wizard, he wondered where Igor would be and if he had managed to solve his problems.

He had disappeared almost two years ago, in the middle of the battle in which he and the dragon very hard contained that evil shadow, which ended up fleeing. By his knowledge acquired eighteen centuries ago, he imagined where the boy would be now and waited anxiously for the moment to see him again. One thing that intrigued him was the fact that the damned aberration was as powerful as Igor to the point that the young wizard had no conditions to defeat it, but he and Saci managed to stop the creature. Ezequiel believed that he would even be able to contain it alone, although the risk was too high, and that made him even more thoughtful about the boy, much, much more powerful than him.

The elder believed that he would return, despite the order he had given to stay away from the cabin. This course of thought made him think again about the damned creature and, once again, he wondered what Igor had that made the demon stronger.

He raised the pipe for a new drag when a subtle sound became present, a sound that did not belong to the environment and much less matched it, like a scrape and then a drag. He was not the only one to hear, since Saci got up, looking in the direction of the bush and then turning to the elder.

"I know, Saci," he said, squeezing the pipe in his hand. He got up and took the staff. "Let's see this portal and who crossed. Be prepared."

Ezequiel muttered something and the staff began to glow with great force, illuminating every corner no matter how obscure it was. In doubt, he also generated a personal barrier, making his body glow in a ghostly way in a blue tone.

A bush moved with a nerve-wracking slowness and the two saw a dirty hand emerge, pushing it away. Soon after, a very wounded man advanced, staggering clinging to his belly and fell to the ground at his feet.

"Holy cow!" he cursed, recognizing the wizard he had thought of seconds before. "Saci, close the portal, fast."

The dog penetrated into the bush for a few seconds and returned shortly after, but in its true form because it was unable to close or open portals when transformed into a dog. Ezequiel bent down to look at the wizard and noticed that he suffered a considerable punishment, perhaps even mortal, as it seemed to him. He stopped his hand over the sick man and muttered a few words.

With that, the faint body stiffened and floated in the air, remaining twenty centimeters from the elder. Carefully, he took him and laid him on a cot. He placed one of his hands on his abdomen, which began to glow, pulsing. When he contained the bleeding and healed his friend, he made him clean of all the dirt and, afterwards, treated the bruises and covered him. Now, only sleep would do the rest of the service.

He remained a few seconds looking at Igor and trying to imagine what strength so powerful would be that to defeat him in a fulminating way, for the extent of the power of that young man was too great. In the state he was in, he would take a long time to recover and only asked the Goddess that he would not be a victim of amnesia again.

He went to the porch and helped the dragon return to his dog form. Then, he lit the pipe again, sitting down to meditate, but now with a countenance laden with worry. The dragon looked at him and the old man smiled.

"I know he is strong, Saci," he commented worried, "but my great concern is that thing that is loose out there and that we can not destroy, a thing that for sure is responsible for the mistreatment inflicted on him, a person so powerful that he could kill me just by looking. It is not for his recovery that I worry, because I know that will happen in a short time, but what is to come. I just hope that our silence about him and what awaits him is not a mistake. And worse, I hope that a paradox has not just happened. He should not be here, now."

"I'm sure we have to keep certain events secret, Ez." The dragon's voice echoed in his mind. "It's too dangerous and important. He will have to go through it, even if he perishes. I believe in him from the bottom of my heart and we dragons are not mistaken. As for paradoxes, I do not believe because my brother of race has not yet appeared."

"I hope." He finished with a sigh.

― ☼ ―

Igor woke up dazed, not understanding anything until his consciousness gradually returned. He had the feeling of having woken up and slept several times, where he remembered someone giving him water. The first coherent thought he had was for his beloved Eduarda and he felt a huge sadness because she had left him, although he believed that Samuel had used some kind of spell that was unknown to him. He could still feel in his imagination her body pressed against his, wearing only underwear after the bath when he agreed to marry her before they graduated. Without thinking, he moved his tongue on his lips as if he were feeling her kiss at that moment, but he did not dare to open his eyes because he knew that the moment would flee and the weight of defeat would come with such force that it would be devastating. To his misfortune, just those thoughts were enough to bring him to his cold reality and a tiny tear ran from his eye, lonely. All he wanted at that moment was the comfort of non-existence, but a voice broke the silence:

"By the way, it looks like this business of saving you is going to become fashionable, son, isn't it?" Ezequiel asked as a greeting. "Eventually, I would prefer a normal visit instead of this. How do you feel?"

Igor opened his eyes when he recognized the owner of the voice, but he did not move, remaining apathetic.

"Come on, son." Ezequiel appeared in his field of vision, extending a cup of coffee. "If you don't get up and feed yourself, you will soon be just a corpse. In that case, it wouldn't be worth coming here. On the other hand, if you face your reality, then we can try to solve your problems, together."

Igor turned his face and got up with some difficulty, feeling very weak and dizzy. Ezequiel handed him the coffee again and the mild odor that emanated from that cup woke him up for good, as well as causing him to salivate. The young man took it, drinking slowly and without saying a word, not even of thanks. The drink took away some of the malaise he felt and his hand stopped shaking.

Understanding his situation, the old wizard gave him the desired space, knowing that he would come to life soon, happy to be in front of a fighter and not a defeatist. In silence, he remained observing, thinking.

Saci got up and walked over to him, lying at his feet. Igor looked at the dragon with a grateful look and then turned his face to Ezequiel. He took another sip, put the cup on the bedside table, took a deep breath and asked:

"How long has it been?"

"That we haven't seen each other or that you slept?"

"Please, Ezequiel," he grumbled. "I'm sorry, but I'm not in the best mood these days."

"It's okay, son. You slept for a week and you must be too weak. So don't get up with a punch that—"

"A week!?" Igor exclaimed, exalted and getting up abruptly, quite the opposite of what was recommended. "How can—"

He did not finish the sentence, as he needed all his skill to not fall face down on the floor. His legs trembled, not obeying him and everything started to spin around him. As much as he tried, he could not hold on for long and began to slide, but Saci was faster and helped him at the exact moment, propping him up and making him sit back. A gentle, yet firm thought insinuated itself in his mind:

"You need to calm down and put everything in the clear. Any attempt you make without being prepared for it will be your ruin. Is that what you want? That he triumphs and takes your most precious good while your almost immortal body rots under the ground?"

"You're right, Saci, thank you." Igor sighed. "I'm too weak to even move."

"Great," Saci replied. "Now, rest a little."

Ezequiel got up, approached him and muttered a few words, making Igor, without any transition, feel as if he had just come out of the bath, as well as being dressed in his clothes, also clean.

"Come on, son." He extended his hand, offering support. "It is important that you eat something and sit a little. You stayed too long in bed."

Igor thanked him for the help and ended up sitting in a chair, the same one he had used the first time he saw Ezequiel. None of them said anything and Saci did not manifest himself anymore, since the dragons were not very talkative. In the meantime, the wizard served a soup that he sipped slowly, under supervision. When he finished, he felt much better and Ezequiel started to talk, thinking that it was time to clarify things:

"To begin with, Igor," he said, sitting in the chair next to him, "I see that you already remember everything or almost everything and I would like answers, but I also want to help you, so I hope you tell me what happened. From the beginning."

"If I say that it is so much that I don't even know where to start, would you believe me?"

"I believe you," Ezequiel replied. "So, how about starting with the name that came out of your mouth the most in the last seven days: Eduarda."

When he heard that word uttered by him, Igor felt a lump in his throat, so strong that it seemed that he would lose his breath. When that became unbearable, he lowered his head and a few tears escaped, falling from his face.

"I understand," said the old man, sad. "Is she alive?"

Igor shrugged, implying that he didn't know and the friend waited a little longer for him to recover.

"I'm sorry, Ezequiel," he asked, breathing deeply and trying to calm down a little. "I suffered a great shock because of her."

"It's okay," he said. "You met the girl in the Citadel, what level is hers?"

"She has no powers—"

"Impossible," the elder contested. "It is very rare for a wizard to fall in love with a girl who is not a sorceress and that is a matter of chemistry, pure chemistry."

"In that case the impossible happened," Igor insisted. "She has no idea that we exist."

"She may be a sleeper, but we will see that on another occasion, when everything is resolved, "the friend said, closing the subject for the moment. "Now, let's see: when you first appeared, in shock, you said that everyone died, that they were all dead. After you left and we managed to scare away that thing from hell, I went to the Citadel and found no living soul there, Igor. What happened to the about forty thousand and five hundred people who lived in the Crystal World?"

"I kept their bodies in a very well protected place, not to mention that they were more than fifty thousand because we were at the annual meeting. The last ones I put there were my parents."

"But who did it, that black being that we faced here two years ago?" Ezequiel widened his eyes, frightened. "For the Goddess, son, we must be the last living wizards! Where did that damn creature come from? It only lacks the smell of sulfur and the horns!"

"It's my fault." The young wizard lowered his head and sighed.

"I think you better tell everything from the beginning, son."

Ezequiel leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, listening in full to the sad and terrifying story that the young man had suffered. Igor had made an incredible discovery, but the price he paid for it was too high for him and almost took his sanity.

For about three hours he told everything and in great detail, except for a few items of lesser importance or personal that did not interfere with the events. Then, the old man asked questions for another hour, some answered immediately and others remained blank.

The day was almost over when the questions ended and they both remained silent for a long time. Finally, Ezequiel said:

"Let's go outside that you need to walk a little and I want to think."

Igor got up and Saci stayed by his side, offering his back for him to lean on, while Ezequiel grabbed the bag of his pipe and tobacco. He sat in his favorite chair and pointed the other one to the guest.

Dizzy, Igor watched him light the pipe, but when the smoke came in his direction, he rehearsed his first magic since the combat and ordered the smoke to make a detour, contradicting the direction of the gentle breeze. He always complained that the smoke made a point of hovering over those who did not smoke and once again the practice proved the theory. Because he needed little energy in that action, he was successful and Ezequiel felt like laughing, but remained focused for a long time, so much so that Igor dozed off for a few minutes until he was awakened by his voice:

"We can take a few important lessons from all this. The most obvious is that he hates you with all the forces of his being and wants to destroy you at any cost, especially causing suffering; the second is that he sucked the knowledge and power of a multitude of wizards and that is why he is so strong, in hypothesis; third: he, in some way, has a connection with you that allows him to find you wherever you go, but it can take more than two years, depending on the situation; fourth: he appears to be able to manipulate other people; fifth: he can open portals, but he is not very skilled; sixth: he seems to like and want to assume the human form as a definition, becoming more vulnerable than a wizard.

"You forgot the seventh: he can defeat me with a certain ease. A lot, actually."

"For me, this seventh and the third are linked," corrected the old wizard, shrugging. "He can't defeat a dragon and that's already some advantage. What I find very strange is that even having absorbed the strength of all the wizards, you said that you were much stronger than them, that is, it is not the second option that gives the creature the power to defeat you, son. Tell me something, did you say that the bodies are intact?"

"Yes, intact and perfect, as if it were enough to blow a divine essence into the bodies to come back to life."

"Well, Igor, the first thing we need is for you to recover your energies and then learn new things, things you don't know. It won't be your powerful magic that will destroy him and you already know that. As he can come back here and mess up all our plans, despite Saci, we will change for a while to another place, but now you will swallow a good soup and sleep."

― ☼ ―