46- Simplicity

This time, he sees it slightly dimmer and weaker, but in the same spot, so he focuses on observing it more carefully. He knew that if that light disappeared, he would be immersed in darkness and the dangers of the forest. He also couldn't perceive if the light would still be visible from below once he descended, so he had to calculate the correct direction very accurately. "Salandry, maiden of fire and warmth, I ask you to illuminate my path and make that flame flickering among the woods burn and find a direction to save my firstborn. O beautiful maiden, you who fill us with warmth and make volcanoes and purifying flames burn, hear my humble prayer." Pelfsen recites with great faith while bowing on the branch where he is kneeling, closing his eyes for a couple of minutes, visualizing in his mind the fervent burning of enormous flames guiding him through the forest. After a couple of minutes, Pelfsen opens his eyes again, and to his surprise, the light can no longer be seen at all. He can only perceive a deep darkness that hurts his soul and his hope. This frustrates him immensely and fills him with infinite sadness. All his hope was extinguishing like that little fire that had given him some illusion. With his head bowed, he rests on the branch and tries to sleep again. Tears full of sadness begin to flow from this elf's eyes. He remembers his wife, happy and excited about their son, eagerly waiting for him, dreaming of seeing him grow up with a beautiful woman who would accompany him until the end of his days, with lovely grandchildren to play with all the time. But now, apart from having lost his wife, he felt that he was also on the verge of losing his newborn son, and despite his great effort, he could do very little. Fleeting thoughts crossed his mind that little Deniels was already dead, but he avoided those thoughts at all costs, as they would completely snatch away the little sanity he had left. He manages to fall asleep in this deep darkness, and in his mind, he only sees his wife and son in their home, having tea and cuddling in bed, waiting for him to sleep together and be happy. It was what he wished most, to be happy with his family, but life was making it impossible. Now, with no news of his newborn son, despite his faith in fairies and goddesses, hope was crumbling more and more due to all the circumstances he was going through. A couple of hours pass, and Pelfsen wakes up again, but this time due to a very intense light coming from where that little flame was before. Now there was a bright light that illuminated a large part of this immense forest. Pelfsen thanks Salandry for this drastic event and without much hesitation, he descends from the tree with energy and speed. He trips and falls heavily onto the ground, but he doesn't care about this blow. The light illuminates a large part of the forest intensely, and he wants to reach it as soon as possible. He begins to run towards the illuminated place, only wishing to find his son Deniels safe and sound. He imagines that if his son is lost in the forest, he would likely head to this place in search of warmth, shelter, and escape from this deep and dark darkness. He also fully trusts that the fairies will guide him to his son, and he perceives this event as a direct sign from them, almost like a miracle. As he runs excitedly, he sinks into some puddles, but he quickly gets up. About ten to fifteen minutes pass, and he is getting closer and closer to that great light coming from some mysterious place in the forest. He crosses vines, trips over fallen logs, and unknowingly steps on some animals that squeal as Pelfsen passes by. He apologizes to Driadus for hurting his creatures but asks for understanding. His desperation for his son is so great that he can't think of anything else. Suddenly, Pelfsen sees that the light starts to lose some of its intensity. This generates some anxiety in him, although he is about to reach the source of it. So he has no choice but to accelerate even more, tripping and falling a couple of times until, at one point, he sinks again, thinking it was another puddle. But this time, when he tries to jump out as he did before, he fails. Instead, he sinks deeper. He had fallen into a huge lake in the middle of the forest. He tries to swim, but it is futile as something pulls him from one of his ankles towards the depths with great force. He struggles to get out, swimming with all his strength and pulling his ankle without success. He tries to free himself with his hands but realizes that the strong force comes from some algae that he can't break to set himself free. At one point, his lungs can't take it anymore, but before losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen and exhaustion, from the bottom of the lake, as he sinks, he manages to see how that light he was chasing starts to spread quickly more and more throughout the lake and its surroundings. The light is so intense that he can easily see some trees and foliage illuminated even inside the lake. Every speck of darkness in the surroundings has disappeared. Pelfsen is about to become unconscious, and he thinks that this would be the place where he thought he would lose his life, to finally reunite with his wife and perhaps his son. But it saddens him to be left like this, in the depths.

Each step along these paths filled Pelfsen's soul with more and more mysteries, until he hears a soft, celestial voice that unifies four protagonists. -"Pelfsen breathe... Your son will come... We will guide him... You will take care of him... An elf will heal this world... Sirixa's poisons will be extinguished... Pelfsen. Pelfsen. Wake up Pelfsen... Celestial fairies, we will fight, fight..."

Pelfsen finds himself lying in the woods at dawn, he abruptly gets up and looks around. Trees, logs, vegetation, animals, and a well-marked trail, probably the one the animals were following. Pelfsen stands up, rubs his eyes, and tries to wake up. He continues along that marked path and within minutes, he realizes that he is back home, the path leads exactly to the direction from where he had left the day before in his desperation to find his son. Pelfsen didn't understand anything, he had slept but felt mentally exhausted and incredibly hungry, so he decides to go back home to have breakfast and rethink everything to find his son.