Chapter 115

Alexia

The last room, the highest tower in the castle, was a cold, empty and dusty place because of the excessive steps we had to take; it wasn't hard to understand why it was an abandoned room.

Climbing so many stairs almost made me give up on the plan, but looking at Thomas' face I knew I would go all the way so that he could go back to the way he was, even though I didn't even know him at the time, it was like giving Acácio and Soraya a present.

I had become attached to Thomas and wished with all my heart that the curse would be broken.

"Darling, please lie down," I asked Thomas, who looked at the stone table and lay down. I looked at Camila and approached her while Mariah and Lorenzo tied Thomas' feet and hands.

"Is everything all right?" I asked her as she stared at the table in concentration, and she nodded.

"The energy emanating from Thomas's body is a powerful energy Alexia, an ancient black magic and we'll need the four elements, we'll speak to Gaia in our prayers so that she can help us break such powerful magic, even without black magic it won't be pretty."

I shook my head and looked at the basket where there was a snake to be sacrificed.

After opening all the windows, lighting all the torches and filling the place with candles, we put four buckets of water, one at each end of the table, and earth around them, connecting the buckets, as well as flowers, each attached to a different part of the world.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Lorenzo asked me, "What you're doing seems crazy."

Mariah had said the same thing.

"I'm not sure Lorenzo and I'm not going to lie to you, I just have my faith and my will to help you."

Lorenzo shook his head, but he didn't look confident. I took him by surprise and looked into his eyes, saying:

"Lorenzo, I need you to have faith or all this will really be for nothing."

He seemed to take a few seconds to process and then shook his head firmly.

"It's midnight, let's get started," said Camila with the witches' book in her hands. She closed it and put it aside, walking over to Thomas who was staring quietly at the ceiling, paying attention to the stained-glass windows and seeming to count the angels.

Camila and I had a connection with magic and Mariah and Lorenzo had a connection with Thomas, we were the closest to him in the castle and I couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

I knew it wasn't up to me, I didn't even know my powers, but if I had been aware of them for longer I could have been Acácio and Soraya instead of Mariah and Lorenzo, I would have given anything to see Thomas well.

We held hands and closed our eyes, Camila began to recite the words, and just as she opened her mouth to repeat them, so did Mariah and Lorenzo, and then I felt the cold, strong night wind come through the window, I felt the first wave of energy go through my body and I opened my eyes to see that Mariah and Lorenzo looked frightened, perhaps they had felt this connection.

The wind became stronger as the sound of our voices increased, spreading my hair from side to side, a chill ran through my stomach and a new wave of power passed through my body, Thomas shouted.

"Thomas," said Mariah and I took a firm hold of her hand, looking at her warningly.

"Don't stop!" I said, shooting her with my eyes.

Thomas was frightened, this was something that was bound to happen as he was always frightened by loud sounds and commotion, Mariah repeated the words again and so did I and another wave of power went through us, she looked at me frightened, Lorenzo had a dark face but stood firm and Camila now with her eyes open seemed to ignore everyone as she recited the words.

My voice began to overpower hers and the strong wind threatened to blow out the torches, Thomas screamed and tried to get loose, with all the memories of Thomas wandering through my mind, Soraya, Acácio, Estevan and the love they had for him, I screamed the words feeling that my lungs could fail at any moment, I couldn't even breathe properly, I was so focused and determined until a big, bright explosion caused the circle to break and we were thrown far away, everything went dark until the torches lit up the place again, there was no more wind, there was nothing else.

I got up quickly and ran towards him and felt his energy, Thomas no longer had anything heavy on his body which indicated that the curse had been broken, he had his eyes closed, his breathing was calm as if he were asleep, I smiled excitedly and looked at them.

"We did it, we broke the curse" I said excitedly, almost hysterically "And we don't even need to sacrifice the snake for that, Gaya didn't ask for a sacrifice"

Mariah's eyes fell on my body and filled with tears, she put a trembling hand over her lips.

"Mariah?"

"Alexia" Camila called me, making me look at her, her eyes carrying a mixture of fear and dread "You need a doctor"

I followed her eyes, stopping in the middle of my legs where there was blood on my dress, dripping down my legs, I put my hand on my stomach and felt the first pain.

I looked at Camila and curled up on the floor.

"Help me Camila, Gaya can't take my baby!"

----------\\\\\\\----------

Estevan

Strange sounds were coming from everywhere, my body was on alert, the dragons on the island were used to people on a daily basis so it shouldn't be difficult to get close to one, I followed the sound of a roar and walked through the forest removing branches and bushes from the front I stopped in front of a dragon which was the same height as mine, its greenish skin and some scales signaled that it was a water dragon reminding me of mine who had died protecting Olimper.

"Hey big guy" I said, taking a slow step towards him and raising my hands "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I just want to get close to you!"

The dragon stared at me, but seemed to ignore my steps, he wasn't afraid of me, which was good, as I walked slowly towards him I was sure I had made a good start.

"You can feel my energy, I know that, so you know that I'm not a bad person and that I don't want to hurt you"

I was already very close to him when his eyes became alarmed, his pupils became small, changing shape as if he were a cat and my heart raced knowing that I was in trouble, that this was his mode of attack, I turned and ran, he opened his mouth preparing to throw fire and I threw myself against the ground.

The flames lightly licked my hair and I hit him quickly, I got up and ran away hiding behind a tree, the dragon swung his claws at the tree knocking it down easily, I ran back and fell putting my hands forward I saw the exact moment when Prince advanced on the dragon throwing him away, they began to fight amid noises, claws and fire, they seemed to want to show off their strength until Prince turned to me raising his wing, I quickly climbed on top of it and he lifted me up, I almost fell, but crawling until I reached his neck where I could hold on better, he flew over the island and I could see how incredibly beautiful it was.

Prince landed where his chicks were, in front of Kanue's hut and I climbed down.

I stroked her cheek.

"Thank you Prince, you've saved me once again"

"What did you do?" Kanue asked, he left his fire pot in the corner and approached me "You disappeared for hours, did you do what I told you to do?"

"Yes, and guess what? I almost got killed!" I complained angrily.

"You can't go into the forest and think you're going to come out connected to a dragon, the dragons that live in the forest are wild, hard to trust, hard to get close to, you'd probably end up dead by nightfall. Lucky for you that Prince has your back"

"Great, so what do I do look for a dragon in the village where everyone hates me?"

I sighed tiredly, sad and desperate, not knowing what to do or how to get back. Alexia's face was like a shadow that tormented me, I missed her more than anything, I wanted to see my parents, my friends and even the snobbish nobles of the court.

I had to get back to Olimper.

"And what do I do now? I need to go back, I want to see my son's face in a few months' time, I want to lie down with my wife, I want to shout at my father, I want to see my mother smile, I want to talk to Mariah, ride a horse with Lorenzo, discuss politics with the petty and arrogant nobles, I want to look after my people, I want to go back!"

Kanue continued to look at me seriously, his eyes changed direction and he cocked his head behind me, I turned and saw Prince with his head down, as he always did to get me to come up, I looked at her without understanding.

"I think she's finally given in," said Kanue.

"But why?"

"You've just almost lost your life again in the forest, maybe she understood that you're in danger everywhere and paid attention to your distress."

I nodded and turned to Kanue.

"How do I thank you for everything you've done for me, Kanue?"

"What I did, I did from the heart. But if you really want to thank me, let this island remain a legend."

I nodded my head, he nodded too and I climbed on top of Prince, she flew up into the sky and I felt the euphoria and joy as I flew away from the now distant island, which seemed to have been a dream as I flew across the sea towards Olimper I knew I would never forget that place or Kanue.